Dec 19, 2008

It is never too late to react ! Part 1 : The Invite

How many of us still think about the 26th November incident these days? Its hardly a month now and it looks like it has faded out of peoples mind except for the ones who were directly affected. The patriotic sms’, blog entries, formal and informal debates, everything related to terrorism has taken a backstage now. Well, that’s human tendency, especially for us Indians, since we are slowly getting accustomed to being a victim of such injustice.

Whatever happened last month in Mumbai is something that still disturbs me. We have had similar attacks in our country, but I must admit none of them had affected me to this extent. It was more of a feeling of helplessness even though I had no friends or relatives who were directly involved. I was confused if it was out of patriotism or out of a fear to live in this country from now on. If it is the latter, how long is it going to continue? And isn’t it going to be even tougher for the future generations to survive in India ? But what I can do all alone ?

I should thank our Smita for it was this post of hers that inspired me. She had mentioned something very honestly, which made me realize- what are we bloggers doing other than ranting about such incidents in our blog? Nothing at all. What can I possibly do other than writing a post, receiving comments and replying for them?

I was absolutely clueless until Dec 2nd when I casually mentioned my state of mind to Ram, a working colleague of mine. There was a spark in his eyes, which made me ask if both of us could conduct an event, some activity like a peace rally. The intuition didn’t go wrong as he was also in a similar confused state. He too wanted to do something to raise his voice against what is happening in our country today. Probably, it is not we alone; everyone else is going through a similar state of mind. It is just that more often than not, we hesitate to ask each other and most of our initiatives remain within ourselves. Ram immediately called another friend of his and the very next day, three of us had a brainstorming session. We had our focus on the objectives, but were confused on what to do. Three of us turned out to four in a day, four became ten by the next day and ten became eighteen by the end of the fourth day. All of us were like-minded working professionals and that’s the only common thing between us. We named ourselves ‘Lets Change’; the name might sound very ordinary because much of our time wasn’t spent on thinking on what to call us. After all, whats in a name !!!

Together we discussed on the feasibility of the project and finalized the objectives. We didn’t want to concentrate on the Mumbai terror attack. Of course, the attack was the reason, it ignited us to go ahead; but we wanted to voice our generalized concern on the present pathetic situation of our country, the change that everyone expects and the role that we could play in going about changing. The discussions then proceeded to what-to rather than how-to. A peace rally happens all the time, and moreover such rallies, especially in a sensitive city like Chennai, would eventually be politicized. The next option was to go through a fasting session on the decided day, but then again, fasting sounded too cliché for our cause. After a couple of options, we zeroed in on a silent protest. We decided to remain silent on a particular day to voice our opinion; enough of sitting back and cribbing about what has happened. As working professionals, we need to be socially responsible too and realize that a handsome salary or a property in the most happening area doesn’t actually mean success. Then again, the questions of why concentrate on the working community aroused. We aren’t; we would be happy if others joined too. It was easier for us to spread about the event among the corporate since most of us came from different organizations.

People, we are conducting the event on the 20th of this month in Chennai near the Chepauk cricket stadium. We had sent invitations through mailers and sms to almost everyone we knew. Rest is for the invitees to decide if they really want to join us. Even if are just five of us, we would sit with our mouth covered from 9 am to 1 pm on Saturday and that’s certain. I am personally inviting my fellow Chennai bloggers and also extending this invite to anyone who accidently bumps into V-Lokam. If you cant make it up, please pass on this information to anyone whom you think are socially responsible. You might face a similar question that I was asked while inviting – “Don’t you think it is too late?” for which the reply from my end was – “Do you think so? How often have you promptly reacted to such incidents?”

Below is one of the invite that we sent across. Special thanks to Sangeetha for the content in the invite.





Next -- It is never too late to react! Part 2 : The silent protest

19 comments:

Smita said...

It indeed is never too late...

I always believe in the fact that if we realise that we need to do something half the problem is solved.

We need to change to make a difference.

And trust me Vimal we middle class people are such huge in nos that if we decide to come out together we can make a difference....

Good luck for your silent march & thanks for the mention, glad to know that I made you think :)

Sangeetha Janachandran said...

Good to see that you are doing something about it rather than just thinking :) :) awesome..as always u and ur blog - JUST WOW...

Stay blessed Vims :) Wishing you just the best :)

Anonymous said...

Have spread the word around. As I told you, will try make it; but with A it is pretty difficult.

And no...it is never too late!

Anonymous said...

Nice initiative dude :)

Vishesh said...

nice :)

Anonymous said...

i wish i was thr too... however, wish u all the best... I hope ur noble cause doesn't go unnoticed...

AV said...

chk it out!

http://apensievetoofull.blogspot.com/2008/12/and-another.html

cheers!

Sakhi said...

no it is never too late to react but i feel sad when i see these things again and again and feel frustated when i see that there is no end to this and there is no govt action to curb it further... just empty talks!! :(

wish you luck for your silent march

Anonymous said...

Excellent initiative .. I'll pass this on to folks I know in Chennai

Rakesh said...

:|

Bhargavi said...

have forwarded to almost everyone in my mailbox .. good luck!!

Reema said...

Very good intiative. I guess u must be there now. I m late in commenting. All the best.

Anonymous said...

Dude,
I might sound extremely critic on this aspect but I guess I have to. Main beacuse almost a month after that incident, I am one of those guys eagerly tracking the nation's progress on a daily basis.

What in the world are you achieving by shutting your mouth and sitting idle for hours together? There have been like 100s of them who have done that before - what have they achieved? You think the politicians will change? ou think the terrorists will change? You think you will gain anything apart from some useless publicity?

What is the difference this MOUTHSHUT.com gonna bring when compared to doing nothing? I'm sorry buddy but this is sheer waste of time. I had voiced this opinion to one of your fav blog followers too. Instead what if you guys could silently collect some money and raise a fund for the poor who were dead? Those who didnt manage to get the govt aid? There aer people in Mumbai who raised money to buy good bullet proofs for police men. That is what I call ACTION!

While I apreciate the way you empatize the terror attack and victims, I must say you are doing nothing productive - instead you are being counter-productive!

Smita said...

How did it go? How was the attendance?

Anonymous said...

A great initiative. I am a little late in commenting. So, how did it go?

Bhargavi said...

hoped it went well .. sorry cudnt make it .. share some pics soon !!

Varun said...

Fantastic initiative! It is never ever too late for anything!

J P Joshi said...

I just saw this today. I would have surely come. Like you, most have been wondering what to do? Each one of us does things in his own way but then a movement where more than one come together, even if silently, helps focus our collective energy on the cause of coming together. It also gives a chance to people who are not as resourceful as you to participate, rather than wondering what to do.

Request: Please do let me know your next event. Would love to join, if I am in Chennai.

Indian Home Maker said...

Reading this after reading the second post. Nice initiative.

Hats off!