Monday 14 December 2009

THE EVERDAY OBSERVATION

A couple of months ago I visited my boyfriend in Washington D.C. Thanks to lunch visits at his office at the World Bank, I was persuaded to take a look inside the Bank’s library and purchase the South Asian department’s latest study entitled, Moving out of Poverty. I recently began to read the book and have since completed reading an outline of the results and a summary of interpretations of these findings.

One point made by the authors stands out to me. This is the separation of mechanisms guiding the movement into and out of poverty. Although made prominent by the authors as an important point, it is a seemingly subtle process detail. The analyzing of these mechanisms separately is a very exciting approach as they differ quite dramatically.

People often say that scholars write the same things over and over with slight adjustments or additions. I often joke that a catchy phrase will prove to make a seemingly new study catch on. The slight adjustment in analysis considered by the researchers of Moving out of Poverty, have regained my faith in scholarly work in that sometimes the nuances of an everyday observation can be overlooked.

DEVELOPMENT: ITS AMBIGUITY EQUAL TO ITS WORTH?

I can never seem to explain the profession I am in. Even more frustrating is my inability to explain it to my own parents, let alone training them to explain it to my extended family in India.

As I am in this strange stage in my life, the interim of graduating from my Masters and finding a job, I have all the time in the world to wonder if the career I have chosen for myself is the right one. What is Development? If I can’t explain it accurately in a couple sentences, is something wrong? My instincts are to shout, YES! Some say it is just a made-up profession designed to appease colonial guilt. Others say it is an outrageously arrogant and selfish profession that allows the privileged to tell the less fortunate what to do. Others say it is a selfless profession that is going to change the world – THE END OF POVERTY as we know it!

Anyone who knows me, knows that I strongly believe Gramsci’s: ‘pessimism of the mind, optimism of the will’. Naturally, I find the real answer to the above listed ones somewhere in the middle. Yes, I do think that the motives behind development efforts can vary – some may be purely about the image of an organization or perhaps an entire country, others may be about good intentions but flawed processes, and others still may be about a combination of personal wants and selfless actions, belief in an alternative and belief in calculated baby steps to get there. So even though I find myself in a period of doubting the ‘realness’ of the career I have chosen to pursue, I will continue to follow the latter most belief and hope that the worth of my efforts become apparent as my still undetermined future dissolves the ambiguity surrounding it.

CLOUD COMPUTING, GOOGLE & ICT4D

A little while back my Dad showed me an article in the Los Angeles Times that indicated the city of Los Angeles would be the first major American city to change to Gmail and utilize Google’s cloud computing technology. As a former employee of Google and a strong believer in the company’s policies, not unlike our current president, I was happy to hear the news. On the other hand, I found myself embarrassingly unfamiliar with the details of cloud computing, so I spent the next couple of days becoming informed. It is, as many are saying, fascinating!

Having a particular interest in India, I have not surprisingly been exposed to the role of technology for development since the beginning of my studies. My first year at Berkeley marked a peak period for global software outsourcing (GSO) in India. Information and communications technology for development (ICT4D) was the focus of my Masters degree. I wrote my final dissertation on evaluating the use of open source software in development efforts in India.

After learning about cloud computing, my mind naturally turned to the thought of its potential in the context of India. Although there are obvious barriers to an easy implementation – connectivity being the easiest to point out – surely, there are areas of India that can look to take the leap of faith that Los Angeles did. If Kerala can set up a distance learning program that functions entirely through satellite technology, perhaps it can also pursue an e-governance project, transitioning government work over to Gmail.

BHANGRA BEATS IN THE BAY AREA AND BACK DOWN

My interest in Development stems from my Indian ethnicity. My older brother and I were born in Los Angeles - our parents in India. We, like many other first generation Americans, sometimes feel the need to concentrate on our ‘roots’. It is not always the case, but often times children of immigrant parents in the US grow up with exposure to their ‘root culture’ through the household – this may include what they eat, what music is listened to, and what language is spoken at home. As a result of growing up in one country and experiencing parts of a culture that may seem incongruous to what exists in their country of birth, many first generationers desire fusing their ethnic background into their national identity in such a way that they do not lose either. I strongly feel that I fall into this category and that many of my closest friends do as well.

The title of this entry uses the very famous lyrics of hip-hop artist, Tupac Shakur, from his song, California Love. Music has always been a love of mine. Although not a musician myself, I developed dancing feet at an early age, and I believe my ear for tunes began then. Bhangra is the ever popular folk music of Punjab. Many are familiar with its recognizable sound and dance as it is increasingly becoming a part of mainstream North American and European pop music. My family is Punjabi and we proudly accept this incredibly fun form of recreation as our own. Growing up in LA and spending my pre-teen and teenage years in the 90s, I grew up listening to Grundge and quickly moved on to Hip-Hop. The beginnings of Hip Hop on the West Coast of the US is a phenomenon that has fascinated so many that there are no bounds to the extensive mass of literature and video that one can find on the subject. As a first generationer living in a privileged, ethnically homogenous community of Los Angeles County, I saw something exciting about Hip-Hop – I obviously couldn’t fully identify with the struggles that were spoken about in songs, but I did find something in the beats and lyrics that formed a rhythm that I found more apt to my taste than other genres of music.

I believe that music joins all sides of the world. Bhangra beats in American Hip Hop is the connection between my two sides that reign from opposite ends of the globe.

ABOUT ME

I consider myself an international development professional. It may be premature, considering I have not yet begun to work in development, in fact, it is at this very moment that I search for my first proper position within the field. On the other hand, I have dedicated five years to studying the subject.

I completed my undergraduate degree at the University of California, Berkeley, where I double majored in Business Administration and Development Studies. I spent the following year working at Google as a financial analyst. Most recently, I completed a Masters degree in Development Management from the London School of Economics.

This blog will be a compilation of my thoughts on development issues, personal interests, and a way of updating friends and family on where I am and what I am doing at any particular moment. I decided to use a blog to house my commentary because it 1) fits my lifestyle as a potential nomad who can utilize the one platform that knows no geographic boundaries – the internet and 2) I feel its about time, as it is my claim that I know technology and wish to work it into my development efforts.

It is no accident that the following development-related entries are alphabetically organized. My decision to order my blog in this manner is a play on international development and its relation to child development. For someone who has spent time learning about the history of ‘Development’, it is obvious that the link between a child learning his or her ABCs, and the trajectory of a country in the Global South establishing its economic, social and political freedoms, is part of an old, perhaps even laughably so – to scholars, development rhetoric. Of course, what is even more certain to development scholars and practitioners is that this rhetoric has been manipulated in so many ways that however hidden its new exterior may make the arguments seem, development theories almost always encompass an element of the ‘learning ladder’.

Wednesday 11 November 2009

If you go to see a movie in London, previews are not the only thing to come before the feature presentation- there are commercials too (For a North American, this is totally different). I saw the following commercial for Adidas in a London movie theater- it is definitely one of my favorite commercials!

Since soccer or futbol is so much more popular in Europe than in the US, I think that the European advertising industry sparks a greater interest for sports companies like Adidas, hence the investment in this commercial. Thank goodness some folks appreciate the sport because this commercial is great!

Friday 6 November 2009



I am not sure if it is because I first saw these while living in London and it reminded of home, but I think this ad campaign is genius!

Thursday 5 November 2009




Rob works at the World Bank in D.C. Nadia, Rachel, Sara and Sam are in NY. My trip to the east coast was great.


Wednesday 4 November 2009

I spent 2008-2009 completing my Masters degree at the London School of Economics.
While in London, Rob and I were able to travel to France, Italy, Spain, Tunisia, and Norway.
In July, we traveled back to California to watch Karen and Piero exchange vows!