> ... It might be practical to involve a local Telugu association in
> this process, BUT let the collection be managed by a local public
> library. This would probably still require volunteers (who may or may
> not be part of the association's executive committee; that's just a
> matter of convenience and preference), but would perhaps address the
> issues that Jampala garu raised. Yes, indeed, Telugu associations can
> be faceless bodies which may not have the financial (and other)
> muscles necessary, but what is an association but the people it
> serves?
Just to make sure that my point was not misunderstood:
An association, in theory, may be the people it serves. However,
in reality, an association is the small group of volunteers that help run
it. For most (Telugu) associations - be it local or national - it usually
means about half the members of the executive committee. The finances of
these associations are barely enough for their annual events, at best with a
paltry reserve. The people that run the associations usually have
different priorities and rarely a common agenda. The usual activities of
the association are dependent more on tradition and precedent than
anything else. The membership at large, is generally only passively
interested in what is going on, with an ocassional burst of enthusiasm -
usually when it involves movie stars or an artist with a marquee name.
So, how does one go about getting these associations get invovled in
doing something different (say, establishing a library) that we, the people,
think is a worthwhile endeavor? Just writing to the President
of the association or calling him/her on the telephone would not
generally get the job done, particularly if the issue involves effort and
money on the part of the executive officers: they are already spending
their time and the association's money (occassionally their own money as
well) in pursuing their agendas for the association.
If I want this library to happen, then I will have to sell the
idea first to the executive committee and make them believe that it is a
worthwhile idea for them to pursue. If I am successful in selling the
idea, then one of two things are likely to happen: The executive
committee gets all excited about it and pursues it with the same
enthusiasm as I would have, or, more likely, they will say, "It sounds
like a wonderful idea, but we don't have the resources." If I respond to the
latter by saying, "Don't worry about the resources. I have already worked
out the details of this project. This is what it takes. I have these
people working with me. If you support me in principle, I will then be
able to use your name and goodwill (and may be a little seed money or
a financial grant from you) to get this thing done", they are likely to
give the go ahead and help in any way they can. Then it would be up to me
and my band of enthusiasts to make this happen.
Otherwise, the associations are not going to do much differently
than what they are already doing, unless some of the executive officers
have groundbreaking ideas and can influence their colleagues by their
reason or power of their personality. (That is the other alternative:
take over the executive committee and get what you want done: However,
there is always the question of whether your successor will keep your
efforts going unless you are there to oversee it).
In summary, if we want a national Telugu library, or a Telugu
Literary Home Page, it would be for us to band together and do all the
groundwork necessary, and turn to the local/national associations if we
think that their help would be necessary (sometimes, it may not be).
(An example is what the RIT group has done before or what Ramana
Juvvadi is planning now. They went ahead and did all they can by
themselves utilizing the available resources. A Telugu association
sponsorship wasn't initially necessary for them to design and put the
software in public domain, and for that software to be very popularly used.
Then came a point where resources beyond the group's reach became necessary,
and the idea could be successfully sold to TANA executive committee to
supply those resources. Similarly, many of the things that we could do at the
last TANA Conference (like the SCIT meet, software development forum) were
also achieved with the same strategy of taking the initiative and
responsibility for the events that are of interest to us).
As SreeSree said in 'bhoomi kOsam',
'evarO vastaarani, EdO cEstaarani
eduri choosi mOsapOkumaa...'
Regards. -- V. Chowdary Jampala