God (or coincidence if that's your medicine) is an interesting fellow...
Straight out of high school, I was a finance major at NYU (long story in itself). Whenever I would travel home for the holidays, I somehow always got stuck next to either an Aerospace Engineer or a Finance person. While the Aerospace Engineers I sat next to were generally boring, I was somehow intrigued by what they did. Other (actually significant) events happened and 'Beepity Boppity Boop!' I switched from Finance to Aerospace Engineering. Sitting next to those Aerospace Engineers actually had no bearing on the situation, but to me, it's quite the coincidence that of the half dozen or so people I sat by and spoke with, all were either my former or actual major. Maybe it was the planting of a seed...
Today, as I was flying from LAX to Chicago, I sat next to this person who evaluates technologies to determine if they are worth investing in. I mentioned what I was going to do, and we had a nice discussion about the kinds of questions I need to ask my organization (IDE-India) to make sure that they have thought this product through and that the technology is sustainable from both ends (us the developer, and the end user). This is important to me because I want to make sure that my time is used fruitfully for the benefit of your average Aashish.
Now mind you, I don't like talking to random people. When the lady next to me started talking to me, my first thoughts were "I hope this doesn't go on long" and "How do I get out of this?". After the usual small talk about her son and places she's traveled, we switched over to something relevant to me and I became interested. By this point though, we were already on our final descent.
It's quite possible that the moral here is that everyone can have an impact on our lives if we let them. Perhaps it's not a coincidence at all that based on our life experiences, we can find some way to help anyone else out. And we should probably open up and give everyone a chance instead of shutting people out. I guess I'll confirm this on my flight to India (if the person makes me talk to them that is). But if the person I'm sitting next to is an expert in steam distillation of essential oils, I'm going to attribute that coincidence to a higher power!
Just so everyone knows, it turns out the person next to me was an oil engineer! But he makes oil lubricants for seals. So close!!
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Friday, November 13, 2009
Trying to help a brother out
Ok, so I'm going to India. For a pretty good while. My Mom is terrified. My Dad is like "that's cool." And I'm pretty stoked.
In a way, this story starts when I was about 6 years old. I remember going to India, and the first thing I saw when I walked outside the airport was the most appalling thing I have seen to date. A billion people. But then I saw something else...poverty like nothing I had seen before in my relatively sheltered upbringing. My first thought was "Wow, why aren't people doing something about this? Why aren't we doing something about this?". It seemed too obvious that we should.
Fast forward to May 2007. My good friend Kate was getting ready to leave for Cambodia on a sort of mission trip. I was intrigued that someone I knew was packing up and leaving for 2+ years. When I went to a sendoff party, this guy was giving a spiel about how what Kate was doing was courageous, but that we could all do this. He said how we all want to help people, but there's always a million excuses in the way. "Forget all the excuses," he said, "and just do it!" That's when I decided I was going to do it. I wasn't sure when (or what!), but I knew I was definitely going to do it!
That brings us to now. It took me about two years from that moment to decide it was the right time, and I leave in a few days to go to this land I know very little about. My plan is to make a difference, however small, that might afford children in India the same opportunities I have been fortunate enough to have in my life (who doesn't want a Wii?). My volunteer work will involve trying to develop a low cost distillation technology for essential oils which can be operated by a village based entrepreneur (don't worry, I wasn't sure what that meant when I first heard it!). This will help empower the villagers by providing them a sustainable living, thus increasing the quality of life for them and their children. The children can then have better opportunities by going to school and college, but most of all, by giving them hope that they can have a better future.
On a side note, this blog is called "Becoming Indian". I tried (probably unsuccessfully) to go for something humorous yet significant. My sister and friends have always called me the most un-Indian Indian they know. I have very few Indian friends, and when I was little, I actually just didn't get along with other Indian boys. While I'm older now, I still don't gravitate towards the Indian crowd. Heck, I don't even eat spicy food. Before a few months ago when I performed for the first time at a Diwali show, the only thing Indian about me was when I dressed up as an American Indian in first grade. I figure spending three months in India (I come back on February 24th) might just change that. If nothing else, I'll be forced to be Indian for an extended period of time. And who knows, I might even come back and get along with Indians and eat spicy food!
In a way, this story starts when I was about 6 years old. I remember going to India, and the first thing I saw when I walked outside the airport was the most appalling thing I have seen to date. A billion people. But then I saw something else...poverty like nothing I had seen before in my relatively sheltered upbringing. My first thought was "Wow, why aren't people doing something about this? Why aren't we doing something about this?". It seemed too obvious that we should.
Fast forward to May 2007. My good friend Kate was getting ready to leave for Cambodia on a sort of mission trip. I was intrigued that someone I knew was packing up and leaving for 2+ years. When I went to a sendoff party, this guy was giving a spiel about how what Kate was doing was courageous, but that we could all do this. He said how we all want to help people, but there's always a million excuses in the way. "Forget all the excuses," he said, "and just do it!" That's when I decided I was going to do it. I wasn't sure when (or what!), but I knew I was definitely going to do it!
That brings us to now. It took me about two years from that moment to decide it was the right time, and I leave in a few days to go to this land I know very little about. My plan is to make a difference, however small, that might afford children in India the same opportunities I have been fortunate enough to have in my life (who doesn't want a Wii?). My volunteer work will involve trying to develop a low cost distillation technology for essential oils which can be operated by a village based entrepreneur (don't worry, I wasn't sure what that meant when I first heard it!). This will help empower the villagers by providing them a sustainable living, thus increasing the quality of life for them and their children. The children can then have better opportunities by going to school and college, but most of all, by giving them hope that they can have a better future.
On a side note, this blog is called "Becoming Indian". I tried (probably unsuccessfully) to go for something humorous yet significant. My sister and friends have always called me the most un-Indian Indian they know. I have very few Indian friends, and when I was little, I actually just didn't get along with other Indian boys. While I'm older now, I still don't gravitate towards the Indian crowd. Heck, I don't even eat spicy food. Before a few months ago when I performed for the first time at a Diwali show, the only thing Indian about me was when I dressed up as an American Indian in first grade. I figure spending three months in India (I come back on February 24th) might just change that. If nothing else, I'll be forced to be Indian for an extended period of time. And who knows, I might even come back and get along with Indians and eat spicy food!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
