Miles to go before we sleep......
After a few "Non Politician" breeds came out to contest this years poll, and a fewer of them deciding to go independent, the discussion is on if these non politicians can provide a "sustainable" alternative to the "street smart" politicians who will do anything to stay in the race. There is a opinion that these independents will not only fail to win, but they will set a wrong precedent, and this will affect the decision of other professionals who are considering politics. Even a friend of mine, in a reply to my earlier post, endorses this view.
So I was pondering on this, and why dose even great administrators find it hard to win in a general election? Is our Indian electorate is too corrupt that they will vote only to those who pay them for their vote? Will the failure of these few professionals will demoralize others?
After a lot of pondering, and a lot of discussion with my friends, and of course a lot of reading and watching some debates, I understood one basic fact that is key to the success, be it in corporate world or in politics. "Change doesn't happens overnight". Being a change consultant myself, I know how tough it is to bring in a change even in an organization. As Newton states in his Law of Inertia, people tends to be in their current state unless acted upon by a net external force. Especially in India, the "Chalta Hai" attitude is very prevalent and we don't want to change, even if it is a change for better.
So I was pondering on this, and why dose even great administrators find it hard to win in a general election? Is our Indian electorate is too corrupt that they will vote only to those who pay them for their vote? Will the failure of these few professionals will demoralize others?
After a lot of pondering, and a lot of discussion with my friends, and of course a lot of reading and watching some debates, I understood one basic fact that is key to the success, be it in corporate world or in politics. "Change doesn't happens overnight". Being a change consultant myself, I know how tough it is to bring in a change even in an organization. As Newton states in his Law of Inertia, people tends to be in their current state unless acted upon by a net external force. Especially in India, the "Chalta Hai" attitude is very prevalent and we don't want to change, even if it is a change for better.
Any person who wants to win over these billions of people cant do it over night, or one election. It is a long process, it might take years, it might take decades, to win over, the hearts and votes of the Indians. How many people can wait for so long to do what they think is right. How many people will continue to think that they are right when others don't subscribe to their views again and again. How many of us have the perseverance to stay in the race.
Especially, our generation is the fast food generation, we want everything fast. For us, waiting one year for increment is a long wait, so we jump companies in 6 months. Do you think we can stay put for years and decades for achieving our ultimate target.
The Mumbai attack has made many people started thinking about the "State of our Nation". Its a good beginning. But taking a plunge into politics and thinking that we can bring in an immediate fix to the problem is by all stretch an unpractial thinking. And I dont think the great minds like Capt. Gopinath or Meera Sanyal would be thinking of such a quick fix now. This journey is like a Marathon. Every marathon has to start with one step. This Marathon has just started, "Miles to go before we sleep".
This has to be like a Olympic torch run, if they want to pass on the torch, let there be some one who can run the distance before passing it on to another one. The most important thing is that, the fire in the torch should be on all the time.
The way the world behaves decides the way an ordinary man thinks, but, the way a true leader thinks decides the way the world behaves. Hence, the failure of these few brave front runners might affect the way a few people think, that is in fact good for our nation, we don't need herds to be in the politics, as Meera Sanyal says in the blog "It used to be said in Jawaharlal Nehru’s time that such was his charisma, if even a lamppost stood in the Congress’s name, it would win an election. Today, we have no Jawaharlal. But we have many lampposts". The failure of these brave hearts will help us get rid of new lampposts from entering the politics. So, for those who are ready to play the long innings, this is the start that will go in the history of our nation as a start that changed our nation. As a start that made India a super power. Be happy we are alive to witness this start.
Jai Hind.
