Just for a second entertain the possibility, that this generation is able to visualise a country…that my dumbass generation and the one above us forgot. We idealistically thought of it, and forgot it quick. Distracted by life and prosperity. Maybe it’s because they’ve grown up documenting and broadcasting their entire life. So they’ve had a good look at themselves during formative years. Assessed their values, albeit to showcase them. Which we weren’t able to do. So they are possibly more sure of themselves at this age, which seems completely alien to us. It’s possible.
I sometimes feel so full of shit. Sitting up in our fancy privileged balconies of the world. We say we work hard but it feels like something that comes with so many caveats. Theres someone in your office who travels 2 hours one way just to be able to start work. They’re sleeping less, waking up regardless of circumstance and spending an hour preparing before leaving for work. Just getting in the game alone is probably more hard work than a lot of us would ever have the stomach for. Maybe it’s because we were born to parents who did this. We did just get lucky. Didn’t we? Or do we just not deserve what we have? Have we ever earned anything? Feels to me sometimes like everything was handed to us. We play sport and complain about heat. Reward ourselves for putting in the effort to play in the heat. But there’s a dude standing right there in the same heat running around fetching your balls, another getting you towels. Drenched in sweat. Doing this every day. Because he has to put food on the table. Feels so ridiculous to complain. It’s a privilege to be there in that heat. Maybe the real problem in many of our lives is that we haven’t seen enough adversity. Maybe we’d be happier, if we knew what the real world was like. Maybe we’d appreciate the privilege of playing a sport we love in the blistering heat.
I travelled through Great Nicobar today.
These are the most extraordinary forests I have ever seen in my life. Trees older than memory. Forests that took generations to grow.
The people on this island are equally beautiful - both the adivasi communities and the settlers - but they are being robbed of what is rightfully theirs.
The government calls what it is doing here a “Project.” What I have seen is not a project. It is millions of trees marked for the axe. It is 160 square kilometres of rainforest condemned to die. It is communities that have been ignored while their homes have been snatched away.
This is not development. This is destruction dressed in development’s language.
So I will say it plainly, and I will keep saying it: what is being done in Great Nicobar is one of the biggest scams and gravest crimes against this country’s natural and tribal heritage in our lifetime.
It must be stopped. And it can be stopped - if Indians choose to see what I have seen.
Grateful to our Paediatric Oncology team for making this happen: one of our children with an incurable cancer had two last wishes: meet MS Dhoni, and ride a @Lamborghini. Today, we could make one of these happen. If any of you have contacts with MSD, pls connect us.