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| Paintings at ITC Kakatiya |
Businesses are the mainstay of any economy.
Wealth is an important aspect of our lives—something which some social
activists in their passion for their cause overlook. I am one of them. But I am
recognizing more and more the place that everyone and everything has in our world
and how to sustain equal respect for all.
Which is why Hyderabad Bloggers’ Meet was
special. The meet was sponsored by a number of business with no strings
attached—no demands were made, no expectations. In such a scenario, the joy of
giving back is indeed a joy.
I will, therefore, focus, this post only on
the sponsors and not the bloggers.
Let me first start by thanking ITC Kakatiya
for giving us the fantastic room which could channelize the blog energy that
permeated the room. And thanks to Anuradha Goyal for facilitating this venue.
I had discovered ITC’s
green policies during the Indiblogger meet at ITC Grand Chola.
Please find the same here. I
have since compared it with other luxury hotels and realize something. Only big
businesses have the resources and financial bandwidth to enable conservation of
natural resources—if they have the will. Further, to me, as a food rights activist, it is interesting to note
that ITC hotels tend to resource vegetables and fruits from local areas thus
supporting local economy. The tagline “Responsible Luxury” is apt.
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| Rajan from Big Basket speaking |
Online grocery is an innovative way to cut down shopping time and standing in queue to pay. In an increasingly busy world, I often dislike spending time in malls or supermarkets. But I have often wondered if we can get good quality vegetables and fruits online. When Madhavi, a customer, showed me the quality of spinach bought on Big Basket (http://bigbasket.com/), I was amazed. She also told me how they are on time with delivery, good customer service and quality products. Thank you Big Basket for sponsoring the meet!
I do not understand technology and internet
as much. But I see how technology has brought transparency and improved
accessibility across the world. In a sense, internet itself is social justice
in action. In fact, the theme of the blog meet was Enabling Change through
Social Media.” Yes, there are issues of power and privilege in this realm too
and yet, perhaps easier to break and resist than in real world? So without
understanding Maxthon Browsers much, I thank them for
sponsoring the meet.
The next sponsor, CoolPCTips
to me represents more than a popular technology review platform. To me it
represents the surge of youth power in an alternate world. Once again, I don’t understand
SEO and other internet culture language—but smile that such a language has been
created, interpreted and shared by spirited youth of this world. I must mention
that sister affiliate of this group is Campus2Life
and I was amazed to find out that the site provides help to students suffering
from depression and other mental health challenges. They have a team of counselors
available on call to talk to students if need be. Amazing!
Finally, it gives me personal joy to write
about Blend of Tea. I owe a lot of my intellectual and
free-spirited thinking to Americans, who amongst other things, taught me the
value and respect for labour. I had watched curiously several of my friends
participate in Fair Trade movement. Some friends visited coffee plantations to
study and document labour practices there and wrote Ph.D. thesis on it. Others
manned a Fair trade shop called Peacecraft where you can find artifacts and
food items touched men and women of the earth. So you can imagine my joy when I
discovered Blend of Tea, an initiative of MetaBrown Holistic Solutions Pvt Ltd,
founded by Subhorup, Sateesh, and Naresh. It is a group committed to
sustainability and fair trade practices. They sell organic Pure Tea varieties which
is blended in with values of minimalistic living, environmental care and
community development. I hope one day Blend of Tea becomes a social movement in
itself—blending in more than tea, but everything that we hold sacred and
lovable on earth.
If you want to know about bloggers who came
to this special meet, please link to the posts below:
[Photos sourced from a variety of photographers. You know who you are.]
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