I can’t be the only one who took certain chapters in secondary school science extra seriously—he chapters on environment, natural disasters, man-made disasters and climate change. I observed many years later that this students’ seriousness of mine transcended into a teachers’ seriousness while I started teaching science to students in Class VIII. It was the summer of 2017. I had found myself going on my own tangents, with the students in front staring back blankly. I often left behind the paragraphs printed in the textbook, and started with how drought led to the civil war in Syria; how an earthquake in Nepal disrupted the whole country; how climate change is making the ice caps melt, all of which leads to rising temperatures, dry places become drier, food and water shortages, and mass migrations. It was maybe a bit too much for those 14-year-olds to take notes on, but I can’t be the only one who would have done that.
I can’t be the only one who cringes the minute he steps into a supermarket and enters a world of one-time-use-plastic. We progressed a bit too fast and the time has come to just say no to these capitalist, corporate-driven wants of ours. No to bottled water, no to the urge for that cola, no to food in plastic bags, no to 2-second pleasure-giving chocolates and candy bars. Basically, no to everything that’s one-time-use-plastic.
I can’t be the only one who thinks five times before printing something and then dies a little on the inside when he goes to the printer machine to collect the sheet and finds a whole stack of prints that colleagues decided to get and then forgot about them altogether, not even collecting them.
I can’t be the only one who struggles with getting over the fact that thousands and thousands of people decide to use their incredible cognitive gifts to fight each other. Deciding to use these gifts of foresight, planning, and manipulation to selfishly fight, defeat, and kill each other in the name of ethnicity, religion, or a claim over land. I recently finished an eight-month contract with a leading global humanitarian organisation that focuses on emergency healthcare. This last work experience made me discover the inner-eye that had been tightly shut inside me. I went and worked for few weeks in South Sudanese refugee camps. There, I worked with the most humble bunch of people I had ever met. They were all from South Sudan, working with the health promotion team in the camp. We were trying to figure out solutions to improve access to clean water and deal with the widespread issue of malnutrition amongst infants in the camp. These people had to flee their country because of the fights between their ethnic clan and another.
I went and worked with a team in Addis Ababa, in Ethiopia, with the aim of improving medical and mental health care for people who were forcefully repatriated from another country, after facing torture and violence. I was also part of a project in Nigeria where we figured out a way for a community to make their own fuel from the waste in the camp. The new fuel, for cooking, meant women didn’t have to leave the safety of the camp in search of firewood. Outside, there was always a chance of getting attacked by jihadi militants. Working on these projects made me fully come to terms with the privilege I hold by being someone who gets three square meals a day, a nice bed to sleep in each night, and a comfortable pair of shoes, without even struggling a tiny bit. I can’t be the only one who has realised that he for a long time unknowingly chosen to cover his inner-eye from things that really matter.
I can’t be the only one who has deep-rooted issues with the society he lives in. A society that has somehow proudly accepted treating its women as lesser beings; a society that basks in the glory of its rich heritage of being progressive and forward-thinking, and at the same time having little scope and opportunity for half its population just because of their gender. We have stereotyped roles for women. No matter how sick my mother feels, she wakes up at 6am to prepare breakfast, keep the lunch boxes ready, and still get dressed to leave for work, while the rest of us leisurely wake up, go to play sports, and complain about our socks not being dry.
In late 2017, while I was in Uganda conducting field research with adult groups in an extremely remote rural village, I came across a story of a couple with six kids. They had a small farm where they grew bananas, potatoes, some greens, and raised chickens. Out of the six kids, two were infants, one of them still breast-feeding, and the remaining four were in school. It was the woman’s role to go and work in the field, keep the house clean, cook food for the family, wash school uniforms for the kids, make sure the kids do their schoolwork, go to fetch water, and go to the market for daily necessities. And the role of the man was to collect the banana harvest from his wife, go to the town to sell it and return after 15 days, having wasted all the money on drinks and gambling. I had then conducted some research on the same project in the slums of Mumbai and the stories of women working as house-help for rich Mumbaikar families were no different. The #MeToo movement will never reach them. We have a long history of oppression against women, undoubtedly coming from the male fear of being outperformed. Despite the belief that they are slightly physically stronger, men have passed all the hard work on to women. Not by design, I have worked on nine different jobs or projects under nine different female bosses across three continents. I can’t be the only one who cares that entire books can be written highlighting the learnings from each female boss I have had and how they inspired be by opening up my world.
I know we are a lot of you who feel the same way. Some of us are not able to do much about it, though. We have to take these feelings of ours and turn them into actions. The tide of change only starts with us going out, doing our bit, and inspiring others to follow suit. What’s the best way to do this? What would it take for all of us to start taking actions against what we think is wrong or causing problems? I have realised I am at the peak of my uselessness sitting in a plush office in front of a screen. For me, the most satisfying days of the year are when I am out there with the people and with nature, figuring out ways of reducing and lessening the effects of the problems we face. I can’t be the only one who has figured this out.
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