It was 20th April 2012
evening. Venue was Prince of Wales
museum lawn, Mumbai. Weather was hot
and humid. I was one of the 18 project champions sitting
on the dais representing Divyadeepa, Mysore.
The occasion was announcement of grant finale
grant winners of the event, SPARK THE RISE. Spark the Rise is a
platform created by Mahindra, the automobile giant to help put ideas into
action to drive positive change in India.
I was pleasantly surprised to hear my name announced by Ms.
Parvathy Menon. Yes, we got 2nd
runner up grant of Rupees 20 lakhs.
Needless to say that I was very happy!
I thanked Mahindra for pouring oil into Divyadeepa which in turn help us
to light up the lives of many OUT OF SYSTEM children.
I came to know about this through
one of our volunteers Ananth Nag. Our project, ‘Education of OUT OF SYSTEM’ children
emerged as a winning entry in the month of November garnering maximum number of
votes. Architects of this were
volunteers. At 12 midnight of 30th
November, the tone and tenor of the calls I received from the volunteers echoed
a feeling of joy, jubilation and their emotional commitment to Divyadeepa. On the last day alone our project got 1300
votes. Volunteers bunked classes, went
to schools, colleges, software companies explained the concept of Spark The
Rise and sought votes for our project.
Naturally preparation for the grand
finale was even more joshful. We sent
mails to all patrons and well-wishers, requested all the visitors to this rural
project to vote. Volunteers prepared meaningful
posters. This time we got more votes
within 50% of time. We did our
best. Our volunteer’s spirit was very high. But other project champions bettered our
best! Hats off to them for all the hard
work! As per the number of votes, we
stood in 6th place, so chances of getting the grants were bleak. Naturally our volunteers were
disappointed. But I think we got the support
of the jury. Our project is innovative, its
impact is very high and has sustained without Government’s support for 7 years. I’m sure; we have the God’s Grace. We will continue to have It, as long as we
remain sincere.
In the afternoon session, prior
to the grant giving ceremony was a fruitful discussion session with TIE and
Mahindra staff members. The Indus
Enterprises (TIE) provide mentorship to project champions. The discussions were more or less general in
nature. There were 6 tables. Project champions were made to move from one table to another for discussing different topics. Some topics were interesting: What are the common pitfalls during establishing any organisation?, How to attract volunteers? Why innovations are not encouraged in India?, How profits and non-profits cooperate?... Visiting cards were exchanged so that project-specific
mentorship could be sought in future.
Prior to this at Mahindra Guest
house where all the project champions stayed, we had an informal group
discussion in the morning. I came to
know about the inspirational work of other members. Each project has its own unique challenges and
solution has to be found out by the person who is working at the grass root
level.
Thanks to Mahindra for organising
the event so well. As usual it was a
great learning experience for me. Our gratitude
to all who supported Divyadeepa in this event.
This grant will take care of our entire operational cost for one year. Or if we keep this amount in corpus, the interest can take care of the life cycle of six children including their food, clothing, medical expenses and quality education. This event helped me to understand our own
work in different perspectives.
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