'We have to reach out and feel'

Tragedies surround us, yet they do not touch us easily anymore, the famous actress tells PK Balachanddran.

Q: What did you think you, as an Indian film actress, could do in tsunami-hit Sri Lanka?
A: Initially, I was very hesitant to come here. I did not think that I could do anything worthwhile in a week's visit. But at the same time, I wanted to reach out and see things for myself. Tragedies abound around us, and yet, they do not touch us very easily any more.

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Nandita's heart goes out for tsunami victims (Photo: Bandula Jayasekara)

We tend to forget them and get on with our lives with amazing alacrity. I feel that we have to see human life in all its aspects face-to-face.

Only then it gets embedded in our minds and we can do something about it.

Q: Parts of India were also hit by the tsunami. When your own country has been hit, why did you choose to go to Sri Lanka?

A: What is "your own"? I see the entire humanity as "my own or our own". Ideas of nationalism and identity have made us narrow-minded and almost jingoistic. To enhance your identity, do you have to put down somebody else?

I am running an organisation called "Beyond Boundaries" which has brought Indian and Pakistani kids together. Thirty Indian kids were taken to Pakistan and thirty Pakistani kids were brought to India. They played cricket in both the countries, but the teams were mixed. They played "together" in the true sense of the term. They mingled as they would in a family.

The "Indo-Pak" kids were in Hyderabad when the tsunami struck. The kids spontaneously decided to play a special match to collect funds for tsunami relief. The match was able to collect Rs 2 lakh. The kids themselves gave the money to the Andhra Pradesh Governor.

When the kids parted (as Indians and Pakistanis they had to, at the end of the tour) they cried. We all cried. An emotional bond had been established across borders.

People think I am not nationalistic enough. But I think we should connect as human beings, rather than as members of this nation state or that. I attach no sanctity to notions of "identity". Nobody should have a chip on his or her shoulder on this score.