I think it’s pretty well established that world leaders are busy people. It’s hard to imagine that when they make a daily list of their most pressing priorities, “Answer letter from ordinary person A” might be near the top. The problems of world leaders are not at the micro level, but the macro. They have the incredibly complicated task of taking in  and working with the wider view almost all the time.

However, I am also aware that they are people too, with personal stories and complicated histories and this is the person I tried to write to recently when I drafted a short letter to Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi.

Writing to a prime minister and hoping for a response is just another symptom of my optimistic nature but I’m lucky that my optimism is sprinkled with enough realism to prevent me from being personally heart broken if no response comes.  I wrote to explain my project to Mr. Modi and to ask if he would be interested in being a part of my research and mini documentary. In light of the work I’m doing it would be a huge gaff on my part if I didn’t at least attempt to contact him, since his Swachh Bharat Abhiyan initiative is a driving force behind a lot of the SWM work that is being done by the organizations and individuals I’m going to be talking to during my trip. Writing a simple letter risks nothing, while the gains in knowledge and perspective if he responds would be immense.

I have read that Modi is very good about responding to the concerns of the Indian people, and while I am an outsider in every sense, I can only hope (there’s that optimism again) that he sees enough value in what I have been doing for the last 8 months to reach out, however briefly it may be, to offer his insight.

Excerpt from the letter:

“My research has brought me into contact with many of your hard working countrymen and women who are passionate about building a cleaner India. I am visiting India from September 20^th until November 24^th to connect with these individuals in person, to hear their stories and to learn from their experiences. I will be documenting the trip to create a short documentary that will hopefully showcase the tremendous work that is being done.

I hope through learning from the stories of these ‘swachhatagrahis,’ [Cleanliness Warriors] that the wider world will start to change its stereotyped views of India. Instead of seeing a dirty country filled with ambivalent citizens, they will see the creative and resourceful populace that has always been India’s pride.”

I sent the letter both via Mr. Modi’s website portal and via post. At the latest, the physical letter should reach his office in New Delhi by September 10th – 10 days before I am scheduled to leave for India.

And yes, since I don’t think I’ve mentioned it yet – I’ve decided that since I will be filming and taking audio for this trip, I should make it into a documentary. It will be an intense challenge both from an experience and technology perspective. (I’m only able to bring a GoPro, audio recorder and lavalier mic. I took a short online course on documentary film making that ended a few weeks ago in the hopes that this will prepare me a bit more. (Yes, all you film students giggle away. I know.). It is highly likely that in order to make an effective film I will have to return to India at least one or two more times down the road, but I will cross that bridge when I get to it.

With the bulk of my pre-trip research reading over, I turn now to reading shorter articles from local and national newspapers out of India to understand some of the micro-issues within the waste management and sanitation scheme. (I was doing this along the way as well but now I will be more focused on it.). Also, I will be preparing followup interview questions for those individuals and groups I will be meeting with in India. As long as the pre-trip research has taken, I know I haven’t even scratched the surface. This is both exciting and a little overwhelming – but that’s to be expected.

In the coming week, I’ll be updating all my supporters on how they can best follow my activities while I am in India. Thank you to all who have helped me in this. Even though I am traveling solo to India, make no mistake –It’s impossible to do this kind of thing alone, so thank you.

-Ashley