The Pro Action cafe. Explore, Discover, Engage and Co-Create.

Now this was an event that qualifies as  being ‘different’. I met Jovin, Andries and Basti (Basti generously sent a copy of the cool “The Idea Book” to me which I will review shortly) at the TEDx Sentosa event. Seeming affable, gregarious and intelligent, when they invited me to this event called the “Pro Action cafe” – an event they co-organize-  I could not say no.

Somehow when you meet people, vibes tell you a story.

I like the theme of the event. People from different walks of life with their opinions on a topic. Any topic. People with experience- and then some very young. Makes you think harder. Work harder.

Cut to chase, here is a bit on the event (though when you hear the introduction from the people behind the, it sounds more sophisticated, and well, much better):

It is an event where the audience could become participants, moderators, panelists and speakers- all at the same time. Or separately. There is no ‘one speaker’, and you have an opportunity to mingle around with people, choose a session to participate in and be a part of a solution. Or just generally discuss things.

People gather- topics are thrown- and small groups are then formed to discuss those topics. The moderators try to join together the conversations and at the end of it all- summarize the outcomes.

Of course, there is food for the company (This event was held at this Indian joint with nice ambiance called Pot Potpourri at Waterloo road)

The event is not for the networking types that you meet in every conference- these are people looking for a good time along with some intellectual gratification and good discussion. And we had some good discussions.

To give an idea- the topics discussed at this meeting where these:

• Are atheists basically religious at heart?

This was the crux of the discussion topic- to me- though the original topic thrown was too long for understanding at one go.

The moderator had experienced that even the most staunch atheists turn to “praying like behavior” when in trouble- using words like “I hope..” etc. And that scientists have found the same area of the brain to be lit up when at atheist thinks of hope to that of a person in prayer. So does this mean it is impossible to be a real atheist? That atheists at the deep are ‘religious’ and ‘spiritual’?

My contribution to this was that their behavior seems to be that of HOPE and not of religion per se. Religion becomes a conduit of HOPE and probably was formed because of the human mind’s optimistic spirit. Hope, Religion and Spirituality are different, though might not be mutually exclusive.

A simple example: If you have a maths exam the next day, you HOPE to get passing marks. If you approach your GOD and fold your hands praying for blessings that you get passing marks- that is RELIGION. In the end, if you have abelief system that tells you that what matters more than passing or failing marks- is the knowledge you gained out of studying for the course- that is SPIRITUALITY.

OK- this example came on the spot and probably does not justify the intricacies of all these deep terms- but, well, a light way to end an abstract discussion.

• Should you follow your dreams or be more practical with what the society demands of you wrt your profession?

I was not a part of this discussion group, but at the end of it, the moderator- a student called Pramodh- seemed excited and bubbling with a whole lot of stuff in his head. That’s what I call a heady discussion. Bad pun. I know.

• Should I leave the citizenship of Pakistan and take up Singaporean citizenship?

So basically there was this guy who had almost decided in favor of leaving his Pakistani citizenship. He felt the world typecasts people like him and the instability back in Pakistan does not make it look like it will be a place to return to for some time.

Like most such cases, he was grappling with the moral and practical aspects of the decision. In our group, some believed that the world is so globalized that it does not matter if you leave your home country’s citizenship- a passport is but just a piece of paper. Whereas the majority seemed to believe that your passport is your identity and your country of birth is one of those things that you will be known by- the rest of your life.

At the end of it, he seemed to have made up his mind- and reinforced what he probably wanted to hear. A passport is just a piece of paper.

• Make love not war. What is love. And etcetra.
  

Jovin- the moderator for this topic had a coup. His group seemed to have the maximum female participation. And when he announced the topic- almost as if on cue, a collective scream from a group of girls emanated from nearby flats.

Though he summarized the outcome of the discussion quite eloquently, my contribution was thus:

Love is being concerned. About your near and dear ones- and whoever is the object. You know you love someone when you are concerned about them. It could be any relationship- a lover, spouse, parental, brotherly/sisterly or even towards your pets.

When I think of expression “Make love not war”, I think music. I think poetry. I think Lennon. I think Guns N Roses. I think prose.

Hope that gives a flavor. Good platform and a great example of collaborative thinking.

The challenges:

It’ll be interesting to see how this progresses and adapts to growing number with time. The more the group grows, the more difficult it will be to form smaller clusters and encourage individual participation. Settling operational issues- like finding a big enough place to fit, say hundreds of participants could be another challenge.

On one hand, I think impromptu topics are great, but on the other hand, it might be more interesting if topics are decided beforehand- maybe with the organizers only. Selection could be crowd sourced or by panel, but it opens a lot of doors this way.

They are having another event in August. Let me know if you are interested and I’ll introduce you to the right people.

PS: The event is free. Except for about $10 or so towards food.

Cheers

Shalabh

twitter.com/shalabhpandey