[Inpycon] Is PyCon India "really open"?

[Haris Ibrahim K. V.]

On 14 January 2018 at 15:45, vijay kumar <vnbang2003 at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>>
>>> I do not have energy to fight with everybody here to give proof for every
>>> point I make. If you do not have trust, I cant help.
>>
>>
>> Community is not trusting the core team. That's what you should notice
>> here.

First of all, let me invalidate this statement by saying - I trust you
Vijay, and Vanitha.

Since I am a part of this community as well, whoever said that
statement is wrong.

>
> Hi All,
>
> I did not have any bad intention of stopping anyone from volunteering
> neither did I feel that am above the community. As said earlier, I could
> have handled the situation better. Am sorry if I have hurt anybody by
> mistake, it was not intentional.
>
> Anyways, I would like to formally step down from core team of PyCon India
> 2018. Request community to choose the members whom they trust.

Let's not mistake my reply for anything other than trying to fix this
situation that we have gotten ourselves into.

Now, this whole thread obviously started with Vijay's reply on a PR
that Shashank felt was uncalled for. I'm not getting into the right or
wrongs of merging / reviewing / approving PRs and stuff, but what I
want to emphasize is that a lot of people did see what had happened
and empathized with Sashank. To be clear, I do too.

Now Vijay,

We've known each other and worked with each other for a little bit at
least. And I've chats with you where you've explained to me in detail
about how you took PyCon India to greater heights from year to year.
That was completely on the foundation of you seeing and understanding
what wrong in the previous years, and fixing them, and pushing
yourself harder to make the conference better.

The way I see it, this incident that happened is no different. When a
lot of people could see the problem from Shashank's perspective, that
means there is something which you did that didn't have the best
outcome. I am sure a lot of people pointed out what it was, but I am
sure you can understand it better than anyone else.

Was the problem from your side that you didn't accept his approval?
Was it that some broke the rule of contributions? Was it that someone
got too excited and jumped the gun? Or was it maybe even the case
where you had good intentions, but when you put it down in words, it
sounded harsh / uncalled for? (Please don't argue about this anymore).

Just as I said above, you've fixed the problems the conference had and
have improved it and grown it a lot. In that light, you already do
realize that no matter who you are, people will have flaws given any
moment and any time. Unless you think you are perfect (which if any of
us do, we are jerks), why not see that there is something that this
situation is showing you to improve on?

Now that you have already apologized, and clearly said it was not
intentional, it is something that all of us have to accept and believe
that it won't happen again in the future, and mend the bent (not
broken) bonds.

However, whether you want to volunteer or not to make this conference
is completely upto you. But I for one, trust you, and know that you,
with your experience and dedication that you've shown in the past, can
make this a memorable event. If there is anything I or we can do to
make you change your mind,  please let us know.

Vanitha,

While you were not directly involved in the problem that started this
thread, as I already said, I've worked with you and experienced myself
how much I can trust you to take care of things. I am not even talking
from an "inspirational or positive trust everybody" perspective, but
I've experienced it myself. As I told Vijay, it is upto you whether
you want to volunteer to make this conference happen. But I have faith
in you, and I am sure we can do a great job together. Again, If there
is anything I or we can do to make you change your mind,  please let
us know.

***

To end my rant, for me personally, PyCon India has been more than
rules, regulations, laws, bureaucracy, politics and what not. For me
what defines PyCon India was when last year when my flight landed in
the morning and my accommodation didn't work out, Sahil and Rajat
taking the time and the effort to take me to a 24/7 and buying me
Kulcha + hot chai.

For me, it has been about Chandan or Numan bringing me a glass of
water without me asking when I sat down tired at Nimhans.

For me, it has been about Vijay, Vanitha and each and every one of the
volunteers (I'll someday put down every volunteers' name and the
experience I had with them later on) that I've worked with enquiring
if each other had eaten food and taking up responsibilities to let
them eat.

This restores faith in humanity and despite what some people may say,
that is what I see in the community. It is not about any individual
and it is not about any laws or rules or regulations. It is about good
will, trust, help, understanding, growth, learning and being
inclusive.

Now, the question is, do we leave this situation like it is right now,
or do we shake hands, let each others know that we got worked up and
threw a lot of words at each other which didn't really help anyone at
the end?

***

My apologies to Sashank. I was the one who pushed this and the last
two blog posts IIRC. And I honestly felt great each time I saw the
LGTM. :)

Just trying my bit to help out and keep the ball rolling. I hope
people find it in themselves to forgive, forget and work together.

Peace out!

-- 
Haris Ibrahim K. V.
http://sosaysharis.wordpress.com
@harisibrahimkv