Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Nizam's Footwear and Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya


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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