SECOND LIFE
Doing his bit
RESHMA S KULKARNI
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Actor Rahul Bose’s humanitarian side is rarely on display but it is a very active part of his life.
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I feel change has to begin with oneself...
We are all familiar with Rahul Bose, maverick actor and ace rugby player but not many know about the various social causes that he is involved with; the latest being becoming an Alert Ambassador for Bigadda’s Planet Alert. Rahul says “I k
eep getting asked, ‘why?’ The reason is simple: I love my country and will keep doing everything I can to better it in some way. It’s not about being a celebrity; I don’t want any mileage from this; it’s just that I feel change has to begin with oneself. Why keep pointing fingers at others and wait for them to pick up the broom to clean your country; why can’t you be the first?” he asks passionately.
To hark back a bit, Rahul has been participating in social interventions since 2002, beginning with ‘Akshara Centre for Women’ where he worked with underprivileged Muslim women on issues of secularism and gender equality, which he feels very strongly about. He is also on the board of ‘Citizens for Justice and Peace’ and runs his own NGO called ‘The Foundation’ through which he sponsored the education of six girls from the Andamans (where he did a lot of relief work during the tsunami) and has been doing yeoman work for victims of child sexual abuse.
Latest engagement
Rahul’s latest engagement is with global warming, which is “a monster lurking on the sidelines, closer home than you think possible, waiting to swallow us up whole!” The earnestness with which Rahul is engaged in the cause is evident as he bellows, “Do you know, with glaciers melting and temperatures soaring to unbelievable levels, India is going to be burdened with a swarm of ‘climate refugees’ within the next decade? Just imagine the economic burden and space crunch it’ll create in a country where the population is already growing at staggering rates! We need to shake people out of their ennui and make them participants in postponing the inevitable. That is my aim now.”
And how does he propose to do that? He replies “Via my blog www.gogreen.bigadda.com. For starters, we’ve to explain the concept of carbon credits to people. Then, on a micro level, one has to start using minimal resources, not waste food, use eco-friendly stuff not just for fashion but in keeping with the cause...”
In practise
A believer in practising what he preaches, Rahul uses only CFL bulbs at home, sleeps without an A/C or fan 365 days a year and has no qualms about parcelling left-over food from the posh-est restaurants!
“Of course, I was not always that conscientious,” he gamely admits. “As a young boy I’d waste food or keep fans whirring when not needed. But watching “An Inconvenient Truth” simply zapped me out of my ‘blissful’ state…”
Rahul will also be working closely with Oxfam to influence policy makers to initiate change at a macro level. Quizzed about how he plans to juggle this with his choc-a-bloc film schedule, Rahul quips “Where there’s a will, there’s a way. I shoot for 200 days a year, so I still have 150 for doing my bit, right?!”
Asked if indifferent or even negative responses ever frustrate him, the ever-optimistic Rahul quips, “I’ve never ever felt frustrated or that I’m wasting my time, despite the rebuttals; I’m a firm believer that change will come! It may come slower than I want it to, but IT WILL COME!”
This column looks at less known aspects of well known personalities.
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