Handwritten

शंकर की सीरत

2009-04-04T01:56:00.000-07:00

पिछली बार की तरह इस बार भी होली और ईद मिलादुन नबी साथ ही पड़ रहे हैं तकरीबन पूरा हिंदुस्तान रंगों और मिठाइयों की चाशनी में डूबा रहेगा हज़रात मोहम्मद (सल्) की सीरत पर तकरीरें और नात ख्वानी का सिलसिला आम होगा मस्जिदों में सजदे और मजारों में उर्स की भरमार होगी गुलाल और गुजिया के भोग से तबियत भर जायेगी लेकिन अबकी होली जब रंग उठाना, तो सोचना उन बच्चो के बारें में , जो स्टेशन पर रहते हैं, प्लास्टिक की खाली बोतलों के भरोसे जो शायद दिन भर भूके रहेगें क्योंकि उस दिन सारी ट्रेने खाली ही चलेंगी, बोतलों के बिना कुछ तो परिवार के साथ त्यौहार मनाने कि ख़ुशी की वजह से और कुछ गोबर और कीचड वाली देसी होली के कारण और अबकी बार जब सीरते रसूल को सुनना तो सोचना उस आठ साल के, एक हाथ वाले शंकर के बारे में जो पूछने पर कहता हैं " भय्या पच्चीस रुपए काफी हैं , दस दस मेरे और दानिश के लिए और पांच हमारे कुत्ते के लिए"

यूनुस

पिछले साल मेरे द्वारा शूट किया गया विडियो यहाँ देखें
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Og5ouusK7ow

2008-07-19T22:28:00.000-07:00

दोस्तों सलाम,

मैं बहुत खुश हूँ की कल रात हमारी टी फॉर टेक्नोलॉजी की पहली मीटिंग हुई आज जब मैं हिन्दी टाइपिंग प्रयोग करने बैठा तो बहुत मज़ा आया ये तो सच में बहुत आसान हैं , अब मुझे कभी भी हिन्दी टाइप करने वालो के नखरे नहीं झेलने पड़ेंगे http://www.hindiyugm.com/ पर रोमन इंग्लिश को हिन्दी में लिखने का ये औजार बहुत ही कारामद है अब देखिये न सिर्फ़ पाँच मिनट मैं ये चिठ्ठा तयार हो गया इग्लिश मैं टाइप करने मैं ये मज़ा नही आता !

चलिए अब मैं आपको 'Tea for technology' के बारे में बताता हूँ कुछ अरसे से ये ख्याल मेरे मन मैं कुलबुला रहाथा की आजकल टेक्नोलॉजी इतनी तेज़ी से बदल रही है की हर किसी को लगातार सीखना ज़रूरी है मगर रोज़मर्रा की दोड़ धूप मैं इतना वक्त ही नही मिलता की खास तौर से कहीं जा के सीखें मन में ये सवाल उठा की ऐसा क्या करें की हमारी रफ्तार टेक्नोलॉजी की रफ्तार के साथ मिल जाए और इससे सीखना कुदरती लगे ?अब ये तो सब ही जानते हैं की जितनी अहम और मजे दार बातें चाय की प्याली के साथ होती हैं, वैसी भारी भरकम 'वर्कशॉप' वाली मीटिंग मैं नही होतीं और सीखने सिखाने का जो अम्ल है वो मज़ेदार ही होना चाहिए तो साहब जन्म हुआ 'टी फॉर टेक्नोलॉजी' का कल पहली मीटिंग हुई हम पाँच दोस्त चाय की दुकान पे मिले और हमारे साथी सुहैल आज़म ने http://www.hindiyugm.com/ के बारे मैं बताया मैंने आज सुबह प्रोयग किया और यह चिटठा लिख दिया प्रयोग बहुत ही सफल रहा, अपने ख्यालों को ज़ाहिर करने केलिए मुझे हिन्दी टाइपिंग का सहारा मिल गया टी फॉर टेक्नोलॉजी की अगली मीटिंग का इन्तिज़ार मुझे बेसब्री से रहेगा

मजे करें और लिखते रहें

यूनुस

सलाम भाइयों,

पहले तो मैं माफ़ी चाहूँगा देरी से जवाब भेजने के लिया... क्यूंकि आज मेरी जॉब का पहला दिन था और पहले ही दिन मैं, माशाअल्लाह रात के १२ बजे लौटा हूँ... आप लोगों की दाद चाहूँगा.. यूनुस भाई सही कहा आपने, इस टाइपिंग का अलग ही अंदाज़ है और अलग ही मज़ा है... कल रात की मीटिंग से वाकेही दिमाग के कुछ घोडे खुले हैं.. पहले जो वक्त हम दोस्तों के साथ चाए की दुकान पर b.c. में बिताते थे, वही वक्त कल रात हमने B.C. यानी बात चीत में बिताया... जिससे वाकेही बहुत कुछ सीखने को मिला... और यूनुस भाई के T for Technology को भी एक existence मिल गई.. शुक्रिया यूनुस भाई... आपसे इल्तेजा है के ऐसे ही कुछ जानकारियाँ हम न समझो में तकसीम करते रहें... शुक्रिया...
अगली मीटिंग का इंतज़ार रहेगा..

मैं जानिब.. सोहेल आज़मजामिया मिल्लिया इस्लामिया

YES! poster for you

2008-06-02T02:58:00.000-07:00

This amazing poster was created by my younger brothers Aashish & Faisal. ENJOY!!

Polldaddy is cool !!

2008-05-06T02:53:00.000-07:00

Getting market opinion and research data through web has always been a workload for the " Marketing & Tech-savy people' but to get a quick opinion, I would like to use some free, cool, online polls and survey tool like www. poll daddy.com. believe me no technical knowledge is required to do it by yourself.

So take a deep breath, relax and answer this quick poll !!

Do you like this idea of conducting polls by yourself ? ( polls)

Digital Fixation

2008-01-22T06:58:00.000-08:00

Last friday I went to see a photo exhibtion with my friend Robert. The exhibition was nice but I want to tell you about my experience and fixation with 'Digital photobooth'.

Photographer and installation artist Mark Van is the pioneer in using digital booth as an art exhibit, the concept is simple but innovative 'you click your own picture and see it immediately on a big screen'. The heart of this concept lies in a simple emotional equation.

"You feel good to have the power to compose your photograph."

What a digital fixation !

Window

2008-01-20T22:56:00.000-08:00

My volunteering experience with global giving can be summarized as a window, a window in the digital world of non-profits. A world where market is the driving force and market is controller. Whether it’s the fast changing technology or user-friendly services or the Internet tools, the market or rather Donor’s choice governs every thing.
It was interesting to know how a common person like you and me can induce change by just a click as a ‘donor’ and how a single feedback can direct change in an organization.

I belong to India; the largest producer of IT professionals but its application there in the citizen sector is negligible. My exposure and volunteering experience with GlobalGiving has shown me the enormous potential of IT & the use of online tools to further a cause that needs to be tapped by the ‘non profits’.

For me the encounter with web 2.0 was most exciting. Whether its tracking website traffic through Google analytics, designing online surveys or poll or getting RSS feed on Reader, all these tool has actually made things so easy that any body can use them to save resources. Learning about social media sites, viral marketing, searches & adwords every thing is really very enriching. The best part is to connect with other bloggers that gives a continuing learning experience and first hand news of what’s new in the sector.

No matter where I live and what I do I would love to be a GlobalGiving ambassador, why? Because of its staff, they are so lovely & friendly, Often it is said that GlobalGiving provides excellent experience to customers or donors; to me it is just an extension of the warm personalities of its staff. I really enjoyed so many things while working with them, to name few the music played by Donna, birthday celebrations, holiday preparations, potluck organized by Duane & the most exciting raffle. All of it has become ‘part of me’ now and will remind me of my days in GlobalGiving.

Thumbs Up for Donor's Choice

2008-01-14T15:27:00.000-08:00

Recently I encountered the www.helium.com and came to know how they pay bloggers for their writings based on the readers’ ratings. This is very common in private sector for online marketing sites like Amazon and eBay but immediately it stuck to mind that why it can’t be applied to citizen sector organizations.
Can we provide a transparent review of organizations to the potential donors? How was their giving experience and are they satisfied with the charity?

I know it’s a pain spot for the charities with all sort of apprehensive questions about image brand and reputation. But with the growing demand of credibility, transparency and accountability citizen sector will definitely require easy to understand information regarding performance of charities and review by its donors or ‘customers’ as the lingo goes.

Friday at Masjid Muhammad

2007-12-27T20:49:00.000-08:00

Usually cities are full of lights, fast cars, music and latest fashion. Few would argue that Washington DC is also same but there are city within cities, which remain hidden from the usual sight of visitors. I happen to be in one of such parts of DC, It is an African American Mosque on New Jersey Avenue named as ‘Masjid Muhammad’. I am doing a lot of generalization on the basis of my ‘Jumah’ (weekly Friday prayers) visits to this mosque. I was surprised to see the amazing full of life culture this small mosque presents to me. Here is what I found interesting:

Cafe
There is a cafe, kitchen, and a bookstore in the basement. The group is so vibrant and active that they utilize not only the space of Mosque but also build network to promote business, Raise funds for community needs like Education through selling game tickets and a lot more. Not to forget the DVDs and journals of Imam Muhammad who is the Man behind this community.

Changing roles and speakers
Each week a new person takes over the dice for Khutba (Sermon & speech), which is recorded. And it’s amazing to hear them, one of them referred to Science fiction films and Quran at the same time while describing the concept of time in his speech, other day our Imam made some good boxing moves to explain how Muslim should face the world. And theatrical stories of various people and prophets are a common act with voice modulation and tone control. after the parayers you see that same person is selling Oil aur pumpkin pie.

Business
After the prayers one can meet a lot of people in the basement while having delicious lunch, Salmon kebab sandwich and apple cobbler is my favorite. Then there are few stalls of tickets for fund raising, collecting zakat, pumpkin pie and Oil and thermal wear etc. the mosque has its in house café, which produces all the food, and sometimes it also sought services from the volunteers.

Flea market
Its parking space is used as the weekly flea market for the local goods. Flea market is very similar to weekly Bazaar's in India. I plan to write more on it soon.

Slavery
This would require another full post, for now just sleep over the comment that slavery is the most talked issue in the masjid and also in the city, during the khutba I feel it is this ‘collective deprivation’ or shared history that binds this community together and also excludes me at the same time.

Film Promotion
Few weeks ago film produce Alex Wolf came to masjid Muhammad during Jumah prayer took part in prayers and promoted his new film on Slavery, he has produced the famous film on Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) ‘legacy of prophet”.

Documentation
Imam Muhammad’s DVD’s, weekly Khutba & journals and more than a dozen publications record the changes brought and sought by the community. Imam Muhammad is also mobilizing resources to make a museum of Muslim history in America. Currently its in the form of “ Collection & Stories of American Muslims Inc. Traveling exhibition Archives and museum.”

Workshops & Readings

2007-12-23T16:38:00.000-08:00

Each month Atlas Service corps organises training and workshops for the fellows. the set up is good because it gives a unique theory -practical - transition and also takes care of our learning needs.

First we were given "How to change the world" the famous book in citizen sector, written by David Bornstein, it gave us an overview of the 'Social Entreprenuerism' and some very good stories of people who are changing the world around them.

Then we met Mark the founder of genocide International network, This guy is awesome in terms of how he mobilises support from people, we learned about how he built his network based on a simple idea and strong compassion.

I like the genocide hotline started by him, its number is 1800-genocide ! easy to remember.

Grant seeking basics were another workshop, that we attended in Foundation Centre, I was amazed by the detail and data about grants available in the center. one can easily use the online resources on a very reasonable rates. visit http://www.foundationcenter.org/ for more detail.

Budgeting and financial management was the recent one, where talked mainly about personal budget, but I am looking forward to the institutional budgeting workshop, to be organised soon.

So basically if you see the pattern of all these trainings and workshops, its a vary rich and composed input we are getting here. It would be very useful when we will get back to our countries to start our own projects or organizations.

Take The challenge Head-On !

2007-12-14T19:07:00.000-08:00

Recently launched America’s Giving Challenge is very exciting for me, it urges me to use technology as a way of inspiring people to support causes they care about. The Case Foundation and Parade Magazine started this challenge, which runs from now through January 31, 2008.
The challenge is motivating individuals to champion causes they care about and raising donations online using Web 2.0 tools. What you see in the upper right corner of this page is a widget, one example of Web 2.0 tools. Now it is very easy to spread the word about your cause.
Better get your tool box ready with latest and fine tools if you want to make BIG things happen!
What is exciting about the challenge is that the eight “fundraisers” attracting the greatest number of donations for their causes will each get $50,000 for their chosen cause, and the 100 causes that receive the most donations will each get $1,000.
Global Giving & Network for Good are the two partners selected by Case and Parade to support the Challenge.
You can take this challenge if you want support an international cause.

Go ! Get a Google Reader

2007-12-13T19:34:00.000-08:00

Let me tell you about my latest experience of "learning to learn”.

I wanted to read about the latest things in the citizen sector as there are so many so many things happening in DC. Specially at this time of the year, when so much Giving takes place because of religion festivals and tax benefits etc.

So I was struggling with whether I should use the search engines or subscribe news letter or ask somebody what to read My house mate Sergio told me about Craig list foundation, Robert told me about a couple of news letter and blogs & every day we encounter on or two good websites to keep us abreast about the new trends in the sector etc so I was regularly saving links and useful mails. As a result my mail box started filling with unread mails why? Because I never used to get enough time to read all that I wanted to read.

Then today I finally explored the Google reader! (After hearing its name from three or four people) it’s simply great to have all your reading supply on a single window.

Through the Reader you can subscribe to your favorite blogs and websites and whenever there is a new content on it you can see a summary and read full text if you want to. You will get daily dose of tips about its features,(if that works for you!) and you also get Reader recommendations based on the content you decide to subscribe.
Now probably you want to know more about it BUT I’m not going to waste any more words to tell you about the various other services of googles that makes your life easier. there are two reasons behind that. First, you must explore it by yourself & Second because recently I read somewhere ( & heard a good blogger) that your blog post should not be long.
How long is long? Believe me it is long if you have to scroll down in order to read it.

You see! I got a READER and it works!

Thanks Giving !

2007-12-07T20:45:00.000-08:00

Solitude is the sole companion these days. two of my house mate are out of city and third one usually comes late. These days most of my time in home is spent on internet or cooking. and Im lookin at the next holiday vacation to beat the stress. During thanks Giving, I went to Morgan town west verginia to see a family friend and have some real cooked food.

I liked the whole process of making this trip happen. actually it was a four day vacation and every body was going out! I thought it be foolish to be at home when the whole city is partying, eating Turkey and doing alot of shopping. but i wasn't sure about how to go ? where to find right information? then Gargi's mausa and mausi, who were visiting us gave me quick tips to plan atrip in US. so finally after struggling to find a suitable travel option, I hooked up with amtrack thanks to all my friends who helped me in doing so.

One thing I dont like about thanks Giving is the wastage of food and why only one day to express thank!

Technology

2007-11-14T14:55:00.000-08:00

Every day when I travel in Metro I see many people with i-pods or i –phones, Listening music are juggling with the digital content. Its a pretty common visual in most of urban cities, But when I see the use of Information and communication technology by the Non Profits in DC, Im amazed by it and also surprised that I was so ignorant about it while I was in INDIA, its not like that im downgrading my citizenship but actually being in a new culture im able to connect to the future use of technology in India, specially in the context of citizen sector. I remember there is a great debate about the use and misuse of the so called Information and communication technology and it is generally considered that propagating ICT is marketing for the technology and also for the other products as feature of capitalism.

The debate is generally about the masses but here im more interested about the classes, I mean people working in the citizen sector in India or the civil society organizations. I find that most of the organizations are far behind if we consider the use of ICT, I mean the mails and net is ok but what about the other processes which take much of the time of development professional.

I remember that once I was conducting a training session with the rural women of India and one of the lady said that" im afraid of the telephone because it has got wires” she connected wire with electric shock and probably never used one before, so after wards it was nice experience to introduce such women to telephone and help then use it for the first time, and you know how much empowered they felt while doing so because they were no more afraid.
It happened with me when I first saw that how many technology based services the citizen sector uses here in US, but now when I have tasted it I think its much better.

So I am thinking of looking this aspect of use of technology in the sector and bringing it in front of those who need it but were never given the opportunity to experiment with it.

For example, publicity and advertisements takes a lot of budget share in campaigns but have we tried using the online media to do so? Every day thousand of new people are using Internet for their personal, social, and professional need, every day all the processes are being connected to the web intermediation. Sky is the limit folks! get your tools right to draw most benefit of New media.

Let me tell you something about my friend Robert who works with me in GlobalGiving, He is nice smart and intelligent guy, and he is experimenting with the use of social networking sites to promote GlobalGiving and so far he has been very successful in doing so, he is using sites like Stumble upon, You tube, Face book, and Totallyfreestuff etc and adding more to this list every day. recently he has drived huge traffic on globalgiving.com

The best part is that the new media is interactive I mean you actually provide scope for the audience to create content on their own, and not only as a passive recipient target to receive messages.

stay tuned for more!!

Visiting History

2007-10-28T07:31:00.000-07:00

Recently I went to the National Mall of Washington to see the Monuments. It was a pleasant sunny day and a lot of people have come there. I was roaming alone but it was nice to spent sometime walking on the Mall.

I saw the world war Monuments and Lincoln Memorial but was moved by 'the wall on the mall' that has been made in remembrance of the US soldiers who gave their life for their country.
The Wall or the Vietnam Veterans memorial has been designed beautifully and its goes with the ambience of the mall, engages the visitors to reflect on the cost of war for them. I saw that many of them brought flowers and was searching for the names. not only this the texture, location and other architectural input every thing is so well thought that there isn’t any better War monument I have seen.

but I also saw the two contradictions of the society just a few blocks away in front of white house there was a bunch of people protesting against war.

Democracy must prevail!

Reflections from past one Month

2007-10-21T14:49:00.000-07:00

A month in US is over. A month away, from home, family and my beloved homeland India.
I miss them all and I miss them badly but today I am remembering the food and tea corners in Delhi. So after writing this post I will make some 'Biryani' to satisfy my taste buds.

When I look back to this past month it seems like a flash back, covering each event in few seconds. Let me take you through a tour, which starts with my journey in plane. The pleasure of flying is so addictive, I was above the sky, enjoying the clouds and the sun besides me, but do you know what was most interesting for me? To see all the terrains and pattern of landscape from a bird eye view, it seems as if a passionate artist has painted on the canvas!

When I landed at DC, Kimi, our US program Director, came to receive me, she gave me quick information capsules and shows me few places so that I don’t get lost, and by that time my fear of new had gone because knew that I was in safe hands!
My encounter with second American was even more pleasant, Noah Scott was my host for first 11 days. He is such a wonderful & comforting person that I felt just like at home. He took me to an Asian store, on and off provides me very needed information and one you know what? I used his computer for all the past posts on this blog.

On my third day I was supposed to visit my host organization so I went to GlobalGiving. I met the warm and accepting staff, read about the organization and it was like discovering a new world of charity, A market place of development projects, have you ever heard of it? It’s a ‘new way of giving' as per Mari who is one of the two founders of GlobalGiving. Now through GlobalGiving, Donors are not beggars but choosers, when it comes to deciding about where to give? Its there to help you.
Innovative, accountable and relevant social projects that require donations are just click away. Isn't that awesome!

It is exciting to move in the group house, with other three fellows. During initial two day we had few arguments as all of were trying to understand each other, but then soon certain ground rules were made and we settled down (Long live Democracy). We do have some disagreements even now but the over all ambiance is lovely and I feel like at home because every day we see each other as family members and everybody cares for others.

Let me tell you about the other fellows of Atlas service corps, all of us have worked in Non profit sector in our home country Sergio, Maria Alejandra and Emily are from Colombia, Spanish is their mother tongue and they are good salsa dancer, Gargi and Vithika are from India and both of them love classical dance hiking and partying.

All of us are having great time in DC, parties, Outing and hiking are few to name, recently me and Gargi went to New York with Scott and Kimi as Atlas Corps Team to attend a meeting and met few interesting people in the citizen sector.

Last week fellows had a great time at the apple picking, it was Eid so I was not able to be part of it but the photographs validated how much fun they had there!

In terms of climate and environment DC is clean and pleasant, the fall has just begun and soon the colors of trees will change, I suppose that then it will become more beautiful.

Yesterday I went to see the Washington monument at national mall, it was beautiful. But right now I am NOT going to tell you about it,

Why?

Because I have to make some tasty Biryani!

Eid Mubarak!!

2007-10-15T15:31:00.000-07:00

Ramadan fasting is over and I am back in feasting mode!

This weekend it was Eid and I really enjoyed the way people here observe it. I went to Mary land for EID prayers. What I enjoyed most was the great party after the prayers, every body brought gifts cakes and food, moving in a line with all fun and laughter! ...oh yes... I did miss my family.

But then there are my lovely housemates who give me a homely feeling! this weekend we had some great Indian food saw musical, melodramatic hindi songs on Youtube.

Last week at work was busy, entertaining but satisfying. I went to a fund raising lunch organized by the Washington Area Women Foundation. I found that the event was a good mix of recreation, media, and food and off course fund raising!!
Just imagine in a short span of 2 hours, we saw a film, people had lunch, got involved in a lucky draw, heard live stories from the beneficiaries, got few poems from one of the pioneer and observed a discussion on collective philanthropy.
It was a fantastic event with more than 1500 people under one roof, and every thing was perfect!

These days I have been working on new software’s to do online research and analysis. I would suggest that anybody who is interested in doing survey should try wufoo.com, its awesome and easy!

Youth.. Energy .. & Politics

2007-10-07T22:11:00.000-07:00

These days i am meeting new people every day, & I am excited to see that here people are so interested in politics. It wouldn't be wrong to say that politics is in the air ! every third person i meet is either attached with some cause or another or have started his own non profit organisation. (i would prefer to use this term because no matter how different terms are used because of the market influence, still they offer the tax benefits when it comes to donations ).

so I was telling you about my encounter with new people, people from different back ground, different profession, distinct interests and also with different motives. Interestingly many of them are young energetic and ambitious.

This Thursday I met around 10- 12 people in a get together and at least three of them have served America as peace corps, Ameri corps or military and, are highly motivated and ambitious to serve the nation in their own way.. and off course !!! they all have started their Non profit organisation with financially viable tags.

So i was also talking about the influence of market !!! and if you have been closely associated with any Non profit organisation... so far, by now you must have heard about the term Social Entrepreneur. If not then just type it in the Google search and you will get the 'Gyan' ( knowledge) about them. Basically its just another term to describe leaders who do good for society. and Lot of philosophy is being created around it !

What I see is that at present the business model and its theoretical base is trying to define this 'seemingly' ambiguous but very important 'role' which a small section of people have played in the past . loosely termed as 'voluntary efforts' or the citizen's initiative for solving social problem.

Now look!! that's the trap i was talking about, people start with some sharing and then they end up finally making philosophy about the issue !! Social entrepreneurship is one of such issue these days.

But i am happy that at least now it might take a shape of a well known profession pretty soon, if not hijacked by "management school of thought' as any other specialisation.

So i was telling you about the energetic and ambitious people, recently i was in New York for a meeting where i met Anne Leonard .. and believe me she was really inspiring.

Anne has been working on the environmental issues for last two decades.. she is humorous .. speaks real fast in presentation.. knows a lot about politics of development... an expert on environment and waste management issues.... and off course she is working hard to make world a better place. but the reason I immediatly become her fan is because, first, She presented environmental problem not as any other problem or issue but as an issue of social justice and human rights. which so far I thought of it as one of the any issue other issue. Second, Her presentation style and was so charging and motivational that I almost fell in love with her & was thinking of making a film on her.. and you know what? just after the presentation she showed us her film in which she is explaining her work and the issue at stake, this was a nice film with beautiful graphic work and soon it will be released.

long live Anne Leonard and her initiatives!!

she works with http://www.ega.org/ and can be reached for more information about her upcoming creative film on environment culture of use and throw.

Do you think that one can really watch those project documentaries at length ? probably that is why most of them stay in racks for ever after getting commissioned.

I think if content like this can be packaged creatively and made available to the public and stake holders than sharing knowledge would be Fun !!!

ART OF GIVING

2007-10-01T07:34:00.000-07:00

It has been my first week at global giving and I am glad that I am here. Though I have been working in the citizen sector for last four years but I couldn’t imagine that Giving would involve so much of art or science whatever you name it.

Expolring the world of online giving & trying new softwares was a nice experience but last week was full of confusion also!

Different department, segmented meeting, the official lingo and over and above overlapping and connected tasks of each of them. All made me feel from where to start. But then Dana, Saima and Duane made me feel relax that it is Ok to be confused at Global giving during the initial days! They have already gone through this.

There have been few changes in my perspective also , earlier I was skeptical & concerned about the participative nature of web and the word ‘dialogue’ created a different meaning in my mind. But now a window has been created & I am able to see the enormous potential of online communication for citizen sector. Digital services are most important today, to do research, mobilize resources, market ideas and products.

By creating a market place of development projects, Websites like globalgiving.com, ggconnect.org are providing great services & required facilities to project leaders in citizen sector around the world and it has completely changed the Art Of Giving!

Exploring the city

2007-09-25T09:01:00.000-07:00

It is interesting that i am exploring the city as well as my organisation at the same time, you know why ? because it actually provides me both hidden and visible aspects of a new culture. people on street , city at night, cars music, transport and work culture & Practices etc. though sometimes i am confused may be because of an unfamilier bus station or "office lingo" or internal technical terms yet i feel good about it . Its new to me!!

and you know what ? this weekend i really had lots of fun. one of our co fellow Gargi told us about a nice place near by so she I ans vithika went for a long walk at roosvelt island . The potomac and the woods were beautiful. and I was delighted to see that there were other people too enjoying the nature, with spouses & kids. and there were whole lot of people enjoying joggng and cycling.

And yeah i must tell about my little tour too Asia actually on sunday I was badly missing indian food so I went to search for an asian store , thanks to Noah, my host, for giving me a free ride on his car. when i reached there ( and its located in Takoma park Mary land) I was more than happy to discover the joint which was full of asian stuff ... for instance it also had a halal meat shop . So eventually I bought some spicy stuff from there and cooked Chicken Qorma at dinner.. and yeah to me self cooked food is always delicious.

Landing In DC

2007-09-22T22:07:00.000-07:00

After a short delay to join the group,This is my first week in DC and I am happy that i am here finally. DC is hot these days but the people here are really warm at heart, be it my Host Noah scott, staff of global giving ,Other fellows Or Kimi . All of them have helped me to feel at home.

Yesterday was my first day at work where I met most of the staff & read about the organisations . Saima and manmeet told me about it in detail with few success stories of the organiation.
Denis the Founder Of Global Giving was busy in a board meeting, but I briefly interacted with him and Got motivated with his approach and openness. in just few minutes he motivated me to present an IDEA in the staff meeting . so on the very first day i got charged up, have started working on it and Inshallah !Pretty soon I will present it for peer review and feedback.

A world beyond borders

2007-09-20T22:31:00.000-07:00

When we write something, we put our internal worlds in words a world beyond borders