Blog :: 'PariveshaNa'

Some sparrows caught on lens on the way to Chitradurga the day before:

"As easier as it gets, as simple as it can be" - this is the present Debian at its testing version. I was fortunate enough to get a copy of the debian mirror from Ravi, a hacker and GNU/Linux enthusiast who is also part of the Sampada team.

Now updating the mirror is easy.

I'm no big fan of Ubuntu unlike many of my friends, but Ubuntu has its place too in my office depending on the necessity. But where does Debian figure in picture of distributions? I can't just put it in few words, really. For one, it always presents me this simple face that you could tweak with - much like you shape your own piece of art over clay mould. The other, you have this "real" development aura surrounding it that makes you feel that without Debian you wouldn't be able to do much!

Struggling for words still on why Debian is so different, I feel using it would explain much of what it feels like. Is it the stability? Is it the convenience of not bothering about drastic changes of where stuff went with the new releases - I wouldn't know. But Debian is just too good.

[Background: Kannada, like probably many other Indian languages, has seen its days run out completely as the primary language used to store, record knowledge. It may have been due to several factors, but back to local view of the world: local news, local language, local perspectives and everything local has now been catching up. Even FM radios in the city have switched back to the local language as the primary language of broadcast. Well, is it time the local language is also used more and more to document knowledge? and to think back about those aspects of knowledge that stays beautiful when written in local language, the aspects that make people more comfortable with it to sit back and listen, or grab a book or news paper to read. Whatever is, people thronging in the local language communities on-line or otherwise would have certainly observed this change of discussing certain aspects of technology, science or software (that make their presence felt in everyone's lives) in local languages just because the conversations happen effectively.
Localized software, support for languages on software has added up to this. These are most definitely good signs for that large mass of rural students who are primarily educated in local language and for those people who are more at comfy with their mother tongue. Since this percentage of population who are more at ease with the local language is more in the rural areas, towns and smaller cities, it becomes even more important to log technology, science or the basic knowledge surrounding it in local languages to spread it across the state, create awareness about the sea of change that is sweeping each day with new technologies, concepts and innovations.
A good instance would be going about creating awareness about free software (free as in freedom) and the alternative it provides for a free world and about how the rural India could benefit from it.]

It *is* a challenge to reach out to people from our own community, an informal community bound by a common factor - the language surrounding which we grew up. Although we were let down by numbers in terms of how many participated in the discussion, we had some excellent discussion about 'Writing Technology, Science in Kannada". The focus was obviously on using Internet to do that and gradually taking it from there to elsewhere, where Internet reach is minimal. The discussion happened at Center for Internet and Society, Cunningham Road on Sunday, 29th.

Whenever Sister comes visiting all the way from the other corner of the city, I have an obligatory assignment of cleaning up the floor I live in. She doesn't like it when things are scattered and lying around. She likes it organized just the way I keep my folders and files on hard disk. She doesn't like me keeping the books that I've been reading lying half open on tables. She uses a bookmark instead (only when I frown lying that I would be having a hard time finding that page back again), and tucks them away in the book shelf just like she tucks the clothes away in the cupboard.

Today was one of those days again, and I had to vacuum for hours to clean up the place. It is holiday elsewhere, so she wouldn't take my excuse that I still have loads of work and backlogs to clear! Today is the new year, Ugadi - in the Hindu calendar. I'm not that religious nor do I share the same interest about the tradition in celebrating the festival, but the festivity sort of syncs in - with everyone around enjoying the day with traditional food and lots of catching up on a holiday. Owing to the relaxing mood everywhere, I too decided to take a day off. Many friends have already left for a long weekend (three days of vacation, thanks to the day off today on occasion of Ugadi). Sometimes it does feel like there are just too many festivals in India - there's one turning up in no time just before we've even forgotten the last one.

Sampada Foundation
in association with
Center for Internet and Society

invites you to...

Discussion on:

• Kannada, standards in technology and Internet
  - writing about Software, related technologies and free alternatives. Creating awareness, sharing know-how.
• Effective use of Technology, Internet:
  - writing Agriculture, Water, Science and Technology in local language.

Participating with us on that day: Nagesh Hegde, NAM Ismail and Sampada Tech Team.

10.30 AM - 12.30 PM, 2.00 PM - 4.00 PM
Sunday, 29th of March, 2009

Venue:
The Center for Internet and Society
No. D2, 3rd floor, Sheriff Chambers,
14, Cunningham Road,
Bangalore,
Karnataka 560052
India
Phone: (+91)-080-4092-6283
Fax:(+91)-080-4114-8130

You can confirm your participation by writing to us at:
mail@sampada.net

or call us at:

080 40926283

For more details, get in touch with us on the same number.

'Nira Nischinte' (ನೀರ ನಿಶ್ಚಿಂತೆ) or loosely translated - 'Peace of mind with Water' is the slogan we chose for the Kannada version of Water Portal (which is funded by Arghyam), and also as the title of the event we planned surrounding it. We just had the third edition of the 'Nira Nischinte' event at Tumkur yesterday. The first one was at Dharwad, the second at Mangalore.

It is quite an interesting event considering that not many people in general take interest in issues surrounding Water. Here, we have had passionate people attending the event, in good numbers that too, which is quite surprising really. We have had people learning how to share information on-line, and more importantly about doing so in *local language*. It has made up a rather unique event and the name has caught up already! And the discussions we have had until now has been excellent.

In general, many discussions just end up with complaints, but no solid initiatives towards solving the problem. Although water issues affect everyone, they always end up being perceived as "somebody else's problem" and go without being addressed properly. Most often than not, public authorities are blamed. The day to day situation on water is something that people have got "adjusted" to, rather than trying to improve it. Whether it is to prick the public authority to do their jobs properly or to take up simple initiatives on their own (like Rain Water Harvesting), not many seem to have enough motivation or intent. And all this, I note down from my interaction over a significant amount of time, and having been the same myself earlier.

You get a feeling that the intent is now changing when people discuss the issues even when having their lunch (!) and seeing them cover that extra distance discussing "what could be done about it"!

A chat conversation that became a discussion between friends, later became an idea for a meet-up! On March 22nd, we are meeting up near maDivaLa lake (Bangalore), to celebrate the day. This would be a Kannada Water Portal event, so expect lots of discussion in Kannada! :-)

There are also several efforts on to bring a cycling track to maDivaLa lake and to get the lake cleaned up. The event could also add up to the support towards these efforts.

Like to join in?

Mail us at kannada AT indiawaterportal.org or just use this contact form.