“Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?”

"God," it is often said of India, "must have loved the poor. He made so many of them."

I want to live bravely. I want, desperately, to make a difference. I want to be generous and true yet also fierce. I want to be always in motion, breathless, with not an hour to lose. I want to never take "no" for an answer. Above all else, I want to have the courage to never ever look away when confronted with the dignified poverty that grips my country. How can I afford to? 300 million people live on a dollar a day.

I want you to imagine an India. An India rid of poverty, with drinking water and electricity in every village. Millions of people exploring life, expressing talents and living in peaceful prosperity. An India governed by upright leaders capable of shepherding the country to its rightful place amongst the great democratic nations of the world. An India that makes the world a brighter place.

If I can play a part in the creation of this India, my daimon - as Alexander once labeled his sense of unerring destiny - will have been met. And when people ask whether I'm crazy, I gently remind them that the people crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who usually do.

— Navroz D. Udwadia