What should I pray for this New Year? What should I resolve to give up? For me, the answer is the same for both. I pray that I can give up our “chalta hai” attitude. My resolution is, that I will not “adjust pliz” any more. “Tolerance” has become an ugly word. I am ashamed of how much apathy in myself and in others I have spent my life tolerating. I will not be patient with:
• thoughtlessness in drivers on our crowded roads
• those that ignore queues
• those that refuse to wait their turn
• those that throw rubbish wherever, without a thought
• those who alight from expensive cars and haggle for one rupee with old women selling greens from their baskets on a dusty road.
• those that bully or wantonly hurt others
The list goes on…
Above all, I resolve to raise my voice, however feeble, against inequality, poverty, gender violence, prejudices towards sexual orientation, colour, caste or class. I may not be a believer of any formal religion but that does not give me the right to mock those who believe. I may be straight but that does not make someone who is not, twisted or crooked. I may be formally educated but that certainly does not make me wiser or more evolved.
Speaking for myself, what CAN I do to fight against this “chalta hai” attitude? First and foremost, I can stop thinking, “What difference can one person alone make?” I can give a little bit of my time and resources as a volunteer, teacher and trainer; I can do my bit to keep the surroundings of our residence cleaner; I can do something to make the lives of the less privileged just a little a bit better; I can help to educate the children of my house-help; I can donate blankets or clothes I no longer need; I can simply speak up when I see harassment, unfairness or corruption; I can teach my children this. But then they, happily like many youngsters, have learnt this so well, they probably will be more effective in spreading the message.
So, this then is my prayer for the New Year. Not for world peace or eradication of poverty throughout the planet. But simply that I myself can wake up and shake off apathy and become intolerant enough to say, “Enough!”
Rani Rao Innes is the senior partner and lead trainer of Link Communications, a specialized communications skills company based in the UK. She has regularly presented courses and training workshops for private and public business sectors as well as students and teachers in the UK, Belgium, Malaysia, Japan and India. She has also been active in theatre for 30 years and was the director of Canterbury Players in Kent for eight years.
Very nicely written. I agree with your thoughts and share them.
This touches a chord!