Sunshine!

Last week the sun refused to shine. The days were gloomy…dark clouds covered the bright sky…and it rained on and off like fountains. I saw myself searching for the sun everyday and telling Sun “Hey, I am waiting…waiting for a little bit of sunshine that you could shower on us…don’t be so mean”. I can feel the air becoming cold with each passing autumn day! It is chilling on my way to office and back but my thoughts keep me going.

Ever wondered what it would be if there was no sun! What would life be without the bright, golden sunshine rays, enveloping the air and breathing life into nature? Even the thought makes me uneasy. Oh sun! I love you.

Work during the last week was good as we at Free the Slaves progressed towards another week in preparing for Freedom Awards 2008. The Freedom Awards 2008 are global awards and would celebrate the visionary and courageous community based organizations, community activists, survivors of slavery, and individual leaders who are showing the way to a world without slavery. In this context, I did some research on William Wilberforce, who was an English politician who headed the parliamentary campaign that outlawed the British Slave Trade in 1807. This victory came in after more than 15 years of unrelenting work. Together with Thomas Clarkson and other abolitionists, Wilberforce’s leadership helped pave the way for the abolition of slavery throughout the British empire in 1833, and inspired many of the heroes of the United States’ abolitionist movement.

I was also invited for the Youth to Youth (Y2Y) 2007 UN Week Conference (Youth in decision-making: a global perspective.) Well, i got so busy with work that could not attend the conference but made it to the closing reception hosted by the Young Americas Business Trust (YABT) at the Organization of American States office. It was a good way to network, meet interesting groups and individuals and also share ideas.

Then came the weekend. Gargi offered me to join her for hiking on Saturday, organized by her social sponsor Piya. I was excited but the only worry was ‘sun’! Well, sun finally heard me but tried to play naught with me for a while by peeping through the clouds every now and then and smiling momentarily. As we drove on the highway towards the Shenandoah National Park, the sun had come out bright and clear, spreading warmth, bathing the grass and making everything glow. The sun was there to relieve us from the cold pain and to make a perfect day for a trip like that.

We got off the car, walked out into the crisp cold air under the bright sun and stepped on the crunchy and misty leaves – red, yellow, golden and green, as we hiked up the waterfall. In between, we stopped to enjoy our lunch. Gargi had made some lovely ‘Uttapams’ and ‘Banana fritters’ and I relished it completely. I had a great time with everyone and I am sure if you see the abundance of pictures that we clicked, you would know what fun it was. (Piya and Eric, thank you so much for a really wonderful day out!)

Such a fun week was followed by the worst Sunday that i have had in DC so far. I guess that's the way life is...not shining all the time. But yes, the sun did shine the whole day and kept me going. As i went off to bed yesterday night, i prayed for the sun to come out the next day and keep my spirits high.

As we all can see...today is a bright glowing day...and so are my spirits!

Learning and teaching!

This is how i feel today...motivated by purpose, inspired by dreams - inevitable, indescribable. There are words for the future and previous pages of my life are helping me contribute today - in terms of educating others and also inspiring some. I am dreaming, believing, learning and sharing. I have spread my wings for this new phase in my life...and i want to fly...fly high!

I remember the first time when i heard about the Atlas Corps fellowship program - it seemed to be just a perfect program for me as a development professional at my age. I sat and pondered about it all and asked myself - why not take this professional dive. Then followed the filling of application - set of interviews - and the overwhelming mail informing me of my selection. And here i am today, completing 2 months as an Atlas fellow and writing my weekly blog.

A belief is growing within me that there i so much to try...so much to explore...so much to learn...so much to contribute... and the belief that if it's your own destiny then you can create it. I feel so privileged to be placed with an organization like Free the Slaves, which is helping me grow every day and making me a stronger professional in my area of work. Every person in my office inspires me - to dream big, fight for what is right and never settle for less. I know i am learning to be daring and differently bold...things are unfolding...and it is just the beginning!

I remember being asked by my Supervisor just last week about my work plans when i get back to my country. And honestly every time i hear this, I am taken back to my experience of working with and for the victims of human trafficking. The innumerable questions the victims had for me - "Can you take my hand and lead me out of this place - this place full of suffering and never ending grief? Can you lead me to a better land where love rules, where love can be real and where love is not just a fairy tale? Can you get me out of this sadness?". All this while, i have been trying to do something or the other for these survivors of trafficking and every time i get a feeling that there is so much more to do. From prevention issues of fighting poverty, illiteracy, unemployment to rescue of more and more victims out of the exploitative situations, to a 'LIFE' after rescue. I am lucky that Free the Slaves is helping me answer some of these questions that i have for myself - for what can be improved and what needs to be introduced.

With all this professional excitement, i am also experiencing the American culture, festivals and the ways and means. My weekends have been very exciting and this week i enjoyed the pumpkin carving 'pre Halloween party' with Gargi (another Atlas Corps fellow and my friend). Each person's imagination had gone wild with pumpkins - each one trying to carve different faces - showing a variety of emotions. Looking at the carved pumpkins i felt as if the pumpkins had life!

As i close my blog today, i want to share a beautiful thought that i remember reading somewhere sometime back - "Our lives are made of seasons and some will make us grieve, but if we just have faith, we will never be without our leaves."

The transformation has begun. Leaves are beginning to change colors – one can see the vibrant yellow, red and orange leaves fluttering freely with the wind in the sky and laid all over like a carpet. Here’s summer in one its last days, marking its good bye! The trees are coaxed to drop their leaves and sharp cold winds have started blowing. Slowly the October days will thrust into winter nights and soon DC will see the Christmas lights. What fun to experience the beauty of changing seasons!

On work front, the week was as exciting as it has been so far. This week I along with Gargi Saha participated in the 12th International Business Forum, organized by the World Bank. The theme for this year was ‘Business engagement for governance’. On the first day I took part in the Youth video consultation which focused on climate change and its impact on businesses. The focus of discussion was on current attempts to curb climate change, which are based on two types of activities: mitigation (reducing current greenhouse gas levels); and adaptation (adjusting livelihood systems to cope with environmental changes resulting from elevated greenhouse levels). The challenges for industrial units and businesses in tackling this issue and scaling up successful public-private partnerships for doing so were discussed.

The second day was even more interesting, wherein I took part in the youth video consultation focusing on Businesses and Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The discussion focused on the transformation in both the understanding and expectation of business’ contribution to the MDGs. Most importantly, it was largely felt and recognized that the largest contribution that businesses can have – far greater than charitable philanthropy – is by running successful and responsible businesses: creating jobs, economic opportunities, tax revenues and goods and services.

Another exciting opportunity for me was to be a part of the U.S. Helsinki Commission Hearing. Free the Slaves along with ILO (International Labour Organization) and OSCE (Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe) were invited to speak and request the Commission to consider Combating Trafficking for Forced Labour Purposes in the OSCE region. FTS President Kevin Bales spoke about the inconsistent approach to trafficking for forced labour across the OSCE region. He also highlighted that while some countries strive to implement policies that address forced labour (for ex: Italy, Poland, Czech Republic), other governments within the OSCE do not consider it a significant problem.

The work week was followed by a splendid weekend. Saturday started with a delicious South Indian brunch, followed by a fun filled apple picking activity organized by Vanessa (Chairperson of DC friends of Atlas Corps). We hired two cars and drove down to the outskirts of DC. The drive to the Homestead farm was beautiful - crossing by the meadows, the huge mansions, fields…WOW! As I got off the car, I could feel the mixture of wind and sun – the weather was so pleasant. The farm was crowded…families, kids, old and young…all excited about apple picking – looked like quite an American day out! We took our baskets and headed towards the ‘Apple Alley’. I felt I had landed into an abundance of beauty and taste – apples all over – spread like a carpet beneath the apple tree. Green or red – small or big – we all filled in our baskets with a whole lot of apples of our choice. We took lots and lots of pictures. We also chose pumpkins for the Halloween party!

On our way back, we were a little lost but managed to give the rented car back on time (Just 10 minutes late I guess). We had an amazing and a really beautiful Saturday…thanks Vanessa for organizing everything.

I slept till late on Sunday. Got up and did the vacuum around the house. Sergio and Yunus did kitchen cleaning and Gargi prepared the lunch. I also managed to hurt myself – a big clock fell right on my head and also scratched my hand. Later, I had a late bath, listened to some music and took a walk around our neighborhood with Gargi.

Another week gets over…and a new begins. And with every new day…there is rising another me! :)

An eventful week

This was quite an eventful week. I am inspired by so many things that I see and experience around me. New moments ride upon the day and my hopes and dreams are displayed clear inside my soul. When I scan my mind, I see so many thoughts rushing in and this thinking inspires me to reach my goals.

At work, we were busy preparing for the big launch party of the book ‘Ending Slavery’. With this book, Free the Slaves President Kevin Bales has put forward a revolutionary proposal / plan to bring slavery and human trafficking to an end. The book shares a doable strategy, forces us to look at modern slavery from another direction and also drives the point that no country or industry would collapse if slavery ended tomorrow. The book also talks about the role that Governments, UN and other international bodies, businesses, communities and each of us individually can play to end slavery.

I have been doing some suggested readings as well. Just started with ‘How to change the world’ by David Bornstein. Again, every word in this book inspires me…to be the change I would want to see in the world. With reading, I have realized, we become part of the everlasting thing called imagination. This is sparked by reading that always fulfils. When I am angry, I am irritated…music and reading helps. When I am doing that, I have no rage. I feel nothing but what emotions I am reviewing and what the characters in the book are feeling. Plus, it’s a good way of keeping yourself busy during leisure hours.

This was a quiet and much needed weekend for me. On Saturday, Gargi, the other fellow invited her friend Nadia for lunch. We made some yummy ‘dal parathas’ and I think Nadia loved it too. We went to the Rock Creek National Park (though we didn’t explore it much). We did some biking, clicked pictures and it was so much fun. Sunday, I met up with Gargi’s family friends living in Maryland, who had invited us over for lunch. Tasted the authentic Bengali cuisine after long and relished it completely. In the evening, Kimi and Mike came over to the group house with some food and we all engaged in some brainstorming on a couple of issues. Thinking minds all around the table - agreeing, disagreeing, pointing, refuting, arguing…hahhhaaa…it was fun! Well, it was a fun Sunday except for the fact that I survived the day on painkillers. Had terrible stomach ache all day long and it is continuing…Sorry Scott, couldn’t manage to join you for your lecture at Muhlenberg University, Pennsylvania.

Just learnt something I was not aware of. My brother sent me an interesting and emotional forward about family and near and dear ones. At the end of it is written… ‘Do you know what the word FAMILY means?’ It means FATHER AND MOTHER I LOVE YOU! I am soooo… missing you mumma and papa. I’ll call you tonight!

(By the way, i am trying to upload some event pics to this blog and it's not happening! Grrrr...i am irritated!)