Little drops of inspiration

Drawing inspiration from Verghese Kurien, I quit my job, packed my bags and set off to a village in Tuni to become a farmer-Naga Trinadh Burra

It was physics professor Richard Feynman for Google's co-founder Sergey Brin, and 1998 Asian Games gold medalist Dingko Singh for boxing star Mary Kom. Almost everybody, has an icon who inspires them at least once in their lifetime. Some could derive their inspiration from nature, animals and friends.

G Shirisha, a Journalism student at OU, says her inspiration comes from love. According to her, love is a feeling that cannot be expressed in words. "It could be love for your parents, friends, nature, books or anything in the world," she says.

Could mother nature inspire us? Yes, says Karwan Ibrahim, an Iraqi-Kurdish student. He nostalgically recalls his childhood memories amid green fields in villages. "When I look at a tree or a forest, it makes me feel good and happy. Jungles with trees of great heights give me a pleasant feeling and leaves me inspired," he says. Sneha Verghese, a PhD aspirant, spells inspiration as M-o-t-h-e-r. Her mom is her backbone who helped her face life with her head high.

"My mom has been my strength since my childhood. She would push me to do things I'd never have done but for her. I wanted to be like my mom in every way. Talk like her, walk like her, dress like her and be like her.” Naga Trinadh Burra, a graduate of Institute of Rural Management, Anand, says he is inspired by Verghese Kurien, the man behind the cooperative dairy movement that resulted in Amul. Trinadh worked on projects that include monitoring MNREGA work.

"Drawing inspiration from Verghese Kurien, I quit my job, packed my bags and set off to a village in Tuni to become a farmer," he says, adding that he formed a small group that sells the produce directly to big buyers, eliminating middlemen. Vaishali Chellappa, an architecture student, says, “My inspiration to pursue things in life comes from a lot of people. But the one who has inspired me the most is Ar Nari (Nariman) Gandhi.”

She says his architecture is inspired by his principles in life. "His simplicity and his close proximity to nature is reflected in his buildings, which inspire me the most," she says. Inspiration may not necessarily have to be derived from a person. One may get their deeper motivational insights from many things, emotions or ideasMallikarjuna Mullangi, a post-graduate from Indian Institute of Science Education & Research (IISER), Pune, has an altogether different understanding of the concept of inspiration. According to him, every little emotion is an inspiration.

“The purity of emotion inspires me to move ahead in life. People don't motivate me much because I haven't met any of the so-called great people, at least not yet.” He says that meeting someone is of utmost importance to him before he could choose to follow their footsteps. While there are many who are driven by inspiration and ambition, there are always people who argue that inspiration starts with 'I'. So, inspire and get inspired, folks. !

By:Hima Bindu Duggirala