Random Musings

If there was any time when this phrase made famous by Obama, could also be used in context of Mumbai, then its NOW!

Can we come out of the mess that we find ourselves in?

Can we ensure that sanity is maintained and knee jerk outbursts do not put us into more chaos?

Can we show good-for-nothing politicians the door? Get them out??

Can we come up with worthwhile alternatives?

Can we get the city back in order?

Many more questions…. of this kind. Challenging us for what we are. Challenging our being, challenging our capabilities.

And the answer can only be one, “YES, WE CAN”.

For mere words to convert to action, and that also not action that is “high in the air” and which “someone else needs to do” (read politicians, policemen, security agencies, industrialists – in short, everyone other than oneself), a thought that I shared with few others on an email (most people were from online businesses) is reproduced below:

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It will only be repetitive to state that its been the most painful
experience of life, even at a distance. That something of this kind
could happen to our city is shocking. But as I said, that would be
repeating things.

Here is a specific thought though:
1. Till date, we have been stuck with these as***les of politicians,
simply because it was not possible for a good alternative candidate to
make any kind of decent penetration. To go from door to door, muster up
support, generate a following.. it all seemed impossible to do. When up
against old time penetrations of the party, and the ways and means that
they have followed to generate their so-called support bases.

2.But its a different world today. An online, connected world. One where
you do not need to go from door to door to get your point across. One
where a message can have a viral movement and a following can be built.

3. We might have just hit the tipping point on the online viral push of
messages - Facebook, Twitter, blog postings, emails of this kind are
evidence of that fact - with this incident.

4. On this mail list, we have people who have managed to get their
brands and businesses inside large number of homes in the country. They
know how it's done. Till date, this knowledge has been used to pursue a
commercial motive related to their business.

So here's the opportunity then! Can some of these leaders of the online
world, get together, along with other management experts, technocrats
and the like. And plan out a strategy, perhaps even a clear alternative
(if not for all the constituencies of the country, begin with a few; a
start has to be made somewhere, and any small penetration will put the
current lot of politicians on high alert), and then generate a clear
online campaign (with some offline support) and convert all these well
sounding words into action??

To borrow a phrase that became very popular recently, "Yes, We Can!".
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YES, WE CAN!!