I TEACH FOR INDIA

A lot of people have helped me through out the selection and decision process of TEACH FOR INDIA and I want to do the same for future applicants. I intend to develop an online resource house which would inform people about the movement and how they can be a part of it. There are various myths surrounding the social sector which stop a lot of individuals from venturing into the sector and live the life of their dreams, I plan to burst those myths and help people do what they really want to do. I wish to achieve this by sharing my experiences as TFI fellow.

Through the stories of others I wish to showcase that we are all burdened by heavy expectations but that didn’t make us forget the delights of dreaming and there are many who stepped into ventures that will carve the future of India such as TFI.

To stay connected with me at I Teach For India click here.

This is Entrepreneur Power!!

Entrepreneur Alieu Conteh started building a cellular network in the Democratic Republic of the Congo … when it was still in the midst of its civil war in the 1990s. He couldn’t get foreign manufacturers to ship cellular towers into the country with rebel soldiers around, so he got local men to weld scrap metal into a makeshift tower. Demand exploded for Conteh’s phones, and in 2001 he formed a joint venture with the South African firm Vodacom.

One illiterate fisherwoman who lives in the Congo without electricity relies on her cell phone to sell her fish. She can’t put the fish in a freezer, so she keeps them alive on a line in the river until customers call to place an order.

Walk with me...

at Peace with the nature

far from the world

Dreaming a thousand dreams

He opened his eyes

learnt his lesson

walked with many, shared with many

hands in hand he loved them all

for they will be with him

through it all...

"Touchwood" I feel lucky!!!

Last semester in college, there is something called a study oriented project that I am doing these days on the social sector which in itself is vaguely defined and until yesterday i.e. when almost more than 3/5th of my semester is over, there isn't much that I have done which would be called work and hence my midsem is almost screwed.

Anyways, so Yesterday when I went to my project guide she asked me to start with the survey that includes visiting some underprivileged households to find out their take on the public schools in the neighborhood.

Though I have been in the college campus for more than 3 years now, have seen hundreds of things changing here in the past few years, from administration to seasons to workers to contractors to students but still there are regions even in this 200 acres campus which were never visited before. I have been to that far corner called workers quarters a few times when the zhopdi existed to have lime and once when my Abhigyaan student Vijay literally dragged me to his house, but yesterday was the first time when I actually went inside those one room zhuggi houses whose area in the square feets could be compared to any of the toilets in our hostels and where almost 12 families live happily(of course happiness is subjective). A family of five squeezes in a 8x8x6 cubic feet cube. There are no windows, the walls have become pitch black because of the soot of the smoke which has become a part of their everyday oxygen, the floor is not cemented. It's utter misery. And yet they don't crib. Yet all they can think of is somehow getting another days work which pays them a meagre sum of Rs.80 in the evening after an 8 am to 6 pm job of cutting the grass from the sprawling green gardens of BITS. And yet they have no problems. Infact they don't have any expectations from life, any dreams as such and most of all almost no hope. And yet they are happy(???).

While every morning you and I crib for not wanting to go to work or classes or for anything under the sun that's not controlled by us. Everyday I am unhappy for thousands of things that I don't have or I don't run and all these Gardeners can think of is whether the grass is sprinkled with water or not.....

That's a Goal!!!

With my eyes towards the ball midway in air, I clumsily moved ahead crossing half a dozen kids when somehow, someone wearing a blue jersey pushed the ball towards me with a forceful effect of his right foot and I miraculously turned the ball in the right direction, one kick and it was right inside the post, keeper's foot missed it with just about two inches and it was just this easy for me to score the first goal of my life. All I had to do was to be at the right place.

This made me think how was I at that place or what inspired me to be there. This was in the first minute of the second half of the football match between dream a dream kids and nike employees.

Minutes before this all I was doing was watching them all play from a distant and when Pooja asked me why am I not playing all I could say was "I'll go in for the second match", well, there was no second match..Rakesh knew it and he literally pushed me into the game with a few other kids who could not play in the first half as substitutes for the players who were really tired...That one little push made a difference to me, I scored the first Goal of my life, that's big..at least for me..And the truth is that it'll be big and important for anyone...Think of the kids who were playing there first match, who were competing against each other and against their own selves, their own limitations for the first time, who were experiencing the spirit of the game and togetherness of the team and more than anything they were experiencing the human will to WIN. They all wanted to WIN and not as an individual but as a TEAM. They were pushing themselves, running from one side of the ground to another.

And how did this all happen?...with the efforts of a few individuals in the Dream Team and Nike.

That's what the Dream Team strives to do, they work to push people to their best. They strive to make kids aware of their potential, they are trying to give them dreams, aims and GOALS. Now, that's a GOAL!!!

Today, I made a difference

Here's one of my post on the dream blog.

Today.

Teach For India

Sometimes connecting the dots, as Steve Jobs puts it, becomes so easy. Somehow someday I started with this idea of joining Abhigyaan, then starting a blog where everyone associated with Abhigyaan can share there thoughts and experiences and then someone posting stuff about Teach For India on it.

The very first moment I saw that something like this exists I called up Ravi and Abhishek and told them that WE can DO something. Something significant and something that resonates with our thoughts and plans.

Everything about Teach For India excited me, the content on its website, the people associated with it, the methodology, the subtlety with which the biggest of all dreams has been shared, the straightforward way in which the problems our country is facing and solutions to them are mentioned, everything caught hold of my imagination.
The most amazing thing was thrown at me when I checked out the application procedure, The biggest application I had ever seen, it has some 6 pages and comprises of almost everything anyone can know about you. The minutest of the details. Writing those essays was overwhelming. Looking back at everything you have done in your life and how it has shaped you, the way you are now....It was too good and in a way it helped me understand the significance of everything that we do in life and how it affects our persona.
But, this was just the beginning of an awe-inspiring process. Application submission was followed by telephonic interviews and then a looooong assessment center. Although I was directly called to the assessment center..yay!!! a lot of guys had to go through the telephonic interview which again was grueling to them...

It will take another looonnng post to describe the assessment center. For now I will let you know the final result...I GOT IN...I have been offered admission to the fellowship 2010. yoyoyoyoyo
But the process has just begun..making THE DECISION...and getting family and friends to accept and believe in THE DECISION...