Confluence of Change and Systemic Transformation: The Gandhi Fellowship Chapter-1: Introducing Mr. M

“Be the Change you wish to see in the world”, it was these emphatic lines of Mahatma Gandhi, that paved the way for a community centered development saga that reached behemoth proportions and became the pan-India phenomenon, widely known as the Gandhi Fellowship Program today.

Before delving into the psyche of a Gandhi Fellow, who forms the core of Gandhi Fellowship, it is important we understand what change management is and what are our views on systemic transformation. This article is part of a 3-series piece on understanding change through the eyes of a Gandhi Fellow and what happens during those eventful 23 months.

Things happen in life for a reason. It is upon us to make meaning out of the occurrences and connect the dots; after all, life is all about ABCD; Always Be Connecting the Dots! Let us now head into the world of our protagonist to witness the pivot of transformation he went through (for convenience, I am assuming our protagonist to be a male Mr. M). Welcome Onboard this sea of change.

There is a saying in India, Engineering choses a person rather than the other way. So was it with Mr. M, who upon graduating, without much thought or ado about GFP, chanced upon it in the campus placements and before he knew anything, he was into it, beaming with the printed offer letter. So, what next? He waited with bated breath for the next happenings and dive neck deep into the ecosystem, all the while curious about this new space he was to fall headlong into. Mark this inquisitiveness of Mr. M, as this plays a curious role in shaping up his journey at GFP.

The biggest of theory of change is that nothing is permanent and one ought to be very clear in understanding that and holding no preconceived notions of anything whatsoever. The very basic lessons of difference between Observation and Judgement, understanding empathy at its innermost level, sowed in Mr. M, the seeds of change and there began a gradual shift in his behaviour and attitude towards various aspects of life.

Relocation and drifting from one’s comfort zone is an integral part of the Gandhi Fellowship, which was not different in our protagonist’s case as well; however what seemed to him was he could be a part of a different cultural set-up now and get to look at things from a different perspective now and be a part of something exciting. The irony was also not lost on him; there was a complete makeover in the work environment, diversity, geography; basically, everything that one could associate with one’s career beginning period.

Understanding the smaller nuances of community, putting oneself at the lowest common denominator, witnessing radically different things on almost daily basis, became a routine and slowly but eventually, there was this huge learning curve upon Mr. M; that observation of key incidents and learning from each of it, accounts for a major part of this journey. It was at this juncture that, he decided to adopt the “Plan-Act-Reflect-Repeat” mode and proceed. Each action has a conscious bearing on the final decision, and a sum of such actions bear a huge decisiveness on the outcome. So was it, that the initial seeds of being a change enabler in him, sown.

During this eventual process, Mr. M came across a beautiful team, plethora of opportunities and equally enthusiastic stakeholders who bought into his idea of change and wished to be a part of his sphere of influence.

Want to know more about who those people were, who had a bearing on Mr. M’s thoughts and actions, and what were the processes he went through to undergo this; well, that shall be covered in the next piece.

I welcome you to the Gandhi Fellowship Program, which Mr. M experienced and derives a lot from. For further information, stay tuned to Mr. M’s journey. Travel with him and uncover what’s next in store!