A Man with a Vision
Often we have seen or heard about many great people. Many of us get inspired by them to do other good deeds. Many of us see them as messiah and a lot more to go on and on. But very few actually become great. There is no set criteria by which a person become great. One can only become great by his deeds, by his work and by his humbleness. One such man is Manoj Bhargava who is in a spree to end the misery of many by making his life a worth of an inspiration.
Born in Lucknow, he moved along with his family to the United States at an early age of 14. The man behind the 5 hour Energy drink is a man of mystery. While he was in India he grew up in a family of riches but later when the family moved to the United States they had to struggle a lot financially. A much known fact about him is that he is a man of great virtues. Having donated more than half of his wealth Manoj Bhargava is still working with zeal to help more and more people he comes in contact with. As young man he had to face a lot of financial constraints while growing up but this did not stop him for becoming what he is. Already pledged to donate his earning Mr. Bhargava aims to bring more and more innovative ideas and solutions to the poor is India.
Many well known facts are all over the internet but very few of us know about him saying “patthar dhoye hai” this very incident happened when he was in conversation with a leading news channel anchor. Mr. Bhargava is a man with vision. A vision to help the poor, vision to provide sustainable means of livelihood to the poor. To help him in this mission is his team of dedicated people who are also sharing his vision. A graduate from The Hill School in Pottstown, he was known as a ‘math whiz’. A lesser known fact about him is that he dropped out from the prestigious Princeton University. When asked why, he replied that he got what he need from Princeton in that very year.
His life was not the same. He had done a lot any odd works which many of would not even think of doing and many of us would never even do it. Having been a taxi driver and working with a construction company his life was a tough piece which no one would want to have and neither wish for anyone in good faith. After his college he returned to India and spent many years travelling places and stayed in an Ashram for 12 years. During this period he did a variety of jobs that include construction labourer, clerk, printing press operator, business manager, taxi driver etc. Mr. Bhragava gives credit to the time he spent in India when he learned a lot from his experience and also where he became very spiritual. After coming back from India in the late 90’s he began running his family’s plastic company known as Prime PVC Inc. which later was known as Prime Conduit which grew a lot in sales in the recent years and was later sold in 2007. During this time Mr. Bhargava started the well known company which made him a fortune called as ‘Living essentials’ and in that time he launched his proclaimed product called “5-Hour Energy” which earned him success.
In the year 2012 Manoj Bhargava joined ‘The giving pledge’ and pledged to give his 99% wealth to charity. His foundations include many medical, charitable trusts and two of its major initiatives are hospitals for the poor and education for women in rural areas. He is also running his project of stationary bikes which is said to generate electricity. This he plans to test in India and roll out by the year 2016 to the common households. Manoj Bhargava has created several other companies in these growing years which also work in accordance to his vision. One of them works in providing clean energy and drinking water while the others work in the field of medicines and investment to cleaner developmental works. His Stage2 lab in Farmington which begun in 2011 with the former Chrysler CEO is said to be the most well-funded playhouse for engineers, one of his lab engineer says it in his documentary.
Bhargava’s team has come up with innovative ideas in energy, health and water. One such notable invention still in trials is Renew, which acts as an auxiliary heart while the other called as The Rainmaker is said to convert any kind of water into clean drinkable water. The man who is saving the world in ways of his own is yet not left alone and if often criticised. While many of us lose our cool this man continues to do his work and not let worry trouble his intentions. Bhargava who is on his mission to save the world is also well aware of the degrading environmental situation and for which he has also planned something under his sleeves. His vision has “Graphene” which are actually a series of graphite wires which are possible to harness the geothermal energy without causing any damage to the environment. This grapheme is 100 times lighter than air and better conductor than copper which is traditionally being used to harness the geothermal energy by countries like Iceland and Indonesia. This is actually an invention which is low budget and can harness a lot more energy while keeping the earth in its own natural state i.e. unpolluted.
While slowly breaking his silence and coming into the limelight he is slowly coming out of shadows only to let the world know what one man with a vision capable of doing. We all must take our share of inspiration from him and watch his documentary ‘Billions in change’. Best things do happen in life and somehow we all must learn a little patience from his. While I wish him the very best in his future endeavours I wish everyone to be great in their own ways.
Chandan Goswami
The writer is a legal advisor and enjoys cooking, writing and sports.
(Published in The Lucknow Observer, Volume 2 Issue 21, Dated 05 December 2015)