Bars

Ok Ok Nooo it is not an invitation to a cool drink or a salad, it is about the Standards we set for ourselves or others set for us.

Ms. Masarat Daud, describes herself on Twitter as a "Non-conformist. Indian girl-child. Producer of talk radio in Dubai. Defying stereotypes, working for rural empowerment in Rajasthan, India. BarCamper!" spent the last few weeks in India, when she first got there her aim was "When I came here a mth back, the only thing on my list were: conduct 8-day Academy, start library & grant a scholarship. Little did I know."

And when she left she achieved "Two rounds of 8-day Academy (50 ppl), sponsored a child's edcn for a year, paid for 3-month English courses for two, [ctd.]" and "Achieved (2): Started a library, visited settlements in Jaipur, got books for a second library in a different village."

All her friends on Twitter followed her progress with pride and support as she tweeted in real time.

She is an inspiration to all of us regardless of gender, ethnicity or age and when I tweeted telling her she raised the BAR for all of us her answer was "@obsalah There's no bar. Each of us contribute within our own perimiters, limited by our circumstances."

Setting the BAR is a a function of expectation by others and ourselves. Parents and Bosses among a few other set bars (targets) for us to meet and achieve as we progress through life and they define our succes or failure in life.

However, her tweet made me pause and think; the toughest BARs are the ones we set for ourselves. But it takes someone like Masarat to remind us and motivate us by showing us what can be done when we are motivated and push the BAR to higher levels not only improving the community but positively affecting our friends and colleagues and most importantly ourselves.

Kudos Masarat, you have been an inspiration to all of us.