Larger Than Life

After watching the trailer of the movie "Gangubai Kathiawadi", I read the book behind it - Mafia Queens Of Mumbai, which outlines the stories of many women  during 60s-90s,  who dared to stand against everyone including the deadly reigning Dons and the law itself. While the names of these women are not that well known compared to the mafia dons, they have not just controlled some part of the smuggling or drug empires, some of them had enough control on the dons too. 

Sapna Didi wanted to avenge her husband's murder by killing Dawood, Hazi Mastan and Dawood heeded to Jenabai, Mahalakshmi Papamani controlled an entire drug industry and many gangsters wives play an important role by architecting a way to convert their black money to white through real estate and politics.

Most of these women have risen from ordinary beginnings to extraordinary lives. With that, I was on a roll to read more about other powerful ladies - Jayalalitha and Indira Gandhi. Jayalalitha dominated the political world by being the CM of TamilNadu for 14 plus years, after being attacked and humiliated in the assembly before becoming CM. Indira Gandhi, the iron lady, went ahead with several controversial and bold decisions to Indo-Pak war forming Bangladesh, declared state of emergency, executed Operation Blue Star.

I know I am talking about all the controversial ladies who may have abused their power to some or large extent. But what struck me most about these women, was their unflinching determination to keep pushing their own boundaries and their boldness to stand by their decisions despite the life threatening risks, in a male dominated world of mafia and politics.

Larger Than Life

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Dhirubhai Ambani is known not just for his business acumen, but also for his over ambitiousness and risk taking. From humble beginnings, he founded and expanded Reliance Industries to the big conglomerate it is today, taking risks at every stage by building his own inventory, opening shares to public for low rates and expanding from textiles to oil to almost everything. Guru movie, based on his life has the famous dialogue - "Na shabd sunayi nahi detha".

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During 9/11 attacks, four planes were hijacked, out of which three managed to crash into WTC and Pentagon. The fourth was supposed to crash into the Capitol, but the passengers of the flight, after already hearing about other hijacks and destruction of WTC through phone calls to their loved ones, decided to fight back and face certain impending death. Because of them, the hijackers couldn't hit their target and had to crash it into a field, saving many lives at the Capitol building. The chilling phone calls made by the passengers before trying to break into the cockpit are a testimony to their courage and sacrifice. 

"Are you ready? Okay. Let's roll." - last words of a passenger to others heard by the operator on phone, before they revolted against the hijackers.

These "ordinary" civilians rose to the occasion in a span of minutes against trained terrorists. 

"Ordinary men. Ordinary women. Refusing to surrender." - Spiderman, inspired by this incident.

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There are people who toe the line, live under self imposed limits, adjust with everything, "manage" their congested small lives.

Then there are people who break rules, break things, break the reality of the world, shape a new reality, speed through the time and make their mark on history, question the normal and the authority, fear no one - all driven by their single mindedness and belief in themselves. They are over ambitious people, who demand more from their life, more from themselves and don't stop at anything less than what they want. They fight back, always, no matter how meek the chances of winning are and when all the odds are against them. They keep weaving new dreams and they never settle. They are tenacious. They are resolute. They create their own story, even when it seems like the end of the story. They create long lasting empires. The world stops when they stop. They leave their legacy all over for several generations to come by.

They were all ordinary people at some point, then they become this larger than life legends - a force to reckon with. Because they believed that it is possible for them to live such life, despite what the world says. Because they decided to live only such life. Because they only dreamed big and never reduced their dreams to match reality.

"You must set targets that are 10 times what you think you want and then do 10 times what you think it will take to accomplish those targets."  - The 10X Rule

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