I have almost finished uploading all the photos and videos. Each one of them seems to tell a story. Here are the links:

http://picasaweb.google.com/vinayarun


The facebook photo links have already been put up in a previous post.

Whew! Finally I reached home and I have so much to tell. I lost access to the internet midway and that's why I could not continue blogging. But now I will put together all my travel information and travel stories and upload them soon.

U N I V E R S A L S T U D I O S and H A L L O W E E N N I G H T

and now I am starting to miss home :-(

I left south Brunswick new jersey, and after a day of travelling reached my hostel in Orlando. This city is so weird! The entire city is like a fantasy world, it feels like I am in some cartoon, and the place is so very different from new York and new jersey. More on this is coming soon with pictures and videos!

The symposium 2008 is over and after the symposium I came to New York. I wish I could upload all the pictures and videos but right now I can't due to connectivity issues. But there are a lot of pictures and videos and lots to tell. New York I think is the best city I have ever been to.
Of all the things I liked here one of my favourites is how sounds like honks etc. echo through the streets because of the huge buildings all around. Wow!

It is 4 AM on the morning of the departure day. We will be leaving for the airport in one hour. The 2008 symposium is over. I will take with me a week of memories that can never be measured. I am going to miss everyone so much and can only hope that everyone makes it to the next symposium in India when I will be graduating from the foundation.
During the farewell dinner I heard one senior fellow of the foundation say "Another symposium has come and gone". Time smiles down at us and continues ticking.

For photos of the 2008 Melton Foundation symposium in New Orleans visit the following links:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=159272&l=a34b6&id=540550536

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=160966&l=0dfbb&id=540550536

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=161303&l=7310d&id=540550536

http://www.dusymposium2008.org/

28 september 2008 2 pm..... Fresh grapes, orange juice, huge turkey salami sandwich which I couldn't finish...but sleeping on the banks of the Mississippi with a full stomach on a lazy warm afternoon...:-) welcome to symposium 2008...

28 september 2008 12:15 am..... Sitting next to the pool, under the stars on a cool and clear New Orleans night, listening to stairway to heaven you can only tell yourself: "Do whatever it takes but just be happy, each moment gone is a moment lost."

Delhi-Chicago flight The flight didn't take a route that we imagined. Instead it went over Pakistan, Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Russia, the NORTH POLE, Greenland and Canada. And because of the route we left at night and reached at night, but for a brief moment I saw sunlight in between while we were over the north pole.

27 september 2008 1:30 pm..... New Orleans first city outing: We went out for lunch into the city to a place calledAarby's. I have only been having fast food :-). Then we went to wall-mart and realised that it was a pretty bad neighbourhood. The people were quiet spooky and weird. You could sense it was unsafe. We were clever enough to take a taxi and not walk! We reached our hostel later in one piece and no one had stolen my laptop too! I also found a working plug point adapter for my laptop :-). Its 4 am in Iindia now and I have been smsing folks back in India.

27 september 2008 12:18 pm.....We reached the India House hostel and just unpacked a little. We took a shuttle from the airport to get here and saw a lot of the American characteristics that we were familiar with - the SUV's, the highways, the motels etc. The hostel is a very unique place. I will go out and take some pictures now.

27 september 2000 6:30 am We landed in chicago, its the first time I have stepped into the united states of America. We are half a globe away and I have this weird feeling seeing all the things in real life that I have been seeing on television and magazines for years now.

26 september 9 pm .... Waiting at delhi international airport we spoke to a swiss woman. She is a nurse and is part of ladhak partners, which is, from what i understood an organisation that deals with traditional forms of medicine in ladhak. She was telling us about the harsh winters there and how the locals struggle, but are still happy with their lives and how a rich country like switzerland has unhappy people and a high suicide rate. We then were talking about how many different and varied things all the people in the lounge might be involved with. The lady sitting next to us from switzerland, walked for days through snow covered mountains and helped villagers and learnt about traditional indian medicine. What if we could talk to all the travellers here?

Re shuffling

Its been painting time at home for the past few days. Everything had to be moved around, all the wardrobes had to be emptied. Some things that had remained untouched for 4 years had to shifted and thats when so many of your memories get refreshed. All my old notebooks from school came out and I could see in them those afternoons in class, those were the days. All the fun, excitement, innocence, the hilarious pranks we used to play, pouring water and throwing chalk pieces and sawdust. I love those lost days from the past now, and I may love today tomorrow.

Easier blogging!

Finally I managed to setup internet access on my mobile phone by using the bluetooth to connect to the broadband connection. Now this means I can post directly from the phone! Now this is very easy and convenient and I hope it encourages me to post a lot more often. :-)

Patience?

There is something about patience that seems to imperss everyone. Its been many months now, and the months have been so long, that it now only feels very very weird and sometimes silly to get hurt when someone acknowledges that I have been abnormally patient in these months. Would I have ever thought such a day would come?

Corporate Sustainability

When it comes to discussing the roles of governments and businesses in the fight against environmental degradation and global warming it is a requirement to discuss the responsibilities of corporations and the latest trends in corporate responsibilities.

 

What is Corporate Sustainability?

According to Wikipedia: “Corporate sustainability is an evolution on more traditional phrases describing ethical corporate practice. Phrases such as corporate social responsibility (CSR) or corporate citizenship continue to be used but are increasingly superseded by the broader term, corporate sustainability. Unlike the other phrases that focus on “added-on” policies, corporate sustainability describes business practices built around social and environmental considerations.”

A sustainable corporation is one that ensures its business practices are giving back to the environment just as much as they are taking from it. The following link gives a list of Corporations rated as most sustainable around the world: http://www.global100.org/

Importance of Corporate Sustainability

The significance of corporate sustainability can be seen now more clearly than ever before. With rising concerns over the environment all over the world there is, unfortunately, a global effort that is lacking in force to counter the environmental degradation. Why the lethargy when it comes to action against environmental harm can be explained with several reasons: economics, politics, ignorance, corruption etc.

At such a time it is heartening to see some corporations take up the responsibility upon themselves and not wait for a global order or master plan to take shape, and given the way things are moving this might be the best solution we have as of now.

Hence, the study of measures taken by various corporations around the world to be sustainable is an important step in the study of current environmental issues and its long term effects. The need of the hour is to come up with ways on how to encourage businesses to drive themselves into becoming sustainable and how to bring about awareness among the general public. In the ideal situation every business would “look after itself” by being environmentally sustainable and that would ensure the overall sustainability of the planet.

The Avalahalli Social Service Project

The Melton foundation entered into a partnership with the government school at Avalahalli, Yelahanka in February 2007. The Avalahalli government school has classes 1 to 5 and 3 rooms to conduct its classes in. As can be imagined the teachers at Avalahalli were overjoyed to see engineering students volunteering to help the school in the long term. Since then there has been no looking back and the Melton foundation’s relationship with the school has strengthened over the months.

Initially Melton fellows taught conversational English and computer classes during the vacations. The classes took into consideration the background of the students studying in Avalahalli and their weaknesses. It was observed that English was the biggest weakness of the students. The computer classes were enjoyed by the students and they showed a high level of interest in all the classes that were conducted by the Melton fellows. The Melton fellows also spoke about issues like importance of continuing education, the career options available etc.

Students in Avalahalli

In October 2007 a system for involving non-Meltonites in the project at Avalahalli was implemented with great success. The new initiative allowed non-Meltonites to teach in the school and ensured a regular number of hours of classes per week for the school. It also gave an opportunity for students of BMSIT interested in social service to make a start.

Looking ahead there are many more projects in store for the overall development of the Avalahalli government school. These include donation of a computer, improving the electrical systems in the school, further expansion of the project to involve more non-Meltonites etc. The Avalahalli project is an achievement the Melton fellows will always be proud of and it is also an inspiration for other social service projects.

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