Changing The Lens And Language Of Giving

Anshu Gupta, Founder And Director Of Goonj, Talks About Changing The Language And Mindset Of People In The Development Sector, Organisations And Corporates

- Priyanca Vaishnav

"But I am surprised, how do you remember an hour and 15 minutes of conversation, quotes, incidents?" Anshu Gupta asked me at the end of our telephonic interview. What would have been a recorded video call was unduly interrupted by bad tech. This is just one of the many instances of empathy that I experienced during my chat with the Founder-Director of Goonj — India’s first NGO “that has taken up clothing as an element of development.” Based in Delhi, yet working chiefly in villages, Gupta’s life is a constant paring of the dichotomy. It is his inherent ability to empathise with anyone at all — that, combined with a total abandonment of presumption — which has driven him to run the human development organisation over the last decade.

AN ALMOST GANDHIAN ETHOS

In 1930, Mahatma Gandhi communicated the dignity of poverty and labour, and in doing so, the equality of all Indians through the element of clothing. Short of a century later, Gupta is acknowledged as next-in-line among important public figures to do so. But his agenda runs deeper than the scope of our nationalist struggle. Even though Goonj echoes a similar sentiment, its model is for the world to emulate, duplicate, and build upon. “We want to make our model open source for people and organisations globally. Personally, when we talk to audiences, we talk about changing the lens and language,” Gupta declares. In this regard, he talks about the need to change the current approach to human development and mobilising resources.