Ram P. Mony
I was a social and environmental scientist for more than 10 years, working mainly on various facets of rural water management: conservation, irrigation, hydroelectric power. I have lived and worked in various geographies: India, Nepal, Afghanistan, France. This also made for some great photos!
Between the time I completed my Master's level studies and took up a job and now (18 years), the field has undergone significant transformation. When I started out, computers were just a tool to assist in the work, and field activities were far more important - getting the 'feel' and participation of communities at the grassroots level was the primary focus. But today, software has the more dominant role, what with both analytical and simulation capabilities. Meeting the concerned communities has lost importance and is often taken up by field assistants, who quite often don't have the whole picture in mind. Quite often, goof-ups occur but software extrapolates data to make up for errors and missing figures. More importantly, concerned communities are sometimes left with a feeling that they weren't taken into account and that projects are more dependant on the whims and fancies of funding agencies - essentially the people who stand most to get affected are treated as mere bystanders. This sort of defeats the purpose.
For the last few years, I have been quietly exploring other avenues of work. As a young adult, I was a prolific poet, and was generally noted for being good in writing. So friends and family suggested I take up writing as a profession. Somehow, the idea didn't quite gel with me.
The first thing I did to clear my head and have the time to seriously explore various possibilities, was to quit my day job and take a gap year. Some 9 months later, I realized that maybe I preferred to freelance and a friend suggested I join hands with him in business to learn the ropes of day-to-day management. So for a year, I was a partner in his firm - working on solar energy mainly. The market unfortunately stagnated and the firm had to ultimately shut shop.
After that , I turned to some younger members of my extended family, who pointed me in the direction of design - visual, interactive, human-centred. I took up some courses but didn't quite get the 'feel'. Finally 2 months back, I joined a 3 month online summer graphic design certificate course from the Florida State University....and there has been no looking back since. I really enjoy learning and practising, and have decided to make this my profession. About 2-3 weeks back, a friend contacted me to re-make his logo, which I did, and though it was a simple one, he was quite satisfied by the result. Of course, I did it for free but felt much more motivated after that.
So that's where I am now. Will revise this profile later, maybe after a few months.
Between the time I completed my Master's level studies and took up a job and now (18 years), the field has undergone significant transformation. When I started out, computers were just a tool to assist in the work, and field activities were far more important - getting the 'feel' and participation of communities at the grassroots level was the primary focus. But today, software has the more dominant role, what with both analytical and simulation capabilities. Meeting the concerned communities has lost importance and is often taken up by field assistants, who quite often don't have the whole picture in mind. Quite often, goof-ups occur but software extrapolates data to make up for errors and missing figures. More importantly, concerned communities are sometimes left with a feeling that they weren't taken into account and that projects are more dependant on the whims and fancies of funding agencies - essentially the people who stand most to get affected are treated as mere bystanders. This sort of defeats the purpose.
For the last few years, I have been quietly exploring other avenues of work. As a young adult, I was a prolific poet, and was generally noted for being good in writing. So friends and family suggested I take up writing as a profession. Somehow, the idea didn't quite gel with me.
The first thing I did to clear my head and have the time to seriously explore various possibilities, was to quit my day job and take a gap year. Some 9 months later, I realized that maybe I preferred to freelance and a friend suggested I join hands with him in business to learn the ropes of day-to-day management. So for a year, I was a partner in his firm - working on solar energy mainly. The market unfortunately stagnated and the firm had to ultimately shut shop.
After that , I turned to some younger members of my extended family, who pointed me in the direction of design - visual, interactive, human-centred. I took up some courses but didn't quite get the 'feel'. Finally 2 months back, I joined a 3 month online summer graphic design certificate course from the Florida State University....and there has been no looking back since. I really enjoy learning and practising, and have decided to make this my profession. About 2-3 weeks back, a friend contacted me to re-make his logo, which I did, and though it was a simple one, he was quite satisfied by the result. Of course, I did it for free but felt much more motivated after that.
So that's where I am now. Will revise this profile later, maybe after a few months.
- Birthday
- May 14, 1973 (Age: 50)
- Location
- New Delhi
- Gender
- Male
- Occupation
- Social scientist-turned-graphic designer
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