Memorial

The Mountain Parted   Dasrath Manjhi: 1934 -2007

Dasrath Manjhi eked out a living as a farm hand, toiling in the fields of local landlords on bare subsistence wages. One day, in the early '60s, his wife Phaguni fell ill and Dasrath set off with her to the nearest hospital. She died on the way. If only there was no hill blocking the road to the town, Dasrath would have made it to the hospital in time, and perhaps his wife's life would have been saved. The villagers of Gelaur had to take a circuitous route and travel 19 km to Wazirganj, the nearest district town. This was because the massive 360 feet long, 25 feet high and 30 feet wide sheer rock came in the way of the shortest possible route between the village and the town.

The situation would have brought about a feeling of resignation or fatalism in the average man...Dasrath's response was different and radical, at once unthinkable and stunningly simple. He decided to alter geography with chisel and hammer, to cut a road through the huge mass of rock.

Every morning he set out with hammer and chisel and, after 22 years of backbreaking work, he had carved an opening through the sheer rock, reducing the distance to the town to just six kilometres.

What a guy!

Via Madhukar