This is the story of an ordinary man who was born on 14th January 1929 to a Musahar family in Gehlaur, Bihar. We are talking about Dashrath Manjhi who is also referred to as The Mountain Man. His inspiring story began when he returned back to his village and started working as an agricultural laborer to support him and his wife Phalguni Devi. Unfortunately, his village of Gehlaur was equipped with very little resources including a prevented road access to the town of Wazirganj due to the steeply ascending quartzite ridge on its south. In the year 1959, Phalguni Devi was severely injured because of her fall from the mountain. According to many reports, it is said that she was bringing food and water for her husband working away from the village near a rocky ridge when she slipped off the road which was steep and narrow. Manjhi was unable to take her to the nearest doctor in town on time which was 55 kilometers away and she died due to lack of medical aid and delayed care. 

 

In the year 1960, Manjhi single-handedly started carving a path 110 m long, 7.7 m deep and 9.1 m wide to form a road through the ridge of rocks that reduced the distance between the Atri and Wazirganj sectors of the Gaya district from 55 km to 15 km. During the 22 years of his hard work and determination, he faced a lot of opposition from the people from his own village who called him a lunatic for taking up an impossible task like this. These taunts and mocks only helped him strengthen his will power and helped him make lives easier for people of the Gehlaur village. 

To appreciate his efforts, the Bihar government proposed his name for the Padma Shree award in 2006 in the social service sector. He died in 2007 due to gallbladder cancer after which he was given a state funeral by the Government of Bihar and official roads between his village and Wazirganj were built.