Teach India Part 3

I received an email from Ms. Anjali Hari from Katalyst to send her my profile so that she could get started working with me, and I could become a mentor. We exchanged a few emails and spoke a few times after which she sent me a profile.The profile looked interesting. It was of a 19 year old girl, who faced many challenges along with her family in the struggle of life, and yet did not give up. She is a student of Engineering in a college in Malad.

I had heard of people finding a way to face the world and achieve things in life, but she was the first person I met, who so gracefully accepted the challenges, and is working towards making a difference in life.

I am happy to be associated with Katalyst in my little way. I hope I will be able to do more in the future, and help some more youngsters shape a life for themselves.

Teach India Part 2

I went to a school at Veera Desai Road for the orientation program of Teach India. When I reached the classroom where the volunteers were sitting I was shocked. I had no idea that so many people would actually come. It was overwhelming to see people from different age groups and background all gathered together to make this world a better place. My interest to be a part of this movement got strenghthened.

We waited for a little while before the representatives from the different NGOs started making presentations about their organisation. In fact, there were 3. After the presentations were made I chose to meet Ms. Anjali Hari from Katalyst as I found their requirement for volunteers was matching with my skill set.

There was a huge queue of excited youngsters to be part of her NGO, therefore, I had to wait for more than half an hour to have a word with her. People pushed me from one side to another, just to have a word with her, and I was testing my own patience while waiting to talk to her. I did manage to speak with her and briefly mentioned to her about the kind of training I do. She made a note of my contact details and said that she would get back to me.

That's how the day ended. On my way back, I thought that there should be more and more initiatives like this to spread education and reiterate the importance of teachers in our lives. Though I am a corporate trainer by profession, which is my source of livelihood, the pleasure and satisfaction that I will gain from being associated with Teach India will be immeasurable.

Teach India Part 1

I have always believed in doing a little extra to help people in need. I also firmly believe that it is very important to give back to life a little in return to all that it has given me. From my childhood I loved the idea of being a teacher. And I ended up being one as I grew up, though today, I am a trainer working in the corporate world. The good thing is that I still teach!

For the past 3 to 4 years I have had a strong desire to reach out to the underprivileged strata of the society and teach. I identified an opportunity to make my contribution when last year I saw the Times of India Teach India hoarding while driving. At that moment I couldn’t really figure what it was. After a couple of days I watched the television commercial which featured Bollywood star Aamir Khan. The commercial went like this, some kids came to him to learn something and he was in a dilemma whether he was capable of teaching. While he was thinking, one of the kids pronounced a word incorrectly and he immediately corrected the kid. While doing so he said to himself that even he, as a kid, used to make the same mistake, and how his teacher corrected him every time he went wrong. This commercial further strengthened my conviction about remaining a teacher at heart.

I realised that I could be a part of the Teach India initiative. Teach India is a social initiative from the Times of India that brings together children in need of education and people who can contribute a little time towards teaching them. I felt it was a movement to bring about a change in the way India lives. However, my excitement about joining this mission got completely shattered because I was told that by my Manager that I had to go to another city on a deputation and my working hours would be a little erratic. I was very upset but couldn’t do much as the job was also very important.

At that time I just hoped that this initiative continues and I could be a part of the same the following year. And yes, it did continue! Just a week and a half ago I was chatting with one of my colleagues when she mentioned that she enrolled to teach in the Teach India initiative and asked me if I would be interested. I immediately went through the site and registered, and this Saturday I am going for the induction. At the induction I would meet the volunteers from different NGOs who will assign me to a particular location and get details about the students and the subjects that I would be teaching. I am very excited and anxious to get started.