Hyderabad, Jan. 24 -- He failed the first time he tried rescuing a child. Yet, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Kailash Satyarthi said he was determined to keep trying. He was beaten up several times during many of his rescue missions, but his mission was bigger than him and he marched forward.

These are some of the anecdotes Satyarthi shared when launching his book "Karuna: The Power of Compassion" at the plenary session of the 15th Hyderabad Literary Festival on Saturday, January 24, where he also spoke about what compassion means to him.

"Compassion, for me, is when you feel other people's problems, feel their pain and you try to solve it, forcing you to take action," he said. "Unlike emotional quotient or intelligence quotient, compassion...