Back (again)

I came back on Saturday night.
This time around the newness factor wasn't there so not that much to blog about, but the visit was more eventful. I got involved in a specific task: translating a report on a recent program they did, from Telugu to English. The report is now available on their website: www.timbaktu.org, see the "What's New" section at the top. This is quite a nice thing: they have not gotten out a good report on the festival in the past due to their constraints, and they have not updated their website in a while. So I'm quite encouraged and I feel like I'm contributing something useful. I also started working on their next big project for me, which is to help get their annual report out. This should be quite a nice project again -- if I can do a good chunk of the work, it will free up the head of the organization a lot which is a real tangible benefit. Further I am working with one of the people there who is good at writing in Telugu and he will try to get a Telugu version of the annual report out, which would be a first for them.
All good stuff. On the minus, I'm getting a little bit sucked into things, and can't take it casually or treat it lightly. The annual report needs to come out soon so that means I also need to spend a bunch of time on it now, which is clashing with other commitments with Priya and going on the trip with my parents etc.

The guy I mentioned above is quite a remarkable chap and 'discovering' him was something of a high point of the trip. He stands out quite quickly in a crowd due to his abilities and drive. Earlier he was involved with several things including the People's War Group and politics (he was close to Paritala Ravi for those familiar with Andhra politics), but finally found a niche for himself at Timbaktu.
I also shifted to the new guesthouse which was a big improvement. There's a maintanance guy so the insect quota is quite less, and the windows are bigger and have meshes. Its situated slightly away from the rest of the dwellings, and next to the hills and is really a gorgeous place. I really felt good staying there.

Since coming back I've not done a great deal. On the agenda is : getting taxes done, buying a scooter for the madam, getting her enrolled in the new course and preparing for the trip up north. I'm heading back to Timbaktu next week to get some work done on the annual report before taking off on the trip.

Okay.

Bye-bye.