How does one figure out Kiran Seth?

Before I come to the protagonist of today’s blog I need to mention that I have always, ever since my childhood, wondered what “selflessness” was about? What was meant by the slogan, “Let go let God”? What was “detachment”? What was “forgiveness”? What was “nishkaam karma”? The pious quotes from Bhagwad Gita were a steady drone in the ears during growing up years.

Yes, people around me did possess one or the other exalted qualities mentioned above but to me they failed invariably in some sterling quality or the other. My young mind during growing up years registered that those were the exalted goals which were meant to be preached but do not exist in reality. Only saints are blessed with those qualities and ordinary people cannot be saints. 

Into this milieu of my impressionable mind entered education, success, power, career, cut throat competition and the women’s empowerment, etc.  The last term especially caused a lot of agony personally because I did not understand what it was about… in our homes the women always wielded a lot of influence and commanded respect… they were empowered even if they did not go out for building careers outside home…. The man of the house entrusted the woman with his entire earnings and thus she was financially empowered too! Women in our families were home makers and they did a damn good job of it…. They were like the women characters in our epics that fascinated me for their strength and resilience.

Yes, there is a lot of exploitation and atrocity against women out in the world which one ought to fight back against and thus assert oneself… and I air my voice for them… but I could never see Sita, Draupadi or any other character from the epics as a wronged or a weak woman....

Then entered into my intellect the dimension of reality vs ideology when as an adult I set out to live my life…. as a home maker....I had the fortune of being in constant touch with classical dance and music and other arts which helped me grow… the seeds of which were sown with zeal by my ORDINARY father in his children’s upbringing….

After having mapped my intellectual and emotional inclinations and where they emerge from…..

Let me come back to the protagonist of today’s blog, Kiran Seth, the founder of SPIC MACAY (The Society for the Promotion of Indian Classical Music And Culture Amongst Youth) which in the past 3 decades has made a tremendous difference to the country’s youth (how tangible or intangible; is a matter of study in itself) by taking classical music and culture to school children across the country and abroad and making an indelible impact on their young souls. No mean job.

Everyone agrees that our arts are the richest and most enriching as a necessary input to character building which invests one with all possible wisdom; but somehow they always take a back seat in day to day lives.

Set out to study SPIC MACAY as a part of my Senior Research fellowship I came in contact with Kiran Seth and many of the sterling volunteers of SPIC MACAY. A loosely knit structure SPIC MACAY is an example of a baffling movement which no structured government body can ever dream to emulate in propagating classical arts and culture. I will not deal with the finer details of the movement, its operations and its impact here. 

In this post I just want to figure out the persona that Kiran Seth is. Every volunteer whom I had met and interviewed spoke of him in a superlative adulatory tone. Some of them are his hardest critics with respect to his managerial and financial acumen and vociferously point out the flaws in the execution of his ideology, lack of strategy, planning, etc. However their bitter criticism always ends with an emphatic BUT…. He is the driving force of the movement!

Being allergic to hero worship, it was hard for me to take their assessment at face value. However always wary of any researcher’s bias, I went about observing him and talking to him for quite some time now and here is what I have arrived at… A simple summary of him with no IFs and BUTs…

This man is as simple as one can get nearest to the term SIMPLE… He is a very ORDINARY person who MERELY lives the properties of selflessness, detachment and nishkaam karm, does his work without any expectation what so ever. He is driven by single minded devotion to the cause he believes in and owns a super positive outlook with no trappings to distract him. He simply believes in the strengths of the people and places indomitable faith in them and brushes off their weaknesses as inconsequential. A generous dose of humility is a mere extension of his personality.

The only area he does not compromise in is the artistic excellence and brilliance of the artists and their art which is taken by the SPIC MACAY to the youth to enable them to experience a life transforming beauty and doing so with grace and dignity.

He is a leader who has assembled a network of people who are smarter than him in many ways and is an excellent team member and follower in the team which he has put together and inspires.

I think one really cannot figure out Kiran Seth in terms of the words in a lexicon as all analysis leads to the word – SAINT.

I definitely am not a believer in Hero worship! In fact I am allergic to eulogizing a mere man….BUT….