A life cushioned from the difficult world outside, I hardly knew about the harsh realities that lay outside the comfort of my home, family and friends. An internship with the NGO Akshaya Patra in the summer of 2012 was the turning point in my life; it opened my eyes to the disparate society we live in. During the internship, I visited a government school to conduct a survey on the mid-day meal provided by the organisation to the children. I was in shock when I saw the run-down state of the building and the intolerable stench of the toilets. In spite of these deplorable conditions, the children did not seem overly affected by it and were simply happy to attend ‘school’. Their excitement made me salute the human spirit and ____. It was then
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My classroom was a reflection of the sprawling slum that surrounded it. It was an amalgamation of violence, malnutrition, self-destructive attitudes, adolescent confusions, dysfunctional families, and dire poverty. These problems had trickled down into the behaviour and mindsets of my students; I realised that I could not expect my students to learn the way I did when I was in school. This fellowship instilled in me a strong will to overcome obstacles and come up with solutions. Thus, with the will to find answers, I began my visits to the community. I spent hours after school interacting with my students and their families in the comfort of their homes. It took time, perseverance, reflection, learning, and a lot more un-learning, to realise that I had to treat and teach every student differently. During these visits, I learnt that Ruman loved drawing, that Afsar was a great football player and that Sana taught her neighbours how to dance. I took my learnings back into the classroom and started incorporating art, dance and sports while teaching. These small changes had a huge impact on my class, but honestly, the class had its biggest impact on …show more content…
However, I strongly believed that I needed to work in a fast paced environment with different structures and perspectives from that of an NGO. With India’s rapidly growing start up sector, I got an opportunity to work in a dynamic startup company in Bangalore as a Content Manager after the fellowship. Even though the work was in a completely different field, it helped me develop valuable skills. In the one year that I spent there, I learnt to manage people, approach every problem creatively and think on my feet. Working with a small team in the initial stages of the company helped me dabble in different verticals of the organisation and even participate in their decision making process. I can say with confidence that this experience in a start up was undeniably an enriching
My classroom was a reflection of the sprawling slum that surrounded it. It was an amalgamation of violence, malnutrition, self-destructive attitudes, adolescent confusions, dysfunctional families, and dire poverty. These problems had trickled down into the behaviour and mindsets of my students; I realised that I could not expect my students to learn the way I did when I was in school. This fellowship instilled in me a strong will to overcome obstacles and come up with solutions. Thus, with the will to find answers, I began my visits to the community. I spent hours after school interacting with my students and their families in the comfort of their homes. It took time, perseverance, reflection, learning, and a lot more un-learning, to realise that I had to treat and teach every student differently. During these visits, I learnt that Ruman loved drawing, that Afsar was a great football player and that Sana taught her neighbours how to dance. I took my learnings back into the classroom and started incorporating art, dance and sports while teaching. These small changes had a huge impact on my class, but honestly, the class had its biggest impact on …show more content…
However, I strongly believed that I needed to work in a fast paced environment with different structures and perspectives from that of an NGO. With India’s rapidly growing start up sector, I got an opportunity to work in a dynamic startup company in Bangalore as a Content Manager after the fellowship. Even though the work was in a completely different field, it helped me develop valuable skills. In the one year that I spent there, I learnt to manage people, approach every problem creatively and think on my feet. Working with a small team in the initial stages of the company helped me dabble in different verticals of the organisation and even participate in their decision making process. I can say with confidence that this experience in a start up was undeniably an enriching