BIMBA – is the reflection of our “Spoorthi Foundation”.

It was the first ever thought of fund raising Photography Exhibition by our team through which we can reach the public, tell them about our cause, enlighten the thought in them about how important is right to education for each and every child in this society, spend every single rupee in doing our bit in providing education to children, encouraging them to get educated by supporting them financially and morally.

It was three wonderful days with beautiful photographs, with the Spoorthi team who were working day and night to make the event a success, with friends and family who came to support us, with the press and the public who came to encourage us and help us to reach more people.

I was literally overwhelmed and very thankful by the response and support that we received by ALL for Bimba.

When we say, this is a fund raising event, the first thought that will hit the public is, are they raising the fund for their wellness or is it really for the good cause. This is the actual scenario in the present society. People around us will have concern about what we are doing but when it comes to involvement the response is very minimal. It is both the concern and involvement is all it takes to build every child’s dream that they may have in life. In all its fullness!

I believe that every child has the right to shine and has the right to live life in all its fullness that respects and develops their personality and abilities. Don’t you think so?

Let us all join hands together in caring for others children as well than always caring our own family; Let us show our love to them and we will be thrilled by the unconditional love that we get in return from those little children; Let’s share our knowledge, teach them, guide them, spend some time with them; Let’s support and encourage them to join the mainstream of society as educated and productive citizens.

“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world”

                                                                                                 -Nelson Mandela

Let’s do it!

Anvitha Anand

President,

Spoorthi Foundation

She completed her engineering degree in Computer Science from Maharaja Institute of Technology, Mysore.

Currently she works for Cerner Corporation as Software Engineer in Bengaluru.

On 9^th of November 2013, I was standing in front of around 35 students at Yeliyuru Government School Mandya. We had visited there as a part of our event JOY OF TEACHING WEEK and we were just starting our classes. Before beginning, we asked the children about what they want to become in future. Promptly most of them replied with “I want to become a doctor”, “I want to become a police officer”, “I want to become an engineer” and so on. We were happy that the kids from villages have such big dreams. But while interacting with the school officials, we came to know that most of the students will not even continue their education after 10^th standard. At that point of time I decided we need to do something.

While we read some success stories of the students of government schools occasionally, large number of children especially Girls drop out after 10^th standard. So I put forward an idea in front of my team. We were meeting to decide the plans for 2014. We would select two schools, Yeliyuru High School and another school in Mysore and will be taking free classes during our weekends for one whole year. And we will be guiding them till the exams get over. After discussing, we finalized on two schools in Mysore itself and to visit Yeliyuru during December.

On January 12 we visited Chayadevi Trust Orphanage in Mysore to celebrate National Youth Day. We also invited our seniors Kushal and Sandeep to join us and spend some time with the kids. They joined us and even sponsored the prizes for the drawing competition winners. While going back, Kushal addressed the group of 10^th and 12^th standard students and advised them about how important it is to follow their dreams rather than following the herd. That is when I decided to have Kushal on board for our future works.

So, on March 16^th, we created a post on facebook about what we are going to do and asked interested individuals to attend the meeting and we also sent emails to our college alumni’s. The first meeting was conducted at Banumaiha’s  College and around 12 people attended it including our team members. We decided on having a demo class to see the presentation skills and confidence. Then we started worrying about the place to conduct demo classes.

My mind flashed upon my high school teacher A G Nanjappa Swamy and immediately I called him asking to provide a classroom for taking demo classes in their coaching center. He was more than happy to give a nod and wished us good luck.

We invited M V Tulasi Prasad, Hindi Teacher, Government School, Hunsur and also my high school Kannada Teacher to give us feedback. After two weeks, we have made a team of 26 people who will be actually taking classes from June 30.

Kushal and Dushyanth, both my seniors helped us in getting permissions from DDPI to conduct classes on Saturday and Sunday’s. And we will be having an interactive session about teaching skills by Mr DayaPrasad, Faculty, RIMSE, Mysore and A G Nanjappa Swamy, Teacher, Marimallappa’s High School.

This teaching program will go on for 8 months starting from June 30 till February end. Our teachers will be helping them in their academics and guiding them through their exams.

We even got blessings of elders when Mrs. Shakuntala and Kushal’s mother joined us in our work. This would be the first work we will be doing with the government and we are all excited about it. We need your blessings and advices.

Recently we opened bank account to raise funds for our future works. One of the important work included in our plan is to financially support two students to continue their education. If you wish to make a donation, Please help us. Find the bank details below.

Name: SPOORTHI FOUNDATION

Acc No: 065900101005454

IFSC: CORP0000659

Bank: Corporation Bank, Vijayanagar, Mysore.

To know more about us

Web: www.spoorthifoundation.org

Fb: facebook.com/Spoorthi.ngo

Twitter: @spoorthi_ngo

In my next post, I will be writing about the people who will be taking classes and the people who helped us reach here.

Thank You

Santhosh S V

CEO, Spoorthi Foundation

The best gift of life, I believe, is life itself. And I am very happy to be born in this age!

We are living in such times when sky is not the limit. The wonderful possibilities of life never cease to amaze us. The world, in reality, has become a global village. Science and technology have thrived and made our lives more comfortable and exciting. Life IS beautiful.

But…

We tend to keep in mind the small sect of the society that is availing all these outcomes of modern day life. In a country like India, where about 70 per cent of the population lives in rural areas, girls and women like me would not even have the slightest idea of the very existence of these joys, opportunities. This write up is a contemplation on one such wonderful opportunity that women are missing or not being on the receiving edge as they deserve – education.

There have been a lot of haunting questions I would like to address that go beyond gender, religion, region, economical status etc. but this is an attempt to ponder upon one thing at a time.

Why aren’t our women allowed to live their lives as ‘they’ want?

Kalpana Chavla, Indian Astronaut

I mean, I know that times have changed. Women are reaching the pinnacle of success in a lot of fields that were once untouched by them. They are national leaders, entrepreneurs, corporate women, writers, media personnel. There are women who party 9 days a week!!! There are ladies who spend half their lives in beauty salons! It’s all kind of cute in a way, actually. And there are some inspiring women around us – Kalpana Chawla went to space (It’s sad that she couldn’t make it back…)

Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw heads Biocon; Sudha Murthy is “simplicity Personified”… there is one Chaavi (MBA gold medalist) who resigned a job that paid lakhs together every month and is now serving a village called ‘Sodhaa’ in Rajasthan as a ‘Gram Sarpanch’; there is a Sampath Pal Devi who is like a moral police – who has not even the basic education and was a victim of child marriage – She now has thousands of women for support who just go and literally thrash men who assault women in any way!

Sudha Murthy, Infosys Foundation

I have just mentioned some names that occurred to me right now. There are still many examples out there. But I would call them “exceptions” rather than “examples”, because their number is so small. There is a whole other sector of our kind which is in absolute darkness – completely unaware of all the above mentioned “exceptions”. That sector is still plagued by superstition, ignorance, child labour, child marriage, sexual assault and what not!

Is it really “development” when only one group of the population flourishes?!

I’m NOT disputing the fact that a lot of women are doing great. But who are to be blamed for millions of voices that go unheard? What about those dried out, tired eyes that have given up on hoping and seeking help?

Kiran Mazumdar Shah, Founder, Biocon India

Swami Vivekananda had once said that our nation needs women who can be Indians inside their homes and who can be Europeans once they step out of them.  But many well educated women give up on their careers for a marriage unwillingly. Don’t they want to be successful as professionals too? Why is it that a woman alone has to make sacrifices for a marriage? This is another dimension to the status of education and women in this country, unlike in the West.

Some women ARE let to live the lives they want. And that’s the reason I say I am very happy to be born in this age. But this write-up is for those thousands of women whose faces have lost that grace and essence of being a woman, fighting and fighting and fighting all their lives for some happiness. I just hope life turns out fair for at least those who deserve.

Women in our country are beyond wives, mothers, daughters… they are home-makers. If the world looks at India as a country where family values are preserved and given the utmost importance to, then the credit goes more to these women who keep it all together with every bit of their strength.

Every person, they say, is a book by himself. Our women are from a line of legacy that still keeps our society saner than a lot other nations and communities. When every other woman could do this, most of them who are deprived of even elementary education, just imagine how much better a society we could be – if they are formally educated. Most women who are deserted by their husbands or families would still be able to take care of themselves and if needed, their children too.

The Central government and all the State governments have taken up some appreciative measures in this course. It is welcoming. But they must be implemented better than they are now; better than how they are drafted on paper. Although it is hard to accomplish this in the context of our societal superstitions, unscientific religious dogmas, lack of basic amenities which makes education a far-fetched idea. There is one more concern I would like to bring out here. The unfortunate ignorance: most women ‘choose’ to remain silent when it comes to a fundamental right they deserve! A lot of them accept that it is their ‘fate’ and nobody can do anything about it. Some of them deny having keen longings for so many wonderful pleasures of life and just bury them deep within and build concrete graves on them.

It is not impossible.

Volumes could be written about any discussion, any issue. But certain things deserve ‘work’ more than just ‘lip-service’. On that note, I take this opportunity to thank every single soul that does its bit in trying to make this dream a reality.

Our ancient epics say “Yatra naaryastu poojyante ramante tatra devataaha”. It means that where women are worshipped, the Gods (Should we say Goddesses, as this is about women?! I know not of the gender, if there exist any) reside there. Maybe that’s a bit of an exaggeration. But our women are made of substance rather than phony ideologies. They face far worse issues with grit and valor and do not even make a big deal out of it. They are soldiers who fight demons inside four walls. Their biggest problem is not to choose between a Gucci bag and a Prada; but to choose between basic necessities – if they can afford any.

I would like to end this earnest attempt by remembering one of the most moving ads – a one liner from ITC (the books we have all been blessed to buy in schools and colleges! An irony!):

There are millions of them who still just dream of school…

About the Author

Sourabha Rao, aged 23, currently working at Unisys Global Services, India, Bengaluru is an Engineering Graduate from Mysore. She likes writing, singing and has been a constant supporter of our organization

Please visit her blog at wheremindsmeet.wordpress.com