Last Sunday, at 11am, about a hundred Bangaloreans filed into the compact auditorium of The Energy and Resources Institute (Teri) in Domlur. I went because ace swimmer Nisha Millet and epicurean Stanley Pinto had invited me. My husband came because co-host T.V. Mohandas Pai had invited him. We scrambled to reach on time because N.R. Narayana Murthy was the chief guest and he is known for his punctuality. Sure enough, at 11.01am Murthy asked, “Why aren’t we starting?”
It was the launch of B.PAC—the Bangalore Political Action Committee, India’s first and possibly only effort by private, influential elites to influence public policy. On stage was Biocon’s Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, B.PAC’s president; Pai, its vice-president and trustee; former state additional chief secretary, K. Jairaj; political candidate Ashwin Mahesh; and in the centre, Murthy.
How to start a movement? You need a mascot, power broker, driver, doer and bridge-builder. B.PAC has them all and you can figure out who plays what role from the above list. Pai said they have enough funds to last five years, always a good sign and one that is necessary to sustain a movement. Mazumdar-Shaw is a long-time Bangalore advocate and activist. She is at the stage in her career where she seems to be moving increasingly into philanthropy. Pai is trying new things: venture capitalist, influencer and backer of projects. B.PAC fits right into his current portfolio.
The other smart thing about B.PAC is the alliances it has forged with existing urban reform agencies, all listed under “Friends of B.PAC” on its website . There is SmartVote, co-founded by Prithvi Reddy, that aims to improve voter registration and the election process. Reddy stood on stage and fed bytes of information to Pai during the event. Other “Friends of B.PAC” include Daksh, Imagine Bangalore, OneBengaluru, and Prajalytics. This subjugation of ego is a strength in Bangalore where countless reform agencies and NGOs function in silos, all thinking that they are masters of their domain. Bangalore, with the possible exception of Mumbai, has one of the most well-intentioned citizenry in all of India. Waste management: check. Solid waste expert Kalpana Kar is on it, as are countless other building committees. Kar is part of B.PAC too. Other core B.PAC members include danseuse Vani Ganapathy; fashion choreographer Prasad Bidapa; sportspeople Ashwini Nachappa, Millet, and Charu Sharma (Prakash Padukone was in the audience); Inventure Academy founder Nooraine Fazal; brand expert Harish Bijoor; theatre-people Prakash Belawadi and Stanley Pinto; lawyer Harish Narasappa; and R.K. Mishra, who was listed as a “doer”. The spectrum of people involved in this initiative is a huge plus. Typically, activism tends to attract like-minded individuals whose approach towards doing things is clonal. B.PAC will have to find consensus amid its creative modes. Put a fashion type, a dancer, a CEO and a lawyer in the same room and see what ensues.
After the launch, I stood outside in the sun-warmed lawns of Teri, chatting with V. Ravichandar, possibly one of Bangalore’s least egotistical do-gooders. Ravichandar works behind the scenes of many of Bangalore’s initiatives including the recently concluded Bangalore Literature Festival (its co-founders were in the audience for B.PAC’s launch too). We spent a good 20 minutes gossiping about ego and social initiatives.
Bangalore, like Chennai, does not do well with ego. It likes self-effacement in its celebrities. Delhi has a larger appetite for flamboyance and grandstanding. B.PAC’s immediate agenda is to support (suitable) political candidates in the coming elections: a fantastic goal. In order to succeed long term, B.PAC’s founders have to get two things right: figure out how to include a widening array of citizens while keeping the intimate nature of a community (the book, The Dragonfly Effect, should help); and more interestingly, figure out how to keep individual egos in check.
Power couples are so yesterday. Power partnerships are the future.
Shoba Narayan will likely join B.PAC. She is looking forward to a hybrid between a fashion show, a Bharatanatyam performance and a Million Man March from its founders. Write to her at thegoodlife@livemint.com
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