If it is not impossible then it can be done – By Dr. Bobby Srinivasan and Dr. Sudhakar Balachandran

May 26, 2014 | Posted by bobbysrinivasan << back to blog

If it is not impossible then it can be done

It should be the proud privilege for every Indian to walk the streets of its cities, feeling that he/she is safe. Currently it is not so. New Delhi, for example, has become the crime capital and the UPA government did not take any steps to change the situation.

The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) reported the following data for the year 2012.

City	Murder-(IPC 302)	Attempt to Murder	Total number of cases registered
Delhi	438	369	47982
Mumbai	215	170	30508
Chennai	180	219	19881
Kolkata	85	154	25370

The antisocial elements had the support and the blessings of UPA minority government. Most of the court cases stand unresolved for many years. It appears as though our society is purely focused on self-interest and takes the view that as long as it does not affect us it does not matter. How long can we hold on to this attitude and when are we going to stand up against crime and cruelty? Barbara Winton, the daughter of Nicholas Winton wrote a book about her courageous dad titled “if it not impossible, then it can be done”. What did he do and what can we learn from it? Read on.

Nicholas Winton was a stock broker. In late 1938, he took a three week leave of absence from work to visit Prague and to see for him the status of refugees pouring in from the Czech Sudetenland after the Nazi invasion in the autumn of that year. Nicholas, a German and a Jewish by descent, realized that the declaration of the war by the Germans was only a matter of time, organized the evacuation of the children of Jewish refugee families. He managed to take 669 children of Jewish descent and transported them to Britain on what was called kinder-transport train.

He worked with the visa office in London to make this happen and placed these children in foster homes. The war, as expected, started in 1939 fall and the Germans prevented anybody from leaving the country. The rest of the kids of Jewish descent left behind by Winton, were later sent to concentration camps and gassed.

Mr. Winton kept his mission a secret even from his wife for the fear of leakage. The story about Mr. Winton’s timely action was brought to the attention of the world by the BBC in 1988 in a program called “That’s life”. He was brought to the studio; he was then 90 years old but did not know that the audiences gathered were the children that he saved from the Nazis. What a divine moment it must have been for him when he faced the children that he saved! Last week, and at the age of 105, the Czech embassy in London invited him and celebrated his birthday. This story will touch every heart!

Mr. Prime Minister, Sir, kindly remember the sentence “If it is not impossible, it can be done”. With you in power and the massive support you enjoy, you can do anything you want. Please make our country a safe place for all citizens and tourists. Anti social elements may create social unrest and spread vicious rumor that you are not secular etc. It is within your powers to create a moral police force who will walk the streets of India and ensure that an average citizen is protected from violence. Sir, let us become a gracious country. Protecting innocent human beings should be a top priority. Like Mr. Nicholas Winton you will go down in history as a great human being who cares for a common man. There is a well known song in Tamil which when approximately translated will go like this “Man can become God by his service to mankind”. Sir, fill your heart with compassion and make our cities safe.

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