I Have a Dream
‘I Have A Dream’ is the story of 20 idealists who think and act like entrepreneurs. They are committed to different causes, but they have one thing in common: a belief that principles of management can and must be used to achieve a greater common good. These stories say one thing loud and clear change starts with one person, and that person could be someone next door. Someone like you.
I'm old enough to know better, but I'm still too young to care
Book Review: I Have a Dream by Rashmi Bansal
August 17, 2011
‘I Have A Dream’ is the story of 20 idealists who think and act like entrepreneurs. They are committed to different causes, but they have one thing in common: a belief that principles of management can and must be used to achieve a greater common good.These stories say one thing loud and clear change starts with one person, and that person could be someone next door. Someone like you.
For a generation thriving on relentless pursuit of selfish goals, Rashmi Bansal’s “I have a Dream”
comes as a reminder that life is much more than just one’s own world.
The book chronicles the lives of twenty people, who took a step towards
bringing happiness in the lives of millions, but not in the usual
charitable ways. They took the ideals of a business complete with profit
motive and turned them into tools of betterment of the society. They
are all, what can be termed as ‘social entrepreneurs’.
I am no stranger to Rashmi Bansal’s writing, having been a regular reader of her blog “Youth Curry” and also both her previous books “Stay Hungry Stay Foolish” and “Connect the Dots”.
In her usual inimitable style of writing, she describes the different
obstacles that the twenty entrepreneurs braved to stay on their chosen
path. The book is divided into three sections – Rainmakers, Changemakers
and The Spiritual Capitalists.
Rainmakers is about social enterprises
which generate revenues but where profit is not the primary motive. This
section has some very interesting stories behind enterprises which have
taken the object of doing good and has built a successful business
around it. Some of the stories which left an impact on me are the ones
about Bindeshwar Pathak, the man behind Sulabh International who despite
being a Brahmin himself had the compassion to do something for the
scavengers, Sumita Ghosh who established Rangsutra after her husband was
murdered by the ULFA terrorists and changed the lives of rural women,
Anand Kumar, the Maths tutor of Super 30 whose tenacity had seen all 30
of the poor, meritorious students of his class crack the IIT JEE in 2008
and Druv Lakra of Mirakle Couriers which employs only deaf people.
Their stories, along with the others in this section like Conserve
India, Aavishkaar Social Venture Fund, DesiCrew, Spiti Ecosphere, SELCO,
Pipal Tree and Project Chilka have been narrated by the author in such
vivid description that they are sure to tug your heart and inspire you
to reach out to the underpriviledged masses just like them.
Changemakers is about people who took a
small step towards their dreams, which became a revolution in itself.
The two most astounding stories are of Madhav Chavan, founder of Pratham
who made it his life’s mission to see every children of this country
educated and that of Anshu Gupta, whose simple idea of providing clothes
to the poor morphed into what is now known as Goonj. This section also
has stories behind the formation of the Association for Democratic
Reforms , Akansha, Parivartan and Blind Person’s Association which are
bound to motivate one to think in the same way as them.
Spiritual Capitalists has stories of
individuals who are guided by a supreme purpose in their mission to do
good. The most inspiring story for me was that of Madhu Pandit Dasa who
leads Akshay Patra, the world’s largest mid-day meal program. From being
a student of IIT to turning suicidal to finally turning to Krishna for
all his answers, this man seems to have been destined for mitigating the
hunger of thousands of children. Vinay Lokhani of Parivaar Ashram and
Shreesh Jadhav of Belur Math are the other stories in this section where
the Supreme Cause has merged with the causes of the people.
The book is in the same format like her
previous two books – it’s written as if she was transcribing her
interview with the people. Some of the stories have too many details,
which sometimes lost me completely. Finally, I have one serious
complaint in the department of language. She uses too much Hindi at
places. May be it is done to keep intact the words of the people, but
that really restricts a reader. Even for me, who knows Hindi (even
though it is not my mother tongue), I found such excessive usage of
vernacular language not conducive for an easy read. There are some
spelling and grammatical errors which could have been avoided with more
careful editing.
In conclusion, I will recommend this book
to anyone, whether or not he has an interest in social
entrepreneurship, because the book shows that anyone has the power to
take up a cause and make the world a better place to live in.
Book DetailsTitle : I have a Dream
Publisher : Westland
Author : Rashmi Bansal
Edition : Paperback
ISBN : 9789380658384
Pages : 361
Post a Comment