WEBVTT

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My name is Ryan Lobo,

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and I've been involved in the documentary

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filmmaking business all over the world for the last 10 years.

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During the process of making these films

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I found myself taking photographs,

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often much to the annoyance of the video cameramen.

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I found this photography of mine almost compulsive.

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And at the end of a shoot, I would sometimes feel that

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I had photographs that told a better story

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than a sometimes-sensational documentary.

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I felt, when I had my photographs,

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that I was holding on to something true,

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regardless of agendas or politics.

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In 2007, I traveled to three war zones.

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I traveled to Iraq, Afghanistan and Liberia.

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And over there I experienced

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other people's suffering, up close and personal,

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immersed myself in some rather intense and emotional stories,

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and at times I experienced great fear for my own life.

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As always, I would return to Bangalore,

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and often to animated discussions at friend's homes,

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where we would discuss various issues

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while they complained bitterly about the new pub timings,

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where a drink often cost more than what they'd paid

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their 14-year-old maid.

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I would feel very isolated during these discussions.

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But at the same time, I questioned myself

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and my own integrity and purpose in storytelling.

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And I decided that I had compromised,

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just like my friends in those discussions,

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where we told stories

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in contexts we made excuses for,

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rather than taking responsibility for.

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I won't go into details about what led to a decision I made,

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but let's just say it involved alcohol, cigarettes,

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other substances and a woman.

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(Laughter)

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I basically decided that it was I,

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not the camera or the network,

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or anything that lay outside myself,

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that was the only instrument in storytelling

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truly worth tuning.

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In my life, when I tried to achieve things

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like success or recognition, they eluded me.

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Paradoxically, when I let go of these objectives,

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and worked from a place of compassion and purpose,

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looking for excellence, rather than the results of it,

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everything arrived on its own, including fulfillment.

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Photography transcended culture, including my own.

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And it is, for me, a language which expressed the intangible,

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and gives voice to people and stories without.

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I invite you into three recent stories of mine,

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which are about this way of looking, if you will,

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which I believe exemplify the tenets

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of what I like to call compassion in storytelling.

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In 2007 I went to Liberia,

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where a group of my friends and I

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did an independent, self-funded film, still in progress,

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on a very legendary and brutal war-lord

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named General Butt Naked.

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His real name is Joshua, and he's pictured here in a cell

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where he once used to torture and murder people,

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including children.

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Joshua claims to have personally killed

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more than 10,000 people during Liberia's civil war.

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He got his name from fighting stark naked.

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And he is probably the most prolific mass murderer

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alive on Earth today.

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This woman witnessed the General murdering her brother.

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Joshua commanded his child-soldiers to commit unspeakable crimes,

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and enforced his command with great brutality.

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Today many of these children are addicted to drugs like heroin,

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and they are destitute, like these young men in the image.

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How do you live with yourself

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if you know you've committed horrific crimes?

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Today the General is a baptized Christian evangelist.

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And he's on a mission.

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We accompanied Joshua, as he walked the Earth,

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visiting villages where he had once killed and raped.

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He seeked forgiveness,

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and he claims to endeavor to improve

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the lives of his child-soldiers.

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During this expedition I expected him

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to be killed outright, and us as well.

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But what I saw opened my eyes

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to an idea of forgiveness

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which I never thought possible.

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In the midst of incredible poverty and loss,

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people who had nothing absolved a man

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who had taken everything from them.

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He begs for forgiveness,

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and receives it from the same woman

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whose brother he murdered.

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Senegalese, the young man seated on the wheelchair here,

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was once a child soldier, under the General's command,

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until he disobeyed orders,

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and the General shot off both his legs.

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He forgives the General in this image.

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He risked his life as he walked up to people

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whose families he'd murdered.

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In this photograph a hostile crowd in a slum surrounds him.

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And Joshua remains silent

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as they vented their rage against him.

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This image, to me, is almost like from a Shakespearean play,

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with a man, surrounded by various influences,

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desperate to hold on to something true within himself,

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in a context of great suffering that he has created himself.

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I was intensely moved during all this.

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But the question is,

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does forgiveness and redemption replace justice?

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Joshua, in his own words, says that he does not mind

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standing trial for his crimes,

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and speaks about them from soapboxes across Monrovia,

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to an audience that often includes his victims.

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A very unlikely spokesperson for the idea of

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separation of church and state.

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The second story I'm going to tell you about

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is about a group of very special fighting women

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with rather unique peace-keeping skills.

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Liberia has been devastated by one of Africa's

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bloodiest civil wars,

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which has left more than 200,000 people dead,

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thousands of women scarred by rape and crime

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on a spectacular scale.

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Liberia is now home

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to an all-woman United Nations contingent

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of Indian peacekeepers.

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These women, many from small towns in India,

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help keep the peace, far away from home and family.

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They use negotiation and tolerance

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more often than an armed response.

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The commander told me that a woman could gauge

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a potentially violent situation

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much better than men.

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And that they were definitely capable of diffusing it non-aggressively.

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This man was very drunk,

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and he was very interested in my camera,

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until he noticed the women, who handled him

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with smiles, and AK-47s at the ready, of course.

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(Laughter)

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This contingent seems to be quite lucky,

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and it has not sustained any casualties,

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even though dozens of peacekeepers have been killed in Liberia.

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And yes, all of those people killed were male.

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Many of the women are married with children,

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and they say the hardest part of their deployment

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was being kept away from their children.

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I accompanied these women on their patrols,

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and watched as they walked past men,

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many who passed very lewd comments incessantly.

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And when I asked one of the women about the shock and awe response,

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she said, "Don't worry, same thing back home.

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We know how to deal with these fellows,"

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and ignored them.

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In a country ravaged by violence against women,

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Indian peacekeepers have inspired many local women

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to join the police force.

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Sometimes, when the war is over and all the film crews have left,

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the most inspiring stories are the ones

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that float just beneath the radar.

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I came back to India and nobody was interested in buying the story.

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And one editor told me that she wasn't interested

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in doing what she called "manual labor stories."

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In 2007 and 2009 I did stories on the Delhi Fire Service, the DFS,

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which, during the summer, is probably the world's most active fire department.

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They answer more than 5,000 calls in just two months.

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And all this against incredible logistical odds,

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like heat and traffic jams.

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Something amazing happened during this shoot.

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Due to a traffic jam, we were late in getting to a slum,

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a large slum, which had caught fire.

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As we neared, angry crowds attacked our trucks

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and stoned them, by hundreds of people all over the place.

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These men were terrified,

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as the mob attacked our vehicle.

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But nonetheless, despite the hostility,

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firefighters left the vehicle and successfully fought the fire.

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Running the gauntlet through hostile crowds,

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and some wearing motorbike helmets to prevent injury.

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Some of the local people forcibly took away the hoses

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from the firemen to put out the fire in their homes.

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Now, hundreds of homes were destroyed.

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But the question that lingered in my mind was,

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what causes people to destroy fire trucks

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headed to their own homes?

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Where does such rage come from?

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And how are we responsible for this?

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45 percent of the 14 million people

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who live in Delhi live in unauthorized slums,

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which are chronically overcrowded.

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They lack even the most basic amenities.

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And this is something that is common to all our big cities.

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Back to the DFS. A huge chemical depot caught fire,

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thousands of drums filled with petrochemicals

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were blazing away and exploding all around us.

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The heat was so intense, that hoses were used

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to cool down firefighters

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fighting extremely close to the fire, and with no protective clothing.

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In India we often love to complain about our government bodies.

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But over here, the heads of the DFS,

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Mr. R.C. Sharman, Mr. A.K. Sharman,

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led the firefight with their men.

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Something wonderful in a country where

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manual labor is often looked down upon.

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(Applause)

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Over the years, my faith in the power of storytelling has been tested.

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And I've had very serious doubt about its efficacy,

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and my own faith in humanity.

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However, a film we shot still airs on the National Geographic channel.

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And when it airs I get calls from all the guys I was with

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and they tell me that they receive hundreds of calls congratulating them.

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Some of the firemen told me that they were also inspired

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to do better because they were so pleased

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to get thank-yous rather than brick bats.

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It seems that this story helped change perceptions about the DFS,

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at least in the minds of an audience in part on televisions,

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read magazines and whose huts aren't on fire.

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Sometimes, focusing on what's heroic, beautiful and dignified,

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regardless of the context,

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can help magnify these intangibles three ways,

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in the protagonist of the story, in the audience,

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and also in the storyteller.

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And that's the power of storytelling.

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Focus on what's dignified, courageous and beautiful,

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and it grows. Thank you.

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(Applause)