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elcome to the inaugural issue of Aakash, the Bay Area Asha Newsletter, brought to you by Asha Berkeley, Asha Silicon Valley and Asha Stanford. Our first joint venture, I hope Aakash will afford volunteers and the wider public an insight into the organizational structure of Asha for Education, its all-important projects in India and the wider development and socioeconomic context which we continually hope to better. Moreover, I hope Aakash will serve as a meeting ground for all those interested in the future of India and concerned for the welfare of all its peoples irrespective of religion, creed, class, caste and the countless other divisions by which we disaggregate and falter. I hope, here, to encourage an exchange of ideas and, thereby, build a knowledge base upon which we may each individually lean as we work tirelessly toward our collective end goal: a better and brighter South Asian future.
Aakash will be available both online and in print, the latter in a highly abridged form. The online edition will host a growing collection of resource links on various topics such as the politics, economics and philosophy of South Asia, development and South Asian Studies. Further, the South Asian Journal, updated daily, will link to contemporary content relevant to a better understanding of political philosophy, history, socio-economics and sociology generally and with a specific bent towards the Indian subcontinent.
Since its inception, Asha for Education has been notoriously decentralized, presently functioning with over 66 virtually autonomous chapters scattered throughout the United States, Europe and Asia. In many ways, this structure mirrors the grassroots organizations we partner with in India, hoping to spark a bottom-up change in localized communities throughout India. As we grow older as an organization and expand globally, an increasing need for an Asha-wide identity has spurred efforts such as Aakash. I hope this newsletter will help bond and strengthen the Bay Area Asha community.
To contribute to future issues or for more information, please email me at aakash_editor@yahoo.com.
Sincerely,
Mihir Desai
Editor-in-Chief, Aakash |
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