So, it’s finally come to an end. All the thoughts running through my head make it hard to write this blog. I am currently in Chennai for 2 more days before I fly to Qatar and then to Pittsburgh. The last day at work and the next day when I had to leave were hard. But now that I’ve had time to reflect, I can describe my thoughts down here.

The last week was pretty hectic with each one of us wrapping things up. Saurabh and I had to do a lot of documenting and writing during that last week. Yeah, I had an hour of sleep before our last day. It was tiring but it was a good feeling – a feeling of accomplishment. I was exhausted but it felt great. First thing in the morning, we stopped at MSRI and walked to the ATM to get some money to donate to Mathru. The weather was beautiful and I loved the walk. I reminisced on the good times. It had been raining heavily for a week but luckily, there was no rain on our last day.

At Mathru, Ms. M, the school chairman, was ready with breakfast. Saurabh thought he’d see if he could eat more puris that the school could make. So he urged Ms. M to keep bringing more. So she gladly brought him a lot of puris but here’s the problem – even I got caught up in the food fest. Every time Saurabh got puris, I would get some too. I had been tactfully escaping getting a lot of food on my plate, during my previous visits, due to my slow eating pace. But that day, Ms. M was relentless. “Kaleem! You’re NOT escaping! Not Today!” she declared. So I ended up stuffing myself like a turkey and Saurabh finished something like 20 puris – what a champ! But Ms. M had taught us a lesson: eating at Mathru is like drinking from a water hose. Do NOT underestimate the Ms. M meals. All jokes aside, that was our last breakfast and one of many that we will undoubtedly miss.

Our last day at Mathru was spent wrapping up our field tests, teaching Mathru how to use our Braille images, and taking a lot of pictures. We had our last lunch with Ms. M. She’s a lot of fun to be around as she’s got all these amusing/interesting things to talk about. After lunch, we went to each class to bid goodbye. Kids kept asking “when are you coming back sir?” and it was very touching when the 7^th standard class stood up and bid us a happy journey. I only got to know some of the 10^th standard and 7^th standard kids pretty well. But I’ve seen an amazing potential in the children here. After getting pictures taken, we had coffee/tea with the Mathru staff where Ms. M went around asking them how they liked us. The teachers had some nice things to tell us and it was a good bonding experience. Getting excellent grades at University – Dean’s List; Working at a company – $$$; Working at Mathru – smiles all around (priceless!). The whole Mathru staff came till our cab to bid us goodbye. It was really emotional and Ms. M shed a tear or two.

After getting refreshed at our guesthouse, I came back to MSRI as a farewell party was going to take place in our honor. The Malta interns decided to have a “Maltese Night” so that was really nice of them. We got to taste some great Maltese cuisine that night. There were about 30-40 people I think – most of them our close friends. I had a great time getting in all the pictures and interacting with everyone. Kentaro had some surprises lined up for us. He bought each one of us a book corresponding to our personality. So that was really nice and thoughtful of him. We then bid goodbye to everyone and that took a while because of all the hugs we had to give/get. Yeah, it was sad. But hopefully, I’ll get to see some of them people in the next year. I’m going to miss the learning experience here. Learning how to learn, bringing structure to abstract problems, going around your floor and learning about others’ projects, having interesting lunchtime discussions, all the networking, all the Halo parties, all the non-Halo parties, all the TEM and friends’ group outings, all the boxing lessons, a great boss, all the good times.

We just stayed up after returning home to see Aysha off. But somewhere in the middle I fell asleep (one hour of sleep the night before) and when I woke up she was gone. I then packed all my stuff and went out with Saurabh and Erin for my last lunch in Bangalore. Finally, I got onto the long train ride to Chennai where I am now.

The whole experience has been an amazing adventure. The last day of work was a fantastic climax as it summed it up for us. It was like a movie with a good ending – leaving you wanting for more. Experiences, like the time when one of the students was able to write the whole alphabet after we taught her using our Braille images, will remain etched in my mind forever. I’ve learned some great things that I shall apply in my daily life. There have been some challenges that I have learned to overcome. Each one of us had different interests and personalities and it was great to observe how we worked together to achieve a common goal.

Most importantly, I think I have learned how to smile. And that has a deeper meaning than just being able to flex the muscles on your face. I am greatly thankful for those who helped me along the way. I’m looking forward to the future and opportunities where I can exercise the things that I have learned. I will be flying to Qatar on the 7^th and to Pittsburgh on the 13^th. Before classes start, I hope to get some rest and meet up with friends and relatives. An awesome adventure has just come to an end but the seeds it has sown will grow forever.

Aysha, Erin and Saurabh – laa, cool beans and ymca.

]]> http://tcingc.org/scblog/2008/08/04/the-bangalore-finale/feed/ 0 http://tcingc.org/scblog/2008/07/22/%e2%80%9cinteresting%e2%80%a6%e2%80%9d/ http://tcingc.org/scblog/2008/07/22/%e2%80%9cinteresting%e2%80%a6%e2%80%9d/#comments Tue, 22 Jul 2008 07:03:55 +0000 Kaleem Rahman http://tcingc.org/scblog/?p=190 Tuesday, July 22, 2008

We successfully delivered our project presentation to the Technology for Emerging Markets (TEM) group yesterday. We had worked on it over the weekend and it felt great to complete the presentation on a successful note. Each one of us had a different role and had rehearsed it a few times giving feedback to each other. I think that played a major role in its execution. We also got to answer some interesting questions and receive useful feedback and ideas on our projects.

Erin started off by giving an overview of TechBridgeWorld and TCinGC, and Aysha and Saurabh followed it with a description of Mathru and the challenging areas that could be worked on. Erin then described her website project and Aysha talked about digitalizing the student records. Saurabh then followed that by discussing our work on the Braille Tutor and running a demo with a volunteer from the audience. Finally, I described our Braille image processing project and went through the various stages an image goes through in the process. The “Fantastic Four” were right on the money.

I believe the key in giving presentations is making clear eye contact with your audience. Just talking to each member of the audience like he were the only person in the room can do wonders to enhance your confidence. It also makes the person pay attention as he feels special/can’t doze off? This is something I’ve observed over time. A good presenter and a good DJ share a lot in common. Both of them usually know their audience well. Both of them share a passion for what they do. Both of them choose/organize the right slides/tracks to present/play. Both of them communicate effectively with the audience by constantly reading their mood and adapting accordingly. They understand when the audience is enjoying a particular part of their presentation/set and really know what they’re talking about/playing. And finally, both of them love it when they’re up there doing their thing.

Speaking of DJs, it will be interesting to see how I mix during the “Old Skool” night on our final day at work. Kentaro left town today and will only be back on our last day of work. We are planning to have a party on that day. It should be interesting playing disco and house music from back in the day. It’s also interesting how I interestingly use the interesting word “interesting” an interesting lot of interesting times. Everyone has their own word or phrase that they constantly use. Some people say “chill,” some people say “aww,” some people say “cool,” and some people say, well, “some people say…” People seem to use these words as a form of acknowledgement, when they can’t think of something to say, or simply because they just mean it and want to say it. People must LOVE talking to me because everything they think or do is “interesting.” I first thought about this last semester when I had to do this video interview for admissions. The camera crew sets up and the main guy tells me that we’re going to shoot in 5 minutes. I said “cool.” He goes “what’s so ‘cool’ about that?” Of course, he was just pulling my leg to loosen me up a bit. But it did make me wonder why people use certain words the way they do. It’s interesting how I randomly start talking about “interesting” things.

There’ve been a lot of power fluctuations in Bangalore this week. We’ve experienced regular power cuts at our guest house and even at MSRI (good thing they have reserve generators). This mainly affects the girls in our group as they travel to Mathru a lot and frequent power cuts mean frequent delays as the school computers do not have a reserve UPS power system. Last night, I was scared it blew up my hard disk when the power snapped. Luckily, it’s fine.

My annoying telephone alarm rings in the morning like an ice cream truck on subwoofers. I put off the snooze and lie in a semi-sleep state. Saurabh wakes up and goes for his morning shower. I wait for him to come out and as soon as I hear the door lock open, I go “is the water hot?” To that, I get a range of answers – the most common one being “it’s getting there.” It mentally prepares me for the shower which, depending on our solar heater, can temporarily send me to the arctic. Yes, I do not enjoy cold showers. But what I do enjoy is asking if the water is hot first thing in the morning. It’s one of those many “little” things that has become part of my daily routine and makes it enjoyable. The daily Xbox dosage is another one.

I enjoy the MSRI work culture and cherishing the things I am learning here. We are currently in the process of field-testing the Braille tutor. We are also working on the Braille art imaging project. The other day, we found out that IIT Kharagpur had developed a similar tool. It was a little disappointing that our idea might not be completely novel. But they had not stated any results of field tests and limited the use of embossed images. So, we plan to explore these images further and see how different kinds of images might be useful in assisting education. This could greatly benefit Mathru and the wider visually-impaired community. As our research questions are different, we might unravel some interesting issues.

What’s happened with me over the last few weeks? Hmm, let’s see… quiz competition at Mathru, weekend trip to Chennai for my cousin’s wedding, TEM bowling night, getting to know the other interns, MSRI party at the Kosmo club, lots of powwows (project presentations), interesting conversations over lunch, ICT4D paper to bring Bill G up to speed with ICT, image processing, coding in C#, acquiring lots of information, fighting aliens in Halo, watching “Batman: The Dark Knight” at the theater, boxing classes with Kentaro, and the best one – bonding with the family (Aysha, Erin, and Saurabh). We’ve got our project presentation tomorrow so we’re busy working on that and rehearsing. It should be fun. An interesting surprise awaits the audience.

Only 2 weeks left!? As I was looking at the date on my cellphone, I noticed the hourglass wallpaper on my phone. But there was something different about this hourglass. It didn’t have sand in it and seemed to get this infinite supply of grains from somewhere. I looked a little closer and realized that these were grains of growth. As cheesy as it seemed, I couldn’t help but believe what I saw. Every now and then, a huge grain would get stuck in the neck of the hourglass and I’d have to give it a brisk shake to get it through. It seemed to have a strong resemblance to life. I think there’s no limit to how much you can grow as an intellectual, as a citizen, as a friend, as a human being. Invariably, a lump of grains gets stuck in the neck of the hourglass and you have to figure out how to break it. Sometimes, good friends help you out.

The remaining two weeks are going to be intense. Saurabh and I will have to write 3 papers, complete our field studies, and make necessary enhancements to the Braille tutor and image processing tool code. Although it makes me sad to realize that this wonderful adventure is going to end soon, I am looking forward to the future and completing our current projects on a successful note.

I can’t believe it. I thought 10 weeks would be a long time but the weeks have been flying at the speed of minutes. I have already started reminiscing about our first week here in Bangalore. And the sad truth is… I only have 3 weeks to make a difference.

I’m chilling on the rooftop of the Mathru School. The power went out and it’s dark inside the school but it’s still light outside. There’s a cool breeze, the clouds look ominous, and there is thunder in the distance. I am taking a big risk by writing my journal entry on my laptop because it could rain any minute. The children are sitting in clusters on the rooftop enjoying their free time after long hours of school. A couple of kids with partial vision have made their way over to where I’m standing, interested in my laptop. Aysha went out with Teju, Ms. Muktha’s niece, to buy ingredients for our dinner tonight. We are sleeping over at Ms. Muktha’s house again.

Work is going well. Aysha and I had split up into our respective projects weeks ago. She is working on the student records database and I am working on the website. In the beginning, to familiarize ourselves with what the other is doing, we swapped projects. I started planning the database and she did research on which open source content management system to use. Now, we are training Bhavya, the administrative assistant, and Teju to use the student records database on Microsoft Access and to update and maintain the website using Joomla.

I am having a lot of fun working on the website. I haven’t taken any classes on how to make websites, but I’ve gotten along just fine this summer with tutorials and crazy amounts of trial and error. I enjoy writing the content for the website and designing the look and feel of the website. This experience is definitely something that will be useful in the future for marketing: you have to know your audience (in marketing terms, your “target market” which are potential and current donors in our case) and you have to make it look good!

Of course, everything hasn’t been smooth sailing. Because I don’t know how to make Joomla templates from scratch, I am limited to the parameters of the free template. But I’ve been able to change the code enough to satisfy my original vision for the design of the website. And hosting has been giving us a hard time! We are still in the process of hosting (so many obstacles!) but hopefully the site should be up and running within a day or two. Be sure to check out www.mathrublindschool.org in a few days. Any and all comments and feedback will be greatly appreciated!

Nidhi had created the website and is currently paying for the domain name and hosting as an ongoing contribution to the Mathru School. We contacted her the other day and sent her the link to the website when it was still up. I am so relieved that she likes the website and that it is “right on the money”. She also gave some interesting feedback. Thinking like a potential donor, she said that the website looks too polished [it is starting to drizzle] and that it might turn off potential donors as they may think, If the Mathru School has enough money to make a fancy website, then they do not need my donation. But at the same time, she pointed out that if the website does not look professional, donors may deem the website not worthy of their donation. We have mentioned in one of the sections that the Mathru website was designed and updated by Carnegie Mellon students. Any suggestions?

I was taken by surprise when she said the website looks too polished. I like to make sure things are perfect and I pay meticulous attention to design. I try to have this attitude for mostly anything that I work on because that’s what you need to do to get the A or to get the job done right. But no one has ever told me that something was too good. But I know that it’s only specific to this situation. Her feedback has given me new perspective and has got me thinking differently. I don’t think I’ll downgrade the website too much since my work is also representing Carnegie Mellon and TechBridgeWorld .

So I only have 3 weeks left. To some, 3 weeks may seem like a long time. But to me, it’s not enough. I know I’ve definitely procrastinated till the last week for a project in the past. But this time around, it’s not just a project, it’s my job and I’ve become too close to the school to do a half-hearted project and leave. There is the sustainability aspect that I have to fulfill with this project. But it’s one thing to make it sustainable because you have to and another to make it sustainable because you want to. I want to make the website as perfect as it can be and I want to make sure that they can update and maintain it long after I’m gone.

On our first day at Mathru, a small girl greeted us with a flower, and I had the urge to be cheerful, pat her head and say Thank you… but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. Later on in the day, when they were demonstrating the use of the slate and stylus, I tried to pick one up to see for myself. Immediately, one girl (partially blind) turned around, took away the stylus from me and gave me a stare. She also kept looking back from time to time to make sure I wasn’t stealing the stylus. I almost gave up trying to interact then.

With time, they got more comfortable with us, as did we with them. I had wanted these kids to like me, and it wasn’t so hard because they are disciplined and taught to be nice. I had never previously invested so much effort into talking to kids, but I did this time and I have had my share of rewarding moments. One of those would be this boy (really cute!) calling me “Aysha-akka”, akka meaning sister in Kannada (I have a video of this moment!). Another time, I was *trying* to teach a kid how to dribble a basketball and I enjoyed so much…he was so happy to hold a ball, and to do just about anything with it. We played catch for a while, and then he continued dribbling… running behind the ball when it fell out of his hand, following the directions (left, right, straight, stop) to find the ball, and to continue dribbling right at the spot he found the ball. I also played with a couple other students, and each interaction was equally rewarding.

The night of our sleep over at Mathru, some students finished their dinner and came up to us to say goodnight and initiate a conversation. They asked us if we had our dinner etc… and they also said a lot of things in Kannada which we really couldn’t understand. I found that really special because during the day, they are so busy and we have to interrupt them to talk to them, and it’s almost like they have to talk to us. At night, they came to us at their own will. It meant a lot to me that they were comfortable around us and liked us!

I find that I am more easygoing and happy around kids now than before. In fact, I used these skills on Raghav (Ms. Muktha’s son). He was initially really shy to be around us, but I initiated a game with him and soon enough, he wanted to play more. Wee!

]]> http://tcingc.org/scblog/2008/07/03/kids/feed/ 0 http://tcingc.org/scblog/2008/07/03/sleep-over-at-mathru/ http://tcingc.org/scblog/2008/07/03/sleep-over-at-mathru/#comments Thu, 03 Jul 2008 07:50:27 +0000 Aysha Siddique http://tcingc.org/scblog/?p=185 Over the past few weeks, we have been demanding a lot of time and information from Ms. Muktha, and let me tell you, she is a really busy person. Her phone rings every 10 minutes… even on a Sunday. So she invited us (Erin and I) to stay over at Mathru so that she can give us her undivided attention and tell us more about Mathru.

Spending the night there made such a difference. She took us to her home as she didn’t want to give the teachers (who are also visually impaired) more tension with us staying at the school. The first night we stayed there, she called upon a bunch of students and we interacted with them. Ms. Muktha is very frank with the children, and her chatter makes the environment friendly and fun. She talks to them about difficulties in education, their interests, ambitions, and jokes around with them about their favorite movie stars, and even boyfriends/girlfriends (Some students were really shy!). She included the teachers in the conversation and the whole community became really comfortable around us by the end of it.

Ms. Muktha’s home is about a 5 minute walk away from the school. At home, Ms. Muktha cooked us a home-made meal and also allowed us to try our hand at making chapatis. She quickly got annoyed (in a fun way!) at us clicking pictures and being really slow and took over in under 5 minutes. Since the power was out, we had a candle light dinner with really yummy healthy food.

Our walk home with Ms. Muktha and her son Raghav

Erin’s chapati

Candle light dinner

During dinner and even later on, she told us a lot of stories about Mathru – some shocking, some sweet – that helped us understand Mathru and the people behind it from a different perspective. What we heard only made us love the institution more. The stories also made me realize that the blind lead a life very similar to the sighted, and that a LOT has gone into making the institution what it is today. Ms. Muktha telling us these stories that she’d rather not tell with everyone else around made us feel like a part of a close-knit group.

We kept talking till late in the night, and ended it by watching a Hindi movie Taare Zameen Par (which is about a dyslexic child). We came back from the first stay over completely refreshed, and with a new sense of the kind of difficulties the school is facing. It also helped to strengthen our relationship with the teachers, and the students started to get used to our presence. We felt like we had accomplished a lot by spending the night there.

Ms. Muktha’s so fun… she has taken us out for walks stating “stop working all the time… take a break!”. During the walk, she would tell us so many things… about India, her life, her son, her family… but most of the stories revolve around Mathru! She then took us shopping, and insisted that we buy something. We tried to refuse but she was so persistent and her choices are amazing. So Erin got two Indian dresses (salwar kurtas) and I got a top (kurti). She also stopped to get us tender coconut and mangoes! Our relationship with Ms. Muktha extends beyond work…her love and care is incomparable to none other… she treats us like her ‘daughters from abroad’. She trusts us, and the work we will give her… and we hope not to disappoint!

I haven’t been able to write the blog for the last week. It’s because I’ve been busy the whole time either working or having fun at MSRI. Saurabh and I have been adding useful features and interesting games to the Braille Tutor over the past week. This week, we will be starting work on a new project with MSRI aimed at Braille printers.

We visited Mysore over the first weekend and experienced the rich cultural heritage there. Mysore used to be the capital city of the state of Karnataka before Bangalore. We left our house early in the morning and visited a number of places in Mysore before returning to our house at night. We got to see some stunning palaces, temples, gardens, and even took a boat ride on a local lake. In the evening, we visited the Vrindawan gardens which are located close to a dam.

The past week at MSRI has been very eventful. We’ve been working on making enhancements to the Braille Tutor software and performing fixes that would help the children. On Thursday, we were taken to watch a Tamil movie in “Gold Class.” I know how to read and write Tamil but I can’t really speak or understand very well (interesting, I know). So I was able to get some of the humor in dialogue although you didn’t need to know Tamil to understand the movie.

On Friday, we had a farewell party for the interns who were leaving. We had a decent turnout although it was initially hard to get everyone to come. I DJed for the party and played a lot of funky / electro house. It was fun watching the people enjoy themselves. Erin knew that my birthday was a couple of days away and I had told her to keep it a secret. But she ended up turning the party into a surprise birthday thing for me. The party was fun and I would like to have an Old Skool 70s / 80s / 90s night where I can play some good old dance music.

The past weekend, we visited a school near Mathru. Every week, a group of students from Mathru is taken there to participate in recreational activities such as yoga and music classes, and sport training. Each student chooses a particular sport that he/she wants to play. I played cricket with the students and worked with the coach to teach them some of the basics. It was fun and the students shared a great enthusiasm for the sport.

a corner at the Mathru School

gate to the palace in Mysore

boating in Mysore

1. Visit as many homes as you can (all hosts treat guests like royalty)

2. Start saying no to extra helpings before you actually mean it because you will get served at least 3 more times after your first no

3. Large Pizzas in India are the same size as small pizzas in America

4. You can have paneer on anything. (Erin can give more details)

5. Someone needs to bring GOLD CLASS to the United States.

On Friday we had our first party at Microsoft. The party started off slow but I was quickly informed that I had to take Indian standard time into account. Indian standard time means that the actual start time is at least 1hour after the published start time. Those who truly follow Indian standard time will preach that the rule is actually at least 2 hours. The party finally started going after a game of musical chairs. Actually the party finally started going after a game of musical chairs and a fifteen-minute rest period that allowed everybody to catch their breath. The party showcased Erin’s party planning and Kaleem’s (aka DK) DJ skills and allowed all the MSRI employees to show their personalities outside of the work environment. Thursday and Friday highlighted the best that Bangalore has to offer, a great nightlife, and an IT industry filled with intelligent and fun employees.

Every Saturday, 25 students from Mathru are taken to the Kensri School. The Kensri School created a program where students from Kensri mentor each student from Mathru. At the Kensri school the Mathru students learn yoga, music, and get to play sports. The highlight of Saturday was getting to teach the students how to play sports and seeing their determination to learn. The students show no fear while learning new games. As they learned how to catch a basketball, they would often get hit in the face. However, the pain of a ball hitting them did not slow their determination for learning the game. The students were quick learners and started using bounce passes that allowed them to hear the ball coming. The first lesson you are taught when batting is to keep your eye on the ball. Obviously most of the students could not do that, but this did not stop Rajendra*, a blind student, from hitting the ball. As a major sports aficionado I am extremely passionate about sports and love spreading this passion to other people. However, often when dealing with sports, I get caught up in winning. These students helped remind me that playing the sport is what brings happiness, not the end result.

Erin and Aysha wanted to collect testimonials from the parents of the students from Mathru, so today morning we headed out to different villages around Bangalore. Everyday we see beggars on the street but this was our first time getting away from paved roads and seeing a world with minimal signs of technology. These villages were isolated from the city and were 30-40 minutes off the closest main roads. To enter most of the houses you would have to duck your head under the door. Most of the people in the villages were illiterate and only knew how to speak Kannada, the native language of the state Karnataka. Even though these families faced extreme poverty they still showed amazing hospitality. The families pampered us with food, drinks, and showed no sign of their economic status. It was also interesting to see how residents from all over the village would come to see who the “American” visitors were. All of the parents were extremely pleased with how Mathru had helped their children. However, even though Mathru is a great example of a school that helps change the lives of children, today’s experience showed that there is a major need for more schools like Mathru. This experience highlighted the disparity between the life we are living in Bangalore and the life in these villages. Within the span of four days we saw how Bangalore, similar to many other places around the world, is unfortunately a tale of two very distinct styles of life.

*names changed to protect identities of student

The past week, most of our time was spent at the Mathru School. We’ve been gathering information about the school, its faculty and students. Erin and Aysha have been looking at ways in which technology could be used to assist the school in its mission. Saurabh and I have been field-testing the second version of the Braille tutor and figuring out ways in which it can be improved. We have also been looking at opportunities for research projects that would impact the global visually-impaired community. We have also joined a nearby gym to stay active. The others have joined it to counteract all the food we’ve been eating; I’ve joined it in my continuing bid to gain some weight.

During my time here, I’ve noticed a lot of similarities between MSRI and CMU. The MSRI community is relatively small (55 permanent researchers and about 45 interns during peak-time) and closely knit. Research groups are based according to floors. They have some neat recreation facilities including a TV lounge with an Xbox, table tennis in the basement, a giant chess board, and an awesome terrace to conduct outdoor activities such as BBQ events. There is a lot of “free food” as well with MSRI providing breakfast, lunch and special snacks during the day. MSRI also provides a convenient 24-hour transport service for employees.

A weekly “Lab Sabha” takes place where researchers and guest speakers present their work. Also present are weekly meetings of the Technology for Emerging Markets (TEM) group (the one with which we work), where members present their ongoing work and obtain constructive criticism and feedback. People are self-motivated and friendly, and many interns continue work late into the night. You can walk around your floor and learn about all the amazing things the other interns and researchers are doing. People are open to new ideas and I had an interesting conversation with some of the researchers the other day about education and the development of women in Qatar. The exposure you get here is simply fantastic!

I’ve had a couple of interesting experiences at Mathru this week. The other day, a couple of partially-sighted students had a conversation with me. They talked about cricket and joked about how Sachin Tendulkar (a popular Indian cricketer) has become weak and does not play well now. Saurabh and I have been working closely with some of the teachers and students this week trying to figure out ways in which the Braille tutor and new technology could be developed to assist the visually-impaired. The teachers have expressed a lot of gratitude and have high expectations of us. Each one of them has been telling us the kind of things they’d like to see improved. Some of the students have asked us to help in making it easier to play chess on the computer as screen-reading software is no good for games.

All these expectations have given me a greater sense of responsibility. We’re in a position where we can make an influence on a community here and this is a new experience for me. My determination to work is now stronger but it will be challenging to tell the school that not all of their wishes can be achieved in the current time frame. We will work on what is most feasible and has the most impact. Working at the school, it can be really hard to not get attached to the children. I think my personality tries to keep me focused on work and prevents me from getting too attached to any given person. I do not know if that’s good or bad but that’s definitely the way I go. It will be interesting to see how the project unfolds. Every day, I read a page of the lives of the people here and write a book on the things I have learned (or have yet to learn).

The other day it got really cloudy and rained heavily for a while. Then, a rainbow appeared in the sky at the stroke of sunlight. I was fascinated by the vast array of colors painted across the sky. But by the time I got my camera to get some pictures, it started disappearing. I watched as it slowly deteriorated from one end to the other and eventually left the sky with a bunch of ordinary grey clouds. It reminded me of how we’ve got a limited amount of time and should make the most of it in order to benefit Mathru and lay foundations to assist the visually-impaired community in general. We’re 2 weeks down and got 8 weeks to make that difference.