Kaushlendra – the power of one

by Amrit Hallan on June 25, 2008

As Alka says on her blog that it is uncool to talk about uncool people and here I am adding another drop to this uncoolness. But unlike her I don’t intend to berate people who pursue “other passions” because whether you do something for the self-good or for the social goodness, you mostly do something that makes your heart happy and that gives you a sense of fulfillment. Nonetheless, it requires great courage and vision to do what Kaushlendra is doing: despite being a topper at IIM-Ahmedabad he is selling vegetables on a cart. Visit Alka’s link to know more about Kaushlendra.

Today’s society is a crude society; have you seen that ad these days where the cricket player Dhoni says that you have no identity without wearing good clothes? It may sound like a silly ad but it exactly reflects the societal attitude of contemporary times. I have nothing against good clothes or acquiring materials of luxury but these days such possessions have become a maniacal obsession. To aspire, to get rich and affluent does no harm, what harms is the extent to which people go to reach there. Resisting these seemingly universal temptations and doing something for the others requires lots of grit and determination.

  • http://www.alkadwivedi.net Alka

    Amrit you say, “But unlike her I don’t intend to berate people who pursue “other passions” because whether you do something for the self-good… ” You mean having latest gadgets, wearing designer clothes,dancing at some hip hop place, drinking and eating in a filthy expensive restaurant are for SELF GOOD? :-) I don’t berate these people as long as they don’t berate others who is not doing what they are doing.

  • http://www.writingcave.com Amrit Hallan

    Hmm…I don’t mean “self-good” in an abstract manner. Of course I don’t have a problem with people purchasing latest gadgets, wearing designer clothes and dancing at hip-hop places and getting mired in all sorts of self-indulgences as long as they don’t bother me and cause me some kind of physical, mental or monetary expense. They are the cause of abounding intellectual and artistic mediocrity but such people have been there/here since the time immemorial, it’s just that now they get more hype due to media.

    Self good has different meanings but I used it in the context of your blog post.

  • http://www.alkadwivedi.net Alka

    “Self good has different meanings but I used it in the context of your blog post.”
    You mean I conveyed the meaning that all the designer things, eating joints and discs are for self good? :-) I have never confused self good with these things even when I was ten! :-)

  • http://www.shackcoffeeco.wordpress.com abhishek

    Amrit hi,
    I was in Bihar recently( North Bihar to be precise), and I had spent a week. When we talk about designer goods, gadgets, hip hop joints we usually relate that to the refined culture which is sweeping across the country with soory, thnkus and hais. However I found out that in all the aspects people from these places have placed their self good higher than the designer label totting citizens.
    Their sense of belonging to their immediate surrounding is stronger than what we have in places like Noida or Gurgaon, where the youth of today is supposedly slogging out to get the world class salary, further to be enjoyed spending at swanky bars and cafes , surrounded by squalor( Sector 18 in Noida is a classic case, where most of the drains in front of the cafes are open and filled with muck).
    Now does self good merely means that we don good clothes, own cool gadgets, go to swanky establishments and do not harm people. Well this is a mere tangible description. What we miss out most of the time is that the innate violence behind the new found face of our youth is trampling the very basic fundamentals of our society which should be compassion and empathy.
    Kaushlendra and his ilks are not few, but they can never be darlings of media. I guess that with blatant promotion of the new culture we are destroying the age old ethos and pathos which are as much applicable for us as they were ever.

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