As an Indian, before I make a point I am compelled to tell a story. Better be it from Mahabharata the greatest epic from my country. Okay, here it is… the story is about who is more generous among the two brothers, Arjuna and Karna. And the judge is none other than Lord Krishna.
Arjuna once asked Krishna while walking on the seashore close to sunset time, "Krishna, giving away things is pretty easy, why is Karna referred to as ‘Daana Karna’ (The charitable one)? Anyone can do that. I can do that too". Hearing this Krishna converted the sand dunes on the seashore to gold and asked Arjuna to distribute all the gold dunes before sunset. Arjuna took a big pan and started distributing the gold to poor. As sun was setting he was exhausted, and he couldn't finish distributing all the gold, there was too much to give and too little time. He understood that there is no way he can finish giving away all that gold on the seashore by dusk and look helplessly at Krishna. Now Krishna calls Karna and asks him to help him distribute the gold to the poor. Karna stands there and points to gold dunes to each person waiting for alms and says "This one is yours, that one is yours..." and he distributes all the gold in no time.
The moral of the story as my mother says is ‘Charity is easy, but not when you try to hog the limelight. Same goes with starting a revolution to trigger a positive change. You need not be the front runner all the time. A good leader always delegates’.
When I first heard about #IceBucketChallenge, for the first time in 2014, I smirked and thought it was an absolutely foolish idea to waste so much water, especially when you know that several people are dying of thirst. Some of my wise friends too shared the same notion and yet diplomatically donated money for the cause instead of wasting water. There were others who ended up saving a hundred bucks and wasting a bucket full of water. Then a few weeks later I heard about the #RiceBucketChallenge and quickly concluded that why would anyone want to pour a bucket full of rice grains on them. I was wrong.
That was the time I was recovering from the ridiculous outcome of Indian elections, where people of India were giving the winning politicians a milk bath and worshipping them as Gods months after the results. Yeah, that is true. We Indians do indulge in such crazy antics to show our love and dedication to real life idols, who are mostly politicians or film stars. We do this in full awareness of the fact that half of our nation’s children are malnourished. In India hero worship won't go away in days, it takes months sometimes years altogether and we work very hard to stay in such comatose state. I will reserve my thoughts on Indian hypocrisy for later. For now let us stay with my twisted perception about Rice Bucket Challenge. I smirked more without even bothering to read what it is all about and forgot about it. I was terribly wrong.
A few months later I was attending a workshop for journalists organized by United States consulate and happened to meet Manju Latha Kalanidhi, who was my fellow participant and the innovator of the Rice Bucket Challenge. That’s when I started following her work on social media to see the massive change she triggered by adding one additional letter “R” to the much talked about Ice Bucket Challenge. I couldn’t help appreciating her wisdom. She calls it a Desi Challenge for Desi Needs. Asks everyone to cook or buy one bucket of Rice / Biryani and feed the needy and then tag #RiceBucketChallenge and challenge your friends.
I followed the Rice Bucket Challenge campaign closely and critically to see how she shared details. The critic in me always questioned ‘what is in it for her?’ I saw a lot of people irrespective of their social standing taking up the challenge, donating rice to the needy and posting pictures on Facebook with the hashtag Rice Bucket Challenge. Manju Latha is no where seen in those pictures. Total strangers from all across the world started donating rice to the needy. Manju as I fondly call her now, created the joy of giving and sharing in people. Rice Bucket Challenge reached South Asian countries and is still spreading to other continents as well.
As I recall the story of Karna who lived up to his title ‘The charitable one’, by showing off their prowess in donating gold dunes in a jiffy, I could draw similarities with the campaign Manju has created which now I appreciate whole heartedly and apologise for snubbing the idea when I heard about it first. And am so glad that my perception about the campaign was wrong. Manju is a true leader who did not care to be the frontrunner of the impressive campaign and yet leading it in her own way by creating more leaders every day. Thank you Manju for starting the Rice Bucket Challenge. You are my hero.
Arjuna once asked Krishna while walking on the seashore close to sunset time, "Krishna, giving away things is pretty easy, why is Karna referred to as ‘Daana Karna’ (The charitable one)? Anyone can do that. I can do that too". Hearing this Krishna converted the sand dunes on the seashore to gold and asked Arjuna to distribute all the gold dunes before sunset. Arjuna took a big pan and started distributing the gold to poor. As sun was setting he was exhausted, and he couldn't finish distributing all the gold, there was too much to give and too little time. He understood that there is no way he can finish giving away all that gold on the seashore by dusk and look helplessly at Krishna. Now Krishna calls Karna and asks him to help him distribute the gold to the poor. Karna stands there and points to gold dunes to each person waiting for alms and says "This one is yours, that one is yours..." and he distributes all the gold in no time.
Manju Latha Kalanidhi, founder of Rice Bucket Challenge
The moral of the story as my mother says is ‘Charity is easy, but not when you try to hog the limelight. Same goes with starting a revolution to trigger a positive change. You need not be the front runner all the time. A good leader always delegates’.
When I first heard about #IceBucketChallenge, for the first time in 2014, I smirked and thought it was an absolutely foolish idea to waste so much water, especially when you know that several people are dying of thirst. Some of my wise friends too shared the same notion and yet diplomatically donated money for the cause instead of wasting water. There were others who ended up saving a hundred bucks and wasting a bucket full of water. Then a few weeks later I heard about the #RiceBucketChallenge and quickly concluded that why would anyone want to pour a bucket full of rice grains on them. I was wrong.
That was the time I was recovering from the ridiculous outcome of Indian elections, where people of India were giving the winning politicians a milk bath and worshipping them as Gods months after the results. Yeah, that is true. We Indians do indulge in such crazy antics to show our love and dedication to real life idols, who are mostly politicians or film stars. We do this in full awareness of the fact that half of our nation’s children are malnourished. In India hero worship won't go away in days, it takes months sometimes years altogether and we work very hard to stay in such comatose state. I will reserve my thoughts on Indian hypocrisy for later. For now let us stay with my twisted perception about Rice Bucket Challenge. I smirked more without even bothering to read what it is all about and forgot about it. I was terribly wrong.
A few months later I was attending a workshop for journalists organized by United States consulate and happened to meet Manju Latha Kalanidhi, who was my fellow participant and the innovator of the Rice Bucket Challenge. That’s when I started following her work on social media to see the massive change she triggered by adding one additional letter “R” to the much talked about Ice Bucket Challenge. I couldn’t help appreciating her wisdom. She calls it a Desi Challenge for Desi Needs. Asks everyone to cook or buy one bucket of Rice / Biryani and feed the needy and then tag #RiceBucketChallenge and challenge your friends.
Rice Bucket Challenge kicked off in Philippines
I followed the Rice Bucket Challenge campaign closely and critically to see how she shared details. The critic in me always questioned ‘what is in it for her?’ I saw a lot of people irrespective of their social standing taking up the challenge, donating rice to the needy and posting pictures on Facebook with the hashtag Rice Bucket Challenge. Manju Latha is no where seen in those pictures. Total strangers from all across the world started donating rice to the needy. Manju as I fondly call her now, created the joy of giving and sharing in people. Rice Bucket Challenge reached South Asian countries and is still spreading to other continents as well.
As I recall the story of Karna who lived up to his title ‘The charitable one’, by showing off their prowess in donating gold dunes in a jiffy, I could draw similarities with the campaign Manju has created which now I appreciate whole heartedly and apologise for snubbing the idea when I heard about it first. And am so glad that my perception about the campaign was wrong. Manju is a true leader who did not care to be the frontrunner of the impressive campaign and yet leading it in her own way by creating more leaders every day. Thank you Manju for starting the Rice Bucket Challenge. You are my hero.
