Kapil’s Khichadi
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I came across a discussion recently that suggested that it was time to rid our Mandirs and Community Organisations of the elders who control them, and to replace them with our youth. We live in a world of bandwagon politics that thrives on slogans and in appeasing to get easy applause at the expense of any detailed inspection on merits or otherwise of what is being proposed.
What is it that drives such an agenda? Dare I say, often there are multiple reasonsthat become a Khichadi of despair and ignorance. Just the right time for those who might wish to play their mischief.We must of course begin with an honest debate.
Are all our Mandirs and Community Centres run properly? Most are, but some are not.
Are those in charge of them competent? Some are, but some are not.
Do they serve for the good of the communityand its welfare? Some do, but some don’t.
You can see the thread of the answers, in my view many of our Mandirs and Community Centres are run satisfactorily in many respects. Some of them can certainly improve and by so doing, they would become even more effective and useful. Some of them are not run properly and have people in power who are there for their own greed, and often abuse that power and the resources that come with the high office.
I know of Mandirs and Community Organisations that have people in charge who in my view should be behind bars, let alone let lose in any Dharmic establishment.
I reject the one size fits equation that the elders must move aside for the youth. Never. The youth must prove their competence. They need to show their dedication by their deeds. I have witnessed on many occasions what looks like very well-educated youngsters who come into an organisation like the whirlwind. Their impatience for power becomes clear and very quickly their actual productive work decreases, but their tenacity to undermine the same organisation and its leadership becomes their active objective.
The rite of passage to leadership is one that we must be careful about. The elders that we might be so quick to dismiss, happen to be the ones who have stayed and done the groundwork for decades. We cannot undermine that dharmic service to our community by equating it with the bad apples that we would find in some organisations.
The one thing that does bother me often is the silence of these good men and women. They know who the rogues are, yet they remain silent. Silence is not always golden; silence allows the corrupt elements time and space to infiltrate and do their adharmic work.
The answer to many of our problems was and still is the same. We need right-minded men and women in our community who are aware of the bad apples, to do something about it. At the same time, the young from our community need to show their commitment by becoming members, working steadfastly, and building numbers within organisations so that over a period of time they can affect change for the good. The revolution we need is in people’s behaviour, in people’s thinking and in how we as a community better serve our institutions.
People have asked me to start a public debate. I accept a reviewwould be useful. Whether it’s me or someone else is not an issue, I guess we should visit this once lockdown is out of the way.
