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 puts the onus on a few people who believe in the cause. This is what I saw in the handful of south Asian volunteers who decided to support the cause. No one person knew how much we could raise but we were all willing to do what we could and we did.

It is the volunteers and the few workers who believe and push the cause forward. It is not that they are not aware of the risks of failure, it is not that they are sure of what the end result it. The one thing common in all the donors and volunteers is the belief that the effort is worth the risk.

It is worth giving it your all and being a part of the effort- albeit small. This is a small token of writing, of offering thanks to all those who made it possible.

Salud and thank you.

Read about it in the news here.

Comments

Idea of Play

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/19/opinion/sunday/the-art-of-distraction.html An Excerpt: "An appeal to the pseudo-certainties of science might seem finally to settle any question. But this is a moral issue rather than a scientific one; values are at stake here — not facts. It is in the irritating human realm where the interesting difficulties are, and where one might have to really think about and deal with an individual’s history, circumstances and reactions. It is the attempted standardization of a human being and of a notion of achievement that is limiting, prescriptive and bullying." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=STYU-iz8bUQ&feature=player_embedded Jill Vialet and play to make progress. http://www.i-am-bored.com/bored_link.cfm?link_id=65656 on deadlines kill creativity

Civic Engagement for High Schoolers

This is a project to encourage Seniors and eligible Juniors at the High Schools to vote during election time in the Fall. The process involves the following steps that can be taken on by volunteers at the High School: 1. Bring the registration papers to their focus and help them become voters. This process involves getting in touch with the high school authorities to take permission, publicize about the sign-up program and be ready to register the students during school hours. 2. Another aspect of this process would be to create videos to explain the mechanics of voting and the importance of it on how to do it while in the voting booth. 3. An added initiative would be- if most students are going to be in college the following year, then they will need to be made aware of the process of voting by mail. All this in an effort to boost civic participation at a young age.

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!

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