Be the change that you wish to see in the world. Be the voice that attempts to silence the cozy living room discussions

OF LATE, I HAVE found myself being an active (and sometimes passive) participant in discussions pertaining to the political, socioeconomic and developmental landscape in India. While the theme, tone and content of each of these discussions is expectedly varied in nature, there is one constant amongst most, if not all, of these discussions. They seem to thrive in the comfort of seemingly educated, deep-thinking, passionate and — dare I say — “distantly patriotic” folks, myself included. The origin and intent of such discussions are generally well meant, barring the odd self-serving “soliloquy” justifying one’s decision to be “here” rather than “there”. Interestingly, all of us have a voice in such discussions and more often than not, we choose to voice it, it is irrelevant which side we are on.

The discussions make for interesting hearing and possibly viewing as well. Contrasting views on the recent political happenings, trending headlines, country’s infrastructure (or lack thereof), sporting developments and the works are presented and passionately debated. Heck, even the IPL and recent Bollywood releases are discussed and dissected with surgeon-like precision. Don't get me wrong, for this is all good in that it depicts a genuine and deep-rooted desire to see India fare better, albeit through the global prism. The positives of such a discussion do not end there. In my view, Indians abroad have the unique advantage of the “dual vision” that not many can boast of. There's the internal view of the country they spent a great portion of their lives before moving abroad and the external view by virtue of the wider horizon that they are now a part of. All the aforementioned positives notwithstanding, there is the larger question that seems to have been playing snakes and ladders with my mind of late. Are cozy living-room discussions the best we can do with our voice? A few random encounters seem to have lent further credence to this question and to possibly penning this article as well.

During the course of my professional engagements, I tended to chance upon a European colleague who seemed fairly familiar with Indian current affairs. While that certainly did not surprise me given the globally connected world we live in today, it sure did pique my interest into knowing more. As it turns out, he had spent a fair amount of time in India working with an Indian entrepreneur who had returned home to set-up an initiative to bolster women’s education in rural India. From what I gathered from the conversation, the initiative was so well thought out and executed that each of those rural families were fully onboard with the concept and supportive of it.

That’s not all. The icing on the cake was that the initiative encouraged young males in the region to also take up education in order to be a “worthy suitor” for the educated and now ambitious women who were a part of the programme. While the story seems inspirational in itself from numerous reasons, I came away from that discussion with something else as well. It was the fact that someone had used his voice for more than just discussions!

I recently bumped into yet another professional colleague of mine in what seemed like eons. As part of casual catch-up talk, I was informed that he had spent the past couple of years in India setting up extensions of his business. This has to be purely commercial, you must think. I don’t blame you. I did the same! The fact that our first reaction was to align such an effort with commercial motives is probably the best representation of the “materialistic malaise”.

As it turns out, however, he had moved there for a few years with his entire family to set up the business. It wasn’t because the commerce demanded it, however, and not because he had some great business idea that demanded his immediate attention. It was simply because he believed India needed something like this. Yes, it may turn out to be the profitable venture the entrepreneur in him hoped, but that wasn’t the drive. Another one of those voices put to good use, I thought to myself.

While the anecdotes are a mere case in point, it triggered another thought in my mind. When was the last time the seemingly passionate voice used for that debate resonated with similar thoughts the morning after? How many have the privilege of global education and exposure — and I don’t say this lightly as many have earned it the hard way! Is the voice that resonates only in that comfortable ambience as much to blame for the very issues that it discusses and commentates on? That may well comprise the next living room discussion. And, perhaps, from that, yet another one. But, as well intentioned as they maybe, that’s all these are — discussions!

That life is a journey is well-known even if not widely believed. Sure, there is the usual humdrum of life, the pressing need to provide, the responsibilities of near and dear ones, the personal goals and the list could go on. That aside, surely the imprints of this wonderful odyssey have to extend beyond us and ours! To those that will shape the tomorrow for ours, to those that the voice puts to its rights, to those that simply can’t fathom the life that we find mundane (at times at least!), to those that need the voice and to those that may somewhere become the voice.

Yes, one might argue, and appropriately so, that such discussions are not limited to plush couches of Indians abroad, but that would simply distract from the point at hand. Yes, many Indians abroad and back home are doing more than just discussions but imagine how many more we could do with. Yes, this is easier said (or written) than done but then someone needs to write it.

Some things are beyond our control but so seemed some of the lofty achievements that we now take for granted. Yes, there is the conundrum called life but wouldn’t that always be the case! I am reminded of the famous saying by a certain someone who truly embodied the tenets of this article, “Be the change that you wish to see in the world”. Be the voice that attempts to silence the cozy living room discussions.