Full Transcript
Mona Minkara:
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Mona Minkara:
Hi. My name is Mona Minkara and this video is my application for the 2019 Holman Prize. Which is a prize that supports blind adventurers. My goal is to be like a blind Anthony Bourdain. He gave you a taste of the local food. I’ll give you a taste of the local transportation.
Mona Minkara:
Planes, trains, and canes. Yes.
Mona Minkara:
I can’t wait to continue my adventures.
Jeff Thompson:
Welcome to Blind Abilities. I’m Jeff Thompson and today in the studio, we got Dr. Mona Minkara. How are you doing?
Mona Minkara:
I’m doing great. How are you?
Jeff Thompson:
I’m doing good. Thanks for coming out again. And once again, there’s big exciting news coming from your adventures, your journeys, and now you just won the Holman Prize with Planes, chains, and canes. Congratulations.
Mona Minkara:
Thank you very much and I’m ecstatic. I can’t even express how excited that I am. That I actually can make a documentary series called “Planes, Trains, and Canes”
Jeff Thompson:
Oh yeah. I was so excited to see that news come across and can you tell our listeners what your project is about?
Mona Minkara:
So my project is: I will be as a line person traveling to five different cities in the world and showing the world how a blind person can use public transportation to get around in these new cities. This way, you get to see navigation, what blind people can do or also, how to deal with the different public transportation systems. Basically operate, how do they differ? I’ll be going to London, Istanbul, Johannesburg, South Africa, Singapore, and Tokyo.
Jeff Thompson:
Now what other thing you do is, you kind of get the public’s reaction to you being solo. Traveling around.
Mona Minkara:
Yeah. Because I will not be talking to the camera women who will be Natalie Goozy.
Speaker 3:
You’re not allowed to help her? That’s not fair.
Mona Minkara:
She literally could not help me. So if you guys look up my name on Planes, Trains, and Canes. On YouTube, there’s a trailer of me doing that in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Where I went to a rock-climbing gym and completely figured it out on my own. And having to talk to people and having to figure out, where’s the bus? Where’s the tram? I’ve never been on this path before. Things like that.
Mona Minkara:
You know where [inaudible] Douglas is?
Speaker 4:
Yeah. We’re actually going right there. Follow us.
Mona Minkara:
Cool. That was really lucky.
Mona Minkara:
It is truly going to be me on my start. Hopefully, problem solving quickly enough. Or maybe not. We’ll see if it will be suspenseful, Do I figure it out? Do I, you know walk by what might be, so I would be someone sighted because there’s a sign. But isn’t as obvious to me. Do I get in an elevator and realize that there is no brail? On the bus. I don’t know. It would be basically a documentary series following me as I try to navigate.
Jeff Thompson:
And the one thing that you’re talking about is public transportation. Which is probably one of the most affordable and available types of transportation to someone, especially to someone that’s just popping into a city that they haven’t been before. That’s got to be a little bit, the anxiety has to rise a little bit.
Mona Minkara:
Yes. But I think that’s part of the challenge. I mean, I can make life easy and just order an Uber or taxi everywhere I go. And just go door to door. Well, where’s the fun in that? And what kind of navigation am I actually using in something like that. But in public transportation, you get to learn kind of how the cities laid out, you get to interact with the people and you get to explore. You know, you’re not enclosed. Your actually out there.
Mona Minkara:
If it’s flying a plane or boarding a train, or just riding the bus with my cane, I’m going to do whatever it takes to get to where I need to go.
Jeff Thompson:
And where can people find that trailer?
Mona Minkara:
On YouTube. If you just search my name or just “Planes, Trains, and Canes. It will show up. Or Holman’s Prize 2019,
Jeff Thompson:
There you go.
Mona Minkara:
They have all those tags.
Jeff Thompson:
Yeah. We’re almost everywhere.
Mona Minkara:
Yeah.
Jeff Thompson:
And you just went out on vacation. You just didn’t do one country, you did quite a few. When you mention, your climbing a rock wall, you actually did that in, was it Scotland?
Mona Minkara:
So in Scotland, I climbed like, I hiked all the way up to this cliff top called “Kilt Rock” on the isle of sky and I didn’t have like a proper hiking stick. Which I wish I had in Retrospect. I learned a little bit and it was a little scary. It pushed my boundaries. I don’t get scared very easily but standing there, there was literally nothing for the sound to bounce off of so it felt straight open and exposed and it was a small area and there was a sheer cliff face.
Jeff Thompson:
Whoa.
Mona Minkara:
Yeah. It was a sheer drop and then the seagulls were flying and they sounded like they were just above my head.
Jeff Thompson:
So traveling is nothing new to you? You’ve been to quite a few countries and you just went to four other countries but by winning the prize, you have mapped out where you want to go. Now, South Africa. That’s got to be one of the furthest places away.
Mona Minkara:
Yeah. I’ve never been there. I’ve never been to Singapore or Tokyo before.
Jeff Thompson:
And why did you pick these places?
Mona Minkara:
Okay. So, I really, if I had more time and funding, I would have wanted to do a city on each continent. So, I want the diversify. I wanted to go to places, in which, not all places spoke English because I feel like that’s another added challenge. I mean, they speak English in South Africa, but in Singapore and Tokyo they don’t. But I heard really great things. I got advised about the public transportation systems in Singapore and Tokyo. I heard that they are very accommodating towards blind people. There’s brail everywhere. Granted I don’t speak Japanese. And I wanted to experience that.
Jeff Thompson:
Oh that’d be interesting to find brail and go “Finally I got some brail.” And then, ” Oh. Its in Japanese.” I mean.
Mona Minkara:
But it would be something really cool to be like, this is something we can implement in the United States. Or this system is interesting. Or this is something I haven’t thought about. I don’t know what adventures await me and what knowledge I’d be learning.
Jeff Thompson:
Transferrable technologies. I like it. So, when this is all started, I mean, you won the prize. Congratulations once again. And now, when does the ball start rolling? I mean, you have a new job now. Can you tell the listeners about that?
Mona Minkara:
Yes. I actually, as of August first. I am officially a professor. But I’m engineering at North Eastern University here in Boston, Massachusetts. And I’m ecstatic. I am 10-year track. I will be having my own research lab and teaching courses. Yeah. So I’m trying to set that up right now, and another chapter slash adventure of my life.
Jeff Thompson:
I remember was that was a goal of yours when you were doing your post try-out here at the Minnesota. That was awesome to hear you got that. That was last time we spoke. When you volunteered your time over the Career Expo. For all the teens and transition students that came through. Thanks a lot for doing that.
Mona Minkara:
Yeah. Of Course. No thanks needed. This is something that I was happy to be a part of.
Jeff Thompson:
And you also do something with your sister in [inaudible] about a school there. You volunteered your time, bring a curriculum to there.
Mona Minkara:
Also, my sister has an organization called ” Empowerment to irrigation” and she started this organization to help blind kids enter into society and she hold a camp every summer. And so, the past couple of summers, not this one, because I was traveling and vacationing. There was a science curriculum and I worked with the team and developing the science curriculum so it’s blind accessible. Teaching science to the kids from the age of 6 to 26.
Jeff Thompson:
And that’s really important with science technology engineering and mathematics stem to get people involved and realize the possibilities. So, thank you for doing all that you done for all of that.
Mona Minkara:
There’s more to do and I’m excited to be a part of that.
Jeff Thompson:
Well that’s great. So, what’s next on your agenda? Do you go start working?
Mona Minkara:
Yeah. I’m working. So technically, I start August 1st[inaudible] at my office, sense Monday.
Jeff Thompson:
Oh wow. It’s here.
Mona Minkara:
It’s here. I literally just flew back from Egypt on Saturday evening. Late Saturday evening, and then I went to the office on Monday.
Jeff Thompson:
Wow. It’s just non-stop. Go. Go. Go.
Mona Minkara:
Yeah. This is how I thrive.
Jeff Thompson:
Planes, Trains, and canes. There you go. I like it. So, can you tell people, what is the Holman Prize and next year, they’ll probably be having this contest again. Tell them how they can get involved in that and see if they can realize their goals, journeys, or possibilities.
Mona Minkara:
Yes. The Holman Prize is pretty awesome. It’s for lined individuals who have an adventurous idea. Whatever it might be. It’s based off of James Holman. Who, him himself was a blind navy officer and British navy. I think it was late 1700’s. This is like, you can fact check me later. I don’t remember. But he became blind in the line of duty, initially, the British government wanted him to just stay in Britain. Like in the house. Not doing anything. And he was like “no.” And he like torched for his right to travel because he still wanted to travel the world. And that’s exactly what he did and he left a huge impact. So, the idea is, breaking down boundaries and kind of doing the unexpected. Or at least showing society that blind people can do more. So, you can present your idea, and apply. And see if you get it. So that’s what I did and I was very lucky to win.
Jeff Thompson:
Well once again, Congratulations. And it’s really neat that you’re doing really doing something that there’s a passionate of yours, you didn’t have to come up with an idea that you would think would be impressive, but all that stuff, you’re just doing what you normally do. That’s awesome.
Mona Minkara:
Yes. I think that angle, I realize that I also have a very high love for public transportation. Because it gives me mobility and freedom. And I feel like it is a commodity that a lot of take more granted and don’t realize how much of a privilege and necessity it is for society. So I really wanted to highlight that because I think public transportation is crucial and just relevant for all sorts of people and allows for mobility on many levels and I wanted to really highlight that. And so, that’s why I’m also focusing on that and the documentary. It’s not just me traveling and me having fun, but also showing the benefits of such an institution. You know, such a technology.
Jeff Thompson:
You know if you would have won more and did seven continents, you would have been in Antarctica at some point and that would have been a tough one.
Mona Minkara:
Yeah. And that’s true. And I don’t know how public transportation is up there.
Jeff Thompson:
You might be waiting at the dog sled stop for a long time.
Mona Minkara:
I like that.
Jeff Thompson:
Is there anything else you want to share with the listeners?
Mona Minkara:
I would love to hear like, peoples’ feedback, especially when the episodes start coming out and what they thought. Especially on the public transportation.
Jeff Thompson:
Oh well that’s great. So I know you have a lot of titles now. Is it Dr. Mona Minkara? Professor Doctor Minkara? That’s awesome. How can people give you some feedback or ask questions about your Planes, Chains, and Canes? And just get ahold of you.
Mona Minkara:
Oh well that’s a really good question. I will actually have an email called ” Planes, Trains, and Canes. I don’t have it set up but I’m going to set it up in the next couple of days. I would love to have people email me directly. I also will have a website. Which I haven’t set up yet. But it will happen. But I do have a Twitter handle.
Jeff Thompson:
There we go.
Mona Minkara:
And I do have an Instagram I believe. Like, these are all right at the beginning. I need to just organize all that. Can I give you that information in a little bit?
Jeff Thompson:
Yeah. Yeah. I can put that in the show notes as well.
Mona Minkara:
Okay that would be great because I don’t have everything solidified. But also, people can easily reach me. I have a website, again, Monaminkara.com, it will have an updated, [inaudible] email, I’m still going to need to update everything.
Jeff Thompson:
You got you a lot of changes. I mean, you just got back from Egypt. Usually people settle in but now your settling into a brand-new position. Congratulations on your becoming a professor and being able to teach. Reaching the goals, and it seems your setting out your goals and your destinations that you want to achieve and good for you. You’re doing it. You’re a good inspiration for everyone that wants to achieve their vision.
Mona Minkara:
Yeah. I can’t express to you how grateful I am, and it’s been my dream to be a professor and now I get to implement that. I get to see how that chapter of my life is and that adventure.
Jeff Thompson:
Good luck to you and, well I’m sure were going to keep in touch and next time who knows what the next 5 casts will be on. It’s always exciting to have you on Mona.
Mona Minkara:
Its always exciting to be on. Thank you so much Jeff.
Jeff Thompson:
And such a great time talking to Mona Minkara and before we even started the podcast, we had some great conversation, and then after we finished the podcast. We had some more. So Mona and I decided we should include that too. And you’ll really get a sense of the passion that Mona has for exploration and travel. And the adventures that she gets herself into, it’s just one of those things. This is a perfect fit for her. Planes, Trains, and Canes. Kind of like Dora the explorer. It’s Mona the explorer. I think you’ll get a sense of what I mean. I hope you enjoy.
Jeff Thompson:
All right. Well this went pretty good. I think it would be a good one
Speaker 5:
Yeah. Yeah.
Jeff Thompson:
Its fast pace. It’s exciting. Could I use a little of your clip to tease people.
Mona Minkara:
You can use whatever you want Jeff. Yeah. That sounds great.
Jeff Thompson:
Okay great.
Mona Minkara:
I don’t know if you’ve seen my trailer. The one that I put on YouTube. It starts out with me trying to use Google Maps and it’s like I go ” It’s not working” so like, it gives you an element that it’s not even kind of funny too.
Jeff Thompson:
Oh good. I saw the Holman Prize one.
Mona Minkara:
Yeah that one.
Jeff Thompson:
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I liked it. I like it because it was neat because I knew exactly where you were down town kind of. You know, it’s like ” Oh wait, she’s getting on, that’s our train.”
Mona Minkara:
Yeah. Yes. Yeah. Yeah.
Jeff Thompson:
Oh yeah. It’s really neat. It’s nice. Like when you’re reading a book and someone Minneapolis and they say a street or a building. It’s like ” Hey I know where that is.” You know.
Mona Minkara:
Yes. That’s what I was watching. Like movies that place in Boston or that’s where I grew up.
Jeff Thompson:
But this is worldwide and I like that. This aspect of this. I know some people who’ve gone to Hong Kong, they cross into China and then come back, and their experience. But they got family there. So it’s a little different.
Mona Minkara:
Yeah. I actually went to Istanbul. While I was in Istanbul this past summer, college transportation there, Like that’s what I took and it was fascinating and I actually was able to learn the trains really easily. But then, like, the mini bus was insane. So that’s going to be really fun to video tape. Because like, the bus driver barely stops for you. Like he, he actually stops, it’s just a route. And you stand there and your like ” Just wait for the bus to come up to you.”
Jeff Thompson:
Really?
Mona Minkara:
Yeah. I think it’s going to be fun to video tape that.
Jeff Thompson:
Oh yeah. I’m glad you’re adding the humorous side of it too. So that you make it enjoyable too.
Mona Minkara:
I mean yeah, that’s how I see the world. So I’m like, it’s just funny.
Jeff Thompson:
Well I’m excited to see your final project and to keep in touch with you because it’s always cool. I like that. When you brought all those tactile things to the table at the career expo. It’s amazing, people can touch stuff.
Mona Minkara:
That was also another cool thing about the museum in Egypt. The guy who was touring us like, allowed me to touch everything that wasn’t in glass. So, I was touching these 5,000-year-old statues.
Jeff Thompson:
Oh wow.
Mona Minkara:
Yeah it was really cool. And then I did that also in a museum in Beirut. And I have videos. I should definitely start cleaning those up and posting them online.
Jeff Thompson:
You got DNA all over the world now.
Mona Minkara:
Yeah. It will denigrate in time or finger prints at least.
Jeff Thompson:
Yeah. There you go. I’m going to let you get going here. Not trying to rush you out of here. I just figured.
Mona Minkara:
No. No. No. I need [inaudible].
Jeff Thompson:
Professors are busy people. Right?
Mona Minkara:
In theory.
Jeff Thompson:
Yeah.
Jeff Thompson:
And here’s Mona and myself talking. Just a little bit before the interview started.
Mona Minkara:
All right. Just let me know if you can hear me or not.
Jeff Thompson:
Yep. Loud and clear. Sounds good.
Mona Minkara:
Excellent.
Jeff Thompson:
All right. Well congratulations first of all.
Mona Minkara:
Thank you very, very much.
Jeff Thompson:
That was really exciting though. To hear that you won.
Mona Minkara:
Yeah. I was ecstatic.
Jeff Thompson:
So when you got the news, what was that like?
Mona Minkara:
Actually, it was funny because, the way they presented the news to me was slightly misleading. So, they just emailed me and their like, ” Oh, we’d like to talk to you one more time. We have a few more questions for you.” And I was like, “Okay.” So, I was a little bit nervous. Like, “why are they asking me more questions?” Then the, they had an audio interview beforehand. So, the first thing they did is, like, I called in, it was also Zoom. It’s was bribe bashing. “Oh, we want you to know that there was a lot of applicants, there’s 111 applicants, for this many countries in the world.” And so, I was like, hearing that and was like, “Oh. Their letting me down easy or something.” And then he goes, “and we want you to know that you won.” And I was like, ” What?” [inaudible] it’s just really funny. Actually, how it was presented to me.
Jeff Thompson:
Planes, Trains, and Canes lives.
Mona Minkara:
Yeah. Planes, Trains, and Canes! Yeah. I actually just back from a month of traveling before, not related to Holman Prize. I just wanted to travel for a month after my post-talk and with my new job and I really had a blast going to Scotland, Lebanon, Turkey, and Egypt. Actually, each of those locations, what was a very interesting, like, social interactions, I climbed inside the pyramids, I went like…
Jeff Thompson:
Really?
Mona Minkara:
Cruising the Bosmest of Turkey. Basically, people got to see me being very mobile as a blind person with my cane. I look videos and like, would give facts. So, I already have a little bit of videotaping my experiences under my belt but I think the whole enterprise is just going to be another level.
Jeff Thompson:
So you do travel.
Mona Minkara:
Yeah. Well I have a very awesome experience. I went out through the Highlands of Scotland. I went on a trip with my friend. Went to the Isle Sky. That was really cool. Climbed a cliff there. Kilt Rock. Yeah. That was actually one of the scarier things I’ve done, because you stand there and it’s literally a very small area, it’s like a sheer drop. You know, as a blind person standing up there, like, you kind of realize the difference in sound when there are walls or you know, land around you, verses like being high up and nothing’s around you.
Jeff Thompson:
Oh wow.
Mona Minkara:
And so that was an experience, then I went to Beirut, Lebanon, where I literally went to these ancient ruins, saw a full-on accomplice. This other part of Lebanon. And one of the most reserved hipiderms in the world, is in south Lebanon by the way.
Jeff Thompson:
Really?
Mona Minkara:
Like Literally bleachers form 2,000 years ago, still standing and they use them. They were prepping for an actual carnival or whatever you want to call it for that night. So that blew my mind and I went to Istanbul Turkey, where we did a little cruise on the Bosporus, saw all these ancient ruins, got a lot of information. That was also mind blowing. And then got to Egypt where I got to climb inside the pyramids and the guy, they don’t usually allow videos but, initially the guy who, we were buying tickets and usually, “Oh she’s blind, why does she want to go inside the pyramids. And my friend was like ” my friend, she wants to do everything.” And so we, he was initially trepidatious, he was a little worried about me, but then he saw me gung hoe about it and he was encouraging me and then I told him I usually do videos and he allowed me to take videos inside of the pyramids. As I was going in this tiny little tunnel where you can’t even stand up, going up…
Jeff Thompson:
Oh wow.
Mona Minkara:
100 meters at a steep incline. They had wooden railings on the side so you could hold on because it’s literally that steep. And you have to do it bent over. And then I got videos.
Jeff Thompson:
That’s great. Exciting.
Mona Minkara:
Yeah, I had a ball. So yeah, I can’t wait to continue my adventures. Actually, my friends have told me that the videos have been interesting, and they been telling me to post them on YouTube so I might just clean them up even though they were videos from my own. With my friends, I did a video journal but apparently, they’re interesting enough. So, I might post some on YouTube.
Jeff Thompson:
And you’re going to get the tour guy fired.
Mona Minkara:
No. He’s actually one of the top guys there.
Jeff Thompson:
Oh wow.
Mona Minkara:
Yeah. It was actually really cool. It was very…
Jeff Thompson:
You don’t mess around.
Mona Minkara:
Rock climbing is difficult. Planes, Chains, and Canes! Yes. Can’t wait to continue my adventures.[crosstalk]
Jeff Thompson:
For more podcasts with the Blindness Perspective, check us out on the web at www.Blindabilities.com on twitter at blind abilities. Download our app from the app store. Blind abilities. That’s two words. Or send us an email at info@blindabilities.com. Thanks for listening.
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