Away

View from the hotel at night

By an interesting turn of fate, I am in Ahmedabad/Gandhinagar, for the Vibrant Gujarat event (and more). The professor I work for is a speaker her, and this led to me unexpectedly getting a pass to attend it, which seems to be quite the event. Really (I have done event planning in a former avatar and my heart quavered at the thought of all the coordination involved). Ahmedabad is a city where I lived as a child, where I have memories of a house outside the Army cantonment area, where I remember the rains that flooded the field behind our house, where I danced the garba with dandiya. I remember the house we lived in outside the cantt far more than the house to which we moved later. I remember taking my really young sister on a bike ride and crashing, the faint scars of which I still bear today.





My first impression after landing at the airport was that of a campaign, a vision, extremely well-executed. Large banners and signs are everywhere. As a speaker, my professor was received and accompanied by an escort (which I think is effective event planning). The roads look clean, the pavements well-maintained, it is refreshing. Delhi is difficult, to navigate, to even just be an onlooker. Whether this is the complete story, I do not know. But it has an appeal, that is hard to deny.

View from the hotel in the day

At the event, we arrive a little after lunch is almost over, and walk around to explore. We attended a session on Corporate Social Responsibility - this was the area I worked in before I left to study, and I am always curious about it. A section in the Companies Bill now mandates CSR for certain corporates, depending on profits, and this is leading to the creation of a new space for CSR in India. It is big money, and I am certain, that if executed well, it could make an impact in tackling the distribution divide that is so stark. I learned more about how CSR at Tata is structured. This was followed by a panel discussion on the prospects and perils of CSR in India and it was interesting to hear legal, organizational, business and personal perspectives. Having been in the space for more than four years, I learned a lot of things by involuntary osmosis: how decisions are made, how focus areas are prioritized, what are the primary and secondary objectives, what drives people, what are the shortcomings and more. At the moment, I will leave at that, but I hope to write in more detail soon.

To whoever is reading, thank you (I am not sure if there are m/any readers, but I enjoy writing, even if it is for me and one more person).