A Day with an Activist — Mr. Kartikeya Sarabhai
By: Shyam Ramachandran
Tags: Activism

My experience and learnings from speaking with the activist (Shyam R, PGP2 at IIM-A)

Our group had decided on meeting with an environmental activist as we had similar views on the same. We had unknowingly landed on Mr. Kartikeya Sarabhai, the father of whom founded this wonderful institute in which we are currently enrolled.

The Questions and his Answers

Our meeting consisted of two questions and his answers to the same apart from a warm welcome and a fond farewell. Since our group hadn’t prepared a detailed questionnaire, we thought that a free flowing discussion could serve us well. Thus, I had the opportunity of asking both the questions to him for which I am very thankful.

The first question was of interest to me especially as I wanted to know what a Sarabhai was doing in an institute like CEE for the past 36 years. So, I asked him to reminisce on how he came to start an organisation like CEE and where from did his interest in the environment spring.

He started with a story of his interest in India during his stay at Cambridge and how his ire was drawn when hearing rash comments on the predicament of India as a democratic nation from the press. Thus, began a lifelong journey of learning and creating institutions. Here was a person who was ready to admit that he did not know the answer and thus could not form the argument. He was thus drawn to books and reading. He spoke on one of his major achievements. He approached Ford Foundation for a grant for social work in northern part of Gujarat. Due to indications from sources, he indicated that the budget for his activities was INR 5 lakh since that would be the amount that could be approved. However, his proposal got rejected. He wanted to sincerely understand where it all ent wrong and approached the senior management of the Ford Foundation only to understand that his proposal was so well written, but the budget was so far below the requirements. Due to the low budget, it was probably assumed that implementation of the proposal would have been impossible and thus it was rejected. The revised budget was written up by him for over INR 50 lakh which then got approved. This gave him the confidence of the success and also belief in himself so that he never undercut on his budget again. If there were any constraints, activities undertaken were rationalized but he understood the necessity of writing up the right budget for the activities.

The other aspect of which he attracted me was the fact that he was outspoken in his youth. Often times, we are timid in our endeavours and set limits upon ourselves which tend to have a negative impact in the longer term. Mr. Sarabhai however narrated a story when he was invited to make a presentation for the US National Park Service which was developing a communication campaign around a national park in Madhya Pradesh. While he thought that there was a negligible chance that he would get the contract, he was unafraid in pitching himself ahead of his competitors. He said to the evaluators to consider the fact that his competitors might consider this a good contract for the sake of money and wouldn’t mind doing an advertisement for cigarettes for the same amount. He also put forward that in that case, he would be the only one to walk out and the project developed along with him could potentially be a long term asset. His other demands of using indigenous materials and being the sole contractor also amused the evaluators. However, his straight talk had on them over and he could clinch the contract.

Institutions play a huge part in the structure and functioning of the society. When you see the legacy of Vikram Sarabhai, one often recognises his role in setting up various long standing institutions such as Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad and Indian Space Research Organisation. However, institutions are made up of men and women talking up roles and passing them down to future generations. It was quite easy to understand that Kartikeya Sarabhai would also follow his father and set up an institution like CEE.

The second question was to understand about organisations in particular. It was asked to understand how entrepreneurship and young minds could be attracted and be adjusted in a growing bureaucratic organisation.

He acknowledged that it is now a tougher task to attract young talent and most of the new joinees might look towards CEE as a job or a career instead of as a passion. The amount of funds available to the organisation has substantially increased over the years and the level of oversight of the government and accountability that comes along with the funds has also grown. This needs a certain level of standards and procedures which require an organisation to be run efficiently. However, this stops young people to run with their ideas and gain quick approval. So, it limits the interest of the young in such an organisation even if it is in the passionate realm of the protection of the environment.

Entrepreneurship requires an attitude which needs a person to be not rooted and be ready for change. Thus, it is always tied in with youth and generates a general opinion that the elder generation is averse to new ideas. However, as true to Henry Ford’s words, it was proved that “anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty” and Mr. Kartikeya Sarabhai was truly young at heart.