From the Book Altruism
Author Scientist and French Buddhist Monk Matthieu Ricard...
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First they ignore you. Then they laugh at you. Then they fight you. Finally you win.
Authentic Altruism does not require that you suffer from helping others and does not lose its authenticity if it is accompanied by a feeling of profound satisfaction.
…. Sanjit “Bunker” Roy… relates that at age of twenty as the son of good family educated in one of the most prestigious schools in india, he was destined for fine career. His mother already pictured him as doctor, an engineer, or an official in the world bank.
That year, in 1965, a terrible famine broke out in province of Bihar, one of the poorest states of india. Bunker, inspired by Jai Prakash Narayan, friend of Ghandi and a great Indian moral figure, decided to go with friends his age to see what was happening in villages most affected. He returned a few weeks later, transformed, and told his mother he wanted to go live in a village. After a period of worried silence, his mother asked him: “ And what are you going to do in a village? His Mother almost went into a coma “ Bunker says.The other members of the family tried to reassure her, saying: “ Don´t worry, like all teenagers, he´s having his crisis of idealism.
After toiling there for a few weeks, he´ll soon become disillusioned and will come home .“ But Bunker did not come home, and remained for four decades in villages. For six years, he dug three hundred wells with a pneumatic drill in the countryside of Rajasthan. His Mother stopped talking to him for years. When he settled in village of Tilonia, the local authorities didn’t understand either: “ Are you running away from the police? “ Did you fail your exams? “No” .”Were you unable to get government job? “No”. Someone of his social standing and with such high level of education was out place in poor village.
Bunker realised he could do more than dig wells. He observed that the men who had completed their studies left for the cities and contributed nothing whatsoever to helping their village.
Bunker was ignored for long time, then criticised by local authorities and international organisations, including the world bank. But he persevered and trained hundreds of illiterate grandmothers who supplied solar energy to almost a thousand villages in india and in many other countries. His activity is now supported by Indian government and other organizations; it is cited as an example almost everywhere in the world, He has also come up with programs that use the ancestral know- how of farmer, specially ways to collect rainwater to fill tanks big enough to provide for the yearly needs of the villagers. Before, women had was several hours everyday to bring back heavy jars of often polluted water.
To teach Villagers in a lively way, Bunker and his collaboration organise representations featuring large papier- mâché marionettes. As a sly wink to those who used to look down on him, these marionettes are made from recycled reports of the World Bank. Bunker Quotes Gandhi : “First they ignore you. Then they laugh at you. Then they fight you. Finally you win. “.
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Edit by Celeste Cambaza ... dumbanenguebyceleste
excerpt from page 20, 21, 22. Stockholm Sweden June 2016
