When you live in a small town, you often have to travel to other nearby towns for supplies. Usually, that means that if the town is one mile away, you travel one mile to get there. For the people in Gelhour, a 300 foot mountain stood between them and the nearest town, Wazirganj. Gelhour was very poor and did not have a school, hospital, or any jobs. To access these things, the only options for people were to walk 45 miles around the mountain, or risk life and limb climbing over it. The climb was difficult, dangerous and took hours, but it was a daily necessity for almost everyone in Gelhour.
One day, a man named Dashrath Manjhi was working to collect wood for his family on the other side of the mountain. It was long hard work, so his wife climbed over the mountain to deliver him some food when she fell. She was hurt and their dishes had broken and Dashrath decided that was enough.
How many years have people been falling and breaking pots, he wondered?
Dashrath was going to put an end to that. He sold the family's three goats in order to buy a hammer, chisel and crowbar and decided to break his way through the mountain.
Everyone in town thought it was impossible; even his brother had wondered if he had gone mad. This was too big of a task for one man, and how on earth could he continue to earn a living for his family? What single man could break down a mountain that stood over 300 feet high?
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