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SSF Walk 2011: promoting eduction in India, one small step at a time

vidurgupta — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 15:44:42 +0000

Small Step Foundation is a non-profit public benefit volunteer corporation that I support.Their focus is promoting education and support rehabilitation of special need children by directly funding existing Not for profit organizations in India. This is from SSF website:

“If Not Us, Then Who? If Not Now, Then When?”
These were the guiding priniciples of the founders of Small Steps Foundation to take a collective action, our first step to make a positive difference in the lives of millions of helpless children who are deprived of their basic universal human right: Right to Education.

To learn more about the work they are supporting please visit http://projects.smallstepsfoundation.org/

SSF Walk is one of the 2 major fund-raising event that the organization hosts every year. If you live in Northern California, I encourage you to be a part of the walk and help raise funds. You can also support a team of your choice by making a donation of any amount at the Small Steps teams at firstgiving.com

This is the team I support:

http://www.firstgiving.com/fundraiser/reetuguptaandnitinkumar-kumar/small-step-walk-2011

Filed under: children, education, India, non-profit, people, poverty

It is SSF walk time again!

vidurgupta — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 05:25:25 +0000

Last year, I had posted about SSF walk and it is that time of the year again. A small SSF intro: It is a Bay Area based Non-Profit working to fund education projects in India. To raise funds, they are oragnizing a 5k/10k walk and, as always, the event is targeted towards a whole family experience. These are the details of the SSF 2010 Walk.

If you are inclined to donate, consider this team.

Thanks, Vidur

Filed under: children, help, India, life, non-profit

The rise of cricket, the rise of India

vidurgupta — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 05:57:55 +0000

An interesting talk by Harsha Bhogle on TED.com. He traces the rise of cricket in India with special focus on T20 and IPL. He links it with the economic rise of India and how the power of money has changed the attitude of foreign players and Indian viewers. It is quite funny to be honest.

Filed under: fun, India

Mile Sur Mera Tumhara: The Old and the New

vidurgupta — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 02:12:46 +0000

Recently a new version of ‘Mile Sur Mera Tumhara’ was released and it has created a lot of talk about which version is better. Personally, I believe that old is gold but am putting both versions here for you to decide. First, the old version:

And this is the new version. It is pretty long so 2 links.

Filed under: fun, India, movies

Help Gaurav: Update

vidurgupta — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 17:11:07 +0000

About a month ago I had posted about Gaurav, who has AML, and his families efforts to raise funds for the Non-Related Allogenic transplant he needs. I am sure a few people have had there doubts if this is genuine, I have seen a couple of hits on my blog from Google w/ search terms as “help gaurav fraud”. I came across and article in DNA India about how the students of Gaurav’s wife, Anuradha, raised funds for the operation. I hope this will clear some doubts.

This is the article Prof plans ‘gift of life’ for hubby and this was my original post Help Gaurav. Finally an update from Help Gaurav

Lastly, the total financial contribution has now reached an incredible INR 98L (Approx US$ 217,000)!! Our sincerest thanks to all the contributors. This has been an incredible leap of faith for all of us and I must admit, I am overwhelmed by the support that we continue to receive every day. Needless to say, this is still a journey (with total cost of the operation being upwards of US$ 300,000) and hence any support is most welcome.

Posted in health, help, India, life

Desh se Tech News and Bakwas!

vidurgupta — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 15:51:38 +0000

A couple of interesting tech news from India yesterday. First is the launch of Windows 7 in Indian languages.

Microsoft, as a part of its efforts to overcome the language barrier to computing, has showcased a variety of custom made products directed specifically at the vernacular language market – a market that has been largely left untapped till now.

The new initiatives include Language Interface Packs (LIPs) in 12 Indian languages – Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Gurmukhi, Hindi, Kannada, Konkani, Malayalam, Marathi, Oriya, Tamil and Telugu – for MS Office and Windows.

MS does even one better and created tools for developers.

There’s more in store for developers as well. Directed at vernacular language developers, it has launched the Captions Language Interface Pack (or CLIP) in Hindi, Malayalam, Oriya, and Tamil. CLIP uses a tool tip caption to display translations for user interface items in Visual Studio 2008 making it the first ever instance of Microsoft releasing a tool specifically to help students and beginner developers in India use the product in their own language.

The original article from Techtree.com is Microsoft Launches Windows 7 in Hindi

The second and controversial is the launch of $20 laptop which would come down to $10 w/ mass production. The model is called Sakshat. This is an excerpt from India Unveils $20 Laptop:

The Sakshat model scheduled for display in the city of Tirupati Tuesday has 2 GB of memory, which is expandable. It has Wi-Fi and fixed Ethernet capability and will consume just 2 watts of power. The laptop was created over several months in a cooperative effort involving government, academic, and commercial interests.

…

The Sakshat is thought to use a simple version of Linux open source software as an operating system.

There are little details available about the “notebook” and as it is government backed there is doubt if the cost is actually that low or government subsidies are involved. An article in the Indian Daily “Hindu” has some more details and the device really is an hand-held and not a “laptop”.

The 10” long and 5” wide hand-held device, resembling a palmtop or a modem, helps e-learners access the Web easily. Priced versions of e-content available on the Net can be accessed through this device.

It doesn’t seem to have any input devices build-in and a very small display. This is from a Times of India article, $10-laptop proves to be a damp squib:

The so-called laptop actually turned out to be a storage device containing megabytes of data info which can be accessed by a user by connecting this device to a laptop. It meant that unlike the internet, this device can display that information that has already been stored.

Posted in computers, education, India