The Camel Herders are in Town

On my way to American Corner in St. Francis college,  I was stuck in traffic, and cursing myself for not      taking the other route. Slowly I inched towards the epicenter of the jam and found 6-7 camels and camel herders hogging the road, oblivious to the chaos around.  While I was trying to practice my anger management 101, the camels discovered something chew-able on the side of road and started munching the Castor oil bushes  they have found. This cleared the road and vehicles zipped passed.  Not me, I now wanted to click the camels.

It is not very often that you spot camels in Hyderabad; I last saw them on ORR on my road trip to Srisailam. Camels are common in Rajasthan and I had clicked some pictures of Camels and Camel Herders near Tal Chapar Sanctuary.

I cursed myself again for not carrying my camera with me, and just clicked a few pictures from inside of my car.  My photography pursuit was interrupted by honking of a million horns and I realized that camels have very successfully passed the mantle of being epicenter of the traffic jam to me.  I sheepishly or should I say Camelishly! parked my car and got out to click some more pictures from my cell phone of the camels and camel herders.

Dear Reader if you are cursing me ( too many curses in this post!) to come to the point about why I am writing about Camels and Camel  herders please be patient, remember the universe is benign and everything happens for a reason.

So like I said I was on my way to American Corner in St. Francis Women’s College on invitation by American Consulate, to attend a session on blogging the concept being:

“How we live in a global culture in search of stories to give our lives and our missions new meaning, hope and energy. This is why those willing to own, tell and spread their stories will rule the future. This talk will examine the art of a powerful story, social responsibility, technologies and how powerful storytelling is the key to social change and hope for the future.”

Just a few days ago the US government had shut down due to clashes between Republicans and Democrats over Obamacare, and I was wondering if the session would be cancelled. But I got a SMS from Padmaja from US consulate a day in advance confirming the session. So I was looking forward to interact with other bloggers and our speaker for the day Sabrina Hersi Issa a digital media entrepreneur focused on global advocacy, politics and social entrepreneurship. She is the Chief Executive Officer of Be Bold Media which powers online campaigns for social change organizations.

It was a great session, with Sabrina being a natural at connecting with people from diverse background. While we were interacting with her one of the younger bloggers Mahita Kasireddy mentioned about her parents resistance to let her choose her own profession and trying to force her to choose a profession of parents choice. This led to an interesting debate and we learned that Sabrina is a first generation American, her parents moved to US from Somalia and come from a long line of proud Camel Herders!

Ah! I said to myself, strange are the ways of Universe, she makes me take pictures of Camel Herders on a busy road of Hyderabad, on my way to attend a seminar by an international expert on social media, change, and power of storytelling.  Now you tell me what are the odds in a day when you click pictures of Camel Herders and attend a session by an international speaker who comes from a long and proud line of Camel Herders?

That also brings me to another important point, only in America a little girl, whose parents barely speak English and raise their daughter in their faith of Islam can aspire and successfully become an authority in her chosen field. Today Sabrina provides her consulting services not only in the field of journalism, social media, but also to candidates who are running for public office in US.  President Obama is not an exception, he is the most prominent and illustrious example of the great American dream. Sabrina is not just from a long and proud line of Camel Herders, she is also from a long list of people who have achieved their and their parents Great American Dream.

As of now the American government may have shut down but the Great American Dream is alive and kicking. The day a Camel Herder will have the same opportunity as the son of a politician or business tycoon in India, we will arrive as a nation.

 That is my story of the day. Thanks for reading, please do leave your comments and feel free to share with your friends if you like the post.