Looking down, ever down, calloused hands scout crusty soil for the sole pewli she pirouettes—a habit of anxiety belying pretenses of stoicism. We know so we smile, in these final days readily t...
Today had been an unremarkably routine day. Nothing to write home about, as they say. Unremarkably routine day. One down. Sixteen to go. Only ten at Rishi Valley. Frightening calculations for a g...
http://aifservicecorps.blogspot.com/2010/06/sixteen-ten-on-my-mind.html
I don’t think that I could ever forget the first faces that I associated with HIV. Like anyone else from the developed world, caricatures of wasted AIDS patients in grim, third-world wards ha...
http://aifservicecorps.blogspot.com/2010/04/faces-of-aids.html
Do it yourself: Curd in the Kitchen from Kirsten Anderson on Vimeo . Yogurt: A Public Health Service Announcement Service work at grassroots level NGOs in India requires fit and able bodies....
http://aifservicecorps.blogspot.com/2010/04/do-it-yourself-curd-in-kitchen.html
With the number of young non-resident Indian (NRI) volunteers at India’s NGOs today, it seems coming to India for service work is a new rite of passage. Manju Sadarangani first came to Kutch, G...
http://aifservicecorps.blogspot.com/2010/03/on-serving-in-india.html
SAATH: SAATH is a non-governmental organization that utilizes market-based strategies to create inclusive societies by empowering India’s urban and rural poor. Visa: Visa is a global paym...
http://aifservicecorps.blogspot.com/2010/03/two-sided-markets.html
One of the interesting aspects of living in Bombay is that it puts you in a unique position to see the New India. Just walking down certain streets, looking at the plethora of mega-malls, skyscra...
http://aifservicecorps.blogspot.com/2010/02/something-corporate-this-way-comes.html
My writing, like the way I live, is quite unorganized. To help this post make sense, I divided it into three sections: Typical Day, Working, and Living. I will go on random rants about things...
http://aifservicecorps.blogspot.com/2010/02/typical-day-for-caucasian-guy-working.html
If I were to write an article, that would be the title. Which incidentally, I am supposed to be writing for my NGO. I have had nightmares about publishing this. Growing up I had no issues with th...
http://aifservicecorps.blogspot.com/2010/02/mobilising-for-livelihood-women-farmers.html
I’m the kind of person that likes to be an active member of my community, wherever or for however long I find myself there. Engaging in community activities is a great way to get to know the pl...
http://aifservicecorps.blogspot.com/2010/02/seva-mandir.html
When my grandmother tells me stories about her life, she reiterates: "The biggest curse is to live in a time of change." I've always understood my grandmother's aversion to change as a product of...
http://aifservicecorps.blogspot.com/2010/02/spare-some-change.html
What are we working towards? What is development? Starting from the time I began working with marginalized populations and now further amplified with each and everyday’s awakening to the maje...
http://aifservicecorps.blogspot.com/2010/01/development-progression-of-human.html
Before the first adhan or alarm, you wake. Even the warmest blood cowers from this cold, but Sirius paces the Greater Dog along the horizon, invigorating. Shuffling feet interrupt the December si...
http://aifservicecorps.blogspot.com/2010/01/garhwali-morning.html
It all started by running in heels. I spent my first few days in Chennai horrified by the danger in which adolescent boys and young men put themselves to catch a bus! They run along-side a movi...
Last week I sat on the floor with a task force we’ve formed at Roshan Vikas and led a discussion on business development. Anyone could see I stuck out like a sore thumb in this group – I’m ...
http://aifservicecorps.blogspot.com/2009/12/roshan-vikas.html
“I want to be...I want to study English really well and I want to have a big company, a big computer company and employ lots of people.” --Chandru, 4th standard (translated from Tamil) Chan...
http://aifservicecorps.blogspot.com/2009/12/behind-scenes-of-wow-whats-that-sound.html
Part of learning new things is doing them wrong. Sometimes repeatedly. But too often, we celebrate our successes while cowering from our failures. Failures are valuable and deserving of appropria...
http://aifservicecorps.blogspot.com/2009/12/interaction-revised.html
I remember reading the vault guide and always wondering when in real life I would ever use the “top down” vs. “bottom up” approach. And today, as I sat in Ahmedabad, Gujarat inside my f...
http://aifservicecorps.blogspot.com/2009/12/top-down-approach.html
Time flies by way too fast and I just like all the other AIF Fellows, have the unique opportunity to positively impact the lives of hundreds to thousands of youth due to the work and programs we ...
http://aifservicecorps.blogspot.com/2009/12/dream-connect-part-1.html
“Hamare gar mai Papa ne Mummi ko bhot mara” “In our house, Father hit Mother a lot” “Is liye Aap ithar hai, naa?” “That’s why you’re here, right?” “Ha(n)!” “Yes!�...
At a young age, we learned that we have five demarcated senses and we are lucky if each one is intact – seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting and touching. From the moment I begin my journey to ou...
http://aifservicecorps.blogspot.com/2009/12/encouraging-micro-entrepreneurship-in.html
After work the other week, I had a craving for chai (which, admittedly, is less of a craving now and more of a necessity to function) and stopped at my favorite provision store/tea stand to grab ...
http://aifservicecorps.blogspot.com/2009/11/hitlers-not-such-bad-guy-after-all.html
Every day I take a 30 minute rickshaw to work - usually these rides are uneventful, marked by abrasive rickshaw drivers with poor hearing. Today, however, was the exception. I started chattin...
http://aifservicecorps.blogspot.com/2009/11/you-look-like-movie-staran-ugly-movie.html
Morning begins with a 1.5 hour journey via two buses from the Brahmin heart of Madras to the small fishing village of Kovalam. You know you are nearing when you forget the trickle of sweat down y...
http://aifservicecorps.blogspot.com/2009/11/kovalam-narratives-voices-of-illness.html
Such are the catchy titles used to introduce social-upliftment based waste management projects in India. Recycling, composting and "going-green" are hot words that generate much social and financ...
http://aifservicecorps.blogspot.com/2009/10/wealth-from-waste-rags-to-riches.html