Tuesday, January 28, 2020

Why I am infrequent here ?

I have been working as a social impact consultant from last 8 years and before that was a student of rural management. This parallel journey kept me occupied and took negative toll on 'Sparsh' blog. Due to nature of the work, I started reading blogs related to development studies, social sciences, economics, agriculture, public policy, rural management, and related field. Yet, I found lot of factual blog but very few personal blogs on topics above. So, I created a blog: Diary of Rural Manager! where I have a space to write exclusively on social impact sector, sustainability and rural management. Maybe it was time to admit that I was the writer I was waiting for.

It was cathartic to speak to the community and to feel that I was standing in dialogue with them fully as myself. In the process my ideas started to develop. I could finally articulate what I had only felt vaguely all along the journey. I had even written on the idea behind incubation of Diary of Rural Journey in 2013.

I traveled, lived, worked and enjoyed life as a rural manager in rural India (often referred in popular vocab: the field). I made an effort not to refer rural India with any connotations of exotic otherness. Rural India suggests hardship, bad roads and yet a rough terrain inside mine comfort zone, into the unknown. A journey on muddy road has always showed me to re-examine managerial education, renouncing the elite hook and turn into pragmatist. Actual or feared, exploration is my fuel for the writing.

Why Diary of Rural Manager! blog is important? The writing process of blog helps me to establish today’s insights and record them for posterity. Often, we find that truths established today are thoroughly debunked for at some future time, while some neglected truths are later uncovered and brought to the fore. Blogs, at their heart, have a lot of characteristics that are going away in changing times. Blog had stable URL and can be accessed without any app on any web browser. Blog is  not particularly tied to any platform like Facebook, Instagram or Google.

The difficulty of good blog is not to write, but to convey what one mean and want. Blogging is a game of rhythm but the process of writing usually goes into two distinct modes. In the first mode, its all about endurance and discipline. In the second mode, long periods of inactivity are mixed with brief bursts of power and inspiration. Deadlines for writinf, just don’t work out for me, due to inherent laziness. Blogging like Marginal Revolution , JabberWock, and Cinemascope is a work of a master craftsman who understands that talent and skill has to be paired with tactics and strategy to being success.

Like a startup, blog requires a lot of interaction with potential readers to reach and validate the early stages of the content quality and ease of reading posts and outreach. Otherwise just forcing a way into an idea lead towards a gossip ditch. Idea behind this blog now is to share insights so that more students can avail the benefits of professional counselling and choose the right career at the right time. An information asymmetry acts as an important early career lubricant, allowing the privileged to manoeuvre into more promising career tracks, resist exploitative employment and take risky opportunities – all of which increase their chances of long-term success.

Those who make a commitment to an idea ironically find a sense of freedom. People care about people — and a blog is not a newspaper that has to be published regularly. The neglect of Sparsh has given way to lethargic numbness on personal space. It’s important to nourish yourself; to keep emptying yourself out through words and then filling yourself again with observations and experiences. Easier to say in hindsight today but nothing starts as easy in beginning. Hopefully I shall resume blogging on Sparsh and keep on repeating the process.

Saturday, May 26, 2018

Thoughtful Present

In the name of "They got what they deserve", a great deal of injustice gets explained away and perpetuated in each society! We self-deceive to make us feel better about ourselves and naturally think in ways that come to conclusions that favor us. Strength of the country is not just in its GDP but in the confidence of its citizens on the fairness and equality of justice there.

I was guided by several articles on issues of Justice, Liberalism, Secular State, Decent Work and Economic Growth, Reduced Inequalities, Need of strong Institutions. I was inspired by persons like Christopher Hitchens, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Nadeem Parcha, Pratap Bhanu Mehta etc. Also, I interacted with a progressive, and liberal individual whose essays have impacted me in a positive manner. The person is Mr. Namit Arora whose blog was a insight into heart of a humanist.

It was his great gesture to share a copy of The Lottery of Birth: On Inherited Social Inequalities with a young reader for a social network friendship. Thanks Sir for the gift.

Saturday, December 31, 2016

Books read in 2016

“When you read a great book, you don’t escape from life, you plunge deeper into it. There may be a superficial escape – into different countries, mores, speech patterns – but what you are essentially doing is furthering your understanding of life’s subtleties, paradoxes, joys, pains and truths. Reading and life are not separate but symbiotic.” ― Julian Barnes, A Life with Books

Beliefs acquired by reading fictional narratives are integrated into real-world knowledge. I am addicted to surfing news articles and watching movies.But the internet has this addictive quality, and it’s one thing I am unable to control. I had less time to read, but I still enjoy a good book now and again. I discerned my love for spiritual reading from early age as our problems are on the enigma of life. The joy of reading comes from entertainment, enjoyment, education, enrichment, escape, and the way it eases life in a stressful world. But a deep reading always increase the insight in tragic world and the escape route looks more difficult. Deep reading does demand a lot of focus. I can't possibly comprehend the book without paying attention to it completely. Hence, I had surrendered myself to self-chosen ignorance and proving difficult to change inertia.

To cut a long story short, I have seen better days in reading. No self pity, but one see through the present crisis of confidence, fitness and concentration. I was more cynical, asshole in complete sense, bad judge of person and minor burnout due to work. To say that I let the momentum slip away is an understatement. Longevity in any field is a achieved only through endurance, endurance is a product of persistence amid ups and downs of the path. I have to extract 'fight' or 'flight' response. There are no half measures. I am trying to read more in tranquillity, to revive mind and body. Hope springs eternal. Repository of hope in a broken system is all that I need to set a target free 2017.

This year was cruel one as my favourite writer Martin Crowe passed away with a lasting legacy. The grand plan of reading 2 book a month for perfection was an abysmal failure. I realised the stupidity of it all, and instead would settle for a long, slow reading. I have completely updated goodreads profile and this sort of classification comes naturally to me.

Books Read in 2016:

Playing It My Way - Sachin Tendulkar - English - 7/10 -autobiography of former Indian cricketer Sachin Tendulkar with popular anecdotes.

Durbar - Tavleen Singh - English - 7.5/10 - Comprehensive chronicle of the events from the Emergency to the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi with a few well written sections.

India's Broken Tryst - Tavleen Singh - English - 6.5/10 - A lot of potential is wasted on documenting history and insights are more personal in nature.

Battle of the Ten Kings - Ashok K. Banker- English - 5/10 - Historical fiction and expanding a story into novella.

A History of the Sikhs, Volume 1 : 1469-1839 - English - 8/10 - A comprehensive history of Sikhism, spanning the social, political and religious factors accessible to a general audience.

A History of the Sikhs - Volume 2: 1839-2004 - English - 8/10 - An essential reading into the history of the sikh community and it ends with a beautiful epilogue on the challenges ahead.

The Great Partition: The Making of India and Pakistan -  Yasmin Khan - English - 6/10 - Densely written academic South Asian history during partition era with deep focus on communal line in political parties