With their success, we find the route to our collective glory. - Kalyan Banerjee

Kalyan Banerjee, Co-founder Mindtree

Our youth today is hungry for inspiration. Lack of time from parents, an education system that fails to engage them, and a deficit of social or professional role models together have left a void being filled by WhatsApp forwards, in an environment getting increasingly complex and uncertain.

Youth Alliance is trying to fulfil this responsibility to provide direction and purpose to our future nation builders through varied Exposure and carefully crafted Immersion programs into some of the diverse building blocks of India. I find the Youth Alliance leaders have an unusual understanding of the challenges that confront us today, and the inspiration to do something about it. When I spent a day with thirty young men and women who had gathered from different parts of the country for the Gramya Manthan program, I found them bubbling with insights from the week spent with villages at Rann of Kutch. I was amazed with the language the participants spoke. Some vignettes:

- Union of the heart, hands and the head

- Perspectives changed on how to see the world

- Did you try to change the world or focus on yourself

- Equilibrium has shifted

- Stretching my boundaries

- Fear of being Myself

- Chaos is needed, even though we are comfortable with superficial calm

Quite a barrage of profound wisdom that I can appreciate at my age, but I freely admitted I never thought like this in my 20s. My congratulations to this set of unassuming, no-airs young leaders sketching a journey of purpose for the seekers. I see they are driven by passion and courage but I must caution them this is not enough to make a lasting impact. They need to gather all the support they can from social and professional leaders driven by the mission of building our future.  I wish them all success in their endeavours, for with their success we find the route to our collective glory.

Note: Testimony by Kalyan Banerjee, co-founder Mindtree. He recently was part of our Gramya Manthan Winter Edition 2017 in Ahmedabad.)