After the wonderful conversation with Pruthvik and his mother, we were more than delighted and excited to meet the next child to speak about his experience and aspirations in life.

That is when we headed to Chethan’s house. A short but sharp boy with dreams to reach out, he was excited and looking forward as much as we were. In conversation with him we realised that, it is not about the destination but the journey, the journey of this little boy walking towards his dreams. We met him and started the conversation about his education, career and asked him how helpful our foundation was. That is when we understood, Chethan is an enthusiastic and eager child. 

He has finished his 10^th and looking forward to join Pre University. Further talking to, the situation with him was similar to that of the other children we spoke to, he vaguely had knowledge about the career choices he could make, what suited him best and what choices would help him shape his career. Chethan was counselled by Mr. Santhosh, for him to understand his strengths and weaknesses for which he could choose his further path in career. That is when Chethan decided on taking up commerce stream. Beyond this vagueness one thing was for sure the spark in his eye to know more, study and overcome it. He lacked guidance, someone to explain him the choices that he had. His parents do their best to provide him education but they too lag behind in knowing the current opportunities. His father is a Tailor and Mother, a home maker. He has a younger brother who is very intelligent and bright in his studies. They want their children to study well and reach greater heights for which they are ready to work hard, to meet the expenses of their Children’s education. What really caught my mind was the fact that they were so supportive and willing to do the best for their children. They said that they want their children to lead a better and secure life, which is the dream of every parents.   

What difference has Spoorthi foundation done? The reply was that it has done wonders by both Chethan and his mother.He had switched from Kannada medium to English medium school, which was a great challenge for him, coping with subjects and in addition to that was the English language. He shared with us some of his initial day incidents at school which he can never forget. On the first day of his school his first class was mathematics. When the teacher took the class, everything was alien to him, he was worried and scared. But then he met the team of Spoorthi foundation, who promised to help him. He wanted study and understand all the subjects, which is why he showed interest and attended all the sessions conducted by Spoorthi foundation where some of the other children of his class would make excuses to not attend the classes. 

As time passed he started picking up and understanding the lessons being thought in class, with the help of his mentors of the foundation. He very well recalls how Mr. Santhosh made mathematics fun, and how history lessons by Mr. Kushal turned the battles and dynasties of history into stories that could easily be understood and the dates could be well remembered.

His mother throughout the conversation had a broad smile on her face reflecting how she felt contended by his son’s improvement. Her mother said that the reason for his progress is Spoorthi foundation team. She said all the areas which he found it difficult to cope. She also told the team that she wants to see her son converse fluently in English. For which we suggested him to start practicing and attend classes in the weekend which we conduct for improving the speaking skills.

The short fall from our side, which Chethan pointed out just like Pruthvik and his mom was that the foundation should have stretched their hand out for help a little earlier, which could have made a better impact for them.

The whole conversation ended on a happy note, motivating us to do more and keeping up to their expectations. When the children’s eye look up to us with expectations, wanting us to be their guides or mentors it really becomes a great responsibility from our side. Eventually that is was inspires us to keep going and do more for the children.    

Article written by Sahaja Bhargavi
Photos by Faizan Baksh

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