Category: Lakshya

Volunteer Interview – Priyanka Sharma

Volunteer Interview – Priyanka Sharma

Posted on by Vaishali Rajan

Hi Priyanka , tell us a little bit about yourself.

Hello! I am a goon straight from Bihar. To keep me on right path, my parents made me finish schooling from Madhya Pradesh (NCL). Have done Maths Hons from Patna and then MBA from Chennai. After finishing all studies Volunteer interviewpossible in my life, 2 years ago I finally found nirvana in Bangalore! Parents took me out of Bihar but they couldn’t take Bihar out of me ;-). Interesting facts about me: I am a pure non-veggie/mad/adventurous/talkative/over-enthusiastic/bindaas-yet-caring Bihari Brahmin.

How and when did you get associated with Bhumi?

My first involvement started with Siragugal for 2 years in Chennai as a D-day volunteer. Second one was quite dramatic and filmy! After shifting to Bangalore, in mid 2011 suddenly one day I heard someone talking about Bhumi fest (I wasn’t aware then that it was renamed Nakshatra) in my office cafeteria. I enquired and found that Bhumi is here in Bangalore as well. I got one contact also but somehow wasn’t able to reach! And then one day while doing timepass on Facebook, one of my MBA College seniors, who have been involved with Bhumi, again started Bhumi’s topic. I told him the whole incident. He only asked me if I were genuinely interested and if I could remain committed enough. I gave him assurance and in return he gave me direct entry into Bhumi. I went to battle-field (first session of Lakshya) first and then attended basic training (orientation) 😉

What is it that keeps you going along this journey?

Only thing that overwhelms me is the joy I feel when all kids come running and start talking simultaneously in English mixed with local language. That moment language doesn’t seem to be a barrier to the expression of happiness they want to show after seeing me there. You definitely feel that you do hold some importance in their life and for some time you are outside the fake n formal corporate world. Also they do give you chance to relive your golden childhood times!

Why did you decide to join the Lakshya programme?

Lakshya aims for over-all personality development. Like we know “Survival of the fittest”, Lakshya is there to groom kids to become fit enough to survive in today’s competitive world we live in. Our school curriculum concentrates majorly on studying and put hardly any effort for child’s personal grooming. But when we see around us apart from good score card, it’s essential to have good communication skills, leadership skills etc. This is what Lakshya aims to do and these unique features excited me to be part of Lakshya! Apart from teaching kids we also get a chance to play and enjoy every weekend which normally we wouldn’t be able to do. Some physical and mental activity in this rather stagnant society is an added advantage for me!

What or who inspired you to start volunteering?

During my graduation days, I came across one lady who was trying to feed her family by doing house chores when her husband was busy drinking and beating her. He never cared for her or his own kids. I saw her at times with beating marks on her body. But all she cared about was education and food for her kids. I was shocked to see this and yet inspired by her strength. The least I could do at that time was to help those kids in studies and got some donations for kids like them from my college. This started my volunteering career you can say!

What is it that you enjoy the most at Bhumi/Lakshya?

I enjoy meeting different kind of people through Bhumi and the most is playing and having care-free time with kids every weekend! Last year somehow I was only interacting with all Lakshya volunteers but this year during Nakshatra preparations got to know so many other volunteers and realized how much I missed in one whole year. Plus different volunteers from other projects motivate you too!

How has Bhumi affected your life?

Bhumi has given me platform to do some good for our society. It is definitely helping me in becoming a good leader and a good citizen. I always believed in one saying “We should try giving back to society what we earn from it!” Bhumi is the medium which is helping me in my belief. End of every weekend I feel satisfied for using sometime for good cause!

Who are your favourite Lakshyans?

Every volunteer is unique in their own ways. From new team, for instance I am inspired by Madhu for her involvement n leadership, chethna and Shweta for their dedication. Actually all the new volunteers with whom I have interacted till now are great people and I hope this year we actually kick start Lakshya and achieve what it is supposed to!

Your biggest dream:

As of now, I only dream to make Lakshya successful in Bangalore and make it grow bigger and bigger by every year. Apart from this, like every child I also want to do things to make my parents feel proud on me. I guess all dreams possible can be summed into this! 🙂

Tell us a little bit about your life outside of Bhumi.

Life outside Bhumi is like everyone else’s. Sleeping late, getting up late, go to office once in a while for some time pass ;-), reading novels, watching movies, and miss my mom’s food everyday! This correctly sums-up my day-2-day life!

Which is your favourite hangout spot in the city of Banglore?

For eating its Barbeque nation, for movies and shopping its Meenaxi mall, to have time pass it’s my office and the best hangout spot is my bed 😀

Your message to fellow volunteers:

We might be volunteering only for couple of hours every weekend but even that requires utmost dedication and commitment from our side! All that kids need from us is our time and our attention. Smile on their face is the return gift we are getting and believe me it’s very satisfying. 🙂 Let’s rock!

 

Lead Bhumi Beacon 2013 Experience

Lead Bhumi Beacon 2013 Experience

Posted on by Vaishali Rajan

In the project coordinator interview process, there was a question from Vaish that incase if you are selected as project coordinator you got to attend a 3 day leadership program in a hotel/resort in and around Chennai, can you ? Even after I said, yes, she again repeated the question – will you make yourself free for 3 days? I again repeated, yes, I can. I was thinking, who would say no for such a get-together!

On the day of the leadership conclave, while I was eating breakfast at home, I got SMS at 8.30am saying breakfast is available at resort so please come early – Romba paasakara pasangala irrukkangale !! On my way to venue, I got a call from Gana, where are you, as usual, I said, crossed Thiruvanmaiyur will reach in 5 mins. He said, ok  come soon. I called him back, and said the truth I’m near OMR only, anything I need to do from this part of the city? He replied, dai go and pick Delhi volunteers from airport. Ok, now I got a good reason to hide my late; I drove to airport for the pick-up.

Entering the resort was a pleasant experience; that traditional hut shaped lodging paved new way to the experience of commingling with co-volunteers from other projects and cities. Entered into the presentation hall, with the expectation of seminars / presentations / PPTs – usual Microsoft window will appear for each presentation. Excitingly, doc and Vaish made all their presentations in PREZI – new tool to present your ideas, as it is, in your mind.

Now, came here the 3 strangers – Sujit, Gnani, and the other bald guy. Normally, I won’t have opinions about people or organization until I know them completely. Likewise, when these people introduced themselves, and started into the process of addressing, igniting, and illuminating leadership skills to everyone, I was listening with heart and mind open. At the end of this difficult listening process what I should stress more in is, ‘I never knew that these people could make everyone experience the leadership skills within us’. That said, these guys, taught us that those leadership skills are simple and mundane to have, but complex and exhaustive to employ.

From the first day, 2 main rules these 3 strangers adopted were very simple and effective. First, parking lot for phones during discussions or presentation everyone must park his/her phones in the parking lot while entering the hall. Second a native Indian (Appalachian) custom to not to interrupt a person who is talking during discussion. Native Indians used Stick to show the one who has a power of talking whereas Bhumians used a big pebble. We abided these 2 rules for 3 days.

First day was full of Introductions about each other, discussions about the goal of Bhumi for the next five year, discussion about the individual project goals, and the 5-step strategy to achieve these goals, project coordinators introduction about their projects. Everyone might have learnt where they are with respect to their project and where they have to transcend, as a whole Bhumi, in the next 5 years

Night in the resort, should I have to explain, was awesome. While having dinner, I could hear someone saying, ’Machi, I got tired by only talking’. After dinner, we walked to Beach, the beach was pleasant, calm, and ordinary, as it always used to be, with a husband (watch man) and his wife quarreling at one corner, and our volunteers walking in bare feet, and making calls to their friends and family. Finally, to register the day, we ended with photo sessions in beach.

Second day, we had a hint on the 1st day that 2nd day could be full of outbound activities. As said, 2nd day was full activities which will make you think in the room, act in the ground, and when you come back from the ground, these activities will groom you through discussions. The overview of some skills which we learnt on the 2nd day are Leader’s selection of team member is immaterial of the team’s performance, openness, concentrate on the goals leave the path in achieving it, talk talk and talk till everyone in your team understand your points, accept your false immediately and appreciate other’s points, always have measurable goals, and finally keep your ears wide open listen everything. With these skills experienced in the ground, and the conference room we left to our room only to get ready for the midnight meeting.

Third day was a mix of 1st and 2nd day. One outdoor activity, and discussions/Presentations. Doc,Vaish, and Bhargav somehow saved their energies so as to give their presentations in the end of the day. These presentations gave ideas more into the functional and operational aspects of our Bhumi. With all these great skills learnt, experienced, and experimented we set-off to leave the resort with happy smiles and byes to everyone. Now, I dropped all the Delhi, Pune, Jaipur vols in the airport, and came back to home with the glimpses of few images of three days…

“fight  for puri during breakfast, Big Arshath’s small smile, Bhargav’s subway surfers costume, discussion, open-mindedness, quick decision making, Madhushree’s commitment towards Lakshya in Bangalore, decentralizing every chapters, reaching 250 children in Lakshya, Chicken 65 only for the lunch on the last day, beach walk and talk, Kathambari’s track pant, Gana’s fear for Kathambari’s retort,  Prakash’s pole-photography, my room’s bathroom door which can be opened/closed only half, dance floor, bhumi’s goal of reaching 10000 children, doc’s vision of taking volunteering to the next level…………..”

~

Ramkumar Eswaran, Program Co-ordinator, Lakshya Chennai

Lakshya 2013 Kick-off @ Trichy

Lakshya 2013 Kick-off @ Trichy

Posted on by Vaishali Rajan

Following with our series on Lakshya Kick-off at Chennai centres, we are back with updates from our Bangalore & Trichy Lakshya centres. Lets hear it out from our Trichy volunteers directly:

“It was my first session with the kids after becoming a part of Bhumi and it was highly satisfying. It gave some purpose to the otherwise mundane sundays which I spend by sleeping in. I couldn’t ask for a better team than Lakshya to be a part of. You guys are all young and energetic (takes me back a few years wen i was in col) and it is highly contagious. After a couple of more sessions of icebreakers I think we can start planning our road-map for the year. Am sure that we will have a long and fruitful association with the children and co-volunteers.”

– Vivek Rajan, Maanavar Illam, Trichy
“The inaugural session at Maanavar Illam, Trichy on 30th day of June 2013, a SUNday BRIGHTER than usual, an hour of discussion before the session made us get close to one another and we came to know many things about one another. 🙂 Being the inaugral session, planned for the proper execution of the activities… After an hour, started the activities with the ice breaker of virtual volley ball, which made the kids interact with us very well… everyone of us came to know the names of all the kids. 🙂 Thereafter we conducted two activities after which we all sat together with the kids and shared the things we came to know through the activities conducted. And asked the kids to write the things discussed and learnt while coming for the next session. And promised to reward those who do so with chocolates. 🙂 After the session, as rats were running in all our stomachs 😛 Decided to hangout somewhere for supper… Finally ended up with a dinner. 😉 Discussed a lot as our tongues tasted the delicious food… Decided that, neither the rings nor the vibrations of the mobiles will disturb the activities from next session!!! Had a great tym, first tym, the strangers got sooo close in a couple of hours as best friends… even though we were not of same age group!!! Finally, this day, made me feel that, today, even Lakshya stands as a reason for Bhumi revolving on its axis in Trichy!!! 🙂 Trichy, being the city which has given many talents and leaders to this world, happy that, lakshya has started leading and helping many talents identify themselves and achieve their Lakshya (dream)!!!”
– Arshath (MAP), City Coordinator, Trichy
Lakshya 2013 Kick-off @ Bengaluru

Lakshya 2013 Kick-off @ Bengaluru

Posted on by Vaishali Rajan

Following with our series on Lakshya Kick-off at Chennai centres, we are back with updates from our Bangalore & Trichy Lakshya centres. Lets hear it out from one of our Bangalore volunteer:

“It was my first day at Bhumi for lakshya session. My team met up at BBMP High School in Bangalore. We started off with a group discussion on how do we carry out the activity which was planned. All of us were involved in carrying out a demo before starting it with the children. We were prepared and walked to the school play ground. We carried out the activities with enthusiasm and I must say that it was truly an ice breaker. It was fun and everyone enjoyed it. The children were also very happy. Also, I observed that a few of the children were very creative in executing the activity in a completely different way. Overall, I had an amazingly wonderful experience being with them, getting to know them as well and also I had a very good and valuable time with these children who look forward for support, guidance and trust. I thank Bhumi and Lakshya for giving me this opportunity to contribute for a better tomorrow.”

– Chethna, BBMP High School, Bangalore

Lakshya Kick-off 2013

Lakshya Kick-off 2013

Posted on by Vaishali Rajan

June has been an amazing month for Lakshya. With a huge bunch of new volunteers joining us from the Orientation held in May-June, most of us have been super busy preparing for a fresh academic year. This year, we have expanded to newer centres in Chennai itself. 🙂

Not only did we have multiple induction sessions, we also kicked off the inaugural sessions at all our centres in Chennai this month. Not to forget about overwhelming response of the new members, who have officially been baptized into Lakshya 😉

Ripples team has made an attempt to capture their fresh experience.

“Located about 2 kms off OMR, the place is a single hall of roughly 10 feet by 25 feet. We were anticipating a rugged set of kids based on the initial contact we had made with the caretaker of the place. But the 24 odd kids who turned up were surprisingly well-behaved, contrary to the warning we had received. We engaged them in initial introductions. Though cricket, football, volleyball were the most popular responses amongst the guys there was one interesting response from the handful of girls who turned up – she mentioned that she likes to study. It was wonderful to hear someone say that out loud.

To break the ice and connect with the kids, we started off with an activity which they would be able to relate to easily. We chose simple questions like studies or sports, math or science and asked them to move around to each of the four walls depending on their choice – A, B, neither A nor B, both A and B. This elicited excitement in the kids especially when we put up questions related to the favourite actors and food preferences. Few of them began to open up and pass jovial comments or two. The other kids followed their lead and began voicing their opinions on what the next questions should be. The kids had a good amount of fun.

Next up was the balloon race where they were split into teams of three and asked to play a relay race. They were asked to blow up the balloon from one end of the wall, release it into the air and moving to the point where it fell down and continue this till they reached the other end of the wall. All 8 members in each team had to do this to complete the race and the more mature kids passed on techniques to the younger ones on how to get it done fast. It was great to see the team spirit they portrayed in the course of this event.

The finale for the day was a good old game of dumb charades. Following that, a few kids came up on stage to exhibit their talent on the dance floor and their native folk (gaana) song. At the end of the two hour session, most kids wanted more to come. We took a quick survey of what they wished to learn in the coming months and figured that some of them were ambitious. They mentioned that they wished to learn to play most sports, to learn more of the current affairs and wanted help with their studies. It was the perfect crowd for our Bhumi’s Lakshya program. The volunteers will get a good opportunity to help and guide them with their dreams.

Being a first timer at Lakshya I was looking forward to this day. And I can strongly say that I will remember the 29th of June, 2013 for the rest of my life. The joy and earnest enthusiasm in the kids, the sparkle in their eyes when they got the answers right during dumb charades – those are the intangibles which cannot be obtained anywhere else. Hopefully we volunteers will get to learn and grow along with the children at this centre.”

– Akhilesh, PBC Kandanchavadi, Chennai

“This is my very first experience in handling kids of 15 to 16 yrs. It was really useful as it taught me how kids of various backgrounds get groomed. I would say that their circle of people and the kind of environment is being the detrimental factor in their childhood grooming. But I could see a lot of innate potential skills in them as good as normal children of their age. All they need is just our tendering and support and the right ambience for them to groove their skills with little focus on changing their lifestyle. Overall, it taught me certain aspects like patience, tolerance, perseverance in changing their attitude and helped me locate my interest too!”

– Akshaya Harini, Bala Mandir, T.Nagar, Chennai

Lakshya team in Chennai has had an exciting month. What happened in the Bangalore and Trichy chapters of Lakshya?? Coming up in the next edition 🙂

A Peep into Lakshya Induction

A Peep into Lakshya Induction

Posted on by Vaishali Rajan

LAK CHE Induction 2013

As I signed up for Lakshya during the orientation, I was called to take part in the induction session at Balamandir on G.N Chetty Road on June 30th, to get to know more about Lakshya and its various activities. As luck may have it, I ended up reaching the induction almost an hour late!

The security guard at the gate saw the rush in me and thankfully guided me to the right room. I entered and saw a sizable group of 6-7 people sitting on the mat in a circle and looking at the screen on a presentation keenly. Looking at the watch and looking at my worried expressions the team decided to ask me to do an ice breaker activity wherein I was asked to do something to entertain the group! I chose to conduct a drawing analysis test, I had learnt a few weeks back from a friend, on the new joiners sitting there. Thankfully Ramya agreed to take part in it wholeheartedly. Leaving the details aside, I can tell you that my findings (actually wild guesses) were rather well appreciated and accepted! Hope she is not reading this article 🙂

After I was done with my test and the group had introduced itself, we were taken through a very informative presentation on Lakshya and its various activities. Until then, I had just heard them speak about various activities in a very broad manner but this session actually introduced us to various activities in which the volunteers can engage themselves as a part of the team. It was quite encouraging to note that Lakshya team really believes in a “two- way” transfer of knowledge and mentors here actually get a chance to learn something back from the organization.

Done with the presentation and introduction, our (g)hosts 😛 decided to introduce us to the real difficulties, which we will be required to tackle as part of team Lakshya by asking us to take part in a role playing game. In this game all the joiners were divided into groups of two in which one took the role of a mentor and the other, the role of a student. Both the partners in the group were supposed to alternate between the two roles and get to know each other in the process. It was actually a very creative way to make us experience the dynamics of mentorship. I ended up learning that mentorship is not really about giving solutions to the problems that a child may be facing, rather it’s more about building a rapport and comfort level with that child. Rest everything takes care of itself! Obviously this requires lot of patience and commitment from the mentor’s side.We ended this role playing game by watching a humorous video of Kamal Hassan in which he tries to tackle a tough kid!

Before concluding the session the table was left open for any doubts or questions that the new joiners might have. I had a couple of questions myself and they were duly clarified! All in all it was a wonderful session and I really look forward to taking part in various activities and building team Lakshya!

Cheers!

– Rahul Aggarwal, Lakshya Chennai

Tutoring @ BM

Tutoring @ BM

Posted on by Vaishali Rajan

Tutoring @ BM

 “Do the best possible attempt to help students in studies with any effort required…”

Tutoring came as a spark in Bala Mandir (BM) from a few Lakshya volunteers (Prasanna, Rajan, Rajasekar, Marwa, Satheesh, Gnanambigai to name a few) during the 2011-12 academic year. Despite lot of concerns from the management in terms of productivity and the impact it can create to the students, we were successful in conducting the tutoring sessions. From then on it has come a long way. Continuing the momentum, 2012-13 has been a steep learning curve for tutoring in BM. “Tutoring has been really good this year. Compared to last year, it was more organized and quite challenging” says Satheesh, who has been a key tutor at BM. There had been suggestions to start tutoring from 9th class itself to make the basics clear for the students and help them excel.

So, how to go about a tutoring session? You need to plan a lot of things like small fun activities or a math trick (especially when it is a Maths session) to make the students feel comfortable. The main thing for the tutor is to choose the subject you love to teach from basics and be comfortable with. The plan should have a long term goal to be covered at an appropriate time along with small short term goals. The planning phase should also include a backup plan.

The primary factor in charting the plan is Time & Time-table i.e. how am I going to manage my time to co-ordinate with that of the student. Another major factor is the student’s interest level and ability along with tutors’ attempt to make the subject more interesting without boring the student. Not always there is an interest to study for the students, that too with someone who has already been mentoring every week. “Do the best possible attempt to help students in studies with any effort required & reach out to someone when you require assistance or not sure of any situation or resolution.” says Prasanna who pioneered the tutoring team last year.

Another key aspect to look for is the current situation of the student. Due considerations need to be given when it comes to pressure, family problems, friendships and their biological issues. Before we start studying together, it is better the tutor spends time to get rid of unwanted things and make the student pick up his books. It happened successfully for one of the tenth standard student in BM, who had issues with memorizing and low scores. It is equally important for the tutor to be little flexible in making the student study. Make a time table to his/her convenience to study.

The important thing in tutoring is to understand the student’s potential and to learn along with them. You are 90% successful then. Teaching is just a topping for the rest 10%. That brings confidence and instills greatness in thoughts to the student. It also helps the tutor to set goals. Thus, it not only helps the students but also the tutors to groom in a personal level.

Last but not the least; don’t give any false promise or appreciation.

Ripples team would like to congratulate all the tutors who have put forth their time, commitment, dedication, energy and efforts in enriching the students’ knowledge and enable them progress in their academics.

Volunteer Speaks

Volunteer Speaks

Posted on by Vaishali Rajan

“Every weekend, after spending valuable time with them, I won’t feel like leaving them”

 Nivetha

T K Nivetha

Bhumi – Lakshya,

Maanavar Illam, Trichy

 As an active member of BHUMI, I would like to share my views on “Lakshya”. Lakshya is a project which makes students to relieve their stress and improve their mental ability through various interactive games and group activities. I like the project for its cause and that made me choose it. I have always wanted to work for the society and this organisation makes my weekends special ones. I get to meet really talented students and the time spent with them always stays close to my heart. It gives me a satisfaction and explains me what life is all about when a responsibility is given. And about the students at Maanavar Illam, the time spent with them is so special and memorable. Every weekend, after spending valuable time with them, I won’t feel like leaving them. They need guidance and support in every moment of their life. I am there to help them. I consider this job valuable and heart touching. I will always work for the society and my contribution towards it will be never ending.
Feb 9th 2013 was a wonderful day at Ramakrishna Mission Students Home (RKM) as I witnessed the versatility of students performing at the sports day celebration and more importantly a fully themed drama that has gone for nearly one and half hour about the life story of Swami Vivekananda. Most of the characters including the lead role of Swami Vivekananda were played by the 9th std students who are part of Lakshya program. I didn’t even think that the drama will be such serious one. I was astonished by our students’ performance / make-up / choreography etc. we can keep on adding. The Vivekananda character (and some other characters also) shaved their head to match the role they are playing. The make-ups were in such a way that we will have to look very closely and strain our eyes to find who they are, The students were just into their character / role. I have not seen before any such drama performed by students that is well established, themed, spirited etc…and I am very happy to share my joy with all of my fellow Lakshyans !:-)  Sarathi

J Sarathi

Bhumi – Lakshya

RKM, Chennai

 

Mentoring Feedback session

Mentoring Feedback session

Posted on by Vaishali Rajan

It was dull and gloomy Sunday morning as all the Lakshyans gathered @ the Bhumi office . It was quite a lethargic time until Saras ma’am arrived and soon everyone was buzzing up with energy . All Lakshya volunteers had gathered at the Bhumi office for the feedback session even as many big bosses skipped the session 😀

So it was time for the discussing about the Lakshya project , how it has been going and how mentoring was going on in both the centres , so the feedback session started off the first time volunteers who have taken up mentoring expressing the difficulties they had faced during the mentoring sessions . So as the discussion was leading into a boring phase, there came the late comer Harshan and session was back to its life again ,of course everyone needs entertainment and this time Harshan took that up instead of Ashwin 😀 after serious discussions , it was time to find out the solutions to these problems and Saras ma’am gave out a few options . This was followed by a brief discussion on certain problems which were being faced in BM and also possible solutions that can be employed for that . So as the session ended, everyone gathered for the group photo and namba HR showcased his photography skills 😀 In all the gloomy and dull Sunday turned lively with some fierce and useful discussion as the mentoring session progressed 🙂