Building one windmill every five minutes for the next 25 years! Adding a swimming pool size of algae biofuels every second for the next 25 years! Seems like an intimidating task and I am not sure yet, what will drive people to achieve such targets. Fear and greed supposedly drive the world. The world war effort was probably driven by the former while another massive effort like industrialization was driven primarily by the latter. The climate change issue unfortunately does not considerably create both of those factors (yet).

I am doubtful whether fear will ever play a role in finding solutions for climate change. The Himalayan rivers might slowly decrease in volume over a few decades but that would just mean that people will migrate from one area to another. A few decades is enough time for demographic changes to happen and if not for statisticians, we would barely notice the changes. Almost all the consequences of climate change, be it increase in the number of diseases, melting of summer ice in polar regions or rise in sea levels happen over a few decades and some of them over a century or two. At the best, we would find solutions that cure the symptoms; probably walls to protect our seaside cities.

So, we remain with the other major driver of human behavior which is greed. How do we make it work  in such a way that the climate change challenge will be solved? What kind of incentives do we provide to people and governments so that they start working toward a solution for climate change? Many of the incentives currently devised to solve climate change such as subsidies, carbon credits, tax breaks and so on haven’t always worked satisfactorily.

Then, what would be an incentive? Technology might be one. A radical new low cost solar panel might possibly become so attractive that everyone automatically wants to make money out of it and as a result, man-made emissions might be reduced. A new economic instrument might be another one; Corporations, stock markets were all invented at some point of time and something radical might be born yet again. God and religion have served as pollution control measures in many parts of the world but I doubt whether they could be used in this new world where science is the real religion. Anything that might save us from the consequences of man-made climate change is probably not yet invented.

Does that mean that we wait for a miracle to happen? I don’t think so. I believe instead in probabilities. Increase the number of college courses and thereby people who specialize in technology related to renewable energy and you increase the possibility of an outcome. Increase funding for research in climate change and you increase the possibility of an outcome. Introduce primary school students to climate change and increase the possibility of an outcome. Short term incentives like subsidies and tax-breaks would not solve a problem such as this. Only a long term investment in education would probably solve this issue.

The walk starts at 7AM in the morning at town hall. You walk by century old cast iron street lights imported from London, then walk by the clock tower of Mysore and admire the mixture of architectural styles it encompasses, then get mesmerized by seeing unbelievable things (which until then I never even thought of in spite of being a Mysorean).

You then walk by a palace which still has a king, then walk through a 100 year old yet functioning market and visit some more landmarks. During the course of the walk, you get to eat what the Maharajas ate, you get to see whom the Maharajas worshipped and you get a sense of their far-sighted city planning too.

I have lived in this city for 25 years and yet I felt like I visited a totally different city during the walk. For a tourist to Mysore probably, this should be the first thing in his itinerary, for whatever he would do in the rest of the day could be seen from a whole new eye. The painting on the palace walls would now carry more meaning, the stone walls of the palace would now tell stories and stone inscriptions would now get you thinking.

About Vinay: He was a software engineer for a good number of years until his passion for history made him quit his job and start Royal Mysore Walks.

Towards the end of the trip, I saw an old house and started thinking if this could have some history as well. I was not sure if Vinay would have an answer for this because ‘who could know every single building in a city?’. Yet, I asked and here’s what I got: ‘Oh. This is the house of the owner of Freemasons lodge’. I was bowled over.

1. Mysore Chitrasanthe/Kalasanthe – A fixed location in Mysore would host artists of all kinds on a weekly basis. Being a weekly, it has the potential of creating a cultural change. (I had blogged this earlier here).
2. Startuppers: A sub-network of entrepreneurs/wannabe-entrepreneurs was formed and this has resulted in a great deal of motivation for ourselves.
3. An Events calendar: Mysore being a tourist destination and a place with daily cultural activities still does not provide updated information on the events to visiting tourists. A weekly product such as this should be of great value to tourists and could be a good sell at the hotels and restaurants of Mysore.
4. The Mysore Santhe idea itself: Is instrumental in helping many of us meet interesting people whom we otherwise wouldn’t have possibly met.

From my experience, not all ideas necessarily succeed. Yet, the higher the number of ideas, higher the chance of at least a few of them succeeding. This is where Mysore Santhe is making the difference. Apart from creating ideas, the other great advantage of such a gathering is the spreading of information. Another list on interesting initiatives here:

1. Divyadeepa Trust: Started in 1992 with a mission of providing value based quality education to rural and underprivileged children. Many of the Santhe enthusiasts are active volunteers at Divyadeepa.
2. Mysore Grahakara Parishat: I think everyone in Mysore knows about this organization. It is an organization into consumer, civic, environmental activism among others. Some of the Santhe enthusiasts are active volunteers at MGP.
3. Kukkarahalli nature walk: This is a free walk around Kukkarahalli lake conducted on the first Sunday of every month (7AM) by environmentalists, professional bird-watchers etc. Although I am yet to attend one of these, it seems to me like an interesting walk.
4. Royal Mysore Walks: Walk tours in Mysore by Vinay. This week, I am going on an invitational walk with him. I will write more on this after that.

I definitely have missed many more initiatives here which we come across at Mysore Santhe. Every time I have been there, I have found at least one new and innovative idea/initiative at the Santhe.

Above all, the event is more about the people. If you want to learn from others’ experiences and others’ mistakes, these are the kind of gatherings you want to be.

Why I write this? For the single reason that I am now able to see the tip of the mountain in our startup venture. And I know it is still not easy reaching there. It still needs many days of slogging and a lot of mental strength. Yet, how beautiful the path seems! I just hope our resources permit our journey to the top.

Photos credits: Suraj Rampure.