Write on.
Month: December 2020
Christmas 2020.
Thankfully Christmas still is one in the Public Imagination instead of Good Governance Day. Merry Christmas!
Migrant Worker Dialogue Day 2
Day Two of the Global Migration and Development Forum 2021 Dubai Indian Strategic Stakeholder Consultations with speakers such as Prof Ginu Zach and Mehru ji along with representatives from IOM, ILO, Non Profits such as India Migration Now and Community Representatives such as Oman. Glad to join in.
Amazing work by CIMS Kerala Team Parvathy Devi , Rafeek ji and Akhil.
There were important threads regarding migration especially data paucity, subversion of rules by workers such as under reporting of age by domestic workers, the weak nature of bilateral MoUs with destination countries.
I really liked what Mehru ji, a senior migrant rights activist from Bahrain said regarding migrant workers, when a migrant worker goes to the Gulf, the expectations of the family financially goes with him.
The ATM Mentality of the families are critical in the paucity of bargaining prowess of the worker. The migration debt shackles the worker as well.
Migration academics, ground level community worker in the diaspora (can the Khaleej be called that ?) and businesses have to work closely with the state moving beyond the white paper, which no one reads.
GMDF Dubai India Stakeholder Dialogue
Took part in the Day 1 of Indian Strategic Public Consultations for Global Migration and Development Forum 2021 Dubai next month today with the CIMS Kerala facilitating the dialogue between stakeholders from IOM to skills development non profits to digital channels for migrant voices.
Day 2 of the dialogue is tomorrow.
Pithe Heritage Food- A Photo Essay
Pati Shapta or Bengali Putu Piring. Some dishes are vanishing off the kitchens, hence the culinary heritage has to be documented and archived.
By Mom in Law in Pune with Jiya Chakraborty Prasad
Writing for Intangible Mag
I write on Automation and Society for the Columbia based Intangible Mag. It is in Spanish via Translation
I end my writing year with this article. Thank you Juan for the wonderful opportunity
Be Less Professional.
There is an entire discourse in to professionalising of disciplines which hampers reskilling in the heart of darkness aka uncertainty. The narrow disciplinary lens forecloses opportunities to tap in to arena which are around the corner. As an environmental engineer I took up modules in public policy and studied STS-sociology, Social Change Communication and read a lot of history to get the granular context of decolonisation and decarbonisation pathways.
The obsession rather needs to be about being amateurs, as that is the very spirit of innovation. And take the cv less seriously.
Experiment, be lean and agile.
#writing #growthmindset
Malayalam Migrant Public Sphere.
Dr Shafeeq speaking at the Calcutta Research Group Seminar session with a focus on migrant literature on Gulf Petro Fiction from Kerala. His focus on Benyamin’s Goat Days was heart warming. A Malayalam speaking public sphere regarding the migrant experience is critical.
No Short Cuts.
Coaching senior technical professionals in their writing journeys is often tied to their inherent biases and opening their black box of thinking more than the ‘act’ of writing itself.
Engineers and architects are obsessed with the input-output process and the are keen to decode the art, by reverse engineering. As an engineer with a masters degree, I am acutely aware of these heuristics. But writing is an expression of the self, an act of creation. The grammar book does not teach you effective writing. #writing #growthmindset
Mind Junk.
Change Thinker 