On TripleJ...

No posts for far too long, but for anyone who hasn't given up entirely on checking this blog (or has it in their feeds), check out my on-a-whim contribution to a discussion on cosmetic surgery that took place today on TripleJ's Hack. For my non-aussie friends, TripleJ is Australia's national youth radio network and Hack is a current affairs show.

The stream can be found here for the next week and the podcast will turn up here in the next few days. My call is around the 27:45 mark.

Great blog by a couple living in far north Canada

gone north

Some thoughts on leadership

I'm beginning to establish my management ethos. Over the past 2 years, I've gradually taken on more and more management-type responsibilities and to help me cope with it all, I've looked to some of the managers I've worked for and worked with for indirect advice on what makes a person a successful manager, to put it broadly. I've conciously observed these people in their day-to-day activites, how they make decisions, how they manage people, how they deal with politics. I've been trying to pick out traits that fit with the type of manager I want to be. One common trait that I have found is possessed by all the people I would define as "good" managers is that they are leaders as well. All the organisational behaiviour texts I've read and lectures I've been to were right! Genuine leadership is a trait required for effective management. This fits very well with my belief that organisations should be democratic, rather than autocratic.

A manager has been appointed based on defined criteria and usually by those further up the chain, whereas a leader has been informally nominated againt intangible criteria by the people they are leading. By the people they are leading. This really does appeal to my sense of democracy and fairness. It is so easy to feel the unfairness of organisational rank and rule as you see incompetant people appointed again and again to management positions while the true leaders are passed over. The concept of leadership over management appeals to me even further when I start to think about the traits and benefits I see as being part of leadership.

Leaders are popular. They have to be well-liked in order to be promoted by the people around them. They are trustworthy, consistant, honest, and fair. If they aren't, the people who considered them a leader will fall away for lack of trust. I am really attracted to those particular four qualities, both in the people around me and in myself. I know from past (and current) experience that I don't work well with people who act in opposition to these traits. I don't work well with unethical people.

Leaders can motivate people. your manager can come to you and tell you that you are going to have to work on a particularly big and difficult project, that it will involve a lot of work in areas you're not really confident in, and that you will have to work particulary hard in order to meet a deadline. Sounds like fun huh? If that same manager happens to be a leader that you trust and are inspired by, that same project becomes an opportunity to work with innovative technology on a really high-profile project, and expand your knowledge into a new area. You also trust that you will be recognised for your hard work once the project is finished. See how that works? That is what I see as leadership. And that is the type of manager I hope I am becoming.

Sitting on my balcony, blogging

Sitting on my balcony with my iBook, wandering the net, I am grateful to one man who was able to give me what no other man has been able to... a wireless broadband home network.

They caught him!

Despite the perceptions some people may have of the Queensland Police, dealing with them over my break in has given me new appreciation for the work they do. Yeah, getting pulled over for running through an orange light just as it turns red sucks, but when you are a victim of crime and not committing one, they really do have your back covered.

After my frantic call to 000 to report my break-in (Note: 000 is not to be used to report break-ins, no matter how completely freaked out and utterly panicked to the point of loosing all capacity to use a phonebook you may be), there were two very friendly and sympathetic sargents at my house within an hour. A crime-scene investigator followed a little while later to dust for prints and look for hair and such. No, she wasn't wearing a cleavage-bearing top and sunglasses inside, but she was very professional and friendly.

So I got a call to my mobile on Good Friday from a constible to tell me that William, a 28 year old heroin addict had confessed to my break-in as well as three others in the area. It was not his first time doing break-ins and he had been caught before and charged under the drug crimes act which meant he had to go through a rehabillitation program rather than serve jail time. Obviously it didn't work too well and the constible told me he will most likely face significant jail time for this one. I will need to give a statement at some point in the next few months and may have to testify in court, something I am all too willing to do. I want to see the face of the man that came into my home while I slept.

As for the goods he stole, they were traded for heroin and I am writing this from my brand-new iBook, with a new digital camera beside me, and a new iPod is on its way. So William, those things you stole have been easily replaced and you will be punished for harming my peace of mind.

The system seems to work.

An open letter to the person(s) who burgled me early Monday morning

You forced open a window and entered my home while I slept. You stole things from me that I had worked hard to be acquire, and things I didn't realise could be stolen. You stole my peace of mind. My confidence in my independence as a person and as a woman. You stole the pleasure I get from sitting on my back porch late at night watching fruitbats fly over. I don't feel safe doing this now. I startle at possums moving the branched outside my windows. I sleep with my valuables stashed around me. I don't sleep. I wake yelling from nightmares where you are standing over me as I sleep and I chase after you and yell 'You!' 'You!'. I don't understand all of how I know feel, but I know you did this when you made my home unsafe.

What gives you the right to effect a person in this way? To change a person's life in this way? To hurt a person in this way? What gives you the right? Because you didn't have the same opportunities I have had? Because you don't have people around you who would make sure you never had to resort to this, no matter how bad things got? Is it because you are just too ignorant and insensitive to understand that what you did was wrong and impacted upon an innocent person? You know, if you had approached me for help, honestly and with good will, chances are I would have helped you in some way willingly and without the need to this violation. I help people. That's how I am. I have to believe that people are fundamentally good and kind and just, otherwise I become depressed. You have given me reason to doubt this belief and to doubt the goodness of people. This is a cruel, cruel thing to do to me.

I have insurance. I have backups of files. The physical things you stole will be sold to allow you to feed your habit/ego/children and will be easily replaced. The most valuable thing you stole from me doesn't have street value and will take years to replace.

Understand that the world is balanced. When you give yourself in kindness, at some point you will receive kindness in return. When you take with such malice, you will receive in kind. Understand this, and understand the effect your actions have.

The India Diaries - Photos, stories, and all that good stuff

While my plans to keep an active blog while in India failed miserably, I did keep an old-fashioned journal and have now brought it up to blog-like form by compiling my writings along with some of the 700+ MBs of photos I took. What I was hoping to achieve was something like a virtual slideshow evening with me narrating and telling stories about the places, experiences, and people that made the trip so wonderful. I think I have achieved that.

So fry up some veggie parantha, grab a banana lassi and enjoy.

http://home.iprimus.com.au/kclarkson/india/

Kate discovers archiving, and the peasants rejoice

Alright, so having 23 posts with big-arsed images on one page was a bit silly. So Kate has learned to archive and older posts can now be found under those conveniently labeled archive links. Go technology.

The India Diaries - Back home

I've been back in Brisbane for 3 full days now and am still marvelling at the blueness of the sky, the lushness of the trees, the calmness of the traffic, and this wonderful thing called 'grass'. I feel so fortunate to be able to call this country and this city home. I want to hold onto this feeling of being grateful for what we have here for as long as I can.

India has certainly given me a greater level of tolerance and patience than I had before I left. I was able to go into the Indooroopilly shopping mall, buy a few t-shirts (the Indian dhobi-wallahs have all but destroyed most of mine) and come out felling serene and un-harried. And during school holidays as well. Before I went away, there is no way I could have gone into the Westfield wasteland without snapping at a store clerk or wanting to shoulder through a pack of giggling teenagers. I didn't realise how short my temper had become until India lengthened it again. And karma works. My new-found patience was rewarded by finding the perfect t-shirt in several colours and a great pair of pants, all very cheap.

It's good to be home in the comfort and oppulence of the west, but I miss India's innocence.

And now for something completely different...

Photos from the PeA pseudo-christmas party at the Belgium Beer Cafe, held on the day before I left for India.


The merry-makers gather...


Contemplate tasty offerings...



Bond with fellow merry-makers...


Before resorting to violence.

Much fun was had by all.

The India Diaries: Almost home

Just a quick post as I sit in the Sydney airport waiting for my flight to Brisbane to be called. I'm a bit sad at how my plans to keep up a travel blog have failed quite miserably. When I felt the need to write, I was generally nowhere near a computer let alone the Internet. Going low-tech hasn't been so bad, and I kinda like curling up with a journal and a pen rather than hacking away at a keyboard in a grimy Internet cafe.

My plan is to put together a digital photo album of sorts with images and my writings. I want to spend the next week before I go back to work to properly solidify the emotion I have felt and impressions I have made over the past month. I hope it all comes out well.

I've been in transit now for just over 36 hours, I think, starting with an overnight train from Jhansi to Delhi before flying out to Mumbai and on to Sydney. I cleared customs in Sydney and stepped outside to see the bluest sky I have seen in a month. Actually, to see the only blue sky I have seen in a month. I will never again complain that Sydney is a dirty place. Never. Its amazing how a few little basics now seem like luxuries. I had a glass of Aussie wine on the plane and I felt like I was drinking amber nectar. It was beautiful. I showered in the Qantas club here in Sydney. I haven't had a hot shower in a month, and a warm shower in 2 weeks. I was getting used to bathing by pouring hot water from a bucket over myself, but I think I can adjust back. It was bliss.

One thing I want to retain is my new found appreciation for those luxuries that I once considered necessities.

One more flight and I'm home!

Nameste-ji

The India Diaries - How to fit 4 foreigners and 14 Indians into a Jeep

So, I left Agra this morning to head to nearby Fatephur Sikra, an 800 year old city and fort. I thought the 2 hour bus ride there was crowded, with several people standing and one family of four sitting on a seat built for no more than 2 Ghandi-sized people. Nah! That was spacious compared to coming back. After a great day of wandering the old city, snacking from the vendors and chai stands as I went, I got to chatting with 2 guys from Mexico who had been trekking in Nepal, and yet another Canadian. So the sign at the bus stop said that there would be a bus back to Agra every half hour from 8am to 6pm. So we settled in for a late lunch and drink at a restaurant right next to the bus stop, thinking we would catch the 6pm bus back. Nope. 8am to 6pm means that the last bus leaves at 5:30pm, and aren't you silly for thinking otherwise. Fortunately, there was a jeep heading that way and we could get on it for only 5 rupee more than the bus would have cost. Sweet. A nice, luxurious (comparatively) jeep all to ourselves for only 20 rupee each. Nup. We were sharing it with 14 other people. There were two guys hanging off the back, one out of the passenger side door, and the driver was almost out the door. I say door, but this thing hadn't had any doors on it for a very long time. Comfortable? No. Scary? Oh god yes. Absolutely great fun? That too. And after almost freezing on the autorickshaw then bus ride that morning, I was nice and toasty squashed between 2 Mexicans, and half buried under their packs.

Off for a few chill-out days around the river in Ocha before heading back up to Delhi and home. I am going to miss this place.

At last! Pictures!

I have finally been able to find a computer which will play nice with my digital camera and has a fast enough connection to upload images. Forgive me if these are a little large. Decent image editing software is a little hard to come by in cyber cafes in India.


The view from my hotel in Mumbai on my first night in India. Yes, it is a slum, but from what I've seen since, it was a slum in the better part of town.


Me at Amber Fort in Jaipur, Rajistan. These guys were serious about their forts and built them big, impossible to attack, and very very luxurious.


Breakfast at the Karni Mata temple in Deshnoke, near Bikaner in Rajistan. Its a beautiful Hindi temple overrun by tens of thousands of storytellers reincarnated as rats. To see a white rat is considered very lucky... I saw two. Oh, and its a temple, so you have to leave your shoes at the gates. Mmmm... rat poo between your toes.






I still can't get used to the celebrity status my whiteness carries here. Everywhere I go, groups of Indians come up to me brandishing cameras. They don't want me to take a picture of them, they want to have their picture taken with me. I usually ask for one of them in return.


An 8 metre high, 2000 year old stone Buddha in the Adjunta tample complex. It's a series of 34 temples carved out of the cliff face and painted. The weight of the work the monks did in this place is absolutely tangible. So powerful.


Christmas day on a camel in the desert north of Jaisalmer.


Inside the Jaisalmer fort. Around 30,000 people still live inside the fort and it was a great place to get lost for a few hours.


Vegetarian thali. The most wonderful meal to order when you have no idea what anything on the menu is. Its assorted veg curries with chipati and roti (breads) and rice. To be eaten with the right hand, which I'm getting quite good at. Food tastes so much better when eaten with your hands.


Monkey and swamii getting cleaned up in the morning on the ghats at Pushka, Rajistan.






An amazing afternoon after stumbling upon a Brahman temple in the middle of Jaipur. A young and very enthusiastic student Brahman priest and yoga teacher took me in and introduced me to his family, his school, and his spirituality. He chanted the sanskrit he was learning. Such a pure and genuine man.

That's all for now. Must get off to bed before an early start to head to Fatepur Sikri in the morning.

An very Indian Christmas and New Years Eve, and why its hard to keep a travel blog when backpacking around India

At last! An internet cafe that isn't closed, without power, or running a 4kbs connection (I'm not kidding). I've pretty much given up on my original plan to keep travel blog going. The time and effort required to find an access point on a regular basis is just not worth it. In keeping with the trend in India, I've decided to take the more labor-intensive but less technologically advanced option of a notebook and pen for my travel diary. I've also wanted to get some of the amazing photos I've been taking up but it just hasn't worked out.

I spent Christmas eve and Christmas day on a camel in the sand dunes of the desert near Jaisalmer. Much much fun, and very fitting of a traditional Christmas, although paneer, dhal, and chipati cooked over a campfire is not really a traditional Christmas lunch, but oh so tasty.

It's New Year's Day today, and I'm in Agra, home of the Taj Mahal. My plan to spend New Year's Eve in Agra didn't pan out due to overbooked hotels and trains, and as it worked out, I'm glad I stayed in Jaipur for the past 5 nights. I've met up with a fellow Canadian who is also traveling alone so we've decided to spend the next week traveling not so alone. I also met up with a British couple who were interested in splurging on an Indian New Year's so we all trooped into a taxi and up to the Le Meridian Hotel in Jaipur for dinner and disco. The place is an absolute palace and certainly not something I could ever hope to afford in the west. For the paltry sum of 2999 rupee per couple (approx AUD90), we had an amazing dinner, all the drinks we could manage, and the pleasure of watching some serious Bollywood dance imitation on the dance floor. So so great. A few amusing and very Indian points:
- The power went off in the entire complex at around "Nine!", and was back on by "Two!" No one seemed to be concerned.
- A lot of Indians don't drink, so the mood was significantly lighter (and more letch-free) than it would be at a similar event in the west.
- At midnight, the four of us non-Indians exchanged the traditional New Year's kisses. We were the only ones to do so and got some odd looks.
- An amazing fireworks show was let off right over our heads. I've never seen a fireworks display launched directly over a group of people. When a tent nearby caught fire, I understood why, but it was very very beautiful.

Agra is so polluted and filthy after the clean air and rural areas of Rajistan, but I just couldn't come all the way to India and not see the Taj.

Only one week left before I head into the post-apocalyptic hell that is Delhi and onwards to the land of Oz. I'll return carrying silks from Jaipur, jewelry from Solupur, kurtas from Pune, and a sense of wonderment at this place where 1 billion people manage to live together in utter chaos, yet somehow find the ability to create small oasises of perfect harmony.