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Monday, December 31, 2007

Reflection on writing (and my serious disinclinationi towards it)

I just couldn't get myself to use the 'hate' word - I'm on a whole Be
Positive rant these days.

I have realized that to become a better writer, you just need to write.
I realize this as I sit down to write my essays, and freak out because
a) I haven't left myself any time and b) I don't like writing. I
actually started working on my essays a while back, but never
prioritized it because I simply just didn't like writing.

Man, if only I just wrote for the love of writing. Blogs must definitely
be given credit for unleashing that creative writing within all of us.
Even if it's not creative (case in point - this hashjob of a blog), at
least it's better than culling your writing abilities.

After all I did to escape writing - taking AP english to skip out of
college English, choosing a science major so I would never have to write
a paper, and now it still comes back to bite me in the ass.

One thing about MBA apps I'll tell ya - it makes other grad school
applications sound like a joke. Lot smaller, lot easier, lot less
involved, and much much much easier on the pocket. I can apply to 5
regular gradute programs for the price of one MBA program usually. And
I'd still have better chances of getting in.

In fact, that's one of the dilemmas that I've been facing in the last
week. As I procrastinate, I have been looking for more and more
justifications for a) Not applying and thus b) Not getting into any
decent colleges. One of my recommenders makes a very cogent argument: "I
don't understand why you don't stay in India, where the market is
booming NOW, and won't last forever. You want to go back to the US for
two years, and come back when the market's cooled down and nobody's
hiring anymore. It doesn't make any sense". It echoes a nagging voice
I've had in my head this whole time - if my vision is to start a social
business in India, why am I then going to the US to learn how to become
a good corporate General Manager? Shouldn't I just learn by actually
starting a business?

(On a sidenote, it's actually kind of funny that the person recommending
colleges why an MBA program at their school is right for me is trying to
convince me why an MBA doesn't even make sense).

In any case, I think this blog has served this purpose of getting the
writing juices flowing, so I bid you adieu.

- Ashish

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

We're not in Kansas anymore

Here's a blog by an Indicorps fellow, Ishtar Lakhani (Aug 07-08) , that really inspired me, and I thought I'd share with you.  The last line really reminds me of  so many people (including me) , who've always had the potential, but never did test their own limits.

Yay for inspiration.

We’re not in Kansas anymore!

Ishtar Lakhani
Indicorps Fellow (Aug 07-08)

Ok, so I’ve never been to Kansas nor do I have any desire to go there, in fact, I’m in Ahmedabad India for the next nine months. So what is the point of referencing an old American classic like ‘The Wizard of Oz’ you may ask. Patience and I’ll get to the point.

Being a volunteer working at the Sabarmati Gandhi Ashram I’ve built up a fairly substantial repertoire of answers to the barrage of questions I get asked daily. Generally questions like, “did Gandhi actually live here?”, “when did he live here?” “why did he live here?”… “where are the toilets?” However, recently I was posed with a question that stopped me in my intellectual tracks, a question that I had no rehearsed answer to, nor had I ever given it any real thought. Up till now that is. And that seemingly simple question was “where did Gandhi get his courage from?”

This is a man who not only stood up for an entire nation against a colossal empire but chose to challenge and often defy his family, his friends and his entire socio-political context (which I personally feel takes more guts than the former). Was he just naturally blessed with an innate sense of what is right and wrong and the bravery to stand up for his beliefs? Or was it a characteristic that he cultivated over a life time? My money is on the latter. Early on in life Gandhi admitted his almost crippling fear of public speaking, yet he went on to become one of the greatest orators in recorded history. He once said, “The history of great deeds is the history of men who had the courage to stand alone against the world”.

Don’t get me wrong one does not have to overthrow an entire oppressive regime to prove ones courage. India is a country where poverty is rife and employment is scarce (that is, if you have unfortunate fate of many Indians born at the bottom of the socio-economic rung). This would be enough to dishearten even the strongest of characters. However, how is it that thousands of people wake up every day and choose to endure back-breaking labour in fairly exploitative conditions in order to earn an honest wage to take care of their loved ones rather than submit to what seems like their dismal fate?

In the astute words of the Cowardly Lion (hence, ‘The Wizard of Oz’): “Courage! What makes a king out of a slave? Courage! What makes the flag on the mast to wave? …Courage! What makes the Hottentot so hot? What puts the “ape” in apricot? What have they got that I ain’t got?” If all it took was an amble down a yellow brick road to hustle someone in to giving you a heart, the world would be very different place.

It is my belief that courage comes from a belief that some things are more important than fear. This can range from the liberation of an entire nation to the desire to provide for ones family. Either way, it is an individual making a conscious decision to counteract the fear which they feel and redirect it into action. You are not necessarily born with courage but what you are born with is potential, and it is what you choose to do with that potential that really matters.

“If I have the belief that I can do it, I shall surely acquire the capacity to do it even if I may not have it at the beginning.” ~ Gandhi

Thursday, November 15, 2007

A look back at the last 15 months

Here's an article I just wrote for the Maheshwari Mahasabha of North America (i।e. a Rajasthani organization in the US). Thought it might give a recap of what I've been upto, and some of my thoughts and umm, "feelings".


____________________________________________________________________________________

Namaskar from Rajasthan!

As some of you may know, I’ve been in Rajasthan for the past 15 months, as part of a two-year service fellowship with Indicorps. As the website aptly states: Indicorps provides structured opportunities for committed youth to participate in India's development. Towards this goal, Indicorps strives to provide transformational service experiences that encourage people of Indian origin to engage fully in the process of change, explore their capacity to affect change, strengthen their leadership potential, and take active steps to contribute to the world around them.

To date there have been more than 100 Indicorps fellows from across the globe, who have come for one-year stints in rural and urban locations to work on projects that range from designing a sanitation van and outreach program to finding ways to address healthcare in rural India.

During my fellowship year I have been working towards starting the Grassroots Development Laboratory (GDL). GDL, a collaboration between Indicorps and the Piramal Foundation, is based in the town of Bagar in the Jhunjhunu district of Rajasthan. Our mandate here is to find replicable local solutions to India’s most pressing development challenges. This mandate is relates to the name of the project: Grassroots implies that we work on issues from the bottom-up – with community participation. Development implies that we don’t believe in charity; we are only working towards permanent and sustainable change. Laboratory implies we have an environment here that promotes experimenting with innovative solutions that address local problems, but that can have relevance beyond the boundaries of our town.

In the first year that we were here, we experimented with small interventions in four broad areas: health, education, livelihood and technology utilization. Under the technology sector, I set up a computer lab and started a practical-learning focused class for high school students, with an aim to spur more excitement and knowledge about the practical application of computers. While the class was successful in many ways, it was difficult to quantify that success, especially if measuring progress towards a ‘development goal’. One intangible yet extremely crucial aspect that we did achieve was in building trust with the community – building trust required us to prove ourselves over time, and that is one thing at which we have been quite successful.

Realizing that I wanted to work towards a concrete development problem, I decided to address the prevalent issue of unemployment and underemployment through an industry-relevant vocational computer training program. After contacting employers and recruiters, I was surprised to find that the majority of entry-level computer based job opportunities were for data-entry operators, your garden-variety Word, Excel, Internet folks. There are training centers for these at every nukkad (corner) in every town, so why were recruiters having difficulty finding people? Turns out a lot of job applicants come armed with certificates from training centers, but with very little practical proficiency on a computer.

This is a situation common across many fields here. India has a vast amount of raw material, but very little finished product: a billion people, and yet a talent shortage. I had finally found my purpose: I was going to find a way for the newly educated rural youth to stake their claim in the burgeoning job opportunities in the urban centers of India.

I have now started these classes, and currently have two batches of students of roughly ten students each, ranging from 17 year olds, just out of high school to 38 year olds realizing they need to be computer literate for any job. In the remaining nine months, there are still quite a few things left to do. I have to create a curriculum in Hindi that is easily replicable, I have to find and prepare a teacher to train the students after I’m gone. In general, the majority of our activities at GDL are now employment focused e.g. a Rural BPO operated by women, retail and hospitality training classes and spoken English classes. All of us are currently involved in setting up a formal vocational training institute that will continue on beyond us.

The most rewarding part of all of this for me has been coming together with six incredibly dedicated people to give birth to an organization, infusing it with our values and nurturing it so that it may continue our work long after we are gone.

One of the things that everybody asks me is why I came here. There were many reasons: while I really liked my job (and my job liked me), I guess in some sense I was looking for something with a higher purpose beyond making livelihood for myself. There was also a longing to go back and figure out my identity as an Indian. A lot of it was due to recent immersion in all things Indian: my involvement with MMNA/RAYS, working in the IT field (which has a lot of Indians), my family’s heavy involvement in the Hindu/Indian community in their town, and a general belief while growing up in always giving back.

Taking the plunge to come here was the easy part: the question I find myself asking is what keeps me here after all these months? I have been working here for no money for the past 15 months, way outside of my comfort zone, but somewhere down the line I realize that when I talk about what I do, I am actually passionate about it – my voice rises, my hands are animated, and I can talk forever about it, because there is a higher calling to my ‘job’. I like the fact that I am here working with some dedicated young people who are actually doing something about what they believe in. I also now realize that I’m here because I want to be proud of who I am, of being Indian. I want to be able to one day point to a better India and proudly proclaim that I played a direct part in it.

Or perhaps, since being in India, I have realized that I will always have to do ‘maatha pacchi’ in life; I might as well do it for something that I care about.

For those of you who have always wanted to return to India, to experience it and define it on your own terms, for those of you who have always had strong beliefs and ideas on how to develop the country, I whole-heartedly recommend coming to India, through Indicorps or the many other avenues now available. Many have asked me if I would have been better off making more money and sending it back instead. I now know the answer is a definite no. India does not need your money, India needs you. It needs people with the ideas, the passion and dedication to apply themselves towards producing results and making a concrete change.

The question then simply is, what are you willing to do for change?

Ashish Gupta
http://www.gdl.org.in/

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Finding qualifed people can be hard

But at least you don’t have to wait till the interview for the surprises। The resume itself helps sort them out. Here’s an example:

I love the different sized bullets, the registered trademark, the etc DOT COMMA. But yes, the Laguage Know is by far the king.

Thursday, October 04, 2007

Testing posting a picture


Small one at first – big ones later


My baby niece Avantika. Born ONE day after 7/7/7.

Tuesday, September 25, 2007

Also - Did you know my article got published?

The strangest things happen man. I just did it to satisfy a documentation requirement.

 

http://www.news.indicorps.org/magazine/content/view/47/32/

I should do a better job with these huh – who knew those crazy guys would publish it?

 

Also - Did you know my article got published?

The strangest things happen man. I just did it to satisfy a documentation requirement.

 

http://www.news.indicorps.org/magazine/content/view/47/32/

I should do a better job with these huh – who knew those crazy guys would publish it?

 

Watch a video!

It’s an Indicorps video, yah. But think – I wouldn’t be going through this trouble on rural India quality Internet if it didn’t mean anything to me. Sending e-mail here is true love J

 

http://news.indicorps.org/magazine/

 

What are you willing to do for CHANGE?

 

APPLY NOW to the Indicorps Fellowship at http://apply.indicorps.org.  Applications are now available for fellowship classes starting January and August 2008.  Prospective fellows must be of Indian origin with a college degree or five years equivalent work experience. Visit www.indicorps.org to learn more about Indicorps, the Indicorps Fellowship program, or other grassroots service opportunities.

Tuesday, September 04, 2007

What are you willing to do for change?

Hi all. I know this one year has been a phenomenally transformational year in my life. I would want to share this with other individuals who would want to challenge themselves with the same experience, while truly taking part in India's development.

Applications for the Indicorps fellowship are now up. Please do pass this on to any of your friends/colleagues who you think might be interested. I can be reached anytime via e-mail, or on my mobile here: +91 9828 73 6464

- Ashish
http://ashishinindia.blogspot.com

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

What are you willing to do for CHANGE?

Indicorps encourages aspiring leaders to engage in intense grassroots development opportunities that explore the promise of leadership and challenge individuals to leverage their skills and talents to address India's pressing needs.  The Indicorps Fellowship program is designed to provide one-of-a-kind transformational experiences, emphasizing both public service and personal growth. Indicorps participants choose their projects and are placed with thoroughly evaluated community-based organizations for one or two years. All fellows will participate in a four-week orientation program, strengthen their understanding of leadership/change through regular workshops, and are actively supported by Indicorps and partner organizations.

APPLY NOW to the Indicorps Fellowship at http://apply.indicorps.org.  Applications are now available for fellowship classes starting January and August 2008.  Prospective fellows must be of Indian origin with a college degree or five years equivalent work experience. Visit www.indicorps.org to learn more about Indicorps, the Indicorps Fellowship program, or other grassroots service opportunities.

Wednesday, August 22, 2007

Blogger is now in Hindi (ब्लॉगर अब हिंदी में है)

अच्छा, यह अपने आप ही हिंदी में ट्रांस्लितेराते करता रहता है। और सारा स्क्रीन हिंदी में ही है.

Link: http://www.blogger.com/hindi

Thursday, August 16, 2007

Anyone hear of Ingenient Technologies?

Hi All,

A friend of mine doing her Masters in the US recently got a job offer from Ingenient Technologies (www.ingenient.com) as a DSP engineer. Anyone heard anything of the company - good, bad, ugly?

Thanks.

- Ashish

Saturday, August 04, 2007

A year since I left America

I left Atlanta on July 31st, 2006. And left the US on Aug 8th, 2006. So it's been a year, almost to the date.

In short, a lot has happened this year in terms of personal development. Learning humility. The inner joy in seva (service/volunteerism). Ability to push myself beyond supposed limits (perceived limits of being too cool, too mature, too heavy). Learning that I'm a born follower, not a leader. Then learning that I actually know what prevents me from being a leader, and that the journey to become a leader, a changemaker, is indeed a long one. I guess the most important milestone in this path of personal development was realizing that all the answers to all the problems in the world lie squarely within myself. I just have to probe. And ask. And ask. And ask.

I am not happy with what I've achieved project wise - I know I am capable of achieving a lot more.

At this juncture of time:
- In the past week, I had completely lost faith in myself. And regained it again - from a group of idealistic people together known as Indicorps who believe that they can affect change.
- I have realized that I want to be rich. Not because I want to spend on nice things. Because I want financial freedom. To be able to do exactly what I want to do in life without the motive (or the pressure) being monetary. Because doing exactly what we want makes us free. And doing a job just so that you might enjoy the 4 hours before you go to bed makes you waste 1/3rd of your life.
- I've realized that I often used to complain about a 'lack of motivation'. But motivation is not a tangible thing. It actually doesn't exist. Motivation is simply a byproduct of success. If you're successful in the things you set out to do, you'll become motivated. Very simple.
- Considering applying to an MBA program, but have to first figure out why and where. Riding a bit of a high because I did quite well on the GMAT.

I have also realized I need to get back to running. Because I enjoyed it. And because been letting myself go for a while. As one colleague stated so innocently on the train ride back "Ashish, your belly's doing strange things".

Next up this year:
- Getting employment for kids in this town by training them in practical, basic computer skills (more on www.piramal.org.in/gdl/category/technology )
- Find something to do that keeps me personally excited. Wirelessly beaming broadband into Bagar would be the first step.
- Have a great time when my friend Bryan comes to visit for three weeks in late October

Basically, this year has made me believe in capitalism even more. And so, I consider this last year as learning about myself, about my community, about my project. This coming year is going to be about Return on Investment (ROI) - delivering value based on this investment. Ultimately, that's the point of doing business, or anything in life.

Also, this point also marks a sad goodbye to all the Indicorps fellows from the class of 2006. Two other colleagues remain with me at GDL, but we're looking forward to forging new relationships and memories with the new incoming class.

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

In Bombay

I am currently in Bombay. Last week, my grandfather here (who lives by himself), took quite sick. turns out he had contracted malaria, and at his age (80), i guess its worrisome. He has recovered from malaria, but the ordeal has left him quite weak (turns out his haemoglobin levels also dropped).
 
Anyways, my uncle and aunt here have been taking care of him for a week, but now its time we head back headed back. He needs at least another two weeks of someone making sure he's eating properly and taking his meds. right now i'm considering staying here for that period. kinda ambivalent about it - but it makes sense. the other options aren't necessarily any better (my mother having to come to India, or having my grandfather stay somewhere else - which he won't agree to anyways).
 
 

Friday, July 13, 2007

Bagar is now on Wikipedia (अब बगड़ विकिपीडिया पर है)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bagar%2C_India
Bagar is now on Wikipedia. As it becomes a growing standard of finding information the Internet, this seems as good place to publish information about Bagar. Please feel free to add information as you see fit

http://hi.wikipedia.org/wiki/बगड़
बगड़ अब विकिपी़डिया पर है । क्योंकि विकिपी़डिया इन्टरनेट पर जानकारी ढूंढने का एक स्टैन्डर्ड बना जा रहा है, यह बगड़ के बारे में जानकारी प्रकाशित करने का एक अच्छा स्थान है। कृपया इस वेबसाइट पर और उचित जानकारी जोड़ें।

Friday, July 06, 2007

Share Market news in Hindi

One thing I'm going to strive to do on this blog is promote Hindi language websites. One that I saw today while searching for top entry-level jobs was about Share Market news in Hindi, potentially catering to a brand new population of investors. What was noteworthy was that there were 4 entries for today, and 3 from yesterday i.e. this content's fresh! Here's the URL
 
 
An excerpt:
 

Friday, July 6, 2007

बिहार तुबेस - पसिंदिद अधार पर वारंट्स की बटाई

बिहार त्युबेस लिमिटेड ने सूचित किया है की महत्वपूर्ण प्रावधान के अनुसार कंपनी के सदस्यों के द्वारा कंपनी के बोर्ड ऑफ़ दिरेक्टेर्स ने 31,75000 वारंट्स पसिंदिद अधार पर एन्तितिएस जो प्रोमोटर ग्रुप को दर्शाती है और दूसरी नियमित निवेशक वारंट धारक के अधिकार के लीये पुरी पेड अप पूंजी एकुइटी श्येर किसी भी समय इशू कि तीथी से 18 महीने के दौरान कर सकती है।

Monday, July 02, 2007

Chanakya's Policy & A Blue Moon

More from Ojha Ji, the school principal, who I guess has started to taken even more of a liking to me (or has openly started to express it at least). He mentioned something that Chanakya said about dealing with the enemy (the great policy-maker, the chief advisor and man-behind-the-scenes in the making of Emperor Ashoka).

To deal with the enemy, first you neglect him. If that doesn't work, then you criticize him. If that doesn't work, then you try and murder him. And if somehow your murder attempt fails, then you honour and praise him. Because that plants the seed of pride (अहंकार-ahankaar).

And pride will destroy your enemy from within.


That Chanakya was a wily fox. The question that begs to be asked, however, is why the heck does Ojha Ji then praise me so? I mean, as far as I know, he hasn't even tried to kill me yet :-)

__________________________

New Intern started today - Anjuli, an undergrad from Harvard. She'll be helping me prepare curriculum for my industry-based computer training course.  Her father came to drop her off today. While we were outside, we both started commenting about the full moon today (which signifies the start of the Hindu month of आषाढ- aashaadh). He mentioned that it was a blue moon yesterday.

Apparently, a blue moon is a full moon the day before the full moon. So today is poornima, the actual full moon. But yesterday the moon was full and yellow and everything, which means yesterday was a blue moon .

Somehow, I just feel cheated for not having known yesterday. Its like sitting next to a celebrity on a plane, and not even knowing that they were famous.
__________________________

Dushyant, my cousin from Bombay, came on the 27th, and left yesterday. While I didn't get much time to do much with the poor guy, I did take the time out to talk with him at nights. And it was full-time masti. Its great to see the kid having grown up, being so smart, still shareef, and with still that hidden passion for life.
__________________________

MBA ahoy. Right now, trying my best to carve out time to prepare for the GMAT. AND also figure out why I want to do an MBA, an is it really worth the time and cost?  Wish me luck, this is going to require some serious discipline for the next few months.
__________________________

This blog is going to move slowly into these rants about my personal insights and experiences. Project-related blogs will be posted every week (by law) on the Piramal Foundation site: http://www.piramal.org.in/gdl/category/technology

Sunday, June 17, 2007

New Weekly Updates

Now on the Piramal Foundation Site.

Specific to my workstream: http://www.piramal.org.in/gdl/category/technology/

Wednesday, May 23, 2007

CFP: Anthology on Second Generation South Asian North Americans

Thanks to Surya Kalra, Indicorps fellow '06-'07
     CALLING ALL "SECOND GENERATION SOUTH ASIAN NORTH AMERICANS"
     (WOMEN, MEN, and ANY OTHER FORMS OF IDENTIFICATIONS)
     TO SHARE YOUR EXPERIENCES ABOUT BEING SOUTH ASIANS IN NORTH AMERICA

     ***North America is made up of the United States, Canada, Mexico,
     Central America, the Caribbean Islands, and Greenland. ***

    If you trace any part of your heritage to Bangladesh, Sri Lanka,
Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar, India, and Pakistan, and you were born in
North America (as defined above) or arrived here by age 14 (includes
multiple migration sites), and, you are interested in sharing your
stories, then, we want to hear from you!

     *****

     ANTHOLOGY DESCRIPTION & SUBMISSION DETAILS

     Working Title:
     Brown Souls: Voices of South Asian (North) Americans

     Written and Edited by:
     Roksana Badruddoja, Ph.D & Shikha Malaviya

     Focus of Anthology:
     The anthology will feature us, second generation South Asian North
     Americans (women, men, and other forms of identifications) from across
     the nation about the ways in which we develop our identities. In this
     anthology, "second generation South Asian North American" refers to
     those who were either born in North America or arrived to the U.S. by
     the age of four, raised primarily in North America, and have at least
     one parent who was born and raised (until at least the age of 18) in
    the Subcontinent (Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Myanmar,
    and India). We welcome submissions from people of South Asian heritage
     whose family emigrated to Africa, the United Kingdom, or elsewhere
     before immigrating to North America (we consider North America to be
     made up of the United States, Canada, Mexico, Central America, the
     Caribbean Islands, and Greenland).

     We are also considering submissions from those who fall under
     "1.5-generation" or people who arrived to North America after age 4 but
     before age 14, including multiple immigration sites.

     All submissions should speak to our identities as "second generation
     South Asian (North) American" and how we create, maintain, and
     re-create
     our identities. Submissions should speak to multiple identities as
     South
     Asians, as Americans, as Canadians, as Muslims, as queers, as
     parents...and the list goes on and on.

     The project is inspired by Dr. Badruddoja's dissertation, entitled "The
     ABCD Conundrum: What Does it Mean to be a South Asian American Woman?."
     The manuscript is designed to give voice to those silenced and
     marginalized. In this light, all work submitted will be given full
     consideration. You are the author; you tell the story that you want to
     tell about yourself and we want to hear about it!

     Submission Guidelines:
     1) There are no specific requirements in regards to genres and
     tones. We
     encourage and welcome all forms of written structures from
     bio-narratives to short fiction to poetry, including academic and
     non-academic pieces. Meaning, any and all forms of written formats and
     voices are encouraged.

     2) The manuscript follows in the tradition of the late Gloria
    Evangelina Anzaldúa (1942-2004). Please make some time to explore
her work before
    submitting your own (/Borderlands - La Frontera: The New Mestiza/,
    1987; /Making Face, Making Soul/Haciendo Caras: Creative and Critical
    Perspectives by Feminists of Color/, 1989; also see
     http://www.learner.org/amerpass/unit02/authors-1.html
    ). Here, we  welcome the exploration of triumph, celebration,
transformation,
    re-invention, struggle, reconciliation, retreat, and loss in the realm
     of on-going identity performances.

     3) You may submit up to three pieces, excluding poetry, on MS Word with
     a page limit of 15 pages a piece at 10 point font size in Times New
    Roman. Authors may also submit up to five pieces of poetry (excluding
     the three piece limit) with no restrictions on word limit, meter, and
     other formatting (font requirements apply). This means that in total,
     you may make up to 8 submissions (5 pieces of poetry and 3 additional
     submissions in other genres).

     4) Citation style includes /Chicago Manual of Style/ (15th ed.) (see
    "Citations and References" at http://www.nwsaj.engl.iastate.edu/ )

     5) Please provide a cover page for each submission, which lists your:

     - Name; Age; and Region(s) of South Asia with which you identify and/or
     other core identity markers
     - Title; A short description about how the piece came about (your
     inspiration)
     - Contact Information: E-mail address; Mailing address; and Phone
     numbers

     6) Submissions may be made electronically to Roksana Badruddoja
     ( rokbad@gmail.com ) along with two hardcopies
     of each individual submission to:

     Dr. Roksana Badruddoja
     Assistant Professor
     Women's Studies Program
     McKee Fisk Building, 217
     2225 East San Ramon M/S MF19
     Fresno, California 93740-8029


     7) The deadline for submissions is November 31, 2007.

     8) Submissions must be unpublished unless previously published work
     does
     not include copyright infringement issues.

     9) Finally, and once again, submissions must speak to the development
     and maintenance of your identity as a "second generation South Asian
     (North) Americans." We believe such an identity space will allow you to
     consider gender, sexuality, race, ethnicity, class, religion, culture,
     the colonial spirit, and a whole host of other identity markers you can
     think of, and how these areas work together to help define you as YOU.

     If you have any questions about your submissions(s) and/or regarding
    the anthology in general, please do not hesitate to e-mail Roksana
    (rokbad@gmail.com ) and/or Shikha ( shikha@malaviya.com ).

     Decision Notification:
     This project is a long term project and we expect a 2-3 year time frame
     to completion.


     This anthology is close to our hearts, and we are very excited about
    the project. We look forward to receiving your submissions!

     Peace,
     Roksana Badruddoja & Shikha Malaviya
    (rokbad@gmail.com & shikha@malaviya.com )

Monday, May 07, 2007

List of all Government Schemes

They say the Indian government has a scheme for everything. Here's a website that has all of them in one place, for you to decide for youself.

 
 

Website link courtesy another Indicorps Fellow, Juie ('05-'07)

Thursday, April 19, 2007

Sandstorm

Wednesday, April 18, 2007
Bagar, Rajasthan


I have been wanting to blog a proper post a while. With pictures, dying to put up pictures.

Even typed up a quick list of possible blog topics a little while ago. No kidding, this is from a file on my computer called possible blog postings.txt:


  • I figured out the Hindu calendar
  • Radhikkkkka
  • Random other pics
  • Kuharwas visit


But instead, I'm simply going to write about today.

Today started different from any other day - I didn't actually wake up in my bed. I'd been invited to visit one of my students, Sushil Kumar, who’s really taken an interest in the class. He’s bought a computer, and is really raring to learn it. Just recently, we even hatched a business scheme. Looking to DO something with what he was (slowly) learning in my class, we somehow came upon the idea of him downloading and printing board exam results. These results are published on the net 3 to 4 days before they’re available in the schools. Anyways, he was going to sell it at Rs. 10 a pop, which is half the street price. I was going to charge him Rs. 5 (since my computer, my electricity, my internet, my printer), and the rest would be his. He did alright, for a 16 yr old – found 21 people to make money offa, in one night.

Anyways, the other day, his father had invited me to come over. It was Amaavasya, the new moon (no moon) day, which when apparently people in his profession (carpenters) take off. So I went after class (and a run in the hot winds). It was good talking to them, and having some great food. And having a good night’s sleep for a change (we slept outside, which makes an INCREDIBLE difference in temperature). Anyways, there’s a LOT more to cover, here’s me with Sushil and his family. Sushil’s the one in blue:



Got back, and then cleaned up, called Vijay (my staff support), for our weekly call, but I guess he was busy so it didn't happen. Then my regular English tuition kids didn’t come (their exam is this week, so I guess they’re just buckling down and studying). After lunch and everything, went to the Piramal school next door, which I’m working on computerizing.

The principal, Mr. Ojha, is all gung-ho about computerizing the administration. Even bought a nice new computer. Today was a downer in that aspect though. Out of the three guys, one of them plain flat out said, “I’m retired, I’m just doing this as a temp job to keep busy”, and “The other guy is retiring next year” and “you should do something for the future, not for us”. So that leaves me with one guy who knows something about computers, and I’m just not convinced he wants to do any more work than is absolutely minimally required for him to keep his job. Anyway, here’s Ojha Ji (with glasses), in a file photo with my dad (who came with my mom to visit in first week of December):



It was a big deal for my dad coz, by sheer and amazing coincidence, he went to this school himself, 33 years ago. Yah, that deserves a big blog post in itself.

After that, I headed out into the market to hit up the bank and the phone guy etc, because it had been windy all day, and not as hot (so, probably just around 100F/38C). Came back, and realized I had told my kids they could come to class an hour early (3:30 instead of 4:30), to practice typing, coz I didn’t have time for them otherwise. 8 out of the 9 kids who eventually showed up actually came an hour early. Issue was, some tractor had earlier knocked over an electric pole on the main highway, so we didn’t have electricity.

But they were there, and I wanted to use this time. In one of my lessons (actually, on Windows Security and why and how user accounts are created), I had incorporated taking a photo of themselves (to teach them how to use a digital camera, to use it as their User Account photo, and later for an ID card they’ll make). So, we all went to the tree in our garden, and I showed them how to use it, and divided them up into pairs and got them taking pictures of each other.



This picture is of Gaurav Tailor, a kid in 8th grade, who’s family our group is pretty close to. Notice me mulling over something in the background – probably what they hell to do next without electricity. Also notice the girls – its probably the first time in Bagar that girls are in a computer class. Turns out there’s a lot more of them interested – two of them came this evening begging to start right away. I told them I’m going to hold Bagar’s first all girls’ computer class in the summer, starting 16 May.


Class ended early (I still managed to keep them for two hours, even without electricity). Then the 3 girls and Gaurav hung around (I think I forced Gaurav into it) to do some ‘spoken English’ – one of the girls brought it up and was real interested in it. I think she has a lot of potential. Real smart girl (book smart at least), really sincere learner, and has somewhat decent English. This is a girl who, with some coaching, could do some major stuff in the future. Maybe she could be Bagar’s first female programmer :-) Ah yes, I dream, I dream. Anyways, while they were ‘describing the garden to me, in English’, I asked them to tell me how many types of flowers there were, and then they proceeded to show me that there were 7. The following photo is of one such wild flower (and was taken by accident, while I was demonstrating to them the close-up function on the camera). I particularly like this flower, but I particularly like this photo of the flower, on my khaadi bag, with the Indicorps logo in the back. I kept thinking of names and ideas and something poignant to address it by, coz it demands a name of substance. I welcome suggestions, but for now, I call this Indicorps in Bloom:



Anyways, spoken English ended with call for dinner (which was fantastic – कैरी की सब्जी – kairi ki sabji – dish made of green mango). It was a most welcome change from the usual, nutritious but repetitive fare. For the food. And also because that’s when the weather changed.

The clouds had snuck in during class, and now they were getting ominous, and rumbling. Coupla drops fell, but nothing came offa it. When I came back, we were sitting upstairs, and mulling what to do without electricity. And while sitting there in the beautiful breeze, that’s when the sandstorm started. At first its breezy, a little windy, and then out of nowhere, BAM, it pics up, and 10 seconds later, its sand EVERYWHERE. Visibility is down to like 30 feet (and you know it some for us because we’re on cemented/developed land). Then the lightning started coming, and then the rain. The pics of the initial few minutes are on Preeti’s camera, and I’ll try to post something on a later date. But these are the ones after the rain started coming, and Lisa came out, and Radhika came back. These pictures speak for themselves. I’ll keep the commentary to a minimum.

Sandstorm
We decided to move up to the terrace. It was night, no electricity, wind is howling, sand is everywhere, and now it starts to rain. Tree in the background, if you can make it out, gives you an idea of the storm:



Can’t help but be goofy when you’re in the rain. Here’s Preeti recommending a Marilyn-Monroe-skirt-blowing-pose, and me obliging:




Goofiness aside, it is just incredible being in the rain in India. As Lisa put it, “I don’t know why it is, but the rain in India is incredible”. She mentioned the big drops, but I know it’s a lot more. It’s the big drops, the warm rain, the cool wind, the sweet smell of the parched earth (in Hindi, the सौंधी खुशबू– saundhi khushboo). It’s like the earth wants everyone to know how sweet it is, the rain. This is me savouring a bit of that sweetness:



Side Note: If any of you want a sample of that smell, I think I might have figured out a way to send it all the way. Let me run some more conclusive tests on my theory first.

We finally came back down from the terrace (aka roof), because the girls didn’t want to get too wet, and it was getting damn cold. I guess I couldn’t stay out for too long:



The lightning during the storm was a spectacle. On a completely dark night (because of the power outage, and the day after new moon day), you could still see every 5 seconds. I just had to find a way to capture it. So I left my camera on a ledge, set to take a picture every 10 seconds, with no flash. The first pic didn’t show much. This one is after the first 10 seconds. You can barely make out the tree in the garden, the building to the right, and a bus passing by the school campus:



The next two shots didn’t yield much. But 30s after this previous pic, well, you can see for yourself:



Isn’t that incredible? This is the same as before, but 30s later, taken at 7:37 in the night to be exact! I guess this is what it would be like if God used the flash on his camera.

The aftermath of the storm, well, wasn’t all that much. Sand everywhere, in our hair, in our rooms, and stuff scattered about. Here’s the verandah upstairs:



Just another day in India? No, definitely not. Not every day is quite as special or as “exciting”. Some days are mundane, like any other day at any job anywhere in the world. Many days just go chasing down a to-do list that always manages to escape.

Days like today though, force us to open our eyes wide, and remind us to take notice of the incredible in every day.

Tuesday, April 10, 2007

blogging from my phone!

continuing the love affair with technology, this blog entry is
straight from my phone! yup, i have an unlimited gprs connection,
which is what i use to connect my computer to the net with. hutch (the
mobile operator) finally sent the settings to my phone, so i can
browse the internet on my phone. well, most of it anyway, my phone
only supports wap enabled sites. it may not sound like a big deal in
th US, but it's a big thing in rural India for me. God bless the great
Indian telecom privitization!

Monday, April 09, 2007

Sometimes you have to love technology

I got an SMS on my phone today from one of Divya's friends (another Indicorps fellow who'd been at Bagar for a little while). She had been using this number initially, and I guess the person didn't know that her number had changed yet.

Anyways, got me thinking that I have very seperate groups of friends, some of whom may not have been updated by my e-mail, or my blog etc. And only keep in touch with very few to none of them via phone. Then I got thinking, I have some of them on facebook, and I know facebook has a blog. So why don't I at least copy the entry there?

Well this is where I HEART technology comes in. Facebook has this neato feature where you can just import a blog. So I just give it the URL to this blog (http://ashishinindia.blogspot.com), and bam, facebook imports it the next time it scans this address. Ain't that cool?

Also, on another note, things are going well. I'm trying this thing where I'm splitting up my days into two. Go to bed around 1 or so at night, wake up at 6 inevitably when the guys from the cafeteria come to deliver the chai (which, btw, I don't drink). So instead of trying to fight it, I'm just going to get up and start the guy. And then try to take a nap in the afternoon. This works well with the impending summer, where because of 48°C (120°F) weather, and the hot winds, its impossible to leave the house between 10am and 5pm.

Also, Lakshmi, the GDL team lead, has granted us Sundays off. Which is kinda exciting news - now we get a day to take it easy, and catch up on all the things that I promise myself to do but never get around to (running, writing emails, updating blogs, socializing with people in the town and nearby areas etc). More importantly, I can now do all this without feeling guilty about not woking on the project stuff :-)

Anyways, class about to start in 5 minutes. Will start in full swing on Wednesday. So long for now.

Adieu.

Wednesday, March 28, 2007

A 6-monthly Update

Hi Everyone,
 
It has been a very long time (for some of you, since last August), since you heard from me. I apologize for the long delay. As you all know, I am in India, working on a two-year service project in the town of Bagar in the western 'desert' state of Rajasthan. I am looking to see how computer technology can benefit the population of the rural town that I'm working in (and how I can play a part in that).
 
I tried to keep a blog to send in updates, but that hasn't worked out too well. Some highlights so far:
 
  • After struggling long and hard to figure out what I need to get working on to benefit this town, I realized that the people needed to understand the practical applications of the Internet in their daily lives. It took me till December to figure out what I wanted to do: Start a computer class for high-school students, that focused on the application of computers. My hypothesis was that if I taught the class in a project-based approach (rather than theoretical/rote learning), these kids would start thinking application themselves. Well, I finally got the class going on Feb 26th of this year, and got the computers about 3 weeks after that. Clearly, getting the funding approved and the computers took time. Also to promote the class in all the schools in the town (there's a few of them as kids come from neighbourhing villages and far away to study here). And finally it took time to interview and select the kids. To accelerate the learning process, I wanted to take students who already had some familiarity in front of a computer (knew how to move a mouse, type some characters, open programs, save files, basic formatting in Word etc). Well, I was looking for around 24 kids for my class, and I would be happy even if I got 20 candidates to apply. Things took a turn for the better - about 140 kids applied, and even at around 20 minutes a kid, it took some time to interview all of them.
All said and done though, the class finally started, the computers got here (all very slick btw - with LCD screens and what not), and now looking to see how I can get these kids excited about computers. Any ideas and suggestions to get kids in rural towns in India to really get excited and see the value of using computers in their daily lives is much appreciated.
  • Also started a campaign to clean up the trash situation in the town. Been on and off on it since September. On it right now, where we're looking to take one of the wards (neighbourhoods) of our town, and clean it up to make it a model ward. Doing some needs assessment right now, will be ramping up things on that soon. The particularly issue seems to be the gutters that get clogged up due to the trash, and the fact that due to limited resources, the cleaning of any ward only happens once every 15 days. Will keep everyone posted (I hope).

 

  • Finally, as part of a case study, I am looking to bring about efficiencies in administration in a school through computerization. Its a classic Systems Analyst/IT consultant gig in my mind - find out where the inefficencies lie (in this case, every single thing is done on paper), see where the value is, find the best solution, design it, implement it, train the folks and let 'em at it. Due to time constraints because of a report due to Indicorps (and also since this is now the third concurrent project), I'm going to try and wrap up before mid-May. It'll be small changes then - but the amount of time they can now save with just Excel is unbelievable. If you guys truly want to see how MS Office can change your life, come here. For example, there is something called a Bill of Salary that takes a person one full day to update every month - something that will take 45 minutes to create in Excel, and 15 minutes to update every month. No joke. And the formulas would be straight from 'Excel for Beginners'.
I could use help with figuring out a decent school administration software though, especially one that makes sense in the INdian contexts. Would have to include school records, transfer certificates, results sheets, report card etc to make real sense in my mind. And Hindi language is a MUST. Which reminds me  - does anyone know if MS Access XP or later support Unicode data input (so that Hindi can be stored)?
 
There is obviously a lot more that happened in the last 3 months that I haven't captured here - for example, training for and successfully completing a half marathon, getting excited about Hindi language computing, the downs and ups, working on a virtual tour of the Gandhi Ashram, trips to other NGOs in India, future plans about beaming broadband from a town 15KM away into Bagar by setting up towers, and then wi-fing all of Bagar etc etc. One thing that I do have to capture is the fact that my phone got stolen, and I finally do have a replacement number:
 
Ashish New Mobile in India: +91 9828 73 6464
 
I'm 9.5hours ahead of East Coast, 10.5 hours ahead of Mid-West and 12.5 hours ahead of West Coast.
 
If you prefer writing by snail mail (and sending in all sorts of goodies, hehehe), here's the address:
 
Ashish Gupta
Guest House
Piramal Boys Sr. Sec School
Piramal Nagar
Bagar, District Jhunjhunu
Rajasthan - 333023
INDIA
 
Take care, and hope to hear from you soon.
 
- Ashish

Thursday, February 08, 2007

Summer In India

Applications are due on March 14!

 

Are you trying to figure out what to do with your summer? Are you trying to figure out what to do with your life?

 

Become InSPIRED.

 

It's about stepping out of your comfort zone… so you can discover the world, so you can discover yourself.

 

It's about connecting with India , with its culture, with its people.  

 

It's about finding your passion, and the strength and courage to follow it.

 

It's about sharing genuine, real experiences with those of a similar mindset. 

 

It's about figuring out your role in shaping this world.

 

It's about service. It's about adventure. It's about connecting. It's about education. It's about wisdom. It's about reality. It's about lighting the fire. It's about YOU.

InSPIRE 
India Summer Program Inspiring Reflective Exploration

InSPIRE is a non-partisan, non-religious 5-week long immersion program that reconnects young Indians and South Asians from abroad to India. The program is open to anyone between the ages of 18 and 24 who is of South Asian decent.

 

InSPIRE is about exploring and experiencing India , to get a better understanding of ourselves, India , and our relationship with the world. The program will consist of exposures, interactions and sessions, readings, cultural immersion, service work, exploration of development, and adventure. All of these will be used as instigators for each participant to look within and grow as a human being.

 

For more information, go to www.SummerInIndia.org .
Check out the trailer --> click here
Check out the facebook group  --> click here

Sunday, February 04, 2007

INDICORPS - FELLOWSHIP APPLICATIONS DUE APRIL 1, 2007

If you know of anyone who might be interested, please do pass it on.

A lot has happened/is happening. Will update everyone on this later.

- Ashish



INDICORPS - FELLOWSHIP APPLICATIONS DUE APRIL 1, 2007

Apply now to August 15 class of the Indicorps fellowship program at http://apply.indicorps.org

Indicorps seeks committed individuals with the experience, conviction and leadership potential to find constructive solutions to India's most pressing problems. As an Indicorps Fellow, you will join a community of individuals who constantly push their limits for both individual performance and collective impact. Although you may work in some of the most challenging circumstances, the
Indicorps fellowship is a rewarding and transformational personal journey. Visit the Indicorps website ( http://www.indicorps.org) for detailed information on the Indicorps vision, program, and application process.

Applicants must be of Indian origin (by the definition of the Government of India) and have, at minimum, a university degree or five years work experience. Individuals must make a minimum commitment of one (1) year and are required to apply specifically to projects of their interest. The application deadline is April 1, 2007.

Tuesday, January 02, 2007

A Happy New Year

A Very Happy New Year to everyone. Its definitely happy for me - I'm starting with a very positive outlook on the year, knowing exactly what I'm going to do, and chockful of ideas every day to excite me. The going's good.

And on this new year's day, there was an impromptu visit to nearby village. One of the guys who works in the mess (aka cafeteria) had invited me over to his village (RamswarupJi), and we'd been making plans for over 2 months, but he'd never get off. And so this day, he's like, I'm going. I keep making plans, its been months, I'm going today, in an hour, will be back in 3/4 hours, come with me if you can.

So I did. Along with Pintu ji from the mess (in blue). Here's a picture of Ramswarup JI and I in his little backyard/sideyard/frontyard. They had a few veggies and flowers growing. That's mooli (radish) in my hand. Nothing like yanking a vegetable out of the ground and eating it right there.



So here's a happy new year from the three of us (From L to R: Pintu Ji, Ramswarup Ji and yours truly). I love the expressions that came out in this, especially the variety thereof. And the face that I took this picture with my left hand too.I like taking photos I've realized. Its my only creative outlet, and it keeps me quite happy.



So on that note, a toast to this very new year. May there be many more like the year past, and many more like the year that's to be.

Cheers.