Day started by visiting His Holiness Shri. Shirdi Sai Baba Mandir at Lodhi Road. Had a very auspicious darshan. Then went to Andhra Bhawan to grab a bit of breakfast but the maintenance of the canteen is very poor.
Reached The India Habitat Centre (venue of Techshare India 2016), whole venue is filled with festive flavor. Had breakfast with one of my old friends Jeevan. Thank you Deque Crew for setting up the stall so beautiful.
It was wonderful to meet many of my long time friends Jim of Optelec, Steve Bennett of Dolphin, Priti of BarrierBreak. It was not even 9 am and there were a lot of people walking around stalls. It was fantastic to meet folks from Clavy (I love their keyboards!). folks from Facebook (as always, you guys do an incredible work to make social platform accessible!).
Then keynote has began. Glad Shilpi, though you said in 2014, you may not do Techshare India again but you have come back and did it again and even better. While I agree with both Shilpi and Javed that today, non-profit organizations should consider technology and move towards modern era of 21st century, I think there is some gap and some problem as to why we are not seeing that happening. Perhaps it’s is partially due to social environment that our organizations are working at, lack of appropriate guidance, lack of appropriate awareness and policies.
It’s true that most of the advancement is taking place for visually impaired and there was someone who mentioned that it’s time for all categories of people with disabilities should come together and work; I see some practical challenges on that front such as: if is difficult for everyone to think in diverse mode and everyone would have expertise in only one focused area. I agree most of the advancement is happening for visually impaired and that is because mostly it’s visually impaired people who step up and try opportunities because it’s need for them. I’m not denying the fact that it is also need for others.
It was fantastic to see Mr. Som Mittal, Former Chair of NASSCOM. In my opinion, Government of India is taking steps in right directions to move Accessible India Campaign. Though there would be some problems, but there is some good intentions and plan in place. We together need to push it in a way that plan gets actually executed.
It was awesome to meet my former colleagues Nanda, Nawaz and Pradeep Sethi. It was also great honor to meet Anil Joshi again.
My sincere thanks to all my Deque Crew for fantastic conversations and demonstrations to visitors. It was interesting to see diverse range of people.
It was real pleasure to meet Prashant Verma, who is known for innovations for all practical needs and Prashant Naik, who is helping Banks to make banking accessible.
Day ended by attending 1st Ceremony of Global Elevate Awards. Check out the categories and there are some really great innovations. Congratulations to all those who have sent nominations and winners in particular.
Ah, it was an exhausted day and can’t wait for tomorrow.
Follow Twitter hashtag #TS16 to follow all happening at Techshare India 2016.
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