1. Are You Waiting for the Monkey God? …..
Rishi Kumar.
In the early 60s, Edward Lorenz, an MIT
meteorologist, coined the term “Butterfly Effect.”
He theorized that the formation of a hurricane
was predicated upon the flapping of a butterfly’s
wings weeks earlier. Now accepted as part of
chaos theory, the butterfly effect does not state
that a butterfly causes the hurricane. Instead, it
theorizes that the fluttering of a butterfly’s wings
can create tiny changes in the atmosphere, which can create a ripple effect that
may determine the occurrence of a hurricane in a different location. Being the
intelligent species we are, let us make intrinsic changes within ourselves, within
our communities, and watch the effect snowball.
Are you waiting for Hanuman to right the wrongs in the
world? Don’t. Mahatma Gandhi’s oft repeated quote
comes to mind, “Be the change you want to see in the
world.”
We witnessed global unrest last year with the Arab
Spring revolt. It began in Tunisia, spread to Egypt, Libya,
Greece, Spain, Chile and emerged in North America with
the Occupy movement.
The Anna Hazare anti-corruption movement mobilized Indians en masse and
energized the country behind a cause other than cricket. The dots are finally
connecting. The people of this world are empowering themselves to take action.
Come to think of it, every massive change has a grass-roots beginning. Back in
2007, a state senator running a very aggressive ground campaign, depended on
an electronic network of neighborhood organizers, volunteers, activists, and

2. energized young precinct walkers to take on Goliath—and ended up in the
White House. Yes, President Obama used simple Neighbor-to-Neighbor tools
with volunteers reaching out to their community brethren.
The volunteers walked within their own neighbour-hoods talking about the
reasons why they were supporting Obama, their personal opinions of his
policies and other election issues. That resonated across the country. The results
were spectacular.
Does the name Daniel Valenzuela ring a bell? It will in the next few months.
Daniel Valenzuela is a fourth-generation Mexican-American who won a
Phoenix City Council election by having local university students knock on
more than 70,000 doors and increasing the Latino voter turnout by more than
400 percent. The statistics were so compelling that President Obama is looking
to copy Daniel’s playbook for the upcoming elections.
More recently the KONY 2012 video, a short film created by “The Invisible
Children, Inc.,” has reached over 90 million views on YouTube creating a grass
roots movement to oust Joseph Kony, a Ugandan guerilla leader, from power.
Kony, your days are numbered.
People’s sentiments can push the wheels of many a cause, and it is for each of
us to take the first step. Growing up in Mumbai, I had the typical “chalta hai”
attitude, that typical Mumbaikar attitude of absolute disregard, wanting to be
somewhere yesterday. Hey, that’s not my problem, was a common refrain.
I discovered the state of total empowerment in graduate school. Tuition hikes
wereproposed for the state schools during the recession of ’92. As a graduate
student I did not need to worry about the tuition, this topic was only of passing
interest. But, I was surprised upon reading the Daily Campus newspaper, how
students from all over Connecticut had descended onto the State Capitol and
were raising a hue and cry over the upcoming hikes. And I was even more

3. surprised to discover the then Governor Weicker back down when faced with
the student protests. As a result, the tuition hikes were not as significant as
originally planned. It made my mind boggle when I realized that the common
man could exert this kind of influence.
Back in early 2000, as I settled down in Saratoga, a small town, in the heart of
Silicon Valley California, I was told again and again about Saratoga’s
antiquated ordinances and stringent processes that seemingly slow projects
down to the point of frustration. I knew there was more to it. How could
something be that wrong? I decided to become a part of the process and the
solution. I joined the city planning commission, and found myself beginning to
understand the motives behind the process driven culture that the city
forefathers had adopted.
Admittedly there were quirks. On the one hand we wanted to promote
development in Saratoga to lead to the revitalization that is talked about at every
election. On the other hand we needed re-vitalization for the development to
happen; the classic chicken and the egg.
I began to wonder what could be done to revitalize Saratoga’s downtown? The
intention was to bring in more foot traffic into the Village to help out the city’s
businesses. I teamed up with the Saratoga Chamber of Commerce and came up
with the idea of a weekly “Saratoga Village Karaoke,” positioning it as a
“Celebration of Cultures” to bring all the various cliques and cultures to join in
and mingle.“Saratoga Village Karaoke” rebranded as “Saratoga’s Got Talent”
gradually succeeded in bringing lots of newcomers to Saratoga downtown. Did I
ever expect that? Not in my wildest dream.
At the end of the day, issues are not complicated. All it needs is thought
leadership and focused interest, to come up with answers. If we can sift through
the issues and really try to make a difference, answers eventually come. The key
is to get started and get engaged.

4. The grass roots movement is taking over. Hanuman is here and within each of
us. Are you ready to jump in?
“Rishi Kumar lives in the heart of Silicon Valley with his wife Seema and their
two boys. Rishi’s day job is in the valley tech industry selling software. In his
spare time, Rishi loves being involved in volunteering for charity, local politics,
and hosting the “Saratoga’s Got Talent” event.”