A sunday well spent...

A Monday morning and i have around half hour before I hit for office.. am surprised and all my room-mates are.. AJ leaving at 8.30 for office is a rare sight... well that's a habit I have decided to inculcate.. just an hour early rise...

An insight on my routine is not the reason am writing the blog this for after almost 9 months... over last 2 weeks I came across group of people who trying their bit to make a difference in this country.. the scale of coverage might be small but the intentions are to generate as many educated and earning member in families where it matters...

There are two instances wherein I was part of the efforts trying to give my bit.. The recent once was few hours spent in a school but at the end of day the smile it brought to my face was more than anything I would have wanted...

It was a classroom of Standard-IV of a Govt school with wooden desks (the uncomfortable ones used in 90s with chair and table attached and you cannot arrange them as per your size)..

I somehow managed to fit in the desk..a girl of around 16 sitting opposite to me telling me, "I want to be a CA because I am good in accounts.. I know a bit about CA but want to know the details.. Also I know English is important for better future and hence I want to learn it..".. The sheer determination of the girl and her focus amazed me...

Well this is part of an initiative EY Foundation has taken up where the sponsor 10+ education of kids, till there Graduation, from municipal school who has scored more than 75% of marks and who need the support... The foundation decided a one-on-one counselling session for these kids to understand their problems and guide them...

It was a Sunday morning and I was ready by 8 to leave.. a school in Dadar was where the sessions were to happen.. Apart from EY employees there were few more volunteers from different walks of life which have come... The lady who has been part of EYF and has been interacting with us informed that the problems could range from personal ones at home to asking for financial support..but we are to keep studies as focus..

I was not sure how I would I able to guide them but I sure wanted to try and make a difference.. Me and Salil were waiting eagerly.. a guy in spectacles..wearing a black jeans and a black shirt with a smiled entered...
He seemed full of positive energy and the smile on his face told us that he was on the top of this world right now.. He was going to start his Electronics engineering from Monday.. wanted guidance in terms of future options available.. It brought a smile on our faces..after all it was a comfortable zone as we were both engineers.. we told him about ME,M.Tech, MS, MBA, Campus placement.. he went away smiling..

One after another there were students who were in 12th or in First year pursuing Engineering or Commerce.. I was not aware much about CA as an option but promised them to get someone for a session for options available in Commerce field... The other major problem these students are facing is Ease of talking in English.. all of them were studying in Marathi medium schools and have never touched English till their 10th standard.. suddenly a switch to English as a medium of teaching has crippled them to some extent...

I was relate to the problem as somewhere in my past I have faced the ghost... The good thing about this was all of them wanted to face the ghost and move ahead.. the knew the importance of the language in today's world.. they have started efforts on their own side.. reading in English, English news, Discovery channel, using dictionary. I loved the dedication and zeal these guys were full of...
There were simple questions like.." I am not confident of talking in English in front of people.. people tell me to do away with that fear.. tell me how to do away with it"... another guy came with a focused question." I know I want to do CA.. I am preparing for it.. I am afraid of doing anything..Why should I be afraid?? But tell me what all should I do to improve my understanding and answering the questions in English in a better way".. It went on and on...

I was planning to be there in just the first half of the day but the interest and zeal of these students made be stay back till the end... All the volunteers.. from an auntie in her 60s to people like me finishing studies recently.. all were busy.. taking working lunches to talk to as many students as possible... At the end of day we all felt privileged to be part of the program and it brought a feeling of satisfaction that we are able to contribute our bit hoping that we were able to equip these missiles towards their target to some extent..

The next episode would be coming up soon...