Dr. Prakash and Dr. Mandakini Amte

(This is a self-initiated blogpost and not a promotional move of any kind.)

Dr. Prakash and Dr. Mrs. Mandakini Amte were declared the recipients of Magsaysay Award in the category of community leadership.

Their work ranges from constructing hospitals to imparting education - formal as well as informal. From encouraging them to stand for their rights to a leprosy rehabilitation center. From protecting wild-life to makeshift medical camps as and when required.

We have first families in politics, in films, in business. But families like these that spend their lives collectively for a cause are rare to find. Baba Amte, his wife, both his sons and their wives and now grandsons have set an example of sorts.

How do I look at all this? How do I react beyond a 'wow, that's a good job' expression when I read it in the newspaper?

We all have a Prakash Amte within us. Even if we are able to activate him - for a small duration of the day, for a small period of time in our lives, we can make a difference.

If a Baba Amte can spend his life with lepers who have given up physically and more so emotionally, if a Prakash Amte can make social work a cause and passion, why can't I keep my surroundings clean? Why can't I treat people around me with respect? Why can't I look after my old neighbours? Why do I close my nose when I pass by a dustbin which a cleaner is emptying with his bare hands?

There are people who ponder over these questions. And there are people who join the league of these exemplary social activists.

Visit their website at : www.mss.niya.org