Talking Heads

The Manthan Foundation, which celebrated its 10th anniversary last month, organised its annual day of intellectual talk and conversation — Manthan Samvaad — on Friday. The day-long event began with a classical musical performance by city musicians Jaywant Naidu and Swaroop Mamipudi, followed by women’s rights activist Mallika Sarabhai’s dance performance with her troupe, Sva Kranti. The five sessions covered topics like the Indian Constitution, gender, art, culture and the Indian startup ecosystem. Christopher Isaac brings to you what the audience was treated to at the JRC Convention and Trade Centre:


‘We don’t need a revolution, We need to open our eyes’

Dushyant Dave, Supreme Court Bar Association President

Supreme Court Bar Assoc-iation President and senior advocate Dushyant Dave kicked the proceedings off with a talk on the Constitution of India, which he believes is the “lost religion” of the country.

“India today is a nation stricken with poverty, inequality, intolerance, hatred and most of all poor governance,” he said, “This is largely due to our inability to adhere to our constitution.”

Adding that while the country faces such problems, the solution to all of them lies within the original Constitution drafted by Dr B.R. Ambekar, quoting a line from the song Now Is The Time by Jimmy James, “We don’t need a revolution, we just need to open our eyes.”

He also said that that Armed Forces Special Protection Act is the “single largest blot on our history”, while talking about how the Constitution has been changed so much over the past 60 years, that it now only serves the rich and those in power. “Out of those 2,000 murders in the Gujarat riots, only 793 cases were brought to light by the police,” he said, “Out of those, only 90 have been seen by the court, and out of those 90, at least 70 have been dismissed.”

He also said that the judiciary has “failed miserably” in today’s world, and that the country would do well to remember Dr Ambedkar’s warning about falling into the trap of “hero-worshipping” leaders, with the recent landslide victory of the BJP in the general elections reminiscent of his words, “If there is a landslide, the possibility of dictatorship is much greater… Bhakti may be a road to the salvation of the soul, but in politics bhakti (or hero worshipping) is a sure road to degradation.”

Dushyant, however, said that people had the power to rise up against the curtailing of liberty, equality and fraternity, if only we made the effort to “raise or voices”.


‘If Karva Chauth is so great,

Mallika Sarabhai, Women’s Rights Activist

If you, like most of the country, believe that GDP growth, poverty and unemployment are the three most important factors our country needs to focus on, think again.

“We are missing out on the greatest plague that is likely to tear this country apart — the plague of misogyny,” said Mallika Sarabhai at her session, simply titled Gender Condrum.

Misogyny and sexism is deep-rooted in our society, she said, adding, “We don’t use just control. We use language, we use ritual, we use tradition… even the guise of protecting the woman.

“How many of wonder that if the sindhur is a sign of such a happy marriage, why are not the men doing it? If karva chauth is so great, why are not the men doing it?” she continued, saying that the habit of not questioning tradition also contributed to the ingrained philosophy.

The problem is so bad, she said, that even women struggle to see that they’re being conditioned to hate other women too. “Why is it that a mother-in-law and a sister-in-law torment a wife so much?” Mallika said, “From the day she’s born a girl child is made to feel like she’s less important. She’s given less food, treated differently. She’s told, ‘You’re not from our family, you’re going to join someone else’s family, why should we invest in you?’”

Mallik also shared stories of her own friends and family that showed how even after marriage, a woman’s life wasn’t safe, with marital rape and sexism being a part of their daily lives. She said that the only way things would change was women rose as one. “The patriarchal divide-and-rule policy will no longer work if women work together,” she said, adding that true education (and not just literacy) of both, men and women would be the way forward.


‘Indian culture is not just religion and Bollywood’

T.M. Krishna, Carnatic Musician and Author

The Carnatic musician and author’s talk — titled Culture, Society and State — began with Krishna likening the Constitution to a document of Indian culture. “The changes that have and have not been made are reflective of our culture, who we are and how we are,” he said, taking off from Dushyan’s observations of the Constitution.

Opining that Indian culture was almost always reduced to religious tradition and Bollywood, he recounted a conversation he once had with an NRI cousin of his. “I told him, ‘You NRIs have only two parameters to understand culture. One is the ritualistic religious tradition, and the other is what you see in Bollywood dances and cinema.’ He answered, ‘What else is there?’”

Understanding culture, he continued, begins with understanding your own artistic and cultural influences. “As an artist,” he said. “I need look at issues of caste, gender and cultural appropriation.”

He also brought up the issue of artistic expression and how it’s curbed in India, with the likes of M.F. Hussain being sent away from the country. “The artist is not accountable to the society or the state,” he said, “I won’t have to prove anything to the people. He is only accountable to the art, to the process, to the engagement, to the life that the artist has chosen,” adding that Indian culture needed to head towards an “aesthetic” state of being — “Aesthetic is the marriage of the rational with the ethical. If the law of the land has the aesthetic sense of being in humanity then the artist will never contravene the law of the land.”


‘If you straighten spines, you can change country’

Hindol Sengupta, Author and Journalist

Author and journalist Hindol Sengupta’s talk about entrepreneurship started off as reminiscent of Chandrasekhar’s startup session, but took on a whole new turn when he spoke about the success stories of various entrepreneurs in the country — redefining the understanding of the word “entrepreneurship” itself.

“It’s about the straightening of spines. If you can straighten spines, you can change the country,” he said likening entrepreneurship to the breaking free of rigid yet accepted social norms the country faces, such as misogyny and casteism.

While Hindol said he believes that the idea of entrepreneurship faced a lot of administrative problems as well, the biggest hurdles weren’t taxation or GST. “The single biggest thing you can do for entrepreneurship in the country is not to listen to your parents,” he said, drawing laughter and applaud from the crowd.

He then shared the story of manual scavengers who, until just two years ago, would collect human waste with their bare hands only because they were women and belonged to a lower caste. Then, college students from Delhi helped them get on their feet by teaching them to make, package and sell detergent.

“It’s ironic that women, whom people wouldn’t touch because they carried human waste, are now selling detergent,” Hindol said, adding that their brand “Neki” now sold across North India.

Hindol concluded his talk by telling the audience that his religious beliefs also helped him learn how the entrepreneurial spirit can be nurtured, by asking himself three simple questions: “Who am I? What do I want? What is my purpose?”


‘Over the years, We will be seeing flood of Brain Gain’

R. Chandrasekhar, Nasscom President

R. Chandrasekhar had the task of convincing the audience that the Indian startup ecosystem would be India’s “silver bullet” or saving grace. Taking the audience through the current state of the Indian startup scene and just how impactful it has been he said, “Today we are the third largest in the world, behind only the US and the UK. In a year’s time, we will be the second largest in the world! But we still have quite a long way to catch up.”

With as many as 145 venture capitals, angel investors and private equity funds in the country, he said the average valuation for startups in the country was $2.5 million, with success stories of companies like Ola and Flipkart being the driving force behind people wanting to join the ecosystem. “Increasingly, women are also coming in to the startup ecosystem, daring to stand up and build their dreams,” he added.

This, he said, would help India battle its failings in sectors like infrastructure, healthcare, financial inclusion and education, with India’s talent pool the strongest calling card. “The game has reversed, the tide has turned and we have many young people coming back to India and set up startups,” he said, “Over the years I think we will be seeing a flood of Brain Gain (as opposed to Brain Drain).

More foreign investments into the ecosystem (59 per cent in this financial year’s quarter), supportive programs from the government and organisations like incubators and educational institutions is also helping the startup market grow, he said, especially in Hyderabad, which has second highest average valuation for startups in the country. The only things holding the ecosystem back, he added, ironically, were government regulations on entrepreneurship. At the end of his talk, he answered his own question — that the startup revolution could really be India’s silver bullet.