Pradeep Mehra, a 19-year-old army aspirant from Noida, has become viral after a filmmaker, Vinod Kapri, shot a video of him running home from work. Mr Kapri was offering a lift to Mr Mehra but he had refused. Mr Mehra refused stated that he ran nearly 10 km every night to keep himself in shape to join the Indian Army.
Mr Kapri spotted Mr Mehra after he had finished his night shift at a McDonald’s outlet in Noida. Mr Kapri stated that he offered him a lift after seeing him run with a backpack, thinking he might have been in trouble.
Watch #PradeepMehra’s 20 second SPRINT to lift your Monday SPIRITS ❤️ https://t.co/UnHRbJPdNa pic.twitter.com/nLAVZxwauq
— Vinod Kapri (@vinodkapri) March 21, 2022
He shot the video from his car as he slowly drove alongside Mr Mehra and inquired why he refused the lift. Mr Mehra replied by stating that he ran every night after work as he did not have time in the day to exercise. Mr Mehra that accepting the offer would have disrupted his daily routine. He further stated that he lived with his older brother in Noida while his parents lived in Uttarakhand because his father was caring for his ailing mother.
Several prominent personalities have praised Mr Mehra’s determination.
His Josh is commendable, and to help him pass the recruitment tests on his merit, I've interacted with Colonel of KUMAON Regiment, Lt Gen Rana Kalita, the Eastern Army Commander. He is doing the needful to train the boy for recruitment into his Regiment.
Jai Hind 🇮🇳 https://t.co/iasbkQvvII— Lt Gen Satish Dua🇮🇳 (@TheSatishDua) March 21, 2022
This is my India.. ❤️❤️❤️🙏🙏🙏🇮🇳🇮🇳 https://t.co/7uMtMVfwNI
— Ranganathan Madhavan (@ActorMadhavan) March 21, 2022
Salute to sheer resolve & determination!!! 👏👏👏👏👏🙏
— manoj bajpayee (@BajpayeeManoj) March 21, 2022
Although there were praises, some did criticise the glorified hopelessness of the young man.
People are shocked like they have never seen a 16- 20 year old boys running through the streets. Sometimes I wonder how disconnect they’re from the reality. They’re not running to get fit, they’re running to get selected for a job. This is helplessness.
— Harsh (@_ambedkarite) March 20, 2022
When a privileged filmmaker discovers a working class boy. Nothing inspiring here. Just a glorification of unnecessary struggle in the name of ‘hustle culture.’ Most of this republic’s joys are based on watching people struggling for very basics in the name of sincere hard work. https://t.co/2irG35lqoT
— Anurag Minus Verma (@confusedvichar) March 20, 2022
There are many like him found in Bihar running KMs early mornings in hope of getting into army, police.
Larger issue of unemployment won't catch eyeballs that is why sensational stuff put out for views and impressions.
— Tarique Anwer (@tanwer_m) March 21, 2022
References: BBC and ScoopWhoop
Featured Image Source: Kalaf Tree
