Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Taare Zameen Par - The Final Story


In January, I came to know that I had done well in my CAT exam. I had got calls for GD/PI from all 6 IIMs. My GD/PI prep was first on my priorities from January to March. Everything else took a backseat.
I used to take the classes regularly, barring the Sundays on which I had the mock sessions of GD/PI. I feel sad to say that I couldn’t make solid prep for the classes for the students. I used to decide on-the-spot as to what I should teach them. Inspite of that, I did a seemingly good job, with the help of SH.
Meanwhile, AJ and AM took up the initiative for the higher education of the students and their sponsorship. Our Nai Disha volunteer team took the initial step of approaching the schools for deciding the intake of the students for the school and the possibility of tuition waivers for the under-privileged students. We successfully negotiated with the different schools and got some good bargains. We followed up the initiative with the task of convincing the students and their parents to continue the student’s education. Both the initiatives were successful. We also finalised the schools in which the students have to be admitted into.
Next up was the funds for the sponsorship of students. Somehow, I had the knack of convincing our managers on the CSR initiatives. Others before me had tried to do it but had failed. Maybe I was too good to be refused...lolz....
I took up the issue with our manager. And he gave me the green signal. I compiled a good mail and mailed it to all Samsung employees, insisting them to contribute them whole-heartedly. Finally, when the mail was sent, the initiative was a success. We managed to arrange for the annual full-time sponsorship for 7 students.
Others in the team went ahead with the sponsorship initiative in her company. They managed to arrange 5 donors. In the end, we had a very successful initiative. We also conducted essay-writing and debate competitions. The funds for the prizes came from the surplus amount from the library initiative.
Later, we gave farewell to the passing out batch. We gifted pencil-boxes, our pictures with them and greeting cards with something written especially for them.
In one of our meetings, we discussed about our future initiatives - publishing a newsletter, blogging about the initiatives(I have been doing that) and archiving our earlier initiatives.
Later on, a new volunteer joined us, PR. Initially I doubted it whether she will continue the classes. But, she did continue and has done an excellent job of adjusting with the students and our Nai Disha volunteer team. A very cheerful gal, she can put all at ease.
After a fruitful association of 1.5 years, it was bye-bye time for me at Nai Disha on May 31st.
I could feel the love of the students for me on my last day. I could feel the sadness in their faces at my farewell. The one year that I had spent with the passing batch was a very enriching experience. It was full of fun, emotion and learning. I hope I have planted the seeds of ambition and hope in their lives.
I would like to thank the entire Nai Disha team for their support and encouragement.
P.S - This is my last blog on Nai Disha. Apologies to those who had expected my last story on Nai Disha soon.
P.P.S – My next blog will be about the initial horrid and later pleasant first week had in IIM B.

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Taare Zameen Par - The Story(II)

While the classes were going on unhindered. We were moving ahead with our other initiatives.
With the various entrance exams, my attention was sort of dwindling. Just when we thought, we needed more volunteers. We got more than we had asked. We had PR, CH, GA, KUN and AS.
All of them brought something new and novel into our group. Whenever we used to have our group meetings after the Sunday classes, there was a surfeit of ideas. This time though the ideas were discussed within the realms of feasibility. Some of the ideas did went on to become true.
While we were seriously thinking about a new plan for the betterment of the students. I came up with the idea of setting up a library in Nai Disha. But, the real problem was the funds.
In this regard, I founded the “Samsung Social Welfare Committee” in Samsung with the permission of our managers in SISC. With the help of funds collected from employees of Samsung, we set-up the library in Nai Disha. We asked them to read the books and tell us what they understood. The next week, the enthusiasm of the students for the books justified our belief. I believe the students gained a lot of knowledge and the employees of Samsung got a chance to contribute towards the betterment of society.
Papa John(A pizza restaurant) was conducting a painting/drawing competition for students of class IV and V.
We had to take them in the chilling morning at 9 am to Papa Johns. As usual, I was more interested in the free cold drinks and chips offered. Enough of joking round. The students had painted so well, I was stumped by their creativity. I could realize the talent that these kids had. Coming from a background where creativity and dreams are shoved away into obscurity and preferred to be ignored, it was all the more incredible. One of the students, Pinky actually won an award.
The students were very excited after the event. Social events do help us shed off our inhibitions and coyness. It helped them be more confident. I could see the glitter in their eyes at the mention of a competition.
P.S – I had forgotten to mention RB in my last post. She was very much a part of our Sunday classes. My sincerest apologies to her. Her contributions have been immense. She’s soon going to tie the knot. Congratulations to her.
P.P.S – Next up is the final chapter of my TZP story. I will cover the most initiative we had taken and had completed successfully. This chapter will cover the year 2009. This and the previous one covered the year 2008.

Sunday, June 7, 2009

Taare Zameen Par - The Story (I)



I begin from where I had left in the last blog. It was for 3-4 months that we had been taking classes, but not with a lot of enthu. A lot of volunteers used to come and teach the students but they never used to return after 2-3 weeks.
In June 2008, 3 new volunteers AJ, AM and SH joined. I had my initial doubts about their continuity. After 2-3 weeks, I could sense here were the folks who would infuse the much needed stimulus into our activities. So they did.
Before, there was so much dependence upon me that if I was not able to come to Nai Disha, Sunday classes were invariably called off. I felt really guilty. With the oncoming Sunday AIMCATS(Mock CAT), I was really worried how will I be able to manage both. So, there was no escaping from the guilt pangs.
But, AJ, AM and SH gelled excellently into our team. I could realize the importance of working in a team. A team can overcome all hurdles only if all members work selflessly towards the all-important goal. In our case, the goal was the empowerment of the under-privileged students.
Before the trio joined, I was working in Nai Disha for my satisfaction. But, now, I could feel that we were actually shaping the grassroots of our society. Coming from a background where survival is the issue, it is very tough to dream.
Our limited teaching period of 2 hr on Sundays looked very limited in comparison to the regular classes on weekdays and Saturday. But, I could sense that we were making a big change to lives of the under-privileged students. We were teaching them to dream. The students were idolizing us(Funny…I know…But not from their context).
They wanted to come out of the shackles of insufficiency and limitations, they wanted to become like us. They wanted to make it big. Our bakar sessions had worked. Though not all of them would become a winner, but even if, 10 students take their studies seriously, our initiative is a success.
The team didn’t stop growing. Later, there were many new members in our group. I will cover their contribution and the various initiatives we took in our next blog.
PS – I have used initials to represent people, so that they don’t feel awkward.

Monday, June 1, 2009

TAARE ZAMEEN PAR - Prologue


While studying at NIT, Rourkela I was associated with a leprosy colony. I was appalled to find them segregated from the mainstream. Some of the youths had ventured out to earn their livings. The children used to get their basic education from volunteers. The colony used to survive on the basis of the funds from government and voluntary agencies. Those children who studied beyond class VI studied in outside schools.
When people used to know about my Samaritan works, they used to praise me by saying, “You are doing a good job”. Sadly, the encouragement ended there. When I used to tell them to come with us and meet the lepers, there were a lot of unfulfilled promises. Occasionally, some of my very good friends used to accompany me on the visits. But, the initiative was limited within a small circle of people.
Initially, I had supposed people would feel motivated by me and themselves would take up the cudgels for the suffering, in some way or another. But, the support was very limited, which was primarily monetary. I decided I would go alone with another of my dear friend of my institute, whom we fondly called Bada. The chap was otherwise notorious for his pranks(especially against girls), but he had a heart of gold. He and I used to lead the initiatives for the lepers. We used to interact with the lepers and supply them with books and other stationeries from our own pockets.
But, I was never satisfied with our efforts. My realization of the need to help came very late in my 3rd year. In final year, I was busy in my placements, projects and parties. So, I couldn’t make a prominent difference to their lives, which I regretted for a long time. With a powerful student base of NITRKL, I felt I could make a major change to the lives of the lepers. But, the lack of support, financially and person-wise, somehow downed my confidence.
Finally, when I joined Samsung in end 2007, I decided to make a better impact. I browsed through various NGOs in Noida. I had heard a lot about CRY foundation. I wanted to join CRY. But, after several requests to enroll as a member, I didn’t even get a suitable reply. Instead, there were arbitrary requests to contribute money to their NGO. Probably, they had no shortage of manpower and they needed money.
After a lot of searching, I found an NGO, Nai Disha. The name sounded good. I surfed through NGO’s website. It was impressive. It was an NGO which provided free education to under-privileged students upto class V.
I found the name of a volunteering guy, Sandeep. We had presumed he must be some khadi-wearing social worker types – The ones with big rhetorics and inferior motives. Nonetheless, we decided to give it a try. I called up and enquired about the procedure to enroll as volunteers. No procedures as such. We were asked to drop in Sunday at 10:30 am in Nai Disha.
The memories of the Sunday, 6th Jan are a distant one. As such I have a very weak memory, I think I am growing senile.But, I do remember Sandeep. The initial impression turned out to be so wrong. We found him a soft-spoken and down-to-earth guy who was ready to help in all ways. Later, when he told us that he was a graduate from IIT Kharagpur and was working in Mentor Graphics, I felt embarrassed about my initial notion of him.
After a month, we got a bit bored of teaching the students. We could find our interest waning. The similarity in this endeavor and the previous one in NIT, was the lack of support. There was a sheer lack of volunteers. We had to make do on our own.
Nonetheless, Sandeep’s will to work for the students irrespective of the outside support, inspired us to carry on. For some 3-4 months, it was just me and Sandeep.
I felt it easier to motivate the students to go for higher studies than to motivate our team. Though we had big ideas, we didn’t have the manpower to implement those ideas. Somehow, the ideas were lost with the passage of time.
But things changed for the better. I understood what it is to work in a team. It was great to work with like-minded people. We could easily relate with each other.
I will capture the “How and When things changed for the better” in my next blog.
P.S – Details about Nai Disha can be found out at http://naidishanoida.googlepages.com/