Frederick the Great said that “diplomacy without arms is like music without instruments..”
The 18th century Prussian monarch could have been delivering a prescient homily on leaders of this century, the uninspiring politicians whom we unfailingly vote to office but who are inspired by no muse, nor march to a distant drummer. Instead, bound by caste and narrow political vision, they are fixated, in our voter-driven polity, on re-election, rather than improving lives all around.
This is why, we were heartened when we noted the number of do-gooders and citizen groups that our fast-growing city has thrown up. For every Nandan Nilekani who has stepped in and filled the shoes of the non-performing political class, that mouths the slogans and platitudes but rarely lives up to expectations, there is a Whitefield Rising, a group of nameless, angry residents of this Bengaluru suburb, led by urban expert R.K. Misra and activist Nitya Ramakrishnan, who showed how spunk and a can-do spirit can change their neck of the woods. With over 13,000 members and growing, galvanized through the internet to harvest rainwater, clear garbage, and build roads, they have made the politician irrelevant. A sign of the times?
Former Police Commissioner M.N. Reddi revolutionized the police force through social media. With over 3.5 lakh followers on Twitter, Reddi and the Bengaluru City Police set a precedent for the rest of the country, with other cities emulating the model; Artist Baadal Nanjundaswamy, Bengaluru’s very own Banksy used satirical 3D art to embarrass inefficient authorities, placing a jaw-dropping 9-foot-long crocodile over a pothole in Sultanpalya as the BBMP ignored our deteriorating roads and infrastructure, and potholes that needlessly claimed precious lives.
So, here's to every single one of our achievers of 2015:
V. Ravichandar, the face of the TenderSURE project, who we doff our hats to, for transforming the city, making it pedestrian friendly, a city of the future. Olympian Jude Felix has dedicated his life to teaching under-privileged kids hockey; Arjuna Awardee Ashwini Nachappa is part of Clean Sports India, an initiative that brings ex-players back into the fold to run sports programmes without the menace of drugs.
Vikram Sampath, who found himself in the thick of controversy, is an ardent champion of our country’s heritage, working to introduce music as part of the primary school syllabus. Our districts have their fair share of heroes too; Raghavendra Prakash, the sub-inspector who has built toilets for women in the backward Pavagada taluk and B. Kantharajaiah, the pensioner who spreads awareness on solid waste management in his village in Tumakuru district.
In 2016, will it be Bengaluru Rising!
Read:
Citizen Clean way before Bharat went Swachh
Time to take a walk, motorists!
Read Right: Ek Step for Nilekani
This Sub-Inspector is a Do-Gooder
Still running, for sport, for children
The cop who showed the Twitterati how it’s done
For whom the goal is giving back
The artist who sheds no crocodile tears
Whitefielders, who paved the way
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