And it is raining. After a big thunderstorm last night, with high winds, and brief electrical outages, it is settling down to a steady (but light) rain here in Dharamsala.
I am crashing (an American expression from Hippie days meaning “unwanted occupation of”) the IT office at Men-Tsee-Khang (the Tibetan medicine and astrological center) where Dawa Tsering (see photo) is giving me an internet connection. Men-Tsee-Khang is one of the NGOs that uses the Dharamsala Mesh, and Dawa says that their Internet connections have been reliable and fast ever since they connected to the mesh. Another testimonial to the power of communities working together!
Those of you who know about this will notice the green book on Dawa’s desk – Wireless Networking in the Developing World which you can obtain online in PDF format. And if you do not know about this, I invite you to visit their web site and download the PDF (or order the printed book) and read about all of the aspects of wireless networking under these conditions.
I have done my very small part for the morning and picked up the registration lists and put together the participant lists for the three “antenna-sighting” tours that will take place on Sunday ( they’re listed on the AirJaldi web site). At first I thought it was too geeky to go out antenna-spotting on a nice (upcoming) Sunday, but then I thought again and it seems to me that a hike in the Himalayan foothills is just what I need. Especially if it clears up after this rain! I have been up there a bit, but this will be more challenging as we will travel the far side of the valley to where some of the solar-powered mesh units operate.
And thanks again to Dawa for the loan of space in his office!
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