Category Archives: (non) fiction
You should run for office
At least that’s what one of my former students told me at Tata-Dhan Academy’s third convocation, during which I got to dress up in a very white shirt and a long white dhoti.
Also posted in (all categories), India Tagged convocation, India, Madurai, photos, silliness, Tata-Dhan Academy, work Leave a comment
The ODF Campaign
Recently, there’s been a lot of talk about poop in my “community”. Amy had given me a book to read called “The Big Necessity” and I found it really interesting and applicable to what the students at the Tata-Dhan Academy have been studying. I, in turn, lent the book to one of my colleagues, who [...]
Also posted in (all categories), Humor, India, Videos Tagged animation, Humor, silliness, Tata-Dhan Academy Leave a comment
Democracy, aristocracy, plutocracy, meritocracy, and bratty students
I started the day today [note: as with "And when the numbers go against what you have always said....,” this was written around a week ago] with my dictionary. I was trying to remember more precise definitions of things like democracy, aristocracy, plutocracy, and meritocracy because our topic of discussion for the day was “deepening [...]
Also posted in (all categories), India Tagged democracy, grassroots, Tata-Dhan Academy, work 2 Comments
And when the numbers go against what you have always said….
Today [note: this was actually written about a week ago, but I just got around to finishing typing it], around 400 DHANites got together to talk about poverty and our motivation to work with the poor. Our “reference” materials were a chapter from a book titled Moving Out of Poverty (one of the authors of [...]
Do Indians have a sense of humor?
AKA “Irony over the stinky river….” Sometimes, just when I begin to not have faith that Indians have a sense of humor, I run across something like this: Near our house, there is an extremely foul river…. actually, it’s hard to even call it a river since it really seems to only flow when the [...]
Also posted in (all categories), Humor, India, Scribbles Tagged advertising, Chennai, pollution, signs 2 Comments
Marina Beach
AKA “The sweet smelling ocean spray on Chennai’s shores….” Aah. Marina Beach. Great to go people watching. Good place to buy little silly plastic touristy stuff. Smell the fresh ocean breeze. Take a dip in the water to cool off. Or should you?
Also posted in (all categories), Humor, India, Scribbles Tagged Chennai, Marina Beach, signs Leave a comment
Wetwo Brand
AKA “Population Control, Indian Style….” Most of the autos and a lot of the yellow-painted vehicles in Chennai have this saying on the back “We two ours one” or sometimes simply “Ours one.” Along with the P. James tagging covering everything in Chennai, this was another prevelant sight that Amy and I were not certain [...]
Submission
AKA “Quick, shhh! The Big-boss has just entered….” I was on the Tata-Dhan Academy vehicle the other day (or, as they like to call it, the “vee-kul”) and one of the passengers was the head of our organization. There was a notable hush over everyone in the van as we sat there waiting for the [...]
Also posted in (all categories), Humor, India, Scribbles Tagged communication, Google Page Creator, Tata-Dhan Academy 2 Comments
A Primer on Linking Disaster Risk Reduction with Development Efforts