Learn a new language

www.livemocha.com

It's an interesting concept - free lessons, but you have to 'earn' points - by logging in frequently, and referring people. What intrigues me is the social networking part - find other people who are learning the same language, and use them as language partners.

I'll see if we can try it here with the students to encourage them to learn English. For sure a lot of to-be volunteers will use it for Hindi. A really good friend of mine is using it to learn Russian. I might use it learn Spanish (again).

But do share your observations/lessons with us, to see if it is worth trying out on a big scale.

Of Homecoming

This article features a good friend of mine, Shubham Rai. We grew up together as kids in a little housing society in suburban Mumbai :-)

 

http://boloji.com/analysis2/0347.htm

 

While the writing may be a little 'buoyant' (just like the article's view on the Indian Economy), the central theme of the confidence of Indian youth is SO true. I remember when Shubham told me the first time about starting this company called rentimental. No joke, I think it was 3 or 4 years ago. I remember being really really intrigued by the sheer positivity and confidence - he was the face of the new emerging economy. In many sense that conversation was a turning point for me: I clearly remember thinking, man, this is another India. My parents would NEVER have thought about quitting their jobs to 'try out' anything.

 

After making that plunge into coming to rural India, that assessment hasn't changed. India, and Indians, are still quite buoyant about the future. In any case, it is refreshing to see Indians move beyond their fatalism and take destiny in their own hands.

One chapter closed

Maybe it was all the talk about everything being under my control, but it just felt like the right time.

I just shut down my Xanga account.

Why not leave it there you say? You hadn't blogged there in years, you say?

It was a different chapter of my life. I needed a different outlet. A group of people to "share" my inner feelings with. To vent. That's how I dealt.

Now I have some momentum to my life - propelled by my own will. And there is somewhat of an urgency to get there (because everything takes so much longer than you think it will). Now I make faster (better?) decisions. Its just time to close that chapter. And move on ahead. No baggage. No looking back into the mirror and trying to recognize myself in a person, God, almost 8 years my younger.

Cheers to Change!

Of Mental Toughness

One of the things I have realized (not understood, realized) is that there is nothing that I cannot do. There is nothing that you cannot do either. All that stops us is simply HOW badly we want it.

One of my all-time favourite movies is The Thomas Crowne Affair (the one made in the 90s with Pierce Brosnan, not the original one with the Rat Pack). There is a great line from it: "Anything's obtainable". I thought it was cool how Pierce Brosnan was saying it at that time. Now it's simply a fact of life.

This realization isn't quite as liberating as it might seem to be. For someone who's not a natural optimist, it's hard - it now means that everything I do in life, is a choice. It means the words I say, the people I associate with, the jokes I crack, the doodles I doodle, the noodles I eat, when I wake up, when I sleep, what I choose to do, which MBA college I go to, which MBA college I get rejected from - EVERYTHING is by my choice. Because everything, suddenly, is under my control.

You know what the irony behind this is? I found that anybody is capable of doing anything because of my life and work in India. It's funny because India is BY FAR the country which believes (relies?) most on destiny. I totally agree with Arun Sarin, ex-CEO of Vodafone, on his comment that one of the Indian values is a "heavy dose of fatalism".

Here's the thing about knowing that everything in life is a choice. It means that 1) You need to be VERY VERY clear on what you want out of life and 2) You gots to be strong. Not physically tough. But mentally very strong. And there is probably nobody more inspiring in that regards than Tiger Woods. I think about this article about him almost every day. Here's an excerpt:

During the broadcast of Monday's playoff round, Nike ran an ad that had Earl Woods's voice running over images of his son: "I'd say, 'Tiger, I promise you that you'll never meet another person as mentally tough as you in your entire life.' And he hasn't. And he never will."

You can like this model or not. Either way, the legend grows.

The Frozen Gaze by David Brooks, NY Times, June 17, 2008

Does this mean that only the mentally strong i.e. those who are willing to give what it takes to achieve what they want are the only ones destined to be happy in this world? Or, in the words of Sheryl Crow (I know), is happiness "wanting what you got"? Do you have to have and KNOW your ultimate goal in life? Or will destiny take you where you are supposed to go?

I don't know. Which means I'm rooting for destiny.

MJunction - now in Hindi language

Yet another Hindi language site goes up.

http://mjunction.in/hindi/

And this one is exciting: it claims to be India's biggest e-commerce site. According to this article, mjunction was launched in Hindi with a view to lure small and medium scale entrepreneurs, and offer them insight in Hindi.

I need to find a way to keep abreast of more of these developments, other than just chancing upon what the ad bar on top of Gmail provides. Come to think of it, it's the only ad space that I regularly seem to find value in and click on.

शब्दनिधी (Shabdnidhi)

I was recently introduced to Shabdnidhi (http://myjavaserver.com/~hindi/shabdnidhi.jsp), a new English to Hindi Online Dictionary that I was very impressed . What's especially powerful about Shabdnidhi is that it provides contextual examples on how that word is used. And, the results are not (yet?) overcrowded like www.shabdkosh.com. Having said that though, I must give MANY kudos to shabdkosh for really pushing the Hindi Dictionary effort online. It has been an invaluable resource to me and all the GDL team here in Bagar for the last two years.

I sent an email to Debashish (one of the guys working on Shabdnidhi) with a few questions on how Shabdnidhi is different, and what, in his opinion, should people use. Debashish had a very candid and straightforward reply. Basically, he recommends using both Shabdnidhi and Shabdkosh.

My recommendation? Use Shabdnidhi if you're a general user. Use Shabdkosh if you can't find the meaning. Use Google Translator for what it's really most powerful: Translating entire web pages to get the gist of it. It's a game changing equation in some sense - it allows the Hindi user to at least get SOME meaning out of English language sites. However, like most online automated translators, it's nowhere close to a natural language translation. Ahhh, memories Babelfish and freetranslation from my Spanish class days.

Source For Change on Economic Times!

Source For Change, an all-women rural BPO based right here in Bagar, Rajasthan and incubated at the GDL, is now in the papers! Check it out:

http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Repository/ml.asp?Ref=RVRNLzIwMDgvMDYvMjQjQXIwMTIwMA==&Mode=HTML&Locale=english-skin-custom

Be sure to also check out their brand new website: www.sourceforchange.in

- Ashish

--
For exciting opportunities to really make a change at the grassroots level, join GDL (www.gdl.org.in). Current posts are:
(1) GDL Director
(2) Program Manager - Entrepreneurship Development
(3) Program Manager - Community Leadership

Of Showmanship, and Hope

First of all - let me make the usual "it's been a long time since I last blogged" apology. It HAS been a while. Believe you me though, it certainly hasn't been dull.

But, in accordance with my belief (now principle?) that everything I have achieved in the last two years (and perhaps most of my life) has been a crime of passion, let me talk about tonight, and let's chew over the abundant food for thought that it has provided.

So we went to see a shrine today. I was told it was a big मेला (fair), and there would be a lot of भीड़ (crowd). It is held only at certain times of the year, so it had to be today. Well, it was enough to convince 18 of us to go there. Now, first we were shown hospitality. Then the usual rounds and special places in the shrine. All very cool and ethnic. And then a long long wait for the special आरती (aarti - worship/ceremony) to be held by the head priest. After a long wait that tested everybody's patience, we finally got to the happenings.

And that's when I believe it pushed many of us out of our comfort zones. There were terminally ill patients being questioned and promised to be healed by the भभूत or the प्रसाद that the Maharaj (priest) gave to the ailing. Followed by the spirits of the possessed women 'dancing'.

Now, I'll leave the interpretation and opinion aside. Maybe it was the late night and thus nothing fazed me. Maybe it didn't faze me because I've developed a very thick skin over the last two years. But, upon retrospect, I came out with two things from there:

1. That shrine offered hope - to the terminally ill, who have gone to all major and minor doctors, is it so bad to come to a place that offers you the hope and promise of a cure by the power of God? Is it bad to share your suffering with other sufferers? Is it bad that you become the focal point of all the people there (at least 1500-2000 today)? Is it bad that suddenly for 5 minutes 2000 men and women suddenly care about your suffering, and WANT to believe that the suffering will end with a cure?

In the business of social change, I know that Hope with a capital H is perhaps paramount to long-term sustainability, both of the social servant and the community member. And Hope with a capital H is what this place offered, without any monetary price in return.

2. The maharaj is a master salesman, who knew that he had the Upper Hand in this game of tradng Hope. From creating the completely confident aura of a definitive cure, to making a religious experience for new comers, to asking those who don't benefit to never come back again, to the sheer showmanship in front of the crowd. It made me WANT to believe. I saw a man convince people that what he was saying is what was ailing them, I saw a man convince people that their pain/problem is where he tells them it pains. In that crowd of people, there was no question at all how the whole place was working: the man was a true leader. Not a manager, but a true leader, whose own followeers reinforced his personal brand.

So with these dreams of Hope, and Sales, I bid you a long overdue शुभरात्रि (good night)

- Ashish