Now, I am the kind of person who carries a box of tissues even to a comedy movie…just in case there is some mush or teary moment. Been told a thousand times by embarrassed friends and family who have to listen to my sniffs and sobs “It’s just a movie…it’s not true. STOP crying!”
With Satyamev Jayate, it’s all true! The kind of truth that's stranger than fiction. But while I shuddered at the sight of dowry
deaths and medical malpractices …..wept profusely at horrifying stories of
ill-treated aged parents and female foeticides….shook my head in disbelief at
the way we were treating our natural resources and some communities, I was
mainly overwhelmed by the greatness and the goodness that still exist in
our society. To me, the show was a
celebration of people who have taken compassion to a whole new level…and have
lived by the only thing that makes us different from other forms of life - our
conscience.
This post is not about the epidemic of malpractices that seems to have crippled our nation. The show has covered that well enough. It’s about trying to analyse the how and the why behind those who are able to look beyond their immediate selves. In short, I am curious to know what heroes are made of….
While I haven’t personally come across female foeticide, I
have seen/heard real instances (in varying degrees) of dowry claims, untouchability, alcoholism,
medical malpractices, domestic violence, resistance to inter-caste/religion
marriages and sexual abuse. I am myself guilty of three
things shown in the show – not conserving water as well as I should; not buying
organic food (an indirect way of raising my voice against toxics in our food);
not being able to support my Ma in her old age, as much as I would have liked
to (being in different continents does not help). I have worked with children with
disabilities….so it’s another subject close to my heart. That sums up my
involvement with the 12 issues that were highlighted.
But how do some people manage to break free from this
self-centred pattern? What gives them the strength to have different dreams…dreams
that will benefit not just themselves and their immediate family, but society
at large? What gives them the optimism
and courage to do something about a problem….instead of taking the easy option
of blaming others/government/infrastructure and saying “India will never change”
or “What can I do?” or worse still “Why should I do it…it’s not my problem.”?
How does a Subasini Mistry dream to build a hospital for the
poor, when she has just lost her husband to poverty and sickness? Doesn’t she
have other things on her mind…like how she’s going to get the next meal for her
little boy? Isn’t she a bereaved widow left with the huge challenge of raising her
kid on her own, on the mere earnings of a roadside vegetable seller? Why does
she think she needs to make a
difference? What makes her think she can
make a difference? Why not leave it for the government or the NGOs or the rich
people, who clearly have the resources to do so (if not the intention)? Isn’t
that what most people in her situation would do?
Why does a Sanjeev Kumar leave a promising MBA career to fight for the rights of unknown people in a distant village? When his colleagues and friends are perhaps fleeing the country and relocating to foreign lands that hold a better promise for the “house-car-vacation” dream…what makes him relocate to a village and spend the crucial years of his life there? Untouchability and caste system were not even “his problems”. Why not just shut his eyes to the suffering of strangers and chase the next “onsite” opportunity at work? Why does he want to be involved?
What makes a Naseema Hurzuk see beyond the helplessness of
being a paraplegic and dare to help others with similar problems? She confesses
how at one point in her life, she just didn’t want to live anymore. From there,
how does she get to a point where she inspires others with disabilities to live happy, self-sufficient lives? Her
words at the end of the interview provide the answers to a certain degree, “When
you don’t feel like living for yourself, you must learn to live for others”.
This concept of “living for others” is almost alien to us.
For most of us, “others” consist of our own immediate
family. The biggest sacrifices we are capable of making are the ones for our
own children (like not taking a promotion that comes with a transfer or giving
up a career to spend more time with them). Sometimes, even making small life adjustments
for our own parents seem too hard! At the most, we’ll lend some money to a
friend in need…or sponsor the education of a few kids through our preferred
charity. And we think that’s enough work-out for our conscience. We go to bed
feeling happy that we’ve done something good for “others”. But we take care not
to do anything that puts us into any sort of inconvenience. Nothing that disturbs the pattern of our
lives. While
any sort of good is good, as the saying goes “A bone to the dog is not charity.
Charity is the bone shared with the dog, when you are just as hungry as the dog.”
For our heroes, “others” could mean total strangers... people who were far removed from their own lives. It does not matter that they are themselves often in worse situations than those they are trying to help! Yet nothing deters them from their mission…not personal benefits, not inconvenience, not even big threats to their own safety and well-being!
What gives them this peculiar empathy that negates all their personal aspirations? Is it the balance
of chemicals in their brains? Something in their DNA? Something in the environment
they were brought up in? Something their parents did differently than ours when
raising them? A life-changing incident that shook them from their very core?
What exactly is this strange, strong, beautiful
species of real-life heroes made of? Can it be taught? Transferred? Inspired into
others?
