Tuesday, November 30, 2010

It Is Done ! :)







Long ages ago - when Blackberry wouldn't advertise, Rakhi Sawant was a minor nuisance, Ali couldn't get married - I had written a post about "Vakola ke Chiraag".

Today, it gives me great pleasure to share that it is done ! :)

we took our first class on 5th of October 2010, and we have had classes every weekday since then....thats a solid 2 months of tremendous support and commitment from my colleagues in APL.

The support from my friends in Asian Paints has been simply amazing !
They have supported me and held me to account.
Whenever I have had the silent, sinister urge to just take it easy for a while and let things drift they have jerked me back to the game that we are upto, the difference we are out to make.

Its a team of 15 teachers now (3 every day - 1 each for class 4, 5 and 6) and there are 15 to 18 students who turn up regularly...

From what we have heard from other well established NGOs doing similar stuff we must have done a real great job to have kept the students interested for so long.........and yes, there is still a long way to go.....we need to keep on figuring out how to teach Maths to these predominantly Tamil medium students......how do we start making English more real and easy for them......and so on.....and we are on it......we are making progress....and in each class we are making a difference, how so ever slight, how so ever minuscule, but it is a grain in the right direction......

We have also had one meeting with an amazingly energetic lady by the name of Prachi Mangaonkar who is with an NGO called Akanksha who in half an hour's time made it quite clear for me as to what needs to be done...

I am attaching here a couple of pics I took in today evening's class.......the only adults u see in these pics are Gopal M V (he has never missed a class !) and Kiran (our 1st teacher) from my office and Nagappa Ji, a a man held in great esteem by the community these kids come from and who offered us the temple premises and set this teaching thing going..................more to come as we roll along....


P.S. - Darn !!!! I still dont know how to arrange the pics in my blog......guess i just have to wait for that level of enlightenment for a while.....




8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey Shastry, Very happy to see it progressing so well. best wishes. Jubin

Shastry said...

Hey Jubin,

You are always an encouragement!

Thanks yaar, and God Bless You :)

Anonymous said...

This is splendid. And who knew taking your dream to a whole new level could be so fulfilling. We always knew you were a good man. This is just evidence. Good luck for the future endeavours. Megha Kuchu.

Unknown said...

Hey Pradeep ... That's super duper awesome work what you guys are doing ! Wow ... I am so touched and very proud of you :-) you guys are doing a great job and if there is a donation fund I would really like to contribute my share.

swati shankar said...

Hey bhaiyaaa g

You are tho always cool !! great to see ya doing this work! Awesum work! good luck with it! in near future i would love to help you with it too :-)

Indian Madder said...

Awesome work Shastry!! :) Great effort, and here's wishing you and the team all success ahead.

Good luck and God bless y'all! :)

Cheers
Zahra

Shastry said...

@ Megha, Amisha, Swati, Zahra

Thanks a ton for the encouragement and the good wishes!
That surely shall keep us going :)

Will keep you a part of this journey... :))

cherubic_chipmunk said...

Hey Pradeep,

My mind is racing with a ton things to say to you right now but I'm afraid I ain't quite able to structure all those...Suffice to say I work for Olam,Zimbabwe currently as a management trainee and I came across a few of your documents and photographs...
Kindly let me know your mail id at the earliest if you don't find that intrusive! I have to talk to you and I really hope I can touch base with you at the earliest!!

Arvind