Skip to main content

Posts

Ootsav and the bringing together of the community.

This is what the people said via Ootsav! 2015- Of course I support the library! Because people like us do things like this! People came out and supported the effort by the community.  I was quietly surprised when I saw the ambush of the volunteers at the first volunteer meeting at the library. We did not have a clear agenda for the day of (we had one for the meeting). We did not know how and what we would do eventually- but we all knew one thing- we all wanted to give back to the community. To give back to the library in manifold ways, in ways that cannot be quantified.  Paraphrasing Seth Godin- the reason for the existence of donors/ volunteers and non-profits is that we don't know how to solve some problems in the world. Problems that are unprecedented -like the economic recession and what it did to our economy and then to our library. When we move to volunteer and fundraising for a cause, we take risks which don't make profitable sense. This risk basically put
Post a Comment
Read more
Recent posts

Look Up

Look Up We have great expectations of business leaders and those who give us our paychecks. And also from those who fill our bellies and our desires for a good life with products and services. Apple. Microsoft. Facebook. Virgin Atlantic. Amazon. (No particular reference to any company due to the current events.) We find their ideas to be aspirational. Not so much when it comes to political leaders. That’s why we elected a few in 2016 and before that. Politics for the everyday person is a challenge that is not their mountain to climb. People debate the merits and demerits of a candidate down to shreds but it is a disservice to use standards set by politicians themselves to judge them. We judge them based on other politicians and the context. One’s sense of justice and what is of value is set aside for our personal/familial and sometimes the community well being. The same sensibility is not applied to elected leaders. Having said that, the Women’s marches and the general flux in t
Post a Comment
Read more

Technology and Human Services

Technology and Human Services Before you promise to change the world, it makes sense to do the hard work of changing your neighborhood. Do what you say, then do it again, even better. We need your dreams, but we also need your deeds. –Seth Godin The Code for Princeton  #hackathon  is already making a difference in the lives of people. Princeton community members, coders, organizers and interested people came together to contribute to the cause of building something of great value for the community. Hackathons happen in a space that is driven by individuals. It is for the community and it is the motivation of the individuals. It is in that sense voluntary and not-for profit. The end result is pure enhancement of a product or a service with no monetary gain. In that sense they are a pursuit of excellence without a tangible award in return. So why did it become a success? A better question still is- why did the community want to participate? The simple answer is that we are
Post a Comment
Read more
A TO DO LIST (NOT MINE, COPYRIGHT CURRENTLY LOST) FOR COMMUNITY SERVICE- CHOOSE ONE AND LET ME KNOW. * Start a bat education program for nature centers and schools, including a travel box and talk, as well as helping the community set up neighborhood bat boxes. * Create a program for educating parents on the dangers of lead poisoning and present it at community events. * Create a pedestrian safety campaign in your community; present the need for a stoplight in your community at a busy intersection to your local city council based upon your research. * Develop a breast cancer awareness program in your community for mothers and teens through local women's church groups. * Organize a chapter of SADD and plan a campaign for safe graduation parties in your community with representatives from the different high schools. * Develop an anti-bullying program for children that includes a drama component and peer counselors. * Plan and host a student art show as part of a commu
Post a Comment
Read more

Survey processes

Talk about the American experience to south Asian women and what it has meant to them to live, make a living and settle in the US.
Post a Comment
Read more

Community Service

A Tibetan tent in the Newark Museum Simple Serve came out of a constant need to learn about and fix things around the community. With a background in Sociology that was born with the essential understanding to bring change in the world, to live the change you believe it- this has been the basis of my volunteering efforts.  I write this blog to enable others to find something to do and also for people to know what can be done.  To bring "change" to small things, to attitudes, to thoughts. Being involved in the Township Schools, in the Environmental Commission, co-organizing the Earth Day Fair for the last two years in the spring and being a part of Ootsav second time in a row this year- is in many ways a small attempt at doing that.   From the perspective of an outsider to growing to be the insider- this has been a learning and fruitful experience.   I am a huge believer of the fact that community service creates dependencies in a good way that can bring about a feeling
Post a Comment
Read more

another year of music

on my tea box to do another program of classical indian music would be a dream come true. It is here that I love to be creative with what I would like to do.  >>>>I wrote this in November of last year and it is coming true!
Post a Comment
Read more