Madan Mohan Malaviya was a freedom fighter, author, editor publisher of newspapers, educationist, staunch Hindu. He is credited with popularising the slogan " Satymeva Jayate ". He was the first one to establish a private university in India which based on the model of historical Nalanda, Takashila Vidya Peethams.
When Malaviya was trying to build a good university, he had to overcome many difficulties and barriers. He worked with determination to start the university. There was a funds crisis; but he did not get disheartened. He went from town to town, met many rich people and traders to collect donations.
He went to the Nizam of Hyderabad (then reputedly the richest man in the world) to request him for funds. The Nizam was furious, " How dare you come to me for funds and that too for a Hindu University ? " He roared with anger, took off his footwear and flung it at Malaviya.
Malaviya picked up the footwear and left silently. He went directly to the market place and began to auction the footwear. As it was Nizam's footwear, many came forward to buy it. The bids kept going up.
When Nizam heard of this, he became uneasy. He thought it would be an insult if his footwear were to be bought by someone for a pittance. So he sent one of his attendants with the instruction, 'Buy that footwear no matter whatever the price be!'
Thus, Malaviya managed to sell the Nizam's own footwear back to him, for a huge amount. He used that money to build the Banaras Hindu University .
Moral of the story: It does not matter what you have, but how you make use of what you have, in your life.
Disclaimer - I have no way to authenticate this story. The moral is what made me post it here.
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