I am back again with a new edition of Monday Truclusions. But just a couple of days ago I was wondering, what do I write about! As they say when you really desire for something the universe conspires to get you to what you desire for. It was Thursday evening and I was in my cab, on my way back home.
I was half asleep, half wondering about a topic for today’s column, when there was a beep on my phone. It was a message from my dear friend, Sunil, who is also a core committee member of the India Inclusion Summit. The message read “IIS kickstarts tomorrow,” and it continued to read, “More importantly JD alias Jaideep, the boss at KnowYourStar and the man who is busier than Narendra Modi will be there too!” 😀
No further invitation was required! I knew where my content for the week was coming from and as a bonus I was also getting to meet my good old friends. I also got to know that Rajni Bakshi, a legendary Gandhian, a freelance journalist and an author will be amidst us at the kick-start gathering. I was keen to listen to what Rajni ma’am had to say.
Setting The Social Curd
The circle began and everyone spoke of what their expectations were from IIS 2018. The Gandhian spoke after everyone; she being a social economist spoke about how a social change could take place. Rajni Bakshi was of the opinion that true inclusion is a huge social change and for a social change to happen a particular kind of environment has to be created in the society. She gave a beautiful analogy of how such an environment can be created through the curd story.
“For a perfect bowl of curd to set, five factors have to come together. First there has to be the right starter that is curd. Then the proportion of milk which has to be turned to curd. You can’t add a teaspoon of curd to a gallon of milk! Then it’s the right temperature. If the temperature is too high then the curd might turn sour. If it’s cold the curd might not set at all. Then it’s the amount of stirring that is required, because the right amount of stirring helps the perfect setting of curd. And then the most important factor that is patience. If one keeps checking on the curd and keeps disturbing the mix the result won’t be as desired.”
Similarly inclusion as a social change had the right starter with the IIS volunteers. However just like the right temperature, the right amount of pushing people is required. Just as the curd is stirred, there has to be internal agitation among people so that they are intrinsically motivated to bring the social change. The passion for a particular topic will vary from person to person. Most importantly one cannot lose hope if the desired change doesn’t happen as expected. Inclusion is a huge social change, and it requires a huge shift in the mindsets of people.
Question yourself how many times have we disturbed our curd and not let it set?
Ancient Wisdom For Present Reflection
The other very interesting thing Rajni Bakshi spoke of was the fine line between violence and non-violence. To help us relate, she narrated a story from the Mahabharata. It goes like this –
Two great warriors were fighting a battle using the best of their abilities. Both of them fought with great respect to righteousness. Finally one of them fell weak and was almost defeated. When the other warrior was about to make a fatal blow, he saw fear of death in his rival’s eyes. Suddenly just before he struck his blow he stopped. He told his enemy who was on the mat, “You are a Kshatriya, hence you are not allowed to be afraid before death. If I kill you now, it wouldn’t be right. Rise, collect yourself, and then we shall fight again. Let the best man win!”
Rajni questioned, “How many of us in such a situation would have done so? Most of us would say, keep your rival on the mat while he’s there. Do not give him the opportunity to regroup himself. I believe up there in the skies, they have stopped making such men anymore!”
Food For Thought
The last story Rajni Ma’am narrated was about the birth of “Satyagraha”. Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was new in South Africa. He was thrown out of St. Petersburg station, for entering a first class bogie in spite of being brown skinned. But giving up was not in the nature of the mahatma; he had nerves of steel. Instead of feeling anger, he was inspired to begin the Satyagraha, the weapon which played a crucial role during the freedom struggle!
Food for thought; most of us would have said this is not our cup of tea; let’s fly home why should I go through this humiliation?
Liked reading this? Then you might also like to read Monday Truclusions – Don’t Call The Game Off Before The Final Whistle Blows!
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