Finding purpose

I am comforted when I remind myself that I am here alone in the middle of the world with a purpose, which I don't exactly forget but which can elude me at times. I have spent most of the last two days meeting with the movers and shakers of the Hyderabad IT business world, so basically I have been totally out of my element! But in a good, non-alienating way because everyone at least knew why the hell I was there.

Hyderabad is making lots of money off IT and Indian philanthropy is on the rise. My main contact here has been Mr. Krishna, a friend of my father's, who knows everyone here and wants us to throw a fundraiser here for the "100 Club" of the CEOs of Hyderabad's 100 biggest IT businesses. He is excited to promote the concept of philanthropy here and the time is ripe. We visited a school for children of day laborers in the slums here, which is interested in collaborating with Village Focus partner SEEDS, who I am going to visit in a few days.

SEEDS works with all tribal people and has established a small school for tribal children in the remote mountainous West Godavari district. The large foundation that runs the school we visited is interested in collaborating and making the tribal school excellent and modern. This would be great and important because the tribal communities in AP really need educated local leaders to emerge and defend the communities' survival, now threatened by deforestation and moneylenders to whom indebted villagers sign over their land deeds (legally protected by the government...) So I feel good that I made a potential connection that could be very beneficial. That's what I came to do after all, be the bridge. Tribal communities are awesome and have much to teach us so we have to help them in their struggle for survival!!!!!!

Now I am in the mall in Hyderabad, claiming my space in an internet cafe otherwise dominated by teen boys playing complex computer games. One just asked me to get off my computer so he could check his email. I told him that I am in the middle of writing an email! He said, so can I use your machine? I repeated myself and he went away...I wonder, would a local girl defer to him or is he just a punk?

Interesting item:
Someone told me that Chinese and Korean parents who hope for their children to be future business people are sending their kids to personality school so they can learn to smile, relate and socialize like Westerners, increasing their chances of globalized business success! I guess they feel as awkward as others sometimes perceive them to be. Anything for the money, I guess...