Getting warmed up

1.        I believe it is possible to change the world in a concrete way. – *** I totally have this ability because I have seen what putting little efforts through networking helped us achieve across various projects, be it Smoke Free Mumbai campaign, Pictographic representation on cigarette packets, getting sponsors for the differently abled. I believe that most of the people have a good heart and want to do good in society, they just don’t know how to channelize it. This is where I believe I can help channelize the intentions into action. I have devised a project under Sutradhaar called ‘Paathshala’ (Hindi for School), which identifies schools which don’t have good qualified teachers and teachers for other co-curricular activities besides subjects. So I reached out to people that I know and who have certain skill sets and have the time to Volunteer. By matching the volunteer’s skill with time availability and the need at these schools, we have managed to create a complete Volunteers network of Music, Sports, arts and crafts and special education teacher. Besides that we have managed to create teach the teacher training modules that also empowers the local teachers to adopt better and innovative methodologies of education. We have identified students from Art colleges who have offered to come in as Volunteers to help beautify the school by engaging the kids from the school. This will not only engage kids in a very interesting activity but also create a sense of ownership so that they don’t dirty the walls and surroundings.We did this entire work through enthusiastic volunteers and without paying a single rupee.
2.  I am able to balance dreams, emotion, will and action. - ** I have part of this quality because while I can balance my dreams and have ample will to execute my ideas into action, I am an extremely emotional human being and that I believe at times interferes with the logic and rational decision making.
3.  I am able to articulate social networks and mobilize people for a cause.*** - I totally have this ability as I have already explained in the first point here. Besides the same being a communications consultant we have been instrumental in devising campaign that work on very specific target groups that need very different channel of communications and we have successfully implemented the same in India. Hence the experience that we have can only be put to better use
4. I have the ability to turn dreams into reality.** I have this ability but I feel that at times I get driven by too many things and hence any one area does not get too much focus and attention and that might be very important. Under Sutradhaar I already have 6 identified elements that I want to definitely execute. And because there are certain common areas of focus at times instead of completely focus on the first project to be kick started, I end up working on all of them. So while I can turn my dreams into reality, it may just take an extended amount of time which in my opinion cannot be a very good thin
5.  I am a creative person: ** I have part of this quality as I am a creative person when it comes to ideation and devising campaigns but put me in making art work and probably a kid in nursery can challenge me. We have devised very interesting and innovative campaigns in healthcare to launch products in the market which were taboo to discuss due to the religious proclivity of certain regions in India. We identified and partnered with two most powerful organization, one government and the other private to ensure complete engagement and no clash of agendas in this segment.
6. I try to innovate in my attitudes.*** I totally have this quality as I believe change is the only constant. I believe that you need to learn good aspects of every human being you meet and ignore the negative. I change according to my circumstances and the people I am surrounded by, I have learnt that its not about what you but how you say it. Whether it is during a mountaineering trip or a road trip, whenever someone has approached me and said what was bothering them about my attitude, I internalize the same and look at it from a positive perspective and create the change for better.   
7. I have my values and beliefs, and still I am open to the unknown.*** I totally have this quality because I believe and our values and beliefs are what get reflected in our action every day and every moment. I travel extensively across India which is a land of multi diversity with that many religious and cultural sentiments and while I am an atheist, I have actually walked insides temples and other places of prayer and prayed with people. And while I am not sure what is to be achieved out of it, I do know that just by being together with the people who believe in that creates a more positive vibe around me and I am happy to engage in any such random activity again.
8.  I try to communicate even when I don’t speak other languages** I have part of this quality because being in communications I have realized that there has to be a way that you can communicate with someone. At the same time when I travel to places with different languages I always try to learn some basic sentences which are critical to everyday. Also as I tend to always stay with friends wherever I go, they are my biggest source of education in the local language and whats more, I love learning languages and wished I was a polygot but I am not.
9.  I am ready for action.*** I totally have this quality as I am always eager to do something and if it’s something new, engaging, interesting or just moving around I am more than happy to be a part of it. When we were doing the search and rescue course in the mountains, we would be summoned in the oddest of hours with only mins of preparation time. It was crazy but the excitement was far more greater and kept us on our toes and engaged
10.  I want to share with others what I have learned*** I totally have this quality as I believe the more we share the more we can help create. Sharing knowledge only helps develop further knowledge. One of the simple things that I do is share my knowledge of activities that I do across groups. I do Yoga, Kalaripayattu (a martial art form from Kerala in India) and Capoeira. All three initiatives have common elements and as I am a part of all three, I take the learnings from each of these activities to other groups and help them learn better. At the same time there is a of knowledge base that I have to cover and ensure that its accurate and does not harm anyone.