India lost the World Cup 2023 final at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Sunday. There is a feeling of loss all around. Grief even. And this big feeling of loss is going to last a few months for sure. The entire cricket-viewing nation and its diaspora are down in the dumps.
Moving a bit away from the geography of India, there is tumult and fervour of a different kind brewing in two different battlefields of the world. The Ukraine-Russia conflict has been going on since 2014 and is showing no signs of abatement. The more recent Israel-Hamas conflict is still underway. Even this shall last a bit. Those closer to these hotspots of conflict and action live a different life. The talking points are the war, its casualties, turmoil and resultant impact on the world at large. While some parts of the world are concerned about the impact on oil prices and resources of daily use, others are really concerned about a third world war in the making.
Depending on where you live, you occupy yourself with different talking points and passions. Both a cricket loss and the potential of a third world war are passion points at every cocktail party, just as every Diwali party gone by in India has been about cards and cricket. Every animated conversation, however, needs to end. And even this talk about a cricket win and loss, or for that matter a third world war in the making, loses its steam gradually, till the next excitement gathers marketing steam.
As I punch in this article, I am really wondering—how big are these disparate world events really? One is in the realm of a sport played at a very competitive level among some nations and the other is a war at play between very competitive nations and causes that each side believes in passionately. How big are these events really? Do they matter in the overall plan of the world at large?
If we peek intrusively into our daily lives, we will find what excites us are the really small things. I am very concerned about gender equality in all that we do. My neighbour behind the opposite door is concerned about natural childbirth and the best way to deliver a baby. She is pregnant, you see. My neighbour upstairs is concerned about the India-Middle East-Europe corridor project, just as my neighbour downstairs is worried about the potential fall in coffee prices due to a big crop in Brazil. He is a coffee planter, you see.
What am I getting at? A simple point. Is there something called the ‘small big thing’? Small little things that we think are big enough to lead and drive our lives, our ambitions, our work and passions. Are all the ostensibly big things we concern ourselves with really small little things that distract us from the real big things? Do most of us lead our lives driven by the ‘small big things’? Is it a much more comfortable thing to do? Are the ‘big things’ really out of our hands? Have we outsourced thinking, ideating, managing and acting upon the ‘really big things’ to the governments that we vote in? Or to international bodies such as the UN that are vested with the responsibility to handle the real big things? Or worse still, have we given up on these big issues that must really drive our lives, ambitions and intent? The answers to all these questions are deeply worrying.
What are the ‘real big things’? And who decides what is big and what is not? While I do not have answers to the second question at hand, the first is an easy one. The real big things for humankind today seem to be the basics. Basics we seldom think of till push comes to shove. The quality of the air we breathe in, for instance. Till Delhi gets headlined as a city where the life expectancy is predicted to go down by 12 years, not many of us bother. And the ones that really bother do it till the headlines and the bad air quality lasts. Once the crop-burning season is over, we move on, latching our mindsets to the ‘small little things’ that seem so much more comfortable to handle. These small little things are things we can grapple with. Everyday things that give us a positive feel: a good vibe, sport, Bollywood. Entertainment of every kind is yet another. As is the digital and social media of myriad types. As is the election in Madhya Pradesh.
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The real big issues that govern our lives, apart from the quality of air we breathe, are issues that relate to pollution of every kind. Pollution of water, plastic pollution in our landfills, the hills of garbage we create, and more. The ‘big issue’ list includes the impending shortage of water for drinking and agriculture, and more importantly, the vocation of farming and use of farm lands for purposes that relate to housing and commerce instead. Food security is a big issue for sure. Add disease management and the potential for the next big pandemic to this small list of big issues, and we have a small list of the big things we typically ignore.
Must we? Or must we be more concerned? Or must we continue to outsource the big issues to the big guys on the top? Must air pollution be the daily concern for each one of us? Or must it be the concern of the regional transport office and its vehicular pollution control norms? Or the concern of the central and state pollution control boards? Or shall we push it higher still to the COP28 team? Or higher still to god almighty herself?
At the end of it all, I think it’s time to think. Are we taking the easiest route out of it all? Have we largely decided as the common man, woman and child to focus on issues that are easy to handle and easy to digest? Are we consciously and unconsciously avoiding the big issues that we must really address?
Have we all taken the English economist John Maynard Keynes all too seriously when he wrote, “In the long run, we are all dead”? Touché.
Harish Bijoor
Brand Guru and Founder, Harish Bijoor Consults Inc