Attending events like UNGA brings mixed feelings—curiosity, criticality, and contradictions. Here’s my journey:
The Obsession with Language: Jiddu Krishnamurti wisely said, "Words are important... but if words drive us... then language controls us." And these conferences? They're all about language. It’s a juggling act of terms like decarbonization, mitigation, adaptation, and resilience—buzzwords galore. Now, try translating that into Kannada, Tamil, or Bengali. It’s all nouns and adjectives with little focus on verbs—on action.
There’s an unspoken assumption that once the strategy is set, someone else will implement it. Conferences like these don’t like the messy realities of execution. They prefer structures, frameworks, and language to create an illusion of control—ironically, the opposite of how the natural world operates: organic, complex, and beyond our control. COVID showed us that when reality shifts drastically, old frameworks fail, and new paradigms must emerge from the ground up. Yet, these conferences lack authentic spaces for that. Instead, they often leave doers feeling like impostors, widening the gap between the grassroots and top-level strategists.
For years, I fell into this trap, driven by fear. But people like Harish Hande, Anshu Gupta, Cherukuri, Tarun still dare to question and challenge, even in a world that warns young entrepreneurs, "don’t burn bridges."
The Joy of Community: One undeniable perk of these events is meeting fellow practitioners. Real conversations, banter, and connection without the intellectual façade. Like my chat with Mannat Anand on building a volunteer-based social organization, or the fun of planning a gathering menu with friends like Cherukuri, Tarun, Aniket Doegar, Anshul Tewari and Rohit Kumar or Sanjay Purohit talking about agency+ actions. And of course, meeting the inspiring MJIF fellows thanks to Asha Jadeja. Shout out to Dasra for creating that space. It’s great to see Indian CSOs increasingly collaborating, despite all the criticism they get.
The Dilemma: These spaces leave me torn. How do you stay curious and critical at the same time? I haven’t mastered that balance. I constantly remind myself of the privilege I have to be in these rooms—it’s not merit, just privilege. And I need to resist the urge to speak just for the sake of it. Talking is easy; the real challenge is in doing it—one person, one community at a time. Action isn’t trivial; it creates courage and is the real existential answer until then I will explore this journey Ramesh Srinivasan says leadership is inside out
Until the next conference, where we’ll privately question its value but publicly sound like "thought leaders." :)
P.S - Huge thank you to Natasha Joshi and Rohini Nilekani Philanthropies for the support to organise a collaborative gathering and supporting collaboration in action!
