Changing India - One Step at a Time
Continued from Part I: Who is B Shantanu?
To be very honest, the “next steps” were the hardest part.
We all know how easy it is to theorise and preach…but when it comes to practising what we preach, we tend to get nervous, anxious, unsure…and end up worrying too much.
I passed through these stages…Every day for the last few weeks, I thought about this…How does one actually make it work?
There were some obvious challenges…The big one was the question of survival…
What do I mean by that? Here I would like to reproduce a short extract from Sanjeev Sabhlok’s recent comment on my blog:
“I completely detest anyone who claims to live first for their country. I want nothing to do with such hypocrites. I want everyone to live for themselves first and foremost. That is the surest way they will take India to greatness. Anyone who desires to ‘sacrifice’ his or her self-interest for the wider society is either a hypocrite or a totally irresponsible person, and we want nothing to do with such people.”
Those words echoed what I had felt for years…that one cannot really give up one’s responsibility under the excuse/pretext of serving the nation.
During discussions with some close friends with whom I shared this dilemma, I used to constantly emphasize that our challenge is to do something worthwhile/gainful (that enables us and our families to continue to enjoy a certain standard of living) while also contributing to the improvement of our society and our country (and I don’t mean simply by giving to charity).
I do not want to pretend that I have solved this puzzle.
But, for the moment, I think I have found a way out… Here I have to make a major confession. There is one person – without whose unstinting support and faith in me, all of this would have remained on paper…and only in my head…
That person is my soulmate (and my wife!)…For the last five years, she has given her complete support to my blogging and related activities. If you think blogging comes easy to me, it does not…usually each post involves quite a lot of work to ensure that the content is high quality, readily referenced and something that I can defend (– and of course something that I would not mind my daughter reading – or my parents…)
As I wrote in an earlier post on my blog:
Without her support, this would have been impossible to do…I thank her for sacrificing countless hours while I was busy at the keyboard or doing background research. I also thank her for being patient with me through my “dark periods” and the occasional writer’s block.
To me, her support was crucial…and she did not hesitate for a moment when I mentioned my ideas to her…
So what exactly do I plan to do?
First, I am reducing my hours of “paid employment”. Starting this December, I will be working part-time on two or three different ideas/companies. Most of this work will have to do with innovation, entrepreneurship, venture capital…
It will involve working with start-ups (on a consulting basis), mentoring entrepreneurs, conducting workshops (on business plans, presentation and getting financed) and possibly seminars for entrepreneurs, students in various cities in India.
I will also be taking up public speaking engagements on Entrepreneurship, Innovation, Globalisation and of course Politics and Governance in India as well as abroad.
Second, I am setting aside at least two days a week to do things which I loosely combine under the umbrella of political reform/ political activism. This would essentially involve:
- Working on developing the foundations of a political ideology for tomorrow’s India (at the moment, this is loosely based on the premise of freedom and rooted in India’s “dharmic” ethos and culture; I need not mention that “Dharma” does not mean “Religion” here)
- Creating public awareness on the need for reforming India – beyond contributing to charities, NGOs or doing individual good. It would involve getting more people interested in active politics…it would also involve helping people understand the the fundamentals of politics and governance in India. In parallel, I will be working on creating a large group of policy-experts in various fields (e.g. economics, public health etc) who share a common desire to change and improve India
- Raising funds for what I would like to call the “Hope Summit” Some of you have heard this idea from me before…I intend to devote more time to actually make this happen
- and finally, working and advising some of the new political formations on a pro-bono basis. I hope to bring to this all my experience as a Board member and advisor to companies and businesses start-ups…In many ways, what we are attempting is very similar to starting a new company with a grand idea to change the world - think two students in a garage, 1998 and Google.
There are many more ideas than what I have listed here…Some of them will go away, others will be refined…some may never see the light of the day…
But one needs to start somewhere…and I see these as tentative first steps…
This will not be enough though…It just cannot be…We are up against a challenge of monumental proportions….A lot more will need to be done…and clearly it will be impossible to achieve any of this without your support..
I would like to hear from you about what else can be done…where else should I be focusing my energies on…Remember, there is nothing like a stupid suggestion…
So please do write in with your thoughts – either via comments to this post – or you can always email me personally (jai.dharma AT gmail.com )
Those of you who know me will guess that in the end, I may actually end up spending quite a lot more than two days a week on all of this….but that would not be bad at all…In the end, this has to be a full-time activity…
Eventually, the objective is to get actively and fully involved in the political process…and I don’t mean all by myself …but with all of you together…
I hope to be in a position within the next five years (and much sooner, if things so well), to be able to devote myself full-time to this activity.
How can you help and what can you do?
You can create awareness, give speeches/lectures/talks and think about the issues I have raised…You can help by creating forums, platforms, forming like-minded groups and talking amongst yourselves…The wider the discussion, the more creative it gets and hopefully even better ideas will emerge from this.
and most importantly…you can help by becoming financially independent (and beyond that, by having enough resources to contribute directly to this cause) - because unless you are financially secure and your family is well looked after, you will not be able to devote time to this.
Between ourselves, I have no doubt that we are significantly better “qualified”, committed and passionate about changing India than many of our “leaders” who claim to represent us.
As Babu Joseph wrote in an earlier comment on this blog:
We have only 2 options:
- Locating patriotic people who are willing to stand for elections on their on with the active support of other like minded people and trying to influence the political process directly and
- Trying to create public opinion in favor of good policies,programs and their implementation by whatever way possible so that politicians and decision makers are kept on track
I hope my efforts and these activities will strengthen and complement each other and I hope I can begin to draw people from my networks and relationships into this initiative. To me, this was actually the final reason for going public. I realized that the time for leveraging the relationships and the network I had was slipping by…If I leave it for too long, these two parts of my life will begin to get in the way of each other and eventually the synergies will begin to diminish…This was what prompted the decision to “come out of the closet”
For too long we have been saying this is someone else’s problem..
For too long we have been trying not to think about it..
For too long have we been finding reasons not to do anything
For too long we have been pretending everything is fine.
It is not.
We need to wake up…
I am throwing down the gauntlet…
Please join me in this effort..
- Contribute
- Support
- Spread the word
- Contribute with your skills
- Contribute with your ideas
If you have read this far, you deserve a special thanks…You have given me hope, courage and strength to carry on..
This is no ordinary struggle.. We are dreaming the impossible…but we have truth on our side.
I am now looking to your support, encouragement and help in this endeavor…It is a mammoth task…but one has to begin somewhere…I have taken the first step today.
Will you join me…in changing India?
Jai Hind, Jai Bharat!
***
P.S. I would like to end this with the remaining part of Sanjeev’s comment:
In brief, I detest those who pretend to ’sacrifice’ themselves for the country. Such people are almost invariably knaves or fools. Who really believes that the Nehru dynasty ’sacrfices’ itself for India? After Nehru who was an honest person, the rest have been knaves who have infected the country badly with the virus of corruption and who partake in illegal activities each day of their life.
Similarly we don’t want rich people who have no idea of the problems faced by the common man to allegedly ’sacrifice’ for us. Such people (e.g. erstwhile aristocrats and ‘Rajas’) are largely fools whom we can do without.
…The point being - by ignoring the financial costs of contesting elections, we have created a monopoly in the parliament for knaves and fools. No sensible or non-corrupt people are to be found (there are still a few, luckily for us). This is not the way to run any society.
***
P.P.S. I am grateful to Varnam for spreading the word.
Next in the series: Some sensible and some wild ideas. Please read Step One and Changing India - Step 2
Related Posts
What is stopping you from joining active politics? (and Part II)
Fixing the “system” - getting down to the nuts and bolts
Lets come together to build a *new* and proud India
Coming Out of the Closet – Who is B Shantanu?
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