talking vs doing

was invited by my colleague to join her in a meeting with a group of parents.
this was a education center we started 2 months ago and this was the first interaction with the parents. we needed to get their buy in on the things we do and answer questions and queries etc.
my presence was even more sought after since it was tamil strong community.

this is my first ever attempt at such a formal meeting, but of course i have spent a lot of time with parents informally on my community walks.

really had a blast. my style is very informal and irreverent (in terms of following formalities). lot of ribbing and joking and grandstanding.

the interesting conversation (which leads to the title) came after the end of the meeting. was cornered by these 4 parents who had number of questions. mostly it was around the quality of the formal school that their kids attend. needless to say, it is a poor situation. powerless and a feeling of helplessness.
my recourse is for them to band together. if they can fight for water, roads, etc., with a fury that singes politicians at the polls, they need to do the same thing with education too. demand their rights with the same vigour as they do for roti, kapda, makaan.

so when one women lamented that someone had promised to set up a school in their area itself and had vamoosed, i said this "pechuveerargal nariya per varuva, karmaveerargal kammi" (there are several talkers, but very few doers).
truly masterclass, kannadasan would have been proud. right out of an MGR movie.

my 2 colleagues were rolling with laughter.

but i mean it.