Kiran: The power of One

In 1999 Umesh Aggarwal and his team started traveling the country in search of people who had the courage of conviction to step boldly beyond the boundaries of their ordinary lives and do something meaningful for others. The search resulted in a series of five-minute capsules aired on Doordarshan which highlighted the selfless work done by these men and women.Based on this award-winning series, Kiran: The Power of One tells the real-life stories of fifty remarkable individuals who have battled personal tragedies and disabilities and social, religious and financial constraints to bring about some positive change in the lives of those around them and, often, those less fortunate than them. Anjana Rajagopal has taken thirty mentally challenged children into her home and refuses to give them up for adoption, Bindraban trains disabled children in the art of tailoring from the confines of his wheelchair, Nutan has transformed the illiterate women of her village into entrepreneurs who successfully manage a milk cooperative, Ram Vilas Sharma collects unused medicines and distributes them among poor patients in government hospitals, and Mohammad Sharif seeks out abandoned corpses and arranges for their funerals.These people and others like them featured in this book are a source of inspiration. Their lives are unconventional; their deeds thoughtful, compassionate and magnanimous. Their stories restore our faith in the basic goodness of human nature, and remind us that the potential to do good lies within each one of us.