…. I have been incredibly slammed with work, wedding planning and studying for a certification. Oh, and I am looking to switch jobs. It’s been hectic, and I miss blogging incredibly, yet comitments are not going to make me give it up.

I am facing a very bizarre situation at work where I am taking orders from anyone and everyone. Heck, I might start giving orders too. Speaking of giving orders, we have a newbie in our team…. this after our MD said that we have no budget to give me a raise. Why do I need a raise? Well, considering I have been performing all tasks which are done by our senior staff for the best part of a year, perhaps I should be paid like one too!

A few months ago, this situation would have thrown me into a corner, and I would be feeling really sorry for myself. The thing which has made a difference is the additional responsibility in a few months. As progressive a person I would like to think myself to be, I still find negative scenarios at work very demoralizing. I have an interview today within the company I currently work with, for a role which I already do! Would you blame me for looking elsewhere?

I read an article today (thanks to my fiancee), which made me realise  that any and everyone besides the management at work think I am doing a great job; the management just don’t know what I am doing.

I’ll leave you with the article entitled: “Every worker should be a C.E.O of something” – I pride myself in taking greater responsibilities at work, and reading the article makes me realise that I just have to keep at it and the results will start turning up too.

Right…. time to prep for the interview…. by completing my next task.

As you all are aware (well, I hope you are!), a devastating earthquake struck Haiti last week, and the damage done was very very shocking. A lot of people have lost everything from their family, loved ones, possessions and livelihoods.

People are donating very generously towards aid for Haiti. The Disasters Emergency Committee has raised just under £25 million in the UK alone, and this will go a long way towards helping the people of Haiti.

One thing which has been brought up by many commentators is – what happens when the cameras stop rolling? How will the people of Haiti be aided a year down the line, or maybe even 3-5 years down the line? Part of the answer is the Acumen Fund. The Acumen Fund helps people in impoverished communities create businesses and generate jobs within the community. An initiative like this will help communities in Haiti to not only re-build their infrastructure, but also regenerate the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere.

Check out the short video below to find out more about what the Acumen Fund does, and check out [this link] to find out what you can do to help the people of Haiti. You can also follow the Acumen Fund on [Twitter]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCcgHcoxvnQ

TED is a global stage which started out as a platform to bring together people from the areas of Technology, Entertainment and Design. A TED stage is a place where the most fascinating thinkers and doers, give the talk of their lives (in 18 minutes). These talks are available to watch on [ted.com].

TEDx on the other hand is a program that enables local communities such as schools, businesses, libraries, neighborhoods or just groups of friends to organize, design and host their own independent, TED-like events.

One such event takes place tomorrow in Fatehpur, in the Shekhavati region of Rajasthan. This is the first TEDx event to be held in the region, and is organised my Masarat Daud. This TEDx event has the tag line of ‘Idea Revolution’, and is aimed at the people living in the region, encouraging them to break out of the cycle of backwardness by embracing the power of ideas.

This event takes place tomorrow, 19th January 2010, and you can follow events both tomorrow and in the upcoming days through the following sources:

TEDx Shekhavati website

TEDx Shekhavati Twitter page

TEDx Shekhavati Blog

Masarat Daud Twitter page

The list of speakers for the event is as follows (click on their names to see their profiles):

1.  Aman Nath: Co-Chairman of Neemrana Hotels, Rajasthan

2. Kavita Srivastav: General Secretary, People’s Union for Civil Liberties

3. Mehmood Khan, Managing Director, RKK Trust in Mewat, Haryana

4. Shrot Katewa, CEO, Source For Change (Baggar, jhunjhunu)

5. Anwar Ali, Representative, eSwasthaya program of Piramal Group

6. Samar N. S. Jodha, International photographer

7. Masarat Daud: Vice-Chairperson of Amana Education & Welfare Society, Fatehpur Shekhawati (Rajasthan) and Founder of 8-Day Academy

8. Sameer Gupta: Celebrity Chef

Resolutions for the new year – have you kept yours as yet? More importantly, how many have you broken already?

I’m not sure what resolutions are meant to be. For me, resolutions are things to look forward in the year to; I don’t believe in working hard to achieve them, they have to be something which occur as part of my natural routine of life.

I have great expectations from 2010. 2008 and 2009 were horrible and decent years respectively, but this is what I am looking forward to in 2010:

1. Getting Married – For the longest time in my existence, I have thought of myself as someone who is slightly held back when it comes to being in the relationship. Then I met my fiancee, and she brings out my quirks, behaviors and mannerisms which generally stay shut away somewhere. Together, we can switch between multiple mental ages to deal with the challenges of life – that is what makes me love her even more, and I cannot wait to begin our life together in 2010.
2. Growing up – In 2010, I hope to ascend to a higher level of maturity; working hard on our marriage, managing our home, and pushing hard and upwards in my career – these will no doubt help me think about things from a more mature perspective; let’s hope that maturity does begin to kick in too.
3. Being part of the 8 Day Academy – This is something which I really am looking forward to. Find out more about the 8 Day Academy [here] and [here]. I am a huge advocate of education, and 2010 is earmarked as the year where more should be done to educate women. Education doesn’t translate to reading a book and passing exams; education is about having the ability to use any and every skill you have to move ahead and achieve in life. The 8DA aims to achieve this and raise awareness in communities that you don’t have to be book smart to be someone.
4. Stepping up a level or two in my career – Four and a half years as a professional, I am closing in towards the end of the 5 year plan. The time has come to start a new chapter, and progress up the ladder; I haven’t had a niche path in my career to date, but a solid career is built up on a particular specialization and add-ons are always a bonus around it – this is the plan for the next 5 years.
5. Traveling to new places – I haven’t had many opportunities to travel to new places, partly because I enjoy company when I travel. Starting this year, I will have that permanent companion with whom we can “see the world”!
6. Reading more books – One thing is absolutely certain – we are going to have a massive bookshelf at home – the both of us are readers and collectors of good books and publications. One aim this year is to read more than the 10 or so books which I read last year.
7. Achieving new qualifications – I love to study in bursts; being a huge believer in keeping life moving and refreshing your career, I really think constant education plays a huge part in shaping ones career. In 2010, I will be working on gaining 2 PRINCE2 certification.
8. Attending TEDx or even the TED global event – I have attended one TEDx event [TEDx London] and watched a huge number of [TED talks]. These are inspirational messages and words from people who are unique revolutionaries. In 2010, I will be looking to meet these speakers and swap ideas in person. The TED and TEDx  events are massive networking opportunities and provide an avenue to gain inspiration and insight to the rest of the world.
9. Meeting new people from twitter – I met almost 30 people, from twitter, in person in 2009; most of them were excellent personalities, and some outright strange and weird. The fact that I am typing this post is an assurance that I havent met a serial murderer tweeter so far. I loved the tweetup in Dubai, and it was great to put names and faces together, and also swap contact details with a couple of people.
10. Being happy – The biggest and most important thing which I want from 2010 is to be happy. The last 3 years have progressively worn out my happiness, and I have met and hope to spend my life with a person with whom I know I can be happy. Happiness will be achieved by keeping things simple, and staying humble; I trully believe that it is as simple as that.

What things are you looking forward to in 2010?

It took a destructive event for the first flickers of light to appear at the end of the tunnel. It was anger at the events in Bombay in 2008, that triggered that want to initiate change. The attackers were poor, ignorant, unconscious of the truth.

They lacked education… in the realities of life.

This is why the 8 day academy came into existence. Education is not about reading books, and learning about Maths, Science and History; education is about being exposed to and learning the essential skills which push you on to make a difference in any walk of life. This is the ethos of the 8 day academy – educating the members of our society in the most essential skills which will help communities step out of poverty, become more aware of societies and cultures around us, and encourage positive growth in an almost viral manner.

The Chief Actionista and founder of the 8 Day Academy is Masarat Daud. You can read [more about her here].

Komal over at Lifelalicious is celebrating her 1 year blog anniversary, and to commemorate this occasion, she has a giveaway on her blog. For every comment left on [this post], she will donate AED 5 i.e. about USD 2 to the 8 Day Academy projects. This January, there are three 8 Day Academies scheduled to take place in India, and any and every opportunity to promote and fundraise towards this education process goes one step closer to lifting comunities above the grounds of illiteracy and ignorance, and empowers them to go forth and achieve greater things in life.

You can also follow @masarat , @disruptiveplay (both 8 Day Academy trainers) , and Komal on Twitter.

Join in, raise awareness, comment on Komal’s post, and lets help raise the level of the communities which we are part of.

Here is a taster of one of the 8 Day Academies, which took place in July 2009:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PK1HTNEkAJw

A lot of people slate Seth Godin; in all honesty, I don’t know why… perhaps he is too outspoken, or highly opinionated, or perhaps as a marketeer isn’t as maverick as his “peers” would like him to be. In any case, I have found his posts quite inspirational, and often find some of his thoughts replicated in my mannerisms. This recent blog post of his is something which I have emphasized since my time at university.

The original post can be found [here]

“There are only two mistakes one can make along the road to truth – not going all the way, and not starting.”

- Jacqueline Novogratz

Such a simple and yet amazingly powerful message, from the founder of an initiative which aims to take communities out of poverty by building community based enterprises. The initiative is called the Acumen Fund.

My question is – why cant every single person push themselves to go all the way in everything that they do? Why do we think about how much we *have* to do, and not think more often about how much we *can* do?

Success in anything comes with time; it involves hard work, and it requires patience. Any task in life requires the belief  which says – “I can do it!”, but you cannot achieve this without first starting… and then putting in 100% percent till the end – that is the horizon where dreams and reality meet, and one achieves a level of success.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hw206Fqy9MI

Ok…. so here is an understatement…. I have been a touch quiet lately on the blogging front.

I have been working on a few projects, and these will be incorporated to this blog in the next 2 months, and the blog will be an extension of a wider website.  What I want to do today, is give you a taster of one of my future ventures.

It all started with @masarat holding a fund raising tweetup at @wildpeeta; she was raising funds for the 8 Day Academy [you MUST check out the 8DA link!], and related projects. Now, if you guys don’t know about Wild Peeta, then you have to click on their twitter page and find your way to their website [or click here ]; their journey and vision is amazing!

I will be meeting the Wild Peeta boys in exactly 31 days …. and I wanted to give them something as a token of my appreciation, but it needed to be something with a personal touch, my own way of saying thanks.

…. and just like that – “1 and fourth production” was concieved!

Masarat will testify that I can come up with weird and random incoherent blurbs…. some of which are worth putting on t-shirts (my belief, not hers)… My venture will be focused on creating t-shirt designs to promote social initiatives and causes, with all proceeds and royalties after production costs going to the chosen initiatives. The first of these designs is a commemorative t-shirt, thanking Wild Peeta for all that they have done and will continue doing in the future.

The t-shirt is available to buy to the general public from Zazzle, and can be found [here]. The T-shirts are reasonably priced, although I will try and reduce the costs. In the meantime – if anyone wants the tshirt (especially in Dubai), let me know within the next 2 weeks, and I will bring them with me in December (if I buy in bulk will get you the tshirt for a fair bit less)! All proceeds from this tshirt will go to the 8 Day Academy project.

If you want to be part of this venture, do get in touch. All you need is a creative mind and a desire to make a difference in any and every community!

Sesame street celebrated its 40th birthday on Thursday. I grew up watching the various different characters and still appreciate the simple learning and educative entertainment which it brings with it. I think my kids will definitely watch Sesame Street too!

It was good to see Google do their part in celebrating this occasion – they had me as their cover…. no really!

But speaking of Google, 27 years ago, Sesame street recorded this song…. how appropriate! Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdRkdvKy5WI

I *AM* an AWESOME GOOGLER!

…… I had a bad throat on the day of the performance….

Thanks to all my tweeties who pointed the video out to me!

October is cancer awareness month for women; throughout the month huge awareness campaigns and drives take place, and it’s great to see that people come out and raise awareness and more importantly contribute to the various organisations which look for funding for research and development of cures for the various forms of cancer.

November, is cancer awareness month for men – ladies first ofcourse! Movember (sic) is an annual month long awareness campaign which highlights men’s health issues, and more specifically prostate cancer. Prostate cancer is an illness which takes away a lot of lives every year, yet passes very easily under the radar. Every year more than 30,000 men are diagnosed with prostate cancer in the UK and every year about 10,000 men die because of prostate cancer in the UK. The staggering thing is that the numbers have remained at that level for many a year.

So, what role does Movember have to play in all of this? Well…

Mo Bros, supported by their Mo Sistas, start Movember (November 1st) clean shaven and then have the remainder of the month to grow and groom their moustache. During Movember, each Mo Bro effectively becomes a walking billboard for men’s health and, via their Mo, raises essential funds and awareness for Movember’s men’s health partner – The Prostate Cancer Charity. At the end of Movember, a series of Gala Partés are held to thank Mo Bros and Sistas for their support and fund raising efforts.

In all of this – I am extending my support with my twist to the Movember campaign. You see – I don’t do mustaches; what I will do though is invert my ‘tache and stick it on my chin for the whole month. What’s more – I’ll be styling it differently each week to highlight my mo’-ness. Ofcourse, like the charity: water campaign, I have a Mo’ campaign page too [check it out here], a Mo’ group with my Mo Bros and Mo Sistas [search for group "Bu Shanab" on the Movember home page], and also a Mo’ soundtrack to go with it too (see below).

Cancer research UK have tons of information and research information on Prostate Cancer; you can check it out here. To all you guys reading this – make sure you eat cherry tomatoes every day or atleast half a tomato everyday; studies have proven that they reduce the risk of becoming victim to prostate cancer.

In the meantime, I can’t help but post this track – it was just made for this…. check out the Mo’s on Puffy and Mace – my cover version for Movember would be “Mo’ Money, No Problems”… roll it…

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-FTRAeycmM0