The Unsalted Truth #7 - The DANDI Framework

 

The DANDI Framework

When Gandhiji walked from Sabarmati to Dandi in 1930, he wasn’t starting a trek. He was starting trouble. World-changing trouble.

Our version of it in 2026? Well… let’s just say we are starting with ASICS shoes, ORS and Fast & Up Hydration tablets, and a lot of determination and praying the trouble limits itself to blisters and snoring roommates.

No, I am not claiming that we are out to create Freedom 2.0. We are just a set of 60+ year old men replicating a historical walk, neither with an attempt to recreate history nor driven by any ideological or political messaging. With all humility, we just want to experience what Mahatma Gandhi would have experienced physically and emotionally as we trudge through some villages and towns of Gujarat. 

But even before our first step, something fascinating has happened. This “walk” has quietly turned into a mini movement. We hit national news. Yes. A press release sharing the plan of 15 veterans walking the Dandi Path was splashed across newspapers. Soon I started getting calls and WhatsApp messages from all over. And I had not even read the newspaper that day. It was a little heady seeing one’s name in the papers, but it also gave me a chill in the bones caused by the performance anxiety. 

And while I was still reeling under the news of the news in the newspapers, I got an opportunity to listen to a dear friend, Balaji Pasumarthy, speak about how modern organizations can grow like a movement not as a machine. 

Balaji broke it down into five powerful ingredients that make a movement unstoppable:

Energy - Catalyst - Ideology - Circles - Protocols

As I heard this wonderful talk, a thought struck me. While it seemed he was talking about building organisations to entrepreneurs, but it also felt that he was talking about us to us. With pen hitting paper, I tried to see how this framework was as close to what we were doing preparing for our Dandi March. And with a little help from my friend ChatGPT, I realised that the framework could be suitably tweaked to be called the DANDI framework.

The DANDI Framework: What We Are Doing 

D — Demand (Energy)

A — Agent (Catalyst)

N — Narrative (Ideology)

D — Distributed Teams (Circles)

I — Integrity (Protocols)

Yes, the acronym spells DANDI. Coincidence? Probably not — the universe clearly likes symmetry. I definitely do.

So, what does this mean for our Dandi March?

⭐ D for Demand — Why walk? Why now?

Somewhere inside us, there is a restlessness. Imagine an idea conceived more than 15 months back, which took shape 9 months back and after deliberate preparations it is in the final stage of fruition. We had to place great demand on ourselves and focus our energy on it. We felt we were seeing too many screens; too little sky and we were reading too much history in our books but carried too little in ourselves. The march is not a rebellion against anyone. We are just trying to reclaim things that we probably were forgetting were ours - health, connection with friends, dignity and simplicity in our lives. That’s the “demand” — the energy - our reason to walk.

⭐ A for Agent — How this madness began

Every movement starts with someone saying: “Arre… why can’t we?” In our case: three mad friends and a WhatsApp group. Balaji would call us “change agents”. Our spouses call us “completely nuts”. Both are correct.

⭐ N for Narrative — What we stand for

This is more than a long-distance picnic or a walk in the park. Our unwritten manifesto is very clear: Everyone walks together, safely. No one gets left behind. Everyone matters. We walk with each other, not against anything. This is not a race. The goal is not reaching Dandi… the goal is who we become by the time we reach Dandi. It’s not politics. It is purpose. It is our ideology.

⭐ D for Distributed Teams — The magic of small circles

For us, this came naturally. The armed forces training has taught us one thing. Teamwork makes dreams work. We too have:

• A medical team in which blister tapes, pain balms and spiritual counselling are all included

• A logistics team which is lining up rooms, routes, and rotis all the way to Dandi.

• A communications team which is ensuring people know where to go and when to panic.

Everyone leads something. No one leads everything. Ours is a small team with inter-connected circles.

⭐ I for Integrity — What keeps us together when feet hurt

We have clear cut rules set from Day One.

• Hydrate - This is non-negotiable. It has been repeatedly mentioned and practiced over months.

• Show up on time - Be it  Zoom meetings where experts spoke to us or logging in our walks on Strava.

• Respect locals - Our rules for the walk are simple. Walk Light. Live Light. No plastics to be carried. We bag all our garbage and carry and leave the place as we found it. Respect local traditions and practices. Expect nothing

• No ego, no drama, no complaints - Though we have armed forces members from all ranks, we have decided to be on first name basis. While we are carrying our kits, we are leaving our egos behind. We have to make do with what we get on the way.

These small daily disciplines and protocols protect the purpose from collapsing when fatigue attacks.

So… are we just walking?

No.

We are building a brotherhood with better shoes on. We are walking on footprints of those who made history. We are proving that ordinary people can do extraordinary things together and we are making memories that are going to remind us lovingly of our times together, for decades. We are unstoppable now.

The real movement?

We are sure to return home with a stronger heart, a kinder voice, a quieter ego and a deeper respect for each other. That’s when we will know this DANDI framework worked.

And hopefully, when we reach the salt, we discover that something else has crystallized inside us too.