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October 13, 2008

Glimpses of hope…….

Posted by ivil under Views
The panoramic view of the sprawling paddy fields…..the majestic presence of that old banyan tree….the acrid stench of cowdung in the streets…the small kovil housing the village deity-stone gods smeared in coloured kumkum powder…the houses that grow in size and form when one starts travelling away from the thatched mud houses in the harijan colony….the apprehensive eyes ,peering from the dark,intimate corners of those mud houses…the tintinnabulations of the glass bangles ,suddenly reduced to a softspoken secret……These images from Natham are closely knit with the life of an IViLian today….

We could see hordes of excited children running towards our van,ignoring the sheets of dust raised by the churning wheels of the vehicle.It was indeed their means of red carpet welcome. Soon a little girl came and clung onto my fingers,with long bred familiarity.I was seeing her for the first time.

“whats your name?”

“Maithili…”I could see rivulets of innocence in her eyes.

Oh..Maithili,the princess of Mithila….the devoted wife of Lord Rama…the embodiment of Indian’s womanly virtues…

“Akka….”suddenly she broke my string of thoughts.

“Akka,how is this dress?”

she wore a dress,which had faded green flowers in black.

“Its really nice,Maithili.”(romba nallarikku…..thanks to the little tamil I picked up)

She smiled innocently,with her gums,wide open….

We were soon joined by another enthusiastic lot….Badrinath,Balaji,Janakiraman…..

“Akka,did u watch our photographs which were taken last time?”I could see Balaji glow with pride.

May be …this pursuit of innocent smiles can explain the unfathomable chemistry between Natham and IViL.The dream of IKC ,which was once conceptualised in the minds of IVilians is soon going to become a perceptible reality.Looking foward to that great day..with anticipation and prayers……

ARDRA  MANASI

Comments

1. Praveen (October 13, 2008 at 11:08pm) -

Awesome post!!

I always thought Swathi’s was the best entry and it couldn’t get better… you proved me wrong!!

For the few people who have seen you playing with the kids there… this one is no surprise… I envy you for that!!

All the best… waiting for more to come

2. Nagendra (October 14, 2008 at 11:25am) -

excellent…..
first i thought i was reading a story book!!

usually blogs bore me but this one is an exception

great work ardra

One of the most energetic members of IViL, Swathi was involved in the Documentation team, IKC team, B-Plan teams and so on (many I don’t remember).  Swathi is now at the University of Pennsylvania and blogs at BasebyBase.

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February 20, 2008

The way I see it…

Posted by ivil under Uncategorized

This is my first blog post ever. Thanks to this blog and the carper

First things first – I’m done with all my exams and hence this post today

I became a member of I-ViL earlier this semester sometime in January.(Damn….I just realized I dont remember the date) Lot of things have been happening and it has been a great experience so far and I am sure it is gonna be that way. Frankly speaking, I have my own selfish reasons in becoming a member unlike most of the others. I have this urge in me to “make a difference” in my own ways. Its solely because it makes me feel good when I do such small things, which implies that I do these things only to feel good which in turn implies that it I am thinking about ‘myself’. (Or am I making it sound too bad when it actually isn’t!)

Few things which I wanted to mention here :

I was simply amazed when I saw Satheesh Sir in my introduction meeting. I could see it in him – the committment, the dedication and believe me Sir, it did have an impact on me.

Praveen is so different from the rest of us. His mails and his knack of seeing things from a critic’s eye is unassumingly striking to me. And its always good to have someone like that in any team.

Srinath – I see an intense passion in what he does and coming to his thought process, he always came across as a person with a great clarity of thought.

I know that there is no continuity in the stuff that Im actually writing here but I apologise for this coz essentially Im just putting down whatever comes to my mind. I might not have made a great deal of contribution from my side as such but I-Vil made me look at things from a totally new dimension. I-Vil will always hold a special importance for me. There were so many times when I felt good after succesfully completing any I-Vil task at hand. (School work, documentation…) I come back with a different feeling after the sessions that we have (for instance, ikc sessions). Though technically Im a new member, I just dont feel like one. Its like I’ve known all the other guys involved since a long time. I see I-Vil as a platform where there’s no one to restrict you in any way, you can just say whatever u feel like, JUST SAY IT, you can just keep talking and giving your ideas without any inhibitions. Nobody is gonna judge you based on what you say and your ways of handling things as long as the work is done.

The added values being you get to know new people and there is a great deal of exchange of ideas and views which surely is stimulating, atleast, for a person like me.

To conclude, I would just say it would be really nice if we could sustain the momentum and keep it going strong. Set new goals for ourselves and strive to achieve them. Today, through I-Vil I am actually able to do certain things which I always wanted to – making a difference in my own small ways and Im very glad for that. I sincerely hope soon there will be many more new people who would be joining us and strengthen the present forces that we have.

Thank you I-Vil

SWATHI

Comments

1. Praveen (February 20, 2008 at 12:31am) -

hi…
the entry shows the change in IViL.. much to my relief and satisfaction… and thanks for taking my side…

to Satheesh “SIR”, more and more people seem to remind you about your age.. may its time you *****… it was a girl in Saarang and now it is Swathi

praveen

2. Vikas (February 20, 2008 at 7:23am) -

makes me feel happier

3. Praveen (February 20, 2008 at 10:26am) -

the first Documentation Team meeting this year was conducted on 13th Jan… may be that was the date you “joined” (if you like to call it that way)…

4. Satheesh (February 21, 2008 at 3:10am) -

It is totally unfair on u Swathi to call me ‘Sir’ and that too in a public place. I would have been happy if called ‘da’! I’ll let go this time. Next time I won’t be the same.

That was for fun anyway. In our first interaction I thought u were a lil timid gal…always seeking the truth. The first part was wronged sooner and u r living the second part in this blog. It was not until I was 25 I realized that I had only selfish motives in all these activities…u r a lot early. I see the same “early realistic” attitude in a very few other members. Happy to work with u all. This I say inspite of being verbally abused as ‘Sir’!

5. Srinath Ramki (February 21, 2008 at 5:46pm) -

Twas a good read and i’m glad for the open-mindedness in your writing (never actually looked amateurish, the way you claim!)
It’s wonderful to see enthusiastic people @ ivil- the one thing we were all bothered about till recently (not anymore  ). You have always been an asset to this group and i sincerely wish u a great time here with more valuable contributions in the future.

6. Swathi (February 22, 2008 at 8:57pm) -

@praveen – thanks for the date. Though its a trivial thing it’s quite important to me.

@vikas – I do make people happy. It comes naturally to me…lol just kidding…thanks

@satheesh – I donno, wasn’t very comfortable using ur name just like that. I see u as a big person. But yeah i think I’m fine calling u by your name now (hopefully).

@srinath – Thanks for whtever u had to say. It really felt nice.

7. Champu (March 2, 2008 at 3:38am) -

David Hume once proposed a thought. He said that everything that a person does is out of selfishness, or self-love. Even when it comes to something that isnt giving you material gain.

I think that the most important things in life are the ones that dont win us any material gain. Of course we are built in such a way that we will do things only that benefit us, but having said that, the means we use to benefit ourself are very important, and as long as you’re happy doing it, and you are helping others out, you should just do it. You’re on the right path.

8. Swathi (March 7, 2008 at 1:36pm) -

Nice one. Felt good and nice to know that u r back into action.