Life Happened
I know the problem of inequity in education is much bigger, but I have found my puzzle piece to start fixing it. I am highly thrilled to see young people who really want to witness a 180 degree turnaround in the society and the system where there are massive dents.
#lifehappens #gratitude
Author : Reji Varghese
Reji M Varghese is a Post graduate Electrical Engineer from MANIT Bhopal (India) with his Under Graduate Engineering degree from NIT Rourkela (India). In Dec 2003 he established the company ADONAI. He has overall responsibility for creating, planning, implementing and integrating the strategic direction of the organization.
Last couple of posts, I have been writing on the subject of “IMPACTING THE SOCIETY ” and I was greatly motivated to see responses to my posts through comments, likes, messages and calls from people who have read those write-ups. I am excited to make a new post on the same subject after I saw a photo Album created in Face Book by a young girl and it caught my attention as the name of the album sounded great to me – “21 days of gratitude”.
The program was all about inculcating the Attitude of Gratitude from a very small age. A lot of appreciative comments and likes were being punched in on the album and I myself made a few comments on the post. What made me dazed was the motivation of the person behind this work who is a bright intelligent engineering graduate, chose to work among the poor and the needy of our country while rejecting an offer from a multinational corporate company. I knew this girl since her school times as she was very dynamically involved in student transformation activities of an organization with which I am closely associated and committed to. While I got more curious about the work that she is currently doing among underprivileged kids, I asked her whether she could share the reason why she chose this career of serving the poor and the deprived when she had greater opportunities and avenues towards a high flying career as an engineering graduate.
In one of my previous posts Lakshmi Suresh, a PG student of English Literature commented "Be the change that you wish to see in this world". I am highly thrilled to see young people who really want to witness a 180 degree turnaround in the society and the system where there are massive dents.
Please read on !!!!…. what Rachel Mathew says in her own words ….
“Rewind! Let me take you to the final year of college. It was the month of July. I was sitting outside a swanky office, waiting for the interviewer to call me in. I was nervous and excited as this was my first professional interview. I had worked hard to come to this moment and I was thinking of what my life could be if I actually clear this interview. Butterflies in my stomach had taken a whole new meaning. A sudden noise in the backyard caught my attention. Adjacent to where I was sitting was this girl, probably as old as me and she had a broom in her hand. She was cleaning the office that I was going to step into. The broom had fallen from her hand which had caused that noise. At that instant the bubble that I was living in shattered. I started thinking. This girl and I came into this world together (probably). Let’s mark that as the same point on a graph. But then as life proceeded these two points had distanced and in future also the gap would continue to increase. Me- I will step into the corporate world and earn a lot of money, and she will struggle with her broom. WHY?
That evening when I came back home, there was unrest within me. I wasn’t thinking about the interview but I was thinking about that girl with the broom. A battle had started within me. I wanted to do something to fix this problem. With weeks of contemplation I had made a decision. I will do something to fix this problem. That’s how I joined Teach For India- an NGO which places young graduates in low income schools for two years. I am currently teaching a group of 31 sparkly eyed first graders. They have filled my life with so much happiness. I know the problem of inequity in education is much bigger, but I have found my puzzle piece to start fixing it. As a class we have taken up the “21 Days of Gratitude” Challenge to inculcate the value of Gratitude which is sadly very rare to find in my kids. Yes I did…. say MY kids. Smile!