Cause, and effort

CHANGE AGENTS : They are like you and me. Only they have the drive to take that first step towards bringing change. Sameer Shisodia meets a few people who volunteer for a pet cause.

We often hear of those who are passionate about a cause and leave a huge positive impact on society. They drive consensus, bring about significant change single-handed, and even change the world and its thinking when it comes to what they believe in. They are the shining stars of the altruistic world, and their drive and energy is commendable and for most of us, incredible!

You and I get up on weekday mornings to an alarm clock. There’s just enough time to get ready, battle traffic and get to work, where a long list of pending to-dos stares at you as you arrive.

And with smartphones and connectivity everywhere, these lists are omnipresent and the applications that rule our lives omniscient. If you have kids, you have an even tighter schedule. Weekends pass in a flash — even more packed with grocery lists, long pending wishlists to tick off. Living your life takes up all of it, doesn’t it? Amidst all this, the idea of adding a few hours, or even days of effort seems like just too much to ask of yourself.

But many do it — and not for any personal reward but the sense of responsibility they feel for a cause they’ve come to believe in. For them it’s not about leading big battles, or bringing about massive change. It’s about the little they can, when they can. It does not bring glory — they’re usually quick to acknowledge others who put in more significant effort and get more visible results — and sometimes even the satisfaction of having made a visible impact is not really there. But such volunteering is what keeps a lot of ideas and causes alive.

Thejesh, a techie, has earlier helped out UbuntuAtWork through part time volunteering mostly with their website, fundraising etc. This was when he had a regular job, commute and responsibilities.

He later got involved more deeply at Janaaagraha where he volunteered full time, as a technologist wanted to take a break for an year. “I was looking for a volunteering opportunity in the area of democracy and citizen participation. Janaagraha was the best place I could find in Bangalore. I loved the team, their enthusiasm. It was fun. I volunteered for a year and then continued as a consultant.”

Not everyone gets involved that seriously. But that’s no reason to not do something. A few years ago, Varun Pandey, a techie in the telecom domain, visited the National Association for the Blind thanks to a college senior who is more deeply involved; this left a significant impression on him.

Varun has since made it a point to go over and support NAB in whatever way he can — attending events, spreading the word for them, and making sure he took his kids there to develop a sense of empathy and responsibility in them as well. Unsurprisingly, Varun also is very active in managing and keeping vibrant his college alumni network, something he puts in significant effort towards.

It’s a common thread amongst many who volunteer their time — they do it for more than one cause. It usually takes, or builds, good networking skills, a sense of responsibility and giving back, and even thankfulness for one’s own fortune. “I found great energy at NAB. It was an experience that made me thankful to god for whatever we have in life”, says Varun.

Vineet, an entrepreneur, does it for many reasons, amongst which one key one is to leave a set of positive values and options for the kids “in a world where they’re largely growing up without any of those”.

He has been involved with an NGO in his native district, Uttara Kannada, for a while now and helps out with sustainability awareness as well as human development agendas such as better healthcare. More recently, he also devoted a lot of energy towards the India Against Corruption movement — especially its awareness at the grassroots. “It’s not always easy to work with large causes which have audacious goals” but he also believes that it must be done, and not by a nebulous “them”. “It’s the right thing to do”, as he explains it, is a simple, powerful reason.

That fine line between great intentions, and the little first step towards getting involved, is what sets these folks apart. They’re just like you and me, but have not put it off for another day, or resigned cynically to a “what can one person do” state of being.

Mayank Rungta is probably a familiar face across corporate campuses, where he has single-handedly spread word on behalf of the Ride A Cycle Foundation to encourage folks to try cycling for leisure, for commutes and for us all. His efforts have seen a fair amount of success, as well as a lot many doubting Thomases mocking the idea itself, but that’s hardly deterred him, or the numerous riders who have turned up at these sessions to help clarify doubts people had, or even let them try out their bikes.

Small, easy, fun steps to support something you believe in, isn’t it? Mayank, like others, later got involved with initiatives around the environment and sustainable living. “I am focused mostly on afforestation as of now. Most of these projects require a good amount of time and commitment but if you are not coordinating a project you can always pitch in with whatever amount of time you have. I help out once in a while with waste management too.”

Is it tough? Of course. Time is always in short supply. And given the traffic in Bangalore we tend to minimise our travel to what’s really needed. But the benefits easily outweigh these barriers. For these volunteers, the benefits seen through their efforts were all they wanted to talk about when asked this question!

Deepak Majipatil has been a backbone for the Ride A Cycle Foundation that has been key to the growth and popularity of cycling in the city. He puts in at least a few hours on a daily basis, managing the finances and back-end organisational work, especially for the Tour of Nilgiris, RACF’s bike tour which has initiated many into cycling over the years.

He’s cycling more himself and “It has surely increased my fitness levels.” And despite the lows and highs of his business, he derives a lot of satisfaction from the impact RACF has made. The family is very supportive as well, and encourages him to ride more often as well!

Mayank rides around, obviously, and so “traffic is never a problem.” I have seen that afforestation can fix a lot of the problems we see today and it appears to be more viable as it has lesser dependencies on people/government etc. unlike waste management which has a higher number of failure points.”

Some causes and efforts do have the potential for creating conflicts of interest — and face some amount of opposition or cynicism, but most people around are appreciative and supportive of these causes. Overall, there is clearly a lot of positive energy in the people devoting time and effort towards such causes.

So if you’ve had even a fleeting feeling in the past that you could positively impact something, or that some issue needs attention, just get started. The whats, hows, etc. will sort themselves out — do also take a look at the resources listed in the box. As the cliched saying goes, it’s many tiny drops that make an ocean. Varun, Deepak, Vineet and Mayank have chosen to play their role as tiny drops without waiting for someone else to come along and do it.  And so can we.