A Response to Suriya’s “Open Letter to Shantanu”

Dear Suriya,

First of all, thank you for your kind words of support, encouragement and hope. Although I had read your open letter a few days ago, I waited a while because I wanted to post a thoughtful response rather than rushing into a perfunctory acknowledgment.

Let me assure you that you are not alone in your principles and intentions. On this blog alone, you will find several like-minded, kindred souls…No doubt there are many many more out there…

The challenge is to organise, unite and take up this task together…On our own, we will almost certainly fail..Together, we have more than a fighting chance. As you wrote, we need “…the power of a united voice” and agreement on certain “core issues”.

Some of what you are suggesting is already happening…There is an increasing number amongst us who are using RTI laws to make their representatives and local officials accountable…We need more of this.

I would not worry too much about print media…Although it will remain important for many more years to come, long-term trends are not in its favour…There will come a time (in my opinion) within the next decade or so when print medium in India will begin to suffer the way it is beginning to suffer in the west (declining revenues and readership)…So while it is important that our voices/concerns are heard, we need not rely in newspapers now..we can leverage technology to do that.

I completely support you when you write, “I want members to bring up issues and incidents that need others’ attention”…This blog is an attempt at making this happen…and I would be very happy to support any other effort in this direction…There have been some experiments in India with citizens media..but to really make it work, I believe one needs a team of at least 4-5 committed people…otherwise it is unlikely to take off.

I agree when you say, “It is imperative that like minded groups and individuals unite.”…This is precisely the sentiment behind the Hope Summit that I have previously talked about. I have already begun some work to make this happen. In the next few days, I will post a request here asking for some volunteers to help me in this initiative.

One other idea which I am exploring is to have regular tele-conferences on matters/topics of current interest where a lot of people can come together and share their thoughts. Thanks to technology, the cost of doing and managing this is minimal – all it needs is someone with zeal and patience.

Believe me when I say that I am equally concerned as you are with the increasing fragmentation that we see around us…It does not help matters at all…What we need in these times is statesmanship…sadly I dont see that any of that amongst our leadership today. That does not mean all is lost…A beginning has been made…

From one, we are now two…Someday we will be four..and that is how it will grow…The important thing is not to loose sight of the main goal – a proud, resurgent Bharat/India where each one of us – regardless of religion, caste, region, sex has the opportunity to be the best we can. That is my dream…I hope you share that.

Jai Hind, Jai Bharat!
Shantanu

Related Posts:

Changing India – Step I 

Changing India – One Step at a Time