Nagrik Diwas (Citizen’s Day) @ Delwara

Nagrik Diwas Seva Mandir’s work in Delwara is directly concerned with encouraging responsible citizenship and local self-governance. The journey so far has included an extensive range of activities with the citizens of Delwara through which Seva Mandir has sought to engage citizens in dialogue and action around issues of local importance. These issues have included [...]

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Fragmentation and Healing

N.B. This piece has been taken from my reflective writing journal and should be understood as tentative and incomplete
It seems that we are all here in order to make sense of things. We look into books, we look into each other, searching for what is out there, what is right – and maybe [...]

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Back to school!

After 5 years of living in the ‘wilderness’, of gathering experience and of learning from the immediate reality, I am finally back to ’school’. School, in this case, is the Institute of Development Studies located at Sussex University. My course, for those who don’t yet know, is the MA in Participation Power and Social Change. [...]

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Back in England… Future Uncertain

It’s been a while since I last put a post up and this lull has coincided with my transition back to England. Amazingly, after two years at a stretch in India, I have not had any adjustment issues (at least, nothing serious). I have been gorging on my mum’s fantastic food, propounding my theories about [...]

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conversations, presencing, change and more

A while back I had been talking about social objects – the things that give us a reason to be in a relationship with others – and how they are critical elements in the process of social transformation. Now there’s a kind of magic that takes place in that fuzzy area where we interact around [...]

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Women, unity, gifts and spirituality: the foundation for women led community development in Delwara

In the small multi-caste town of Delwara, a women’s group has been formed. This group is a platform for women to come together on a common platform across all kinds of traditional divides – caste, religion, class, etc. – to become agents of their own destiny. This morning, I spent a few hours with the [...]

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social objects as medium for change – v2

After writing that last post, I came up with a slightly more elaborate diagram for thinking about social objects and how they fit into the social change process that Seva Mandir is trying to bring about… It’s a skill I’m trying to develop (the diagramming that is) ;p
There are still a lot of question marks [...]

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A new line of inquiry: social objects as medium for change

I have been thinking about social objects (a la Hugh of gaping void) for a while now – particularly in the context of the kind of work that Seva Mandir is involved in – i.e. ‘community development’.
“The Social Object, in a nutshell, is the reason two people are talking to each other, as opposed to [...]

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social capital – possibility is in our hands

Another long-standing topic that I am finally getting around to putting on my blog… and a good follow-up for the previous blog. It struck me one day in Delwara as I found myself trying to stop two ‘community leaders’ from neighbouring communities – one a tribal (Gameti) the other a scheduled caste (Meghwal – traditionally [...]

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community based organisations vs. organised communities

So, I’ve had this long-standing thought about working with communities… I have this notion that it’s not particularly original but all the same it strikes me as worth noting down – especially as I’m in need the middle of preparing a proposal that builds on this idea.
Most of the development discourse – and I suppose [...]

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