Power, money, fame and you: Nanditesh Nilay's quest to heal modern society
Motivational speaker Nanditesh Nilay wants to convince his listeners that the search for power, money and fame is one of those vices that leads to societal downfall in the long run. He is the author of non-fiction and fiction along those lines, with books such as Ethikos: Stories Searching Happiness (Kautilya, 2021), Kyon: Name of a Boy who seeks Answers to his Questions (Kautilya, 2024) and Being Good: Feelings are for Human Values and Habits for Ethics (Kautilya, 2019).
He doesn't separate problems of the family, the workplace and the nation. 'When we ask why people don't take initiative, don't feel a sense of responsibility, why they work in silos, (we don't realise) that questions of nation-building are connected to it,' he said to The Indian Express. Being Good explores such questions with essays on wealth inequality in the 21st century and how those left behind in the race for money often put their faith in market forces and accept the resulting dehumanisation.
'Imagine if there's a happy family that goes to the market. They eat there, wear clothes they have bought from there, interact with shopkeepers. There's trust, integrity and honesty in that situation. But what happens when the family comes back home? Someone in the family may question who they are because the market is no longer there to take care of them. They may feel they're just a resource for their family or society. That conflict drove me to write Being Good,' says Nilay.
Nanditesh Nilay's book (Photo: Amazon.in)
Ethikos explores a similar idea tangentially, through short fiction, focusing on power and powerlessness. It has stories of childhood friendships, loving teachers, workplace squabbles, the effect of kindness, the influence of literature and people who like to follow versus people who like to lead. 'The great philosopher Immanuel Kant said that man is not a means, man is an end. As we chase money, such human values take a backseat. You talk about any revolution on earth, the workmen toppled the masters. They already had their human values intact. But they hadn't been educated, taken care of, given dignity. It's the role of leaders to pass on their power to the last man on earth,' says Nilay.
Nanditesh Nilay's book (Photo: Amazon.in)
The questions are reframed in Kyon, a novel about a boy asking his parents why there is inequality and death and misery in the world. The answers he gets are rarely satisfactory but the search is enlightening.
'What I'm trying to say (through my books) is that love, integrity, kindness, all these values are collective. This is not just talk. In Covid, we were not just saved by chemistry; we were saved by human values,' says Nilay.
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