wordfalls and scatters

So, as it turns out, I am going to Karachi. I talked to the folks at HIVOS about it, and they assured me that not only was it safe, but there would be plenty of people to help look after me. They specifically mentioned that I could tell my mother I would be quite safe. So, sticking with my usual method of decision making (wondering vaguely about the problem for a heap of time, then making a snap decision), I went and bought my tickets today.

( In case you are fretting, here are some other things to think about: )

In work-related news: things are going ok, as far as I can tell. I'm pleased with my interview at HIVOS this morning, and I think Mysore will be useful. This afternoon I will make more phonecalls, and try to line up interviews for the next week. I'm also incredibly relieved that Karachi doesn't sound too dangerous, since I think it would be a pity to miss it.

I've also thoroughly abandoned any attempts to be objective and uninvolved, since I don't think that it's ethically sustainable. Prasad has made me promise to write and article or two for him to translate and put into the KRRS magazine (I'll probably do one on the involvement of women, and one on the importance of building networked and self-propagating activism), and I may be giving a talk at Janastu about the issues that have come up in my research. I'm also going to be discussing some of these issues with a few different activists over the coming months, and linking them up with ideas and activists working on information management/networking.

Also: I really think someone should go to this talk on the role of public intellectuals and report back to me on it. It sounds interesting.

Finally: I think I'd like to write something for the Limina conference, unfortunately I am quite worried that it will turn out to be horrible postmodern, in my least favourite sense. Is anyone interested in co-authoring something with me? Is that something that one can do? (I don't know about all this grow-up academic stuff.)

I think that guerrilla gardening is a pretty nifty idea! I submit that it might be cooler if gardeners made a point of using 'useful' plants, though. Herbs and edibles and such.

Other things that are nifty:
* For less than a dollar, I can get as much pineapple as I can eat. And it's served on old newspapers or pages torn from books...so little waste I am pleased every time I snack!
* Here and there, trees are garlanded with marigolds and left offerings.
* The place I'm going to tonight, Hubli, is right next to another place I need to visit, Dharwad, where they have a farmer's media centre.
* You! Yes, you!
* Some other things I wanted to tell you guys, but I forgot.