Mumbai: As soon as I heard Nandita Singh (who was the anchor for the event and a senior reporter with ThePrint) kickstart the event by saying, “You have opinions and we want to hear them”, I knew this wasn’t going to be a run-of-the-mill event.
The second edition of ‘Democracy Wall’ at Amity University, Mumbai, was inspiring, engaging and a golden opportunity to interact with speakers from various walks of life.
Priyanka Chaturvedi, deputy leader of Shiv Sena, talked about the great responsibility held by those who have the power to make important decisions that will affect the citizens of the country. She also spoke about the contribution that citizens themselves must make, and that an evolved democracy can only emerge from maturity and the ability to look past divisive factors.
Stand-up comedian Srijan Kaushik pulled no punches and was a delight to watch — he delivered a humorous, yet poignant, performance, touching upon issues such as safety of women, child marriage and communalism.
We also had a powerful interactive session with Shekhar Gupta, the editor-in-chief of ThePrint. He spoke about certain contemporary issues and press freedom in India. Today’s media environment is fertile ground for trolls to harass and abuse mediapersons. When asked how he deals with trolls, Shekhar Gupta said that he simply ignores them since responding to them will only fuel them. This technique is something that we all can adopt when similar challenges come our way.
Tisca Chopra and MeToo
A segment that strongly resonated with me was that of Bollywood star Tisca Chopra. She emphasised on the importance of good work ethics and being meticulous in one’s work.
She went on to speak about social issues such as sexual harassment, women empowerment and representation in the Indian film industry, giving us a glimpse into the off-screen life of an actor. She also spoke about the positive impact of the ‘MeToo movement’ on the industry, which was powered by free speech.
Though there is an innate hesitancy in speaking out against sexual harassment, the MeToo movement has brought the discussion out into the open, Chopra said. She also gave the example of plaques now being displayed in film studios, stating that sexual harassment is not tolerated. Drawing a contrast between the way women are portrayed today and decades ago, she spoke about the evolution of public attitude reflected on screen.
We also had an insightful talk by Yatin Shah, co-founder and Executive Director of IIFL Wealth & Asset Management, who narrated his success story and showed us that bad experiences in life can teach us invaluable lessons. His illustration of the Krishna-Duryodhana-Ram-Ravan quadrilateral is etched in our minds and so is his life philosophy of “do what is right in both law and in spirit”.
As a budding marketing professional with a chartered accountancy background, I have followed this principle in my professional life and have seen first-hand how it can shape the culture of an organisation. This philosophy is pertinent to organisations across industries, more so in the current environment fraught with allegations of mismanagement and multiple crises.
The program ended on a high note with rapper SlowCheeta setting the stage on fire and keeping the energy of the audience high with his motivating rap performances.
Participating in this event and soaking in different perspectives put forth by the speakers has truly been a wonderful experience.
Samantha Noronha is a student of Amity University, Mumbai. This article is part of Democracy Wall’s ‘Student Experience Project’ where a student writes about her/his experience at the event.
Also read: From Aadhaar to Arvind Kejriwal, Democracy Wall’s Pune edition asked it all
Very well written. The author has good writing skills. I enjoyed reading it!
A well written article. Are these events open to the public ?