Humanitarianism AND Health with Siddharth Chatterjee

Ilham Kadri: Hello everyone. Today I'm delighted to be here with Siddharth Chatterjee, who is the United Nations Resident Coordinator in China. He's a humanitarian peacekeeper, and wellness enthusiast. Siddharth was instrumental in the demobilization of more than 3, 500 children from the conflicts in South Sudan and has worked tirelessly with the United Nations to improve the lives of children, promote equality for women and girls, and drive progress on the Sustainable Development Goals. Siddharth's story is one of those which touched my heart, is one of humanism, and taking great risk for the greater good, and I can't wait to hear all about it. Siddharth, thank you, thank you so much for joining us today.

Siddharth Chatterjee: Thank you, Ilham. Thank you for inviting me to your show.

Childhood and inspiration for humanitarian causes

Ilham Kadri: So Siddharth, your contribution to the UN and humanitarian projects is truly inspiring. And the thing that really stands out for me is your incredible commitment to improving the lives of the most vulnerable, starting with the children. And I love getting to know, in fact, what sparks people's passion. So can you tell us a little bit more about your upbringing, Siddharth, and what spurred your desire to make such a positive change in today's world?

Siddharth Chatterjee: Well, thank you for that question. And perhaps I would situate the context of the time I was born. And, you know, my parents came from a refugee family. India was partitioned in 1947. And my parents had to flee from now Bangladesh to Calcutta in India. And that's where I was born. So my origins are quite humble, but you know, it was at the age of three that I got polio and, you know, as a three year old, you know, to have a memory of rehabilitation when electric shocks were put through your leg to correct the thing was very hard, but I was amongst the lucky that, you know, it got noticed at the right time. And, and I recovered, but countless others would get handicapped or you know, or die. So perhaps that was the start of, should I say the circumstances. And then I came up through a system where the, the tyranny of academics, the tyranny of school, the tyranny of punishments, the tyranny of everything, you know, and particularly if you're not a good student, which I was not, it was very hard, you know, so growing up was hard. And I joined the National Defense Academy and, getting into the National Defense Academy. But perhaps what I would term as my Forrest Gump moment. And from there, everything changed for me. And I joined the parachute regiment of the Indian Army where, you know, my career made dramatic progress, but at the same time, I got exposed to the, you know, to the malevolent side of conflict. Of my 10 years in the military, of which five and a half years I spent in different conflict situations was when I realized that, you know, it is not just the application of violence and pure brute energy that, or kinetic energy that leads us to a peaceful resolution. It is about peacemaking. It is about diplomacy. And that's when the realization came. So in 1995, I was decorated by the President of India for gallantry, as a young army officer. I was then a major in the army. When I said, this is not what I want. There's another purpose in my life. And of course my parents were very worried, giving up a very stable, very good career in the military, where, you know, institutionally, which I owe to what I am today because it laid the foundations of my future. But at the same time, I was not convinced in the environment I was operating in. And that's when I decided to quit and join the United Nations as a very junior security professional in Sarajevo in Bosnia, which itself in 1997 was recovering from a very big internecine conflict and which had brought about great misery and suffering.

And that in many ways brought me up front to the vulnerabilities of human society. And, you know, when man turns on man, we can be a promise for great good, but at the same time, and also bring great suffering on each other. And that was when I also started to understand my own role in my military past, came to light and that, what the consequences of our actions were.

And perhaps that was the next turning point of my career that propelled me into the direction. So the spirit of humanitarianism really grew and took shape in my first posting in Bosnia. And from then, of course, I went and worked in many other countries, many conflict affected and fragile countries, and that in many ways, showed me those vulnerabilities.

But there was another part, which is much more personal, where I watched my own grandmother who was married at the age of nine and had her first child at the age of 11. And my, this is my mother's side. And I realized how fragile again, women are exposed to the tyranny of child marriage, the ravages of parturition of having to bear children so early in life.

And that perhaps, those were early influences in my own life, which kind of molded the way I looked into life, into the future. And therefore, one of the things I did become was a champion for women's rights, because having witnessed it in my own household. 

The Sustainable Development Goals: how are we doing? 

Ilham Kadri: Yeah. Thank you Siddharth. And so inspiring, I mean, from growing up, you said it was hard to find in your purpose to joining the UN as junior professional and your grandma stories, so inspiring as well. You know, leading you to fight for women's rights, which I welcome passionately. So now fast forward to today, and we met each other last September in Beijing, in your role at the UN, you are heavily involved in the Sustainable Development Goals. And I love what you say about them, that they are the North Star and that they give us hope. How do you think, in general, Siddharth, we are progressing on the SDGs globally? We have, I think, six years to achieve them by now. Are we on track, do you think? And what can, not only the public sector, but the private sector do towards that achievement?

Siddharth Chatterjee: See Ilham, you know, we are desperately off track, and that's why the United Nations Secretary-General, Mr. Antonio Guterres, has called for rescuing the SDGs. Post the Second World War, this is the first time we are experiencing what I would term as an interlocking crisis. We've seen the crisis of COVID, which was a health pandemic, and it exposed the fragility of the human species, but of health systems as well.

In fact, some of the most advanced health systems in the West collapsed under the weight of COVID. So it showed the fragility that how a microscopic virus could wreak havoc into human beings, into human progress, and into economies. Imagine the impact of the COVID pandemic rivals the great depression of the 1930s that we saw in the United States.

So, you know, it really has been a challenge, but it also was a great teacher. Because it showed that our lack of investment in public health has led to such a big attrition of human society, of human progress, of human development, of livelihoods across the world, and set the economy back.

So certainly the SDGs was affected by that. The second big issue that we are confronted with is the climate crisis, which is an existentialist issue. I mean, this looms like the sword of democracy over humanity. And today, whether it's hurricanes in Florida or it's major floods in Beijing or it's climate crisis in Europe, you're seeing it across the world.

Right now, at this moment, we are seeing a large number of people dying in Somalia, Kenya, you know, Mozambique, because of floods. And at the same time, in the southern African countries of South Africa, Namibia, Malawi, we are experiencing extreme drought. The third big issue that we are confronted with is conflicts. It's not just the conflict of Ukraine and Gaza. You've got 70 ongoing conflicts across the world. It's just that these conflicts have come more to our attention now, simply because of Ukraine and Gaza. But the reality is across the world, we are seeing conflicts.

Then we have issues of rising inequalities, increasing hunger and food insecurity, increasing prices of fuel. And this is precisely why the UN Secretary General is hosting what is known as the Summit of the Future this year, in September 2024 at the United Nations General Assembly, making sure that the world rallies around the Sustainable Development Goals because our Deputy Secretary General often reminds us, yes, it is our North Star it is the 193 countries that came together to give humanity hope. to give human development hope. And that hope is right now being challenged by this interlocking crisis which is in front of us.

So that is what the Secretary General is trying to do this September. But at the same time, what he's also trying to do is resurrect the spirit of multilateralism, which is also under threat. The United Nations system is under threat. You know, unilateralism has come into play. The world needs to unite. And this is where the role of the private sector becomes absolutely mission critical. And that is why, you know, when the former United Nations Secretary General, Mr. Kofi Annan, launched the United Nations Global Compact back in 2002 2003, the purpose of that was to rally public private partnerships to give velocity to the Millennium Development Goals. So, you know,  in 263 BC, Herophilus, the famous Greek philosopher, he said, and I quote, “When health is absent, art cannot manifest, wisdom cannot reveal itself, strength cannot fight, wealth becomes useless, and intelligence cannot be applied.”

Ilham Kadri: Wow.

Siddharth Chatterjee: In many ways, what COVID did was it showed us precisely those words of Herophilus. I have seen first hand, for example, in Kenya, companies, Huawei, Merck GlaxoSmithKline, SafariCom Philips came together to work with us back in 2014.

I was then the head of the United Nations Population Fund. We were able to reduce maternal deaths in some of the highest burdened counties in Kenya in a matter of two and a half years, which actually got us invited to the World Economic Forum in 2017 to show how public-private partnerships can work.

It was an investment of $15 million but that has turned into a 150 million telemedicine enterprise. That's why it's called the Sustainable Development Goals. It's not called the Charitable Development Goals. It is about sustainability and sustainability will happen when there are public-private partnerships coming into play, making sure projects, enterprises are sustainable and leading to job creation.

I mean, look at the potential of Africa where we'll have 2.5 billion people by 2050, the youngest population cohort in the world where the median age is about 18 and over 70 percent of the people are below the age of 30. Imagine that potential over the next 20, 30 years in terms of production and consumption.

If we were to come together and invest in Africa, for example, in transforming lives and livelihoods there, as the rest of Europe, the rest of the US, the Asian tigers, all of them are aging, new markets are emerging. And therefore, I keep telling my colleagues here in the UN country team, Today the UN has a very stark choice. Either we are dynamic or we are dinosaur. 

SDG 13 and the climate agenda

Ilham Kadri: Wow. Either we are dynamic or dinosaurs. So you, you talked about many things about the importance to take care of Africa, right? Because you're right. And it's close to my heart because I'm African born as well. So it's the very last emerging continents available to all of us, and there is a lot of challenges and dramatic conflicts, hunger, vulnerability, and you talked a lot about, at the end of the day, what I would define as human dignity, to be centric around human dignity first wherever is your background, wherever is your origin. You also talk about the importance of the private public partnerships. and the importance of companies like ours into completing and accelerating the SDGs, which you told us are completely off track.

Now, what I would love to do, Siddharth, is to focus on the SDG 13. And we had a fascinating conversation back in Beijing in September, where I was dying to get you on my podcast here, about your work in China to address the climate crisis, and I know many people out there believe that China is behind.

Interestingly enough, Syensqo sites, our sites in China, 15 percent of our businesses there, now run on 100 percent renewable energy. And I've heard you talk about some of the specific projects you invited me, and I will gladly visit them with you, happening in China, that you say could be a textbook example, that could be replicated elsewhere on climates and also some of the other SDGs. Can you tell us about some of those?

Siddharth Chatterjee: I'm truly privileged to work in a country that has really taken on the climate agenda with every emphasis. 

Imagine Beijing. This is a city where I live in. My son is here at school. I run a half marathon at least once a month. If I can, once a week. Most days, the weather, the AQI levels are at the excellent level. This is the same city, which not too long ago had one of the highest air pollution levels.

By and large, over 70 to 80 percent of the public transport of all the vehicles around on the streets, particularly, two wheelers, three wheelers, et cetera, are all electric.

Everything around you is electric. That is what they've been able to remove the polluting industries. Now, talking about where I've seen real change, I was in a place in Inner Mongolia called Kubuqi, and Kubuqi is the seventh largest desert in China. Ilham, it is worth a visit because that is a desert where you have nomadic tribes, which has been completely turned into an agricultural wonderland. It produced 3.2 gigawatts of renewable energy, electricity through solar and wind power. And all these solar panels are well above the ground. So they actually act as a greenhouse for the growth of vegetables and livestock, everything under those solar panels. So despite the harsh weather conditions there, they are amongst the most productive people over there.

And the fact is, it is a textbook example of combating desertification. We talk about combating desertification. I would say if Sub-Saharan Africa, Northern African countries were to come, I keep telling the ambassadors, African ambassadors here, we go jointly to visit Kubuqi and I've been with a few of them there.

Now, what took them 30, 40 years can now be easily done in 10 to 15 years, simply because now we have the big data, the technology and innovation to leapfrog that. So we can actually be completely transforming Sub-Saharan Africa, going away from the whole issue of desertification to becoming completely productive in terms of green zone and agricultural production. An example like that just fills me with a sense of hope. And let me tell you, in my 25-year career in the UN system, this is the first time I've seen a project of scale and magnitude, which has transformed lives and livelihoods. China's knowledge, experience, expertise could be shared with the developing countries, particularly countries trying to combat desertification. Not just that, this is a country where over 790 million people were lifted out of poverty in the last four decades.

Can this be done quicker in many other countries? My answer is absolutely yes, and one cannot use their political system as an excuse not to live, lift people out of poverty. It is about indignity, and I have grown up in that indignity as a young childIt is crucial that today, that is why the first five goals of the SDGs is about the unfinished business.

Goal number one, ending poverty. Goal number two, ending hunger. Goal number three, ensuring universal health coverage. Goal number four, ensuring quality education and skills. Goal number five, ending gender inequality. Making sure gender equality does not just remain a normative call to action, but becomes actionable.

I've been a very strong advocate for saying that if the US China and the EU way to come together on the climate agenda, there is a lot more that brings us together. We can park the geopolitics aside, but on the climate agenda, if the EU, US and China come together, they can really reshape the climate agenda.

Fighting for gender equality - SDG 5

Ilham Kadri: Yeah, and thanks for your passion is contagious. But what I like is, let's not be in a way dogmatic and blind about the good things happening in China, right? And the example you have just given is just amazing. And you, you recite the different SDGs and when, stop, maybe switch gears to a bit to the last one you cited is the SDG 5 on gender equality. One of my favorites. you have described yourself as a feminist. Welcome to the club. And I've heard you say that famous quote I often use in my speeches about human dignity and, and being just a humanist, therefore a feminist. The quote, which some attribute to China, how “women hold up half the sky.” Can you tell us a bit about your work on gender equality, and frankly it has been also a bit of a foundation of your humanitarian work, particularly when you were working for the UN in Kenya. What are those key issues do you believe should be prioritized in this world in order to achieve gender equality?

Siddharth Chatterjee: Gender equality is not only a fundamental human right, but a very necessary foundation for a peaceful, prosperous, and a sustainable world. 
But across the world, we've also seen what the pandemic did. If you look at the past four years there was a lot of progress which were made, but despite these gains, many challenges of discrimination remain, whether it's laws or whether it's norms or it's women continue to be underrepresented at all levels of society.

One in five women and girls between the age of 18 and 49 have experienced physical or sexual violence or from an intimate partner. And this has all happened over the last three, four years. So, you know, we have to be mindful of the reality that what COVID did was it struck us like a bolt of lightning.

And in the flash of the lightning, we saw the contours of inequality really emerge. Women were the ones that were first to let go of from employment. They were the ones that were meant to be the caregivers and caretakers for everybody around them.

And they were left highly vulnerable and fragile. And that is why, you know, again, when I look at China and the famous quote by Chairman Mao about women holding up half the sky. Women are very fiercely independent here. They've been, they've made meteoric progress in STEM, in science, technology, engineering, math.  They've had a Nobel Prize for medicine and Dr. You You for combating malaria. On multiple fronts, we are making exponential progress. Chinese women are getting into space now. So, I believe that the push for gender equality, the push for women's rights has to continue. It has to continue with fervor. We need more men to be feminists and feminism is not a bad thing because unless you have a society that is equal, we will continue to face challenges. Now, here is an example. If you look at global statistics, approximately 74 percent of men are in the workforce. Approximately 47 percent of women are in the workforce. If you look across Africa, approximately 23-25 percent of the women are in the labor force. In China, approximately 60 percent of women are in the labor force. So, it shows the stark difference and one of the major reasons why China progressed so quickly and lifted so many, you know, 800 million people out of abject poverty was the fact that women were in the labor force.

This fight for gender equality, it has to keep going on because, you know, as they say, you know, you educate a man, you educate an individual, you educate a woman, you educate a family, a community, and a full nation.

Demobilization of over 3,500 child soldiers in South Sudan

Ilham Kadri: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, and you say this, and it looks like in China they had that great recipe. My grandma in Morocco raised me, asking me to find my third door, Siddharth, and because there was a quote in Morocco that girls have two exits in their lives. The first one from your father's home to your husband's home, and the second one was to the grave. So she called on us. She was illiterate, but she called on us to the girls at home to find our third door, and that was education, to bring prosperity.

Now I can't miss asking you about one of probably your greatest professional achievements, which is the extraordinary work you did in, the demobilization, Siddharth, of more than 3,500 child soldiers in the conflict in South Sudan. And I watched your TED talk on this. There was this incredible photograph. I'm gonna actually print it and put it somewhere in my home. You showed in your talk which captured the moment the children were able to put down their weapons. They are holding hands. and running towards the plane that would take them home, frankly, was incredibly moving. I mean, I had tears in my eyes just to look at that moment.

Can you tell our listeners how you, frankly, how can any man, you, achieve such monumental feats? And how did you even know in a way where to start? And can you tell us as well, how that felt for you personally, knowing how much your work will have changed their lives. Or is it something post the event, which you reflect on today?
Because people like me are asking you that question. And how did you help to rebuild the children's lives?

Siddharth Chatterjee: Ilham, this demobilization in South Sudan, was, I would call it an act of destiny because I carry with me, the trauma of having had to fight these child soldiers as a professional soldier when I was sent to Sri Lanka to combat the Tamil Tigers as part of the Indian peacekeeping forces. And let me tell you. Nobody, nobody ever wants to be in a situation where you're actually looking at young seven, eight, nine, ten year olds, holding an AK 47 and firing. And then, the moment you're confronted and put into that situation. It robs you of many things, but the greatest thing it robs you of is your sense of dignity and your own humanity.

So in a sense, I carried this with me for a very long time, that period of 1987 to 1990 when I went on behalf of the Indian Peacekeeping Forces. It was difficult to see young children, have been completely upended. When I came to South Sudan, like I said, it perhaps fulfilled a spiritual vacuum. And you know, this is where the beauty of the United Nations is. I was then in UNICEF and I was sent by the Executive Director of UNICEF,  to open an office inside South Sudan, the first and only UN office to be opened inside South Sudan,  there was a conflict going on with the North, it was a conflict of separation, so South Sudan was trying to separate at that time. So an interesting episode happened. I was in a vehicle, we were going to try to do immunization of children because polio had broken out there. So we were trying to organize a polio campaign. And I came across this checkpoint where there's young, you know, maybe a 13-year-old kid. Same age as my son, stood there, lifted his AK47, pointed it at my driver and said, you cannot go anywhere further on this.

And my driver was petrified seeing that child point the weapon at him. So I calmly got out of the car and I, and I, you know, told the child, I've raised my hands into that child. I said, listen, you know, we are not here to do any harm. We've come to do some polio immunization. So that moment his commander came out and he saw this UN vehicle. So he started to thrash that child. So I immediately went to the commander to stop him from doing it. But that was the moment I knew, that maybe this is what I was brought to this checkpoint for. We need to start a conversation with that time they were, you know, it was called the Sudan People's Liberation Army under the leadership of John Garang and the current president of South Sudan, Salva Kiir.

So I said, this may be that moment. And that's how this conversation got started. I came back, asked for a meeting with that time General Salva Kiir, and met with him and a conversation started and then. October, I recall, 2000, Carol Bellamy, the Executive Director of UNICEF, visited. But before that, something very interesting happened. Mr. Salva Kiir fell very sick. He had, you know, at that time, malaria was rampant all across South Sudan. And he fell very sick. So his adjutant, one of his commanders came to see me and said, listen, he's extremely sick with malaria. Is there any way you can help? So I called my boss in Nairobi, that time it used to be called the UNICEF Operation Lifeline Sudan office.

And I said, look, we need some medication for this general. I'm in discussions with him on this childhood demobilization. That time these Chinese medicines, the Artemisinin came into the market. So my boss sent those Chinese medicines over. Lo and behold, in three, four days time, Commander Salva Kiir completely recovered.

And he said he was very grateful for that. And the conversation went on. He made a commitment to release these soldiers. So when 21st of October, which also happens to be my birthday, Carol Bellamy arrived in South Sudan and there in a tented school, he announced he would demobilize all the child soldiers.

And then from there, he stood by his word and we were able to remove 3,500 size soldiers from the front lines of the conflict. So it was the arrival of the dry season when the conflict used to start. And, and the dry season is when, you know, the North and South, the soldiers went to war. And most of these children were deployed along the front lines.

We had to hire planes to bring these children out to a place called Rumbek, where we had established an office. And I'll tell you, Ilham, those six months with those children, even from going back from child soldiers, going back to becoming children, was just the most incredible experience in my life.

Most incredible. I mean, nothing, nothing can compare to that experience. I think in a way it shaped my future trajectory also in the United Nations, because I had only joined in 1997. But in 2000, this accomplishment and under the leadership of Carol Bellamy, who had the courage to, because many people said, no, this will never work.

There's never been a demobilization that has never, that has ever been undertaken during an ongoing conflict. And we actually showed that it was possible to demobilize even during an ongoing conflict. Today,  Commander Salva Kiir, the president of South Sudan, who's trying to lift up his country, and make it do better and really advancing it.

That's certainly what, what we've been able to prove. As Amina Mohammed, our Deputy Secretary-General, always says, if you want to get something done, then flip the orthodoxy. You cannot just do business as usual. And this is what we were able to show. We were able to change the handbooks that were written out that demobilizations have to wait for conflicts to end.

We can actually go in to get it done. It needs three things, Ilham. It needs political will. It needs the right public policies. And it needs the right partnership. And this applies to everything. This applies to the Sustainable Development Goals too. So to demobilize in the midst of that conflict showed us that where there's a will, there's a way.

Focus on health and wellness

Ilham Kadri: Yeah. Yeah. Thank you. Wow. I'm sure our listeners, they feel the passion and the determination and the wisdom through the audio, Thank you for that, Siddharth. Your legacy is immense. and your role modeling, that's impossible is not part of your playbook and we should really dream big and aim for, you know, big changes and transformations when it touches human dignity. It’s difficult, times fly and, you know, I don't want to end this conversation, it's so inspiring. So let us finish and switch gears. I know, and you mentioned it a bit, you are not only passionate about improving the lives of others, but also yours in a way, your own life. And you mentioned it in one of your interviews and I was YouTubing you and looking at your pictures, you know, probably 30, 20 years ago and after COVID. You've been very focused on health and wellness. You say this, you are a marathoner, you practice yoga, you are very interested in the science behind breath work and breathing. Can you tell us more about how it has impacted your life and work? You even say that you are probably healthier today than when you were in the army.

It's difficult to, to believe, do you have tips? Because you know, when we are also in business traveling around the world, right? I mean. looking at how we can age correctly, not only for cosmetics. Actually, it's about bringing the best version of ourselves to be impacting people in the good way around us, right? And if you don't take care of your health, you cannot, you know, impact positively. So any tips for our listeners who want to incorporate this into their lives and routines?

Siddharth Chatterjee: So I would start with the preamble, Ilham, that it is better to die young at a ripe old age than to die old at a young age.

Ilham Kadri: I love, I love it. I'll take it. You are right.

Siddharth Chatterjee: I was headed to die, you know, old at a young age. Prior to 2020, when I was 85 kilos, so I was already borderline obese, I had high blood pressure. I was prediabetic and I was generally in a state of ill health. So basically, you know, and this is despite the fact that I was, I used to run, I used to exercise, I used to do all those things. But the problem was I was eating too much, obsessed with sugar. Prior to that, I was a smoker, two packets of cigarettes a day, I used to smoke.

Essentially my life was very steadily going downhill. And, you know, once you give up on these things post 40, then it becomes extremely difficult for the body to start to reverse. But that's when I realized that, you know, this was in, I had taken a Kenyan delegation. So I was the UN Resident Coordinator in Kenya and we were in. We had gone to the Silicon Valley and Washington, D. C. and a very successful visit of forging new public-private partnerships with the Silicon Valley. I wanted to work with the Kenyan government to create a Silicon-Savannah ecosystem in Kenya. And that morning in Washington, D. C., after very good visits, I just looked at myself in the mirror and I couldn't tell, who is me in front of that mirror. I was at the Emirates lounge waiting to take a flight from Washington via Dubai to Nairobi. And I came across this, a breathwork practitioner called Wim Hof. And I started to review that, and I downloaded his interviews and his messages.

And from there, I got onto the flight, you know, the Wi-Fi system in Emirates flight works very good. So I kept reviewing it. And that was the first day I decided I wouldn't have any breakfast. I didn't eat anything on the plane, came to Dubai, didn't eat anything there, came to Nairobi and had dinner.

That was the first time I ever fasted for around 24 hours. And that's what we started. So from the following morning, I started to practice breath work. I started to eat one meal a day. I started doing high intensity interval training of about 10 minutes, and I combined that with exposure of a sauna and cold exposure of having an ice bath, and this is what has been my journey over the last four years. Essentially over the last four years, Ilham, I've not had COVID. I've gotten, I've reversed all the chronic diseases in my body and as for my doctors after health checks over the last two years, they've come to the conclusion that my biological age is 30 and my heart is 20. So when I wake up in the morning, my resting heart rate drops to as low as 36. So 36 is the same as Eliud Kipchoge, the world's best marathoner.

Ilham Kadri: Yeah,

Siddharth Chatterjee: And the thing is that the levels of energy and the levels of  enterprise and the well-being I've felt. I have never felt this even at the peak of my career in the Army.

Ilham Kadri: yeah,

Siddharth Chatterjee: So, I realize the power of the breath and learning, manipulate the breath, learning to unlock the chemicals of endorphins and adrenaline and dopamine in our body can really have a transformative effect on our well-being.But did you know that 70 percent of the world breathes through the mouth? So we are, people who breathe through the nose never catch diseases, particularly diseases like COVID and flus and all that. But people who breathe through the mouth consume the virus and there are no filters. So I practiced nasal breathing, including taping my mouth to when I would go for a run until I built up what you call carbon dioxide resistance. And my stamina started to improve. For example, I used to run a half marathon in Kenya in two hours 10 minutes. I run it now at the age of 60 in one hour and 40 minutes.

Ilham Kadri: Wow.

Siddharth Chatterjee: And I really feel high levels of energy, more concentration, more sense of well-being and always a sense of positivity because, you know, health impacts the way we think. It has an impact on our mental health too. And the thing is about fasting and the value of fasting is, that you also start to remove all the bad bacteria which is sitting in your gut.The greatest victory I've had, Ilham, I stopped eating sugar four years ago, and it had a transformative effect. Our societies consume too much sugar. Therefore, you're seeing all the problems of obesity and hypertension and diabetes. It's all sugar related. We just have to get off refined sugar, processed foods and adopting a healthy lifestyle because SDG 3 or Sustainable Development Goal Number 3 of Universal Health Coverage cannot be achieved by governments alone. It is as individuals taking responsibility for our health. It's as families taking responsibility for our health. And simple lifestyle changes can give us good health, well-being, and longevity.

Longevity is not going to come through all the medicines and all the injections that you pump into your body. It is going to be from getting your body back into a stable, happy, strong situation. And the strength and fitness levels that I have now, I didn't have in my twenties. For example, when I was 25, in the army special forces, I could do 50 pushups and 15 pullups in three minutes.

I now do 100 pushups and 50 pullups in 3 minutes. So, you know, that's the point I'm making to all my colleagues and everybody around me. If I can do it, anybody can do it.

Love of literature

Ilham Kadri: Amazing. You gave us frankly, a full recipe based on a lot of science and research, Siddharth.

And, and you look 30 by the way, Siddharth. I mean, it's amazing that you announced a 60, you look really 30. So you have further interest in, right? Beyond that, including a love for English literature and poetry, on top of taking care of your health.
This is about the mind and the heart, right? And the soul. Is there a particular poem or book that really inspires you?

Siddharth Chatterjee: You know, there is an American Nobel Laureate by the name of Toni Morrison. And, she got the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1993. Whose novels, in many ways, characterized what I would term as visionary force and a poetic import, which gives life to an essential aspect of the American reality.

And I was very privileged to actually attend one of her lectures when I was a student at Princeton University. So it was like a, just most fascinating experience to have this experience with Toni Morrison and reading her books. And so she has probably had one of the, one of the impacts on my intellectual, my literary, and my, you know, and my really wanting to understand literature in its nuance.

So very contemporaneous, but she's one person that I'm utterly fascinated with. But when growing up, I was totally fascinated by another Nobel laureate. And this Nobel laureate is from India. And his name is Rabindranath Tagore. In fact, Rabindranath Tagore also visited China and has been to Shanghai and there's a bust of him in Shanghai.

And there is a particular poem which I want to recite to your listeners. And it's a poem which is called Where the Mind is Without Fear. So he said in that poem, “Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high, where knowledge is free, where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls; Where words come out from the depth of truth, that tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection; Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way into the dreary desert sand of dead habit; Where the mind is led forward by thee into ever widening thought and action, into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.”

Now this poem was written in the early 20th century and reflects the political and social struggles of India during the period of British rule. And the poet envisions a nation where intellectual freedom, unity, and the pursuit of knowledge are valued. It emphasizes the importance of breaking down barriers and embracing diversity, fostering a society where individuals can strive for perfection without hindrance. And when you compare his works to his other poems, this poem stands out for me with a much more clarity and directness.

It presents what I would term as a powerful and a very concise vision for a transformed society, contrasting it with the limitations and divisions of the present. And if you take that poem, it applies in many cases to many parts of the world today. And the poem's simplicity and its universality make it resonate with readers across cultures, across continents, across time periods as it continues to inspire us to hope, most importantly, for a better future.

Ilham Kadri: Thank you. There is no better way than finishing with Tagore's poem. And I love the poem. When the mind is without fear, right? I think it's all about that. Thank you so much. Thank you so much, Siddharth, for joining me today for sharing not only your incredible story, I think, sharing wisdom, leadership lessons, which, by the way, travel from the UN space to the humanitarian to business space, right?

I think those are universal lessons. which I'm sure all our listeners, Syensqo and beyond now, we have a large audience beyond our company. And I know it will be highlight of the year. I know it already. And the important work you are doing is changing lives and improving our world. Thank you for that.

You've made such an impact and will no doubt continue to do so. I take up your offer to visit together China. You are a role model for many and I know, definitely I will, we will be also taking steps to incorporate some more health practices into my daily routine. I think I already do some sugar and no sugar yoga, et cetera. But I think there are a few more things, which I believe, it's our duty to be healthy indeed, to take care, and care about the others, including our children. So thank you for that.

Siddharth Chatterjee: Thank you. Thank you, Ilham. Thank you very much for having me on your show. It's really an honor and you are a very illustrious figure and someone who I deeply respect and admire.

Ilham Kadri: Thank you. Siddharth.