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Now on the Piramal Foundation Site.
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Sunday, June 17, 2007
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 )
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)
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:
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.
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!
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.
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
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