Specially written for Vikalp Sangam
Most of us might have heard of the age-old story of the elephant and the blind men. An elephant was once brought to a village for the first time, and the villagers gathered around it in amusement. Among the amused villagers were six blind men, wise and curious, who were eager to understand this creature they had only heard of.
Each man approached the elephant from a different point. The first placed his hand on its broad side of the body and declared, “This beast is mighty and solid, exactly like a great wall!” The second, feeling the smooth, sharp curve of a tusk, disagreed. “No, it is round and hard and pointed. It is unmistakably like a spear!” The third, who had taken hold of the wiggling trunk, laughed. “You are both deceived. It is powerful and supple, like a massive snake!” The fourth wrapped his arms around one of its legs. “It is clear to me that it is round and towering, precisely like the trunk of an ancient tree!” The fifth, a tall man, grasped its enormous ear. “It is thin and broad and moves the air. It is, without doubt, like a giant fan!” The sixth, seizing its rough tail, said, “All of you are mistaken. Anyone can feel it is long and coarse, exactly like a sturdy rope!”
In the version of the story most of us know, they would argue endlessly. But in this version, a different scene unfolds. As the elephant moved on, the men did not quarrel. Instead, they sat together, not in frustration, but in thoughtful silence.
Finally, one of them spoke. “We each experienced something true, yet we all described a different thing. This tells me the elephant is more complex than any one of us perceived. Let us share what we felt and see if the pieces fit.”
And so they began. “You spoke of a wall,” one said. “Was it flat and vast?” “Yes, and your tree-trunk was surely one of the pillars that held this wall up?” “And your snake,” asked another, “did it emerge from this wall?” “It did, and near it were the smooth spears you described.” “And above those, the great fan that moved the air.” “And my rope,” the sixth added, “was at the very end, opposite the spears and the snake.”
Piece by piece, they stitched their partial truths into a shared understanding. They realised the elephant was not a wall, but had a wall-like side. It was not a spear, but had spear-like tusks. It was the sum of all these parts, and the life that connected them. They learned that while individual perception is limited, collective sensemaking is boundless. Their strength was not in each being right alone, but in weaving their individual truths into a shared understanding of a reality too large for any one of them to grasp alone. They thus walked away not as adversaries, but as allies, their individual knowledge deepened by the wisdom of the collective.
The Lesson for a Confluence of Voices
This story is a powerful metaphor for the work of Vikalp Sangam, which brings together organisations and movements building alternatives to dominant models that are exploitative and extractive. Each member organisation is like one of the wise individuals: passionate, skilled, and deeply committed to their mission.
For example, the ecological restoration group feels the “trunk”; the urgent, moving crisis of ecosystem loss and climate change. The health and wellbeing advocates feel the “leg”; the foundational pillar of community health that supports a just society. The alternative education organisation feels the “tusk”; a sharp tool for breaking down paradigms and creating new knowledge systems. The arts and culture collective feels the “ear”; the need for expression, storytelling, and deep listening to community wisdom. The governance and democracy group feels the “tail”; a tool with the power to sweep away centralised control and enable participatory decision-making. The organisation working on sustainable food and farming feels the “side”; the massive, foundational reality of our food systems, which underpin everything.
It is easy to remain in silos, each advocating for its own truth: “Ecological regeneration is the priority!” “Without health, nothing else matters!” “True change begins with education!” Yet, Vikalp Sangam is built on the wisdom of the parable. Its purpose is to create the spaces to sit down together.
How shall we move to that collaborative space?
1. Acknowledge partial truths: We begin by stating, “This is the truth as we see it from our unique work in education/ecology/health,” while accepting that others hold different, equally valid truths from their sectors.
2. Showcase curiosity and listening: We must then ask the crucial questions. “What do you see from your work? And how does it connect to what we see?” This is where a health worker realises that a farmer’s practice of organic farming directly impacts community nutrition, and an energy activist sees how decentralised solar power enables better education and healthcare.
3. Map the elephant together: Through this dialogue, we begin to draw the whole creature. We see that an equitable, just, and sustainable future for India is the entire elephant; a single, living system where each sector is interconnected and interdependent. A change in one affects all others.
4. Craft a collective narrative: This allows us to align our diverse pathways into a larger, more powerful vision; that of plurality, solidarity, and ecological wisdom, where wellbeing is not compartmentalised but is a unified goal encompassing healthy ecosystems, equitable economies, and vibrant communities.
Similarly, the process of sangam, or confluence, creates a narrative greater than the sum of its parts. Just like the elephant is more than just the sum of its body parts and there is a life that connects them, the confluence of alternatives too is a living, dynamic one which interacts with the world. It allows for coordinated action and strategic collaboration, where the success of one initiative strengthens the entire ecosystem of alternatives. The goal of Vikalp Sangam is not for everyone to do the same thing, but for each participant to understand how their unique work is a critical part of a single, magnificent whole. By aligning our narratives, we move beyond describing just the parts and start weaving the fabric of a transformed future. Together.
About the Author
Ashik Krishnan is an educator and venture socialist, and designs and facilitates experiential learning programmes as the co-creator of Travellers’ University and Learning City Thrissur. Ashik is also associated with the Vikalp Sangam process, where he values cross-sectoral exchanges and knowledge in commons the most.