revisiting snow blizzard and aks days

We knew then how to be extremely happy then and knew that we were having the best time of our lives...I know we had some cheap fights and name calling which only made the experience more entertaining.....we celebrated surviving the blizzard by dancing around the snow woman who was smoking pot....life was much less messy and love so much more unconditional.....It was so easy to say things like 'I am so happy and its so beautiful around I do not care if my life ends here' or 'We will have a summer home on the mountains of Himachal or Uttranchal and only allow friends to visit us'. We really believed that would happen cause we could not fathom life could turn out any other way.

On relationship side it was the time sang, sandy and I became really good friends. In some way sang and I were always best friends but we had had a small patch of distance when I was going to business school and sang figuring out what she wanted to do with life. But this was after school and here we not only became friends with each other but made a circle of friends both human and those from the dog world. Sang and I also became friends with papa and maa at this time. This is when we saw their vulnerabilities for the first time and saw the cracks which we filled with mutual trust and respect. I know even though we aren't together any more and our situations have changed our the circle of friends could be invoked at anytime. I know each of us would be there for any of us at anytime even though some have been out of touch and some others like ram, maaya and ozzy are not physically alive but their spirits continue to take care of us.

people who touch lives

Recently sangeeta told me that sunita chachi is severely unwell and might even be in her last days. Death of all loved ones makes one sad but especially of those people who have always been kind and have genuinely good hearts. I haven't been with her for long but as much time I have spent with her I have admired her. She has all these burnt marks all over her because she had 2nd degree burns in an accident and yet she looks beautiful to me. She isn't really related to us but her husband and my dad were neighbors and they went to the same school. When I met her I thought why isn't she my real chachi. I hope she recovers!

Yet again Democracy has been short changed!

I had gone to a city council meeting recently with save our poolz coalition and we were hopeful that after months of organizing and attending public hearings the councillors would factor in voices of people while voting on the pools. I hoped they would support neighborhood pools if not for the sake of democracy atleast off the fear that elctions are 'round the corner.

I dont know why I was heart broken at the final vote, I should have known what the decision would be cause this was not the first time I had seen months organizing going in vain. It was not the first time voices of people who are concerned was ignored. It brought be back a déjà vu from the time I was a student rep. on the faculty search committee. It reminded me of the strategy used by people in power to discred voices of people who take the courage to speak up. We were asked yet again: Who do the people who spoke up represent? The answer is simple, its the voices of people who are concerned, voices of those whose rights have been structurally undermined time and again. Councillor Rushton articulated what I felt at both times really well "What had been short changed was democracy...".

I know too that it was not a totally useless effort at both times because of the number of people present at the coalition meetings has gone up and are willing to go to the extent to take direct action to stop the construction of the mega pool and the fact that the student of colour collective still exists shows that the our work still has worth. I know we will not stay quiet, know we will rise back and question again.

work and other rant

I am starting this blog post without a title as I when I think of titles I try looking for something fancy to make it exciting and then the fancy title acts as a barrier cause I have to write about things based on the title!!

I have had a very intense summer....its been a lot of stress, a lot of work and some fun. I have been working with Toxic soil busters / worcester roots since last summer. This summer however was more intense as youth have vacations (that means we work longer hours beside the heat) on top it we were attempting to incubate two new cooperatives, a graphic shop and Youth Incharge. There were lots of council meetings and heated real talks, some issues resolved, some left as everyone was getting burnt out. There is a lot of value in having real talks and I learn this summer that they work only if all the parties involved have a vested interest in making it work and a willingness to engage and be uncomfortable. We use real talks (kasapa) to give a space for people to speak about how they are feeling and make space for consturctive feedback to make our work more effective and fun. At the end of the summer graphic shop ceases to exist in the form we envisioned while Youth Incharge is still together despite several issues tha we had.

One thing I noticed in the working style of both adults and youth that is different from mine and from most people I worked with in the past in India was compartmentalization and lack of follow through. We hyderabadis are known for being lazy nawabs and Americans for being in time and organized. Infact in Barkatpura I remember even on days when we had deadlines to meet people had the time to stop and check-in. Here everyone looks very busy on the outset with tight agendas, back-to-back non-stop meetings but often times they spend time attending meetings and do not really follow through on work they take on.