I have mentioned a series of challenges in different fields. The younger generation will have to think about them, perhaps in their own way. but always with a constructive and modern approach, and then possibly they can assign themselves the tasks to be tackled. The field is so vast that I do not think one individual can accept all the challenges. One can make choices. No one need think that he is not big enough to meet the challenges. No one is born big. We were all small, but there were big challenges and big problems before us and it is only the courage to grapple with these big challenges that made us big enough to meet them. This attitude of accepting a challenge brings out the best qualities in an individual and this mental preparedness to accept the challenges is the basic decision that the younger people should take.
I define young people not merely in terms of age, but also on the basis of their capacity to accept a challenge and face it. That, really speaking, decides whether a man is young or old. Tilak was asked, after he had lost his case in the Privy Council, whether he had also lost his heart and courage. Tilak's reply was, "I cannot lose courage. I belong to a generation which, if the skies fall, will stand on those fallen skies and still go on fighting". That is the badge which the younger people should always wear. A young man should always look for challenges, keep his courage and have ideals. A young man without an ideal is not a young man. A young man without dreams is not a young man. He must have the capacity and the courage not only to dream but also to make efforts to convert those dreams into realities. If the youth does that, I am sure, the greater India of our dreams will become a reality.
