It's true! Several million dollars are now mine. My shocked eyes wildly compare numbers on the lottery ticket with those in the newspaper They match! Oh, the things I can now do! What is it that immediately dances through my head? Is it the causes I believe so strongly in? The desire to do good? Not really. In all honesty altruistic causes are secondary to thoughts of providing a stable future for those in my family, insuring a comfortable retirement for me and my wife and yes--even a new home closer to our children and new car somewhere next to the house is in that vision. With these obligations taken care of, I could then turn my thoughts to the other passions of my life. The altruistic part of me, sometimes buried a little deeper than it should be with excuses of survival in this hectic world, now would have the chance to blossom. The desires of my heart could now come to fruition. I could buy myself-- TIME. Time to delve deeply into issues that could make a difference to the country and culture that is so strongly a part of my innermost core. I could become the broken record to the world about the importance of preserving the culture and the rich linguistic heritage of Mithila and Maithili.
As many of you know, we are witnessing the systematic destruction and loss of an entire culture through decisions made by the central government. They no longer recognize the language or the contributions of this region. I now would have have the time to challenge those decisions. I would now have time to do research, gather information, form a plan and assemble an army of like-minded people who could make a difference. I would become the voice "crying in the wilderness."
Raising the awareness of interested persons would be first on the list. We could start with my expatriate Maithili friends living in United States who are already joined in common cause. We would now have the means to raise a groundswell of support to help those in India who are committed to our goal of preservation. Together we could start asking the questions that would begin to make a difference. Who might we know that could help us influence those who make crucial governmental decisions? What kinds of information would they need? Who would make the decisions? How would we identify those who really care? Maybe we could buy media slots to raise awareness? Could we make movies? How would we use current technology to influence? Who could be national spokespersons? In other words, how could we change the laws and influence the government to make changes in laws and regulations that relegate Maithili culture to the forgotten? What we now have (with our lottery winnings) is the time and means to make a plan and to work the plan. Next, how so we preserve what we already have in Bihar? Do we start language schools? Create museums? Start theater and film troops? How about sponsoring traveling exhibits and cultural lectures? Maybe we should endow chairs at a Maithili University to encourage on-going research, art, literature, music, dance and science in the Maithili tradition. Certainly we would need to insure anthropological studies that would help us understand all aspects of what we have been. We need to figure out how to awaken the people of the region to what could be permanently lost and instill pride in what could be. We could start to plan, set goals and mostly we could do.
We could make a noise and begin to be heard. We start small and grow. We not only preserve, we re-invigorate. We find hope where there was despair. Through pride in the past, we create pride and hope in the future. We make a difference. We share our wealth for the good of the many. That is my dream--that is what I would do if I woke up tomorrow morning the new 50 million dollar lottery winner.
Wait a minute! Is it necessary to have several millions of paise? Are there things we can do without winning the lottery? Does all that I've just described take money? What's the cost of a few letters? A little research? Who do we know? What small steps can we take? Can't we all find a couple of minutes? Think about it--maybe a lot can be accomplished with that one little paisa, a few minutes of time and a desire to change our little corner of the world.