ANOU BLOG | Project Why

Anou's blog

Please help me

This little girl all dressed up for her second birthday is looking ahead at her future: what does it hold for her, she wonders. Let in unfold and be a mystery.

Tomorrow she will be 27010 days or 74 years old. Time to look back at the mystery and answer the one question that has always troubled her: when it is time to go can I look into a mirror and not have to look away. The little girl is me!

When I look back at the years gone by what first comes to mind is the abundance of love I was smothered me by my two doting parents whose only child I would be. It was pure unconditional love something I would understand much later in life. This love did not translate in abundant toys or making every wish come true. It was the time my mother and father spent with me, the stories they told me, the long moments of silence when nothing needed to be said, the gentle whisper, the loving embrace each one leaving indelible traces that would slowly make me into who I am. The values never spelt out but always shared as stories or gestures to emulate taught me long ago that giving was the most important thing in your live. Giving without expecting. Just giving. I first felt it viscerally in my gut at the age of three when my eyes were staring at the man without a coat in winter and not at the pranks of his bear. I still feel the same gut wrenching when I hear any street hawker walking by my window trying to sell wares nobody buys anymore. With malls and ten minutes delivery Apps and houses now transformed into many flats who goes down to the street to buy a few vegetables and smile at the vendor. Does anyone ask herself the question: will his family eat tonight?

I remember a friend sharing an anecdote from Star Wars asking what are the three most important words in the world? And no it is not I Love You; it is PLEASE HELP ME. I was never on Starship Enterprise but these words were seared in my soul a long time ago.

Life took over: studies, jobs, marriage children and now grandchildren and all the responsibilities that come with them. The love of my parents was still there, still unconditional. and my only strength and anchor but then by 1992 I lost both of them and my life became a dark bottomless abyss. For many years I could not find a way to get out of it.

But then I remembered a silent promise made to myself when I discovered the village my ancestor left way back 1890 and that still looked frozen in time. I realised that fate has given me everything though I should have been like the women of this village: illiterate and a grandmother at 30. Again the twist in my gut and the question: what can you do to help.

That is when a series of serendipitous occurrences happened and somehow at the dawning of my sixth decade I was prompted to create Project Why. Miracles after miracles, some big, some small and some unbelievably large came our way and in a a few short years we were reaching out to over 1000 children. Every time I felt I had hit rockbottom and would have to pack up and shut the door, a shot of abundance came my way. My helping journey was not over. Even the terrible diagnosis of MM in 2020 did not have the power to alter my course.

Along the way I understood many things. First and foremost there are innumerable good souls in this world and we at Project Why were blessed to build a network of such people that I call the Project Why Family. Next that honesty is the only way to follow; the rewards will come.

Today there are thousands of children who have completed their education and a great number has joined us as teachers at Project Why. Others have become successful in many ways. Four of our alumni have got admitted to IITs!

All this sounds great. But that is not the end of the story. Project Why has also been a spiritual journey for me, one where I have redefined my own religious beliefs. I do not need to visit any temple, go on any pilgrimage. I see God every day in the eyes of all my Project Children. I have also realised along this path that the first soul you must learn to love is YOU. You are your only lifelong friend and only if you love yourself can you help and love others.

I have often quoted St Exupery’s Little Prince where the fox tells the Little Prince that it is only with the heart that one can see rightly. what is essential is invisible to the eye. For seeing with your heart you have to open it and let love flow. I understood that my becoming a recluse was not withdrawing from the world it was allowing me to open the door of my heart to allow myself to walk in. To help anyone you need to learn to look with your heart.

And the last lesson of this journey as on 4 April 2026 is to learn to surrender completely to whoever you believe in and hand Her/Him the reins of your life. The more you surrender, the more the Universe fulfils you.

Today I am ready to go as I know that I can look at the mirror and give myself a pat in the back while I Thank the Lord for everything I was blessed with.

it is not enough to invite them to the party; you must ask them to dance

It took a long time for schools in India to be inclusive but today there are by law. Today schools in Delhi are legally mandated to be inclusive, following the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (RPwD) Act, 2016, and the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020. All government and private schools must admit children with disabilities, provide reasonable accommodations (e.g., special teachers), and ensure a barrier-free environment.

Sadly some disabilities like ADHD or ODD are not included in RPwD Act yet. I hope they will one day.

A little girl was admitted into a private school in Nursery. She was diagnosed with the above mentioned issues. She is bright, witty, intelligent and full of beans but can also be defiant and difficult. But that is par to the course. Her first year in school went well though a little turbulent. But the next one was nothing short of a nightmare. Being very dark as she is from the South she was racially profiled as being ‘black”! This hurt her immensely. A core symptom of her issue is acting impulsively and thus picking up things that do not belong to her. This little girl did so and the only way the teacher found to deal with it was put her bag outside the class thus profiling her again and leaving her bewildered.

Adopted children often spend their early life in indifferent orphanages deprived of love or any human contact. They go into survival mode that often translates in such issues. The child cried for help in her own way: scribbling on her school books and other methods a little brain could conjure till one day she garnered her courage and voiced her pain: Please change my school!

Her mother did try to approach the school but in spite of all. efforts nothing changed and it was decided to change her school

When she was given her Transfer Certificate she was shocked to read that the reason given for the withdrawal was HEALTH ISSUES. This last profiling would become part of her educational journey and could hamper admission into another school or be a slur she would carry for life.

It is easy for law makers to make changes that rock the boat as they are not the ones to implement them. Including differently abled children does not just mean making a few alterations and accommodations. It is sensitising the staff, it is understanding that the slightest misstep can result in lifelong trauma and a feeling of rejection. Handling children with physical disabilities is easier but those with mental issues whose brains are not wired like ours requires extreme sensitivity and deep compassion.

Yes Education is a Right of all children born in this land, and inclusivity is the way to go but this should be done with great responsibility. I am sharing this personal story in the hope that someone who can make changes will read it.

It is not a complaint against a school. It is a gentle warning that in our rush to make changes that look good on paper we forget we are dealing with tiny lives.

Children with mental issues may have IQs higher than others but are wired differently. You need to enter their world.

This illustration says it all

Remember it is not enough to invite them to the party; you must ask them to dance

Wedding bells at Project Why

A few days back Xavier informed us about the visit of Serge an old friend of Project Why with his new bride Saranya. We decided to do something special for them. It was to be a surprise.

Serge carries India in his heart and his bride has never visited India. It was decided to welcome them at every centre with traditional Indian marriage customs. There was the exchange of garlands, the bride entering the ‘house’. after kicking a pot of rice, games newly weds play when the pride first comes, traditional wedding songs, wearing of toe rings and more.

Each centre did a fabulous job and the newly weds enjoyed every moment;

You can share of the moments too!

We wish them a happy married life.

when joy becomes simple life becomes extraordinary

I came across this beautiful article recently. What caught my eye was the title:”When joy becomes simple, life becomes extraordinary“. I read it and was drawn to every word as it resonated with everything I have gone through. If you have time, read it.

It took me a long time trying to find an image to illustrate this post. I waded through the hundreds of pictures I had and fell on this one. This is my darling Popples bathing in a five star swimming pool for the first time. A simple joy indeed but at that moment life for the tiny soul was nothing short of extraordinary.

It was time to take a walk down memory lane. True I am a daughter, wife, mother, grandmother and my life has had its share of ups and downs but did it ever feel extraordinary. The answer is NO!

What has made it extraordinary is the last 25 years of Project replete with simple joys: the trusting smile of a child, the sticky sweet put into my mouth by a child who has just passed her exams, the pride of children who have come to share their exceptional result, the loud GOOD MORNING MA’AM of the little creche kids as I pass by their class, Manu feeding me with his grubby hands, Utpal taking his first step, my special needs kids dancing with abandon, the child who has had a heart surgery walking back to class, and I can go on and on. And all these are the simple joys that have made my life extraordinary.

On a more personal note I also understood why I became a recluse in my golden years. The author ends with these words The deepest journey of life is always inward, towards the unmasked self, waiting quietly within. Now I understand that your one and only lifetime long best friend is YOU. I did not become a recluse; I just found my best friend.

A rockpile and a cathedral

In his famous 2007 “Last Lecture,” Randy Pausch highlighted that the platform to achieve childhood dreams is not just a physical place, but a mindset focused on enabling others, perseverance and passion.

I have often said and once had even suggested the byline “where children dare to dream” for Project why, but the consensus went to “because it makes a little difference”. But somehow deep in my heart Project Why was always about fulfilling dreams, big dreams!

One of my favourite author is Antoine de St Exupery and one of his quotes that comes to mind is: A rock pile ceases to be a rock pile the moment a single man contemplates it, bearing within him the image of a cathedral from his book Flight to Arras. Project Why was my rock pile when I first conceived it in my mind and my cathedral was the dreams of children I could fulfil. It was the platform that Randy Pausch described in his Last Lecture.

The early years were easy; the dreams feasible, the world still comprehensible. But today everything needs to be redefined. I am at a complete loss when I try to imagine tomorrow. It is said that AI will surpass all of us, that the jobs we know and aspire to will vanish. Nostradamus even predicts the arrival of aliens in 2026.

Then how can anyone dream. There is no anchor to hold no crystal ball to gaze into. All the dreams parents had for their children are blown to smithereens. Everything has to be reimagined. And in the midst of these troubled times there are children, zillions of them who do not have the luxury of time. They need guidance now. They need to be told what to dream about. They cannot wait for things to enfold.They need to be told now what awaits them in the future. And for those who still do not believe that many jobs will disappear, I am a living example. I was once a proficient and successful language interpreter and translator was paid, over 4 decades ago 1000 Rupees a day! Today ChatGPT, Claude or many of the AI assistants that exist today can do my work in seconds.

It is believed that entrepreneurship will remain and thrive. I was taken aback when I discovered the alpha school, a school where kids crush academics in 2 hours, build life skills through workshops, and thrive beyond the classroom. Alpha School, an AI-driven school with a high school location in Austin, Texas, offers a full tuition refund (approximately 40000$) if a student does not earn 1 million$ by the time they graduate. It is worth a read but a pipe dream for us.

In our quest for the best way to arm our children with the tools needed to succeed in this new world, we realised that good knowledge of English and computer skills were essential and we have begun in earnest teaching these from Class !, India has one huge advantage over other nations and it is its young population. It is said that by 2030, in 4 short years, India will have 750 million or half its population under 30 and will thus drive global labour supply as populations are rapidly ageing in the so called developed world. So language, English and others will be huge asset. That is sine qua non. To give you an example of today a plumber with good knowledge of English can get a job in Australia for 8500 US $ per month (800000 rs).

Bu there is a challenge that all will face. Parents across the board would never wish their child to be a plumber, carpenter, electrician and so on. And this definitely is not what a child will dream. There are other jobs that will survive the AI assault: nurses, caretakers, therapists, early education teachers, social workers, counsellors, creative artists, construction supervisors etc. Jobs that will require empathy, human connection, physical dexterity, accountability and so on.

So where is my cathedral: the dreams I want my children to dare to dream? And what is my role today. To allow and help them fulfil their dreams even those that I know are doors to nowhere or to gently guide them away from their dream and help them conjure a new one.

I am lost so help me God.

Memento Mori

Memento mori (“remember you must die”) , originated as an ancient roman tradition where a servant would whisper this phrase to a victorious general during their triumph parade to prevent hubris. It serves as a reminder of mortality’s inevitability to encourage a purposeful, humble life.

No one whispered these words in my ear but I think God must have the day he send me to this earth. as I can say with absolute conviction that I have lived a humble and purposeful life.

Almost three decades ago I began my Project Why journey. Many tried to dissuade me and make me change my mind saying that India was too huge a country ridden with problems and it would make no difference. I simply said: If I can make a difference in ONE life it will be worth it.

God whispered Memento mori again in May 2020 when I was diagnosed with multiple myeloma. A simple Google search for MM says Multiple myeloma is a rare, generally incurable blood cancer. The operative word is: incurable! The mori became a stark reality. It has been six years and I am still around taking no conventional treatment. I presume God has his plans.

Whatever then plans maybe, death was knocking at the door; the key was with the one upstairs. But for me there was only one question: what would happen to Project Why.

Those who know me well will tell you that I have become in my golden years a very private person almost a recluse. There was time when I was a party girl and loved going out, I guess this was also because I was the only child of diplomat parents and had wine and dined all over the planet. My profession as a conference organiser made me shake hands and meet heads of states.

The death of my parents plunged me into deep depression and it took years for the clouds to lift and the reason they lifted was because I set up Project Why!

That too was God’s plan as no matter what challenges came our way, He always conjured a miracle. But the person that emerged from those dark clouds did in no way resemble the person I had been. My 24/7 was dedicated to the children sent my way. No world existed for me beyond my precious project. The recluse was born.

I never felt the need to blow my own bugle or to share the achievements and success stories though they were abundant. What mattered was to soldier on.

On November 1st 2025 we celebrated our silver jubilee. I would have liked it to be a quiet affair with the staff and children but a dear friend who is on my Board insisted we celebrate in a big way.

It is only then, after a quarter of a century that I and many others realised the full extent of my achievements. I had never felt the need to tom tom about myself. I always said that I planted a seed and my team had nurtured it.

True I feel immense pride when I see my children achieve and achieve big just like the two children in the picture I carried in my arms. Today they are successful young adults who I know will make a change in the world. And there are many like them!

Of late some kind people have taken it upon themselves to craft a future beyond me. I have again accepted it as God’s gift with utmost humility. I do not know what God’s plans are. I only hear the words Memento Mori and know that I need to stay clear of hubris! I will simply carry on as long as God gives me the strength.

The tiny tinge of hubris I allow myself is that if Project Why has to shut it doors, I want it to be when it is in its full glory. I do not want it to die a painful and slow death.

So my petition to the Lord today is to give a sign of what awaits me so that I can plan the biggest celebration imaginable to celebrate three decades of a life of compassion and purpose if need be.

I never created Project Why to glorify myself, or to be known by one and all. I created it because a small three year old watching a bear dance did not see the bear but the man in tattered clothes freezing in the cold. The coat she insisted was given to him was the beginning of my journey.

I do not care whether any one remembers my name or face when I move on. I know I live in the hearts of every child I helped.

Memento Mori! That is the only and indubitable reality.

The rest is in God’s hand.

We need to adapt

I came across a short clip about what the future will look like as AI moves in at a speed we cannot imagine. It covers many industries where jobs as we know now will disappear. To survive you will need to adapt and work with AI

This is what it says about education: AI tutors that adapt to each student personalised learning at scale, traditional classroom models that become obsolete . Teachers who survive will be facilitators and mentors not lecturers. The one who cannot adapt replaced by algorithms that teach better, faster and cheaper. This is not a prediction. It is happening. The question is whether we will be ready when they do.

And happen it will sooner than you think. A recent article proves just that. The journalist decided to feed class X both. basic and advanced maths question paper, having 15 pages each to ChatGPT. The AI assistant solved both in less than a minute. And that is not all and I quote “What stood out was not just the speed, but the structure of the answers. ChatGPT solved every section in detail, writing step-by-step solutions with proper headings, clear working, and neatly presented final answers, closely resembling how a student would attempt the paper in an exam.

So what awaits us? Sridhar Vembu, the creator of Zoho says that Ai automation may not kill jobs but bankrupt the middle class if the government does not act fast and deepen economic quality. He says: If robots take your job, don’t panic – just be ready to cook, care, sing or farm! Human only professions will rise. The remaining things humans do may get paid well — as an example, taking care of children, home cooked meals, nursing sick people, priests that minister to people, people who take care of soil health, water health, crop health and cattle health (we used to call them farmers), forest restoration specialists, local live performing musicians and so on may get paid much more,” he writes. For Vembu, the future isn’t about machines replacing humans — it’s about whether governments can adapt fast enough to ensure no one is left behind.

I am no tech person or economist but I see the writing on the wall. I also am aware that I have the future of over 1000 children in my hands. So in spite of resistance from my staff who are weary to change and adopt new ways I know that it is imperative to introduce gentle change today.

So what are the jobs that AI. will. not replace:

Jobs safest from AI are those requiring high empathy, complex human connection, physical adaptability in unpredictable environments, or strategic leadership.

Healthcare & Empathy Roles: Nurses, therapists, counselors, and home health aides are secure because they require emotional intelligence, trust, and physical, bedside care that AI cannot replicate.

Skilled Trades: Plumbers, electricians, and technicians are safe because their work is highly physical, requires adaptation to unpredictable environments, and often involves complex, non-repetitive problem-solving.

Strategic & Creative Leadership: Managers, leaders, and strategic planners are needed to navigate complex human situations, build trust, handle ethical dilemmas, and motivate teams.

Specialized Human Services: Social workers and lawyers (especially in courtroom settings) are secure because their roles require navigating complex, non-black-and-white situations and legal liability, respectively.

High-Touch Services: Personal trainers, hairdressers, and specialized repair technicians remain safe due to the need for personal connection and physical skill.

Why These Jobs are Safe:
AI excels at pattern recognition and data processing but struggles with unstructured, real-world physical environments and genuine emotional connection. Jobs that combine high physical skill with empathy are the most resilient against automation.

But there is a dilemma we need to face. Parents across the board still dream of their children being doctors, engineers, chartered accountants, software engineers, in short al the jobs that have been top of the range till now. I know that by the time our children, particularly those in the primary section enter the job market, it would be totally transformed and that the time to steer them in the right direction is NOW!

But how do you tell a parent with huge dreams for their progeny that it will be better for their children do be a plumber or a hairdresser, more so in a country where dignity of labour is not prevalent. That is a huge challenge but unless we find a solution and ADAPT we will fail in our mission.

Now the reality. India is a young country and we will have 12 million young people entering the job market annually. You can do the math. While AI poses risks of displacing routine, low-level service and manufacturing jobs, it will create new, high-demand opportunities in specialized tech sectors. Key growth sectors will include green energy, healthcare, and space technology.

Some sectors require specialised training and skills. But sector like health care will see a massive demand for professionals due to an aging population, with growth in assisted living, nursing, and specialized care.

To remain competitive, the workforce will need to move beyond basic technical knowledge to focus on:

Adaptability and problem-solving.
Advanced technical expertise (AI, robotics, data science).
Human-centric skills that cannot be easily automated.

Some may think it is speculation and. I agree none of us is a crystal ball gazer, but unless we see the writing on the wall what we are teaching our children today will be quite useless.

At Project Why we have always strived to remain ahead of times. Our challenge is to be judicious and work out a solution that will benefit all.

The first step is to explain this reality to our team and work out the best plan together.

So help us God.

Wings to grow and soar into the future

Angels do not have wings. They look just like you and me.

This post is a little personal. I beg your indulgence.

Over the past 25 years of my Project Why journey I have faced many challenges, witnessed many miracles and realised that there are many good people in this world. Over these years we created a wonderful network of people from all over the world who became part of the Project Why family. I was blessed with an amazing team that stood by me and believed in my dreams.I also realised that there there was someone watching from the heavens above who I fondly called the God of Lesser Beings. He conjured miracles every time we were in need or distress. However for over two decades we lived from hand to. mouth. Today I understand that it was His way of testing me !

I knew we had a sound model the proof being the umpteen success stories that came our way and filled our hearts with immense pride but our funding model was fragile and depended on me. I was no spring chicken and every year that went by brought its share of grey hairs and worry lines. On this journey I was alone and rapidly ageing. My dream was to see project why live beyond me and though I held on to it tight I was unable to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

There were many sleepless nights and in the dead of those nights I knew that were I not able to ensure sustained and long term funding I would rather close Project Why when it was still thriving than have it die a slow and painful death after my demise.

The darkest hour precedes dawn and mine came in 2020 not only because of the pandemic that hit the world and turned it on its head but also because I was diagnosed with multiple myeloma. The end that was till then hypothetical became a stark reality but I knew I would soldier on till my last breath.

That is when the God of Lesser Beings decided that I had passed his test and decided to intervene. A series of events would shape the future. A desperate plea at a Board meeting; an email, a visit and the rest is history.

In today’s world heroes do not wear capes, and Angels do not have wings. They look just like you and me but with one difference : they are answers to your prayers and messengers of God!

Mine were Adish and Asha Jain and their beautiful family. The very first time Adish And Asha Jain visited our Okhla centre in March 2022 they decided to. adopt us not for a year or two as most funders do but for as long as we would exist. When God sends its Angels it is with a divine plan. They did not just sign a cheque with multiple zeroes. That is easy. They took it upon them to transform what I call my mom and pop shop and make it XXIst century savvy as only then would we be able to accede to long term funding. They asked one simple question; was I willing to accept change even though it may be painful as it would entail stepping out of our comfort zone. My answer was a loud an unequivocal YES!

The journey of transformation began and yes it was not easy. But change we did one step at a time from becoming a sound administrative structure, to changing our teaching approach and incorporating the skills needed to succeed in the XXIst century: English. computer skills, digital learning and so on. We did all as best we could.

March 5th 2026 will remain the most important day of my journey as Adish and Asha Jain brought their entire family to visit our Project. Before I go further I would like to say that in my 74 years of existence I have never met such a beautiful family. We were honoured to have Samir, Shailavi and their beautiful children Kavya and Milan, and Sapna and Bhupesh. Each one a testimony that good and kind people do exist in this sometimes incomprehensible world. I somehow felt that I had always known them: they were family.

My deepest gratitude to each one of them and to the Lord who heard my desperate plea. You will always be in my heart.

I have often been asked to define the essence and spirit of Project Why and I always quote a line from St Exupery’s Little Prince:”It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye”. The Jain family sees with their heart.

You may ask how have they impacted Project Why. The answer is simple: they gave a nearly dying organisation wings to grow and soar into the future.

Gentle, kind and always smiling!

In my almost three decades journey with Project Why there have been many moments that have made me proud be it a child who has passed an exam or a heart surgery that was successful and everything in between. But today my heart is swelling with pride, my throat is choking and my eyes are moist because Aman one of our alumni made a donation of ten thousand rupees to Project Why!

Aman’s story is nothing short of a miracle. He was a student of our Khader centre and we soon discovered that he was very good at Art and had a dream: that of becoming an Artist. Initially the family was not supportive and pushed him to join the commerce stream but his heart was not in it. We managed to convince his family to allow to pursue Art and helped him enrol in the Delhi school of Art. A kind soul supported and mentored him and he passed his BA. He then wanted to join a masters programme and Lady Luck smiled again and he got a seat in the Delhi school of Art!

He struggled for a while and finally got a job as an Art Director in a budding company and decided to donate ten thousand rupees to Project Why!

Over the years while studying and after he spent Saturdays at the Project teaching Art to the children and took on the task of mentoring the students who were in need.

The reason why I feel so proud today is that when I created Project Why I wanted to give wings to the dreams of my children and give them the opportunity to dream big. Aman did that! But there was another desire, one that I barely expressed. It was to see our alumni come back and remain part of Project Why. Aman did more than that he became a donor. Even I hadn’t dared dream of that.

Aman is a wonderful child – yes to me he will always remain a child, my child – gentle kind and always smiling. I wish that every single dream he has comes true and as some of you know I believe in miracles and know that it will happen. He is a blessed child.

You can meet him if your click here

May God always bless him!

The haunting flute

Twice everyday a haunting melody is heard from the street below.. It is the flute and toy vendor who peddles his ware in our rather upmarket colony. Street vendors still ply across the city though much less than some decades ago. The flute vendor in our street has a cycle where his flutes and toys are displayed as you can see in the picture above. There are so many things that he cannot ride his cycle but has to push it the whole day.

The tune he plays is soul stirring. I often wonder how many flutes he sells in a day and actually who buys flutes in this day and age.

Before I started Project Why and crossed the invisible line that exists between us and them, street vendors were anonymous and invisible, their lives a far cry from mine. It is only when I began my work in the slums and came across daily wage workers be they selling vegetables or flutes, that I came to know about their lives and their struggle. I remember, in the very early days of Project Why, wondering why the woman next door sat woefully every evening staring at the road. When I enquired about this, I was told that her husband was a vegetable vendor and she waited for him to come back and give her money to purchase what was needed for the family’s dinner. Depending on what he gave, the family would eat a good meal or a frugal one.

Whenever I hear my flute vendor’s tune, I wonder whether his family would eat or not. How many flutes or poor quality plastic toys do you sell in. a colony like ours where people would go to Hamley’s to purchase toys, It’s a matter of prestige. And with the total disappearance of servant quarters where families could be lodged together and there maybe some child needing a cheap toy. But today the erstwhile servant quarters have been spruced up transformed into rentable spaces. All about money, honey! When I rebuilt my house I insisted to the horror of my contractor that I wanted servants quarters to be a space where I could live too. Sadly in today’s day and age servant quarters in all upcoming builders flats are either so tiny that they barely fit a bed for one, or some flimsy structure in the parking lot replete with toxic fumes and scant privacy.

One forgets that those who work for us within our homes or sell vegetables at your doorstep are persons just like us with dreams and hope for a better life for their children. As I am now aware of their struggle, these vendors who for long time remained invisible have become part of my life and yes I buy the occasional flute or toy.

I still am the little 3 year old whose granny organised a bear dance for her but who only saw the man in a threadbare coat asking for something warm. Even then I did not give up and wailed till the man was founded given a coat.

People write off such souls not realising that they make our life easier each and everyday.

So next time, if you hear a haunting tune on a flute, stop and acknowledge that the person exists.

Out of the Box

India recently hosted the India AI Impact Summit! Anchored in the principles of People, Planet, and Progress, it envisions a future where AI advances humanity, fosters inclusive growth, and safeguards our shared planet. AI is here to stay! Some go as far as saying that it will take over the world by 2050. But we are not there yet. However we have to accept the indubitable fact that AI has transformed the job scenario. And to succeed children will have to be taught a whole new set of skills that are a far cry from what we are teaching them today.

Before I go further, I will just like share my own experience with AI. A few weeks back I did not know much about AI. I decided to take a short online course. After the course I tiptoed into this new world and lo and behold was left gobsmacked at the amazing power of this tool. Each day was a new discovery as I ventured into ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and more. Jobs like mine – translator/interpreter – have already vanished. Write a text and any of the AI assistants will translate it in seconds to another language. You can have a conversation with these assistants and they can be quite witty! You want to write a report, a proposal anything and AI will do it for you. It performs, analyses, and generates complex content. The catch is to use the correct prompts. That is what needs to be mastered. I can see how you can get drawn into this world.

In an article entitled Ten 21st-century skills every student needs, the World Economic Forum states: The gap between the skills people learn and the skills people need is becoming more obvious, as traditional learning falls short of equipping students with the knowledge they need to thrive. Today’s job candidates must be able to collaborate, communicate and solve problems – skills developed mainly through social and emotional learning (SEL). Combined with traditional skills, this social and emotional proficiency will equip students to succeed in the evolving digital economy.

So the new skills needed are : Learning and innovation skills: critical thinking and problem solving, communications and collaboration, creativity and innovation. Digital literacy skills: information literacy, media literacy, Information and communication technologies (ICT) literacy Career and life skills: flexibility and adaptability, initiative and self-direction, social and cross-cultural interaction, productivity and accountability.

At present children are stuck in the traditional curriculum created by the British with the aim of making obedient pen pushers. The new skills are the exact opposite as they want people to think out of the box. As I have often said, children do not have the time to wait for policies to be changed. By the time new policies are put in place a whole set of children would be out of school and propelled into the work world armed with useless skills.

We at Project Why cannot let this happen. It is time to act.

Now you cannot navigate the AI universe without two basic skills: computer knowledge and a command of English. So the first step we have taken is to have computer and English classes from class one itself! The children are loving it. A little girl shared very proudly that she now knew how to start and shut a computer. Her eyes lit up when she told me that. Give a few years and she will master both.

The bigger challenge was to work out way of incorporating these new set of skills into the present curriculum. How do you weave skills like critical thinking or creativity into the subjects being taught. My incredible team has worked out a way to do so from class I itself. We are at present training and getting the teaches onboard as they are the main stakeholders. Then we run a pilot and come April 1, we go all guns blazing.

We intend to handhold the little ones till class V but then we want to steer the children towards self learning and independent studies so that by class IX children can study independently. We also want to accustom the children to digital learning and make them comfortable with this approach. Thanks to the Adish and Asha Jain Foundation we have a state-of-the-art recording studio where we have already recorded lessons for classes IX and X and plan to do it for all classes. We want our children to be comfortable with taking online classes as that would enable them to increase their skill sets.

This may sound ambitious but needs to be done if we want our children to be ready for the ever-changing work scenario. There will be resistance I know from both teachers and kids as I am pulling them out of their comfort zone and throwing in the deep end of the pool. But them at Project Why we have never shied away from a challenge.

We are at crossroads but I know that we will overcome. Wish us luck!

Five things Project Why has taught me

When I decided to set up a not-for-profit in the memory of my parents and to pay a debt I felt I owed my country as I had lived an extremely privileged life, I had already worn several hats and interacted with people from diverse origins and status. Having been a professor, an interpreter, a social secretary amongst other things I had rubbed shoulders with a wide variety of souls and thought I was well versed in human nature! I could not have imagined how wrong I was and how taking one tiny step across an invisible line would change things forever.

Today, with over two decades of Project Why under my skin, I feel I am competent to look back at the lessons that came my way after my fifth decade, a time when one believes one has seen and learnt all. I wonder what is it that makes you change the way you look at things and once again I find myself thinking of St Exupery and his Little Prince. Maybe my life too has been a voyage across planets each more bewildering than the other, and Project Why was the one where the maxim of the Fox was truly validated. It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye. The moment I decided to seed Project Why, I could only see with my heart!

A dear friend suggested I write about the 5 things that Project Why taught me about people. This is something I had never thought of so it is a journey of self discovery I share with you.

The first ‘people’ that comes to mind when I think about Project Why is undoubtedly Manu. I have said it many things but repeat it again: if not for Manu there may have not been Project Why. The lesson he taught me was to never say die, but more than, that that no life, no matter how wretched it may seem, is without purpose. Every life has a meaning and needs to be respected and celebrated. Manu’s was to see I set up Project Why. To most Manu would simply be an annoying mentally and physically challenged beggar, but to me he was my inspiration, my mirror and the one who showed me the way. He taught me to respect every human being that came my way.

The next thing that Project Why taught me about people was that if you ever reached out to help someone in need, there was no going back. It was a one way street. No one taught me this lesson more than my darling Utpal. When I reached out to save him from his third degree burns and allowed him to walk into my heart, I never knew it was a till death do us part deal. I had thought that I could heal his wounds and help his family look after him, maybe pay his school fees and be present when needed. That was not to be. Utpal became my foster child and today he is part of my life forever. This is also a lesson I follow for Project Why. No matter how difficult things look and are, there is no going back. My inner most desire is to see Project Why live beyond me.

Th next thing Project Why taught me about people is that if you truly trust and believe in someone, they live up to your trust more that 100%! This was proved to me in ample measure by the wonderful team I picked up from the community. Everyone warned me that it would be an impossible task but I instinctively knew that I was making the right decision. And though none of them had the degrees and diplomas, the profile and experience each one has done me proud and never made me regret my decision. I simply had to make them believe that I trusted them and the rest was history.

The next thing Project Why taught me about people is that there is more good than bad in this world, that values like compassion and generosity exist in ample measure in most people and simply need to be ferreted out. The way to do it is to be brutally honest and candid. One of the most beautiful things Project Why created is a wonderful network of souls from the world over and of all ages who have reached out to help and support Project Why. All I had to do was to tell my story from the heart and me the only child, the orphan got the most incredibly beautiful and supportive family and was smothered in so much love that it will take me many lives to pay back. I feel so blessed.

And last but maybe not the least Project Why taught me things I never knew existed about another ‘people’ and that is me. The reclusive almost hermit like person I had become after losing my parents, the person who ran away from numbers and could not even balance her home budget, the person who could never ask for the money that was owed to her become almost extrovert and even gregarious and began asking for help unabashedly for the children she had decided to make hers. I found within me qualities I never knew I possessed. Project Why became a true discovery of myself!

Don’t lose faith in India

Last week India celebrated its 77th Republic Day. The Gods had been kind as the day was sunny, the sky blue and the wind chilly. I have always made it a point to watch the parade on TV though there was time when I braved all odds and went to see the parade in situ. And each and every time, with obsessive regularity I am moved beyond words. my eyes often moist, my throat constricted. It was the same yesterday. I guess my patriotism and love for India is deep seated and part of my DNA thanks to my amazing parents.

‘Don’t lose faith in India’ were the dying words of my father when he breathed his last thirty five years ago. He was 80+. He was the descendant of an indentured labourer who had left his home land in the late XIX century. The reasons for his departure are as picturesque as your imagination would let you believe.We were told he was part of the 1857 war of freedom. Whatever they be, they compelled a man to leave everything and accept being enslaved and bear a number. His was 354495. He managed to secure his freedom and build life once again with determination and success. I am proof of that. Forgive this aside but it needed to be said.

Had I remained ensconced in my comfortable, ordinary and insipid life, it perhaps would have been easier to hold on to that faith, but I chose to walk the untrodden path that questioned that faith far too many times and needed me to hold on to it drawing on shreds of logic and passion. But hold on I did as I could not forget the sacrifices my parents made for the country they loved unquestionably. My mom was even willing to sacrifice motherhood to the alter of freedom. She chose to give me life in a free India thus making its freedom sine qua non to my very essence.

I grew up on foreign shores but the love for India was lovingly woven into the fabric of my heart and soul by my two love stricken parents. The image of India that is seared in my heart is one of a land of tolerance, understanding and humanity. My parents never failed to teach me to respect the culture and values of the countries I grew up in and to me Indianness meant all embracing faith. I was proud of my heritage.

For the past years I have slowly had my faith put to the test. I held on to it. When the going was too tough I shut my eyes and remembered my parents or looked deep into the eyes of a very deprived kid and knew I had to carry on just for that child.

We humans are strange bods! We have the capability of getting inured to things and even stop seeing them. I guess that happened to me too as I saw a beggar child, read about a rape or a killing and turned to my fragile coping strategies.

Today children still die every day of malnutrition related disease. I have been going through my blogs which pan over two decades. I have written on this issue many times over the years and was shocked to see that the statistic remained the same: 5000 children every day. As I had not blogged for a few years courtesy my health, I decided to check on the figures again today and to my utmost dismay found out that the figure varied from 2000 to 5000 death a day. Though there is some improvement, 2000 death is still too much. Is 77 years not enough to stop malnutrition? How des one keep the faith.

The other issue that appears as a let motif in my blogs is rape and child abuse. It is relentless @92 rapes a day notwithstanding child abuse. And these are government statistics. The latest rape of a 11 year old happened in Delhi last week. Things have not changed and you wonder why? Is it lack of political will? Is it our social fabric? Is it gender inequality? Maybe all of the above. It is not the death penalty we often clamour for that will change things. What will change matters is social change when every family accepts that boys and girls are equal and should be treated so. But that is long haul in a country where patriarchy still loams large.

The other startling fact is the ever growing gap between rich and poor. Here again one wonders why and above all what can one do?

So where to you go to keep the wavering flame of your faith alive? The usual coping strategies seem to be floundering. New ones need to be sought if you do not want to live your life in fear. One option is to be fatalist and we Indians are privileged as we have karma to explain what cannot be. But what is the karma of a two year old that is brutally gang raped? Another option is to hope that someone among those who steer the country will intervene and say: ENOUGH but sadly that too seems to be a chimera.

After seven decades of Independence there are still 5000 children who die every day for want of clean water and adequate food, child labour and abuse flourishes, women are still second class citizens and millions are deprived of basic dignity.

But what I would want to say to those who hold us to ransom today is that you cannot kill the spirit of India. What your aberrations are doing is waking up the deadened consciences of far too many who cannot keep mute anymore. There is an anger slowly brewing, an anger that is breaking the seemingly impregnable walls of comfort and finding its voice.
India is a blessed land. Let us not for get that, and yes Papa, I for one will not lose faith in India till my last breath.

Next time, don’t look away

When I decided to cross the proverbial Rubicon, to leave the armchair I had sunk in post losing my parents in an almost catatonic state, I did not know where the journey would take me. I just knew I had to step out and so I did. I also knew that it was time to redeem a pledge made on a hot summer day in a village in Bihar to pay back for all that I had been given. Having discovered my ‘roots’ I realised that it was an accident of history that propelled me into this side of the divide. I should have been on the other. Anyway what matters was that the time had come to walk the talk.

I had no road map then. I had to create one. I had always been disturbed by the plight of children begging at red lights. To me every child had a right to education and a better life but for these kids there seemed to be no hope. Begging was a ‘profession’ a ‘business’ and as long as there were people who would give money, it simply thrived. It was all demand and supply so if one cut the demand… So I thought.

So why not address this issue as part of my paying back journey. After much brainstorming with like minded souls, one came up with, what naive me believed, a programme whereby we would urge people to give nutrition instead of coins. And when the business of using children to beg would not be lucrative, maybe it would stop. How foolish was I! Today a quarter of century later. there are as many children begging at red lights as there were then. You got it right, our nutritive biscuits project died a quick death and we were left to lick our wounds.

For years I drove by the same crossing under the Nehru Place flyover. Many families live under this bridge. Their profession: begging. If you drive past early in the morning you will see women cooking on make shift stoves. The children are already knowing at car windows in the hope of an elusive coin.There use to be a little girl who was a baby in her mother’s arm when I first laid eyes on her. Then she grew up and must have been about 2 or 3 when one Sunday as I drove by I saw her being initiated in the art of begging.

As years went by she grew up and we made friends! She knew I never gave money and most of the time carried fruit or biscuits in my three wheeler. One day she came running and asked me for chocorate the generic time all the beggar children who knew I did not give money used when they saw. My little girl with huge light eyes is now all grown up and I guess she will be married and soon produce children who will follow her footsteps.

Some years back we started a small outreach for the beggar children of Kalka Mandir. They are the ones in this picture. You would never say they are beggars. They look just like any other children all smiles and giggles. Kalka Mandir as all temples is home to many beggars. There is a small shelter where women go when they are expecting and about to deliver. As many women come with their older kids, we decided to run our first lass there. For some time it was a dream come true and that is where I met my bucket baby. But then some people did not like what we were doing and threw us out. We tried in two there locations but we sadly had to close. I felt the look more than anyone else. This was not the first time happened to us. We had earlier tried to teach the children under the flyover close to mu house and the children were thrilled, but again we are shooed away by some men. I guess they did not want the children to get the ‘taste’ of anything other than panhandling. They knew that education had the power to rock the boat.

We rarely look at a beggar in the eye. Maybe because we feel uncomfortable or guilty. I do not know. However it is a beggar woman who taught me one of the greatest lesson or my life. I was in college and had gone to Connaught Place for some errand. A beggar woman started following me asking me for a few coins. That day my pocket was empty so I stopped, looked her in the eye and told her gently I do not have anything today. I am sorry. She took both my hands in hers and said to me “you have given me more than you can imagine” I was perplexed not quite understanding till she added ” you looked me in the eye; you acknowledged me as a human being”. I can never forget those words and since that day have always looked at beggars in their eyes.

Beggars are human beings first and foremost. Many beggar parents in Kalka Mandir did send their children to school.Should you visit in the morning you will see many children in clean uniforms, their tresses coiffed beautifully ready to go to school. The children. are eager to go to school and learn and parents do their best. I remember a beggar woman sitting on a step with her two school going children and holding a copy book and a pencil. She was helping her kids with their homework. I asked her if she had been to school and she proudly answered, ”I have studied till class III!”. One wonders what brought her to where she is now.

Beggar parents do care for their children. How can I gorget my beggar friend Rani whose compassion touched me. She had a niece who was orphaned and rather than send her back to the village decided to keep her to ensure she get and education! And what was even more touching was the fact that many of the beggars who were sitting around seconded her decision and offered whatever help they could proffer. But what moved me was how the very people we reject and sneer at, the ones that live on our so called ‘charity’ had a heart far larger than those who live behind gates or in impregnable mansions.

The children you see in the picture are children just like ours. They deserve a childhood, an education and much more. When will we get outraged at the kids who knocks at our car window at a red light and wake up and do something. I do not know.

I only know that it is the plight of a young beggar that shook me out of my torpor and compelled me to act. if not for Manu there may have not been Project Why. The lesson he taught me was to never say die, but more than, that that no life, no matter how wretched it may seem, is without purpose. Every life has a meaning and needs to be respected and celebrated. Manu’s was to see I set up Project Why. To most Manu would simply be an annoying mentally and physically challenged beggar, but to me he was my inspiration, my mirror and the one who showed me the way. He taught me to respect every human being that came my way. I live by his maxim.

So next time a beggar child knocks at your car window, don’t look away. You do not know what miracle is hidden in her eyes.

The length of a lifetime

“Child abuse casts a shadow the length of a lifetime” wrote Herbert Ward.

Let me tell you a story.

A little girl, not more than 11, has been standing at a red light hoping to sell all the flowers her mother has entrusted her with.She knows the evening meal depends on it. She knocks at darkened windows of cars that stop not able to see who is inside.The rich like to remain invisible. Most of the windows remain shut, the light turns green and she moves away a tad disappointed. It has been a bad day. She has not sold many flowers. A e-rickshaw stops by and drops its passengers. The little girl approaches the driver in the hope of selling him a flew flowers. He tells her he will help het to sell ALL her flowers and makes her sit in his vehicle. The little girl desperate to sell her roses agrees. The man takes her to a nearby forest rapes her and believing her dead leaves her bleeding and unconscious and flees. The little girl regains consciousness and manages to reach her family. Her parents rush to the hospital and contact the police. The girl still shell shocked cannot narrate anything coherently. She is now undergoing medical treatment and counselling. Rape leaves scars not only on the body but deep within the mind, spirit and the soul.

This is not an imaginary story. This incident happened in Delhi on January 21, 2026!

The police has managed to arrest the perpetrator who confessed that he has seen the little girl many times and had planned the abduction. He is 40 year old. She was 11!

We all know that the accused will at best spend some time in jail and will be set free. The little girl will carry this pain for the length of a life time.

When we started our work over two decades ago, there was a young girl who use to attend our classes but always sat away from the others and no one talked to her. I watched this for a while then decided to find out why this happened. The young girl in question had be raped when she was 3 by her neighbour. The man spent 5 years in jail and then was released to carry on his life as if nothing happened. The girl however was ostracised and branded as the ‘raped one’ as if she was responsible for the rape. This terrible unfair and abhorrent treatment was meted out to her for no fault of hers. That is why no one talked to her in class. I saw red and set out to rectify the situation by explaining things to her peers. Soon the issue was sorted and the girl sat with her friends.

This is the stark reality. Rape victims are often targeted. It seems to always be the fault of the woman: the way she was dressed, the fact that she was out at night. Recently a Chief Minister, who is also a woman held the same discourse.

I have recently been perusing the over 2000 blogs I have written over the past two decades. I realised with dismay that over 150 of them are about rape.

Way back in 2011 a young woman was raped in a bus in India’s capital city. There was a hue and cry. Civil society ‘woke’ up from its habitual torpor and some action was taken. But then we all retreated back and rapes continued mercilessly. From babies a few months old to women above 70, every one was rape material!

There are 92 rapes in India every day or a rape every 15 minutes, that is a whopping number of rapes between December 2011 and January 2026. ( 92 x 365 x 15 = 503700).

Does it take 503700 rapes to wake us up!

A little girl was raped last week. Quietly, without fuss. She was a flower girl and no one cares about flower girls at red lights. So there will be no lighting candles, holding placards, writing soul stirring poems, marching on the street, making noise, clamouring for death penalty and fast track courts. Just silence and a small snippet on page 5 of one newspaper.

When I expressed outrage on social media on the brutalisation, rape and murder of another child and asked the question we all want an answer to” WHEN WILL IT END?” a friend wrote back: never in India. I was shocked and angered but mulled the answer and realised that what he wrote was true.

It is not that ‘rape’ does not make news. It does time and again when the rape is brutal or when the victim is a child or even a baby. But still we do not take to the streets every time we hear of a rape. When the rape is laced with other overtones like politics or religion then it makes good copy for the TRP hungry media we hear about it relentlessly for a few days. But what happens. Nothing. A few empty promises by the powers that be, some noise by the opposition in true electoral game mode and we naively believe them and go back to our comfort zones while somewhere in India someone is raped every 15 minutes. No one is held responsible, neither we the civil society nor politicians and rulers. Our outrage is short lived. Or memory even shorter.

We are actually barking up the wrong tree.

It is not severe punishment like hanging, or even stringent laws that will bring the change we seek. We have ample proof of that. The journey is within, within each one of us, within our social mores, our so called traditions, our skewed beliefs, our education system, our ‘values’ etc. That is hallowed ground everyone is scared to touch. Who will bell the cat.

Our politicians? No way! This is the best electoral game fodder and no political party would want to lose it. It could bring down a government. So they use it to the maximum and will continue to do so. It has all the ingredients for the most toxic brew: caste and creed, who would want to give that up.

Our so called religious leaders? No way again. First many indulge in such acts in the name of faith. But there are more pernicious reasons: they need to maintain status quo, or else their power may decrease. I often wonder why our religious Godmen who have congregations of millions of followers, TV channels and so on never talk of gender equality, child marriage etc? They could bring a sea change. But they need to play to the gallery too!

No one wants to rock the boat.

To end rapes one has to address uncomfortable issues. Rape is about power. A power instilled in a male child from the moment he is conceived. he is born superior, superior to his female siblings, the ones living or the ones killed in the womb. The first person responsible for making him aware of his power is his mother, a woman. That is how it begins, across social classes, across religion, across caste. Genders are not equal. The boy is brought up differently: better food, clothes, schools; more freedom; more of everything. His escapades are forgotten, his aberrations too. Boys will be boys! he is brought up in an environment where girls/women are considered inferior. He sees it everyday. That is what he learns. That is the only value system he is made aware of.

Look at our blessings: may you have thousand sons! Never a thousand daughters. It is time we treated our daughters and sons equally.

Then there is the matter of honour! Who decided to burden the tender shoulder of a girl with the weight of the family’s honour. It is too heavy a burden. It usurps her right to childhood. It hijacks her right to laugh and run and play like her brothers do. Why does she have to bear te burden of a veil, the need to cover her heard, hide her ankles, sit demurely. Why is the subjected to the deafening code of silence should she dare mention any sexual abuse. Why is she made to be the victim.Why!

And if she dares break the code then why is she always asked what she wore, where she was, what she drank, what time was it as if each of these can condone rape. No perp is ever asked that is he. Boys will be boys and men will be men.

And then let us look at education. Surreptitiously and zealously sex education, the only weapon a child can have to protect herself, was taken off the curriculum in the name of tradition, of samskaras. I ask is rape in our samskaras! In our DNA. It is time we reinstate age appropriate sex education in every school. Growing children have to understand how their bodies change, what is normal, what is age appropriate. It is time to bring sex out of the CLOSET.

This will not happen in a day or maybe not even in a generation, but the ball has to be set rolling. Or else we can continue to cry RAPE every 503700 rapes ad infinitum as nauseam.

The dot you do not see

The dot you do not see on the picture, is our planet Earth viewed from the Martian sky. It is a beautiful reminder of who we truly are and takes care of any hubris we may be tempted to fall into. This is all 7 billion of us viewed from the heavens above. Makes one feel tiny doesn’t it?

Maybe it is not hubris we should aim for, but its opposite Sophrosyne which is the virtue of healthy-mindedness and from there self-control or moderation guided by knowledge and balance. Sophrosyne is a Greek Goddess considered to be one of the good spirit that escaped Pandora’s box. She is the spirit of moderation, self-control, temperance, restraint, and discretion. Whereas we humans have embraced Hubris with great haste, few of us even know of Sophrosyne.

If we accept that we are the dot you do not see, then we are forced to abandon Hubris and seek Sophrosyne and remember that we are an infinitesimal part of a Universe we have no control on. All we can aspire to is temperance and self control. But sadly that is not the case around us.
If you look around, you see only hubris.

What do you call the politician who once in power forgets all promises and loses all self control and gets busy lining his nest?

What about the one who builds ginormous statues of himself or the one who cuts a birthday cake in the shape of the Parliament House.

What about big brother who wants to gobble others as we are seeing today

Is it not hubris?

What about all the laws and ordinances passed to ensure vote banks are seduced while important ones that may have benefitted many lie gathering dust like the women’s reservation bill

Politicians the world over are devoured by hubris

But that is not all. It is not those in power only; everyone seems to have been seduced by hubris

The young and restless of today have forgotten patience and think Rome was built in a day

No one is satisfied with what they have, even those who have plenty. You always want MORE and hubris seems to blind us all.

Greed, ego and hamartia will ultimately bring us all down.

And everything has conjured to make this possible. When we started our lives Ranjan and I, we had a scooter, no TV and very little in the bank. Things came slowly and steadily as we worked towards getting them. It was the BC days – before credit – and you had to live within your means. Now you can get anything you want. You are even solicited to do so as is proved by the number of calls you get offering you loans and credit cards. Moderation, self-control, temperance, restraint, and discretion are all thrown out of the window.

Hubris breeds impatience. Hubris coaxes illusions of grandeur. And we all fall for it. I guess I did too when I thought I could build Planet Why and let myself be swayed by an impossible dream. And is it not hubris that makes me want to see Project Why live beyond me. Why can I not just accept the maxim: The King is dead, long live the king.

It is time to take a serious look at the dot you cannot see and temper one’s life. It is time we embraced Sophrosyne and accept what wen have been given with gratitude and grace.

The dot you cannot see reminds one of how infinitesimal we are and accept this reality with humility.

Maybe it is time to reintroduce Sophrosyne in our lexicon and with it moderation, self-control, temperance, restraint, and discretion

The anatomy of a blog

I start blogging in April 2005. That makes it 21 years and over 2000 blogs. It all started like this. It must have been circa 2003 when I realised that the proverbial ‘pockets’ I easily dug into whenever extra funds were needed were emptying at the speed of light or even faster. All the people one knew had been tapped and thus it was time to seek new pastures. At that time I was slowly discovering the magical word of the world wide web and it must have been around then that the first pwhy website went on line. Actually 2003 was quite a fateful year. It was the year when Utpal fell into the boiling cauldron and entered our lives; when two of our creche children died in strange circumstances and we discovered the apathy of the police who never wanted to register a case; when we were successful in raising funds for Raju’s open heart surgery. It was also the year when we were at the top of our page 3 days and the darling of many who organised stunning evenings and balls to help us raise funds. It was also a time when we were at the height of our fairy tale existence. It was also at the time when someone suggested I join a social network called Ryze. I must confess that I had a tough time building my page and it looked very puerile. But I managed to get quite a few contacts and thus began the pwhy network that is so precious to us today. We had a website that was not quite what I would have liked and I realised to my horror what the cost of maintaining would be. I had 2 options: not to have a site at all – not really an option -, or learn how to maintain it myself. I cannot remember how many nights it took to learn a new language – HTML – but I did. The other things I began doing was sending individual emails to all the people I knew. I had not yet discovered mass mailing or just BCC option. That is when a kind person – God bless him – suggested I start a blog. It would change my life forever.
It was a hesitant beginning but I had a forum where I could share the life of pwhy, the stories of our kids, the little things that happened everyday. I thought of it like a sea captain’s logbook that would preserve the chronicles of pwhy. True it started being just that but somehow mutated almost insidiously into a record of happenings in India viewed through a different prism: that of someone passionately in love with her country and often at a loss in comprehending the stark inequalities between rich and poor, the hidden agendas and corrupt games of the powers that be, the dignified and touching survival modes of the poor. The project why stories took on a larger meaning and I found myself writing about issues I felt important. The tone became harsher, the criticism more acerbic and the mood somber.
Simply making a difference in the lives of the hundreds and more children who came to project why was not enough. True it was important as it was tangible and thus valorising but I felt the need to add my voice to those of others fighting for causes I empathised with. And slowly the fairy tale like stories of project why became far and few. There were more important issues to address.
For me this became a platform to share my thoughts, my anger, my distress, my anguish, my horror and my opinions to aberrations that seemed more the rule than the exception. I wanted to be heard.
In 2009 I began writing my second book. This one was about the project why story. Once I again I opted to write it in the form of letters to a child and entitled it Dear Popples II. The bye line was ‘the project why story’. I wrote about 100 pages without any problem in a very short time. And then one day I simply could not continue. The story stopped circa 2004. It was a strange writer’s block that refused to go. I tried many times to pick up the threads but to no avail. I decided to let it be till the time was right.
One day, maybe in 2013 I found myself opening the abandoned file and reread what I had written and see if I could move on or if not at least figure out what had happened. It took me some time to realise that my pen had stopped at what I call the fairy tale years and that somehow the approach that seemed right for the first 100 pages did not and would not work for the remainder of the story. The bye line could not be ‘the project why story’ but had to become something like ‘India song’. I had two choices either rewrite the whole book or make it in two parts. I opted for the later as only this way will the reader fully appreciate the dynamic and organic nature of project why but also share the changes such an experience has on a human soul. For I cannot shy from the fact that I am in no way the same person I was when it all began. Have I changed for the better? I do not know. I do miss the naive and trusting being I was then and something do not like the bitter and splenetic woman I sometimes seem to have become. Maybe the truth lies in between the two.
Even though I will have to sneak time to write the book, I will continue to blog, as blogging is an immense catharsis for me and I need to rant and rave or else I would blow a fuse, The blogs were not only an account of the trials and tribulations of project why, but also a personal journey where I too have learnt to shed my cynicism and look with my heart no matter what I saw.

But the writer’s block did not go away. Some difficult occurrences in my life saw to that. Be the heart wrenching decision to destroy my parent’s. home due to financial issues in 2017 or the terrible news that befell upon us in 2020 when I was diagnosed with multiple myeloma. The following months were harrowing with chemo et al and then all side effects that robbed me of the ability to read and write.

It is only at the beginning of this year – 2026 – that I have picked up my virtual pen again, albeit hesitantly and am now busy going through all the blogs to refresh an ageing memory!

It is time to finish: Dear Popples II – an India Song.

Before I end I Ould like to share what a reader had written way back in 2013

Today I want to write about a blog which energize me each time I visit it. The blog, Projectwhy drowns my cynicism and taunts me too. I often lament about things but don’t do much about it, other than blog. But at projectwhy, one sees the other side of life and the way it is dealt with, in such a sincere manner. The author touches so many lives and continues to shine ever so brightly for them. I also love the way she deals with many of our current issues..

It is not what you GATHER but what you SCATTER

It is not what we GATHER but what we SCATTER, that tells what kind of life we have lived were the words on of the greatest athletes of our times began is speech at a red carpet gala function in Los Angeles in December 2025. He was to receive a life time achievement award. In a room. filled with unimaginable wealth he spoke with calm and intensity.

This is what he said: “We’re sitting here surrounded by comfort, success, and excess, while millions outside these walls are struggling just to survive. If you are blessed with influence and resources and choose not to act, then you are not neutral. You are complicit.” “Privilege is not something to enjoy privately. It’s a responsibility. When you have more than you need, it stops being just yours. Purpose must come before comfort.” “Legacy is not about titles or records,” he said. “It’s about how many lives you lift when no one is watching. Winning means nothing if it ends with you.”

Novak Djokovic announced that he will commit all future earnings from select endorsements, post-career projects, and a significant portion of his business ventures – estimated to exceed $160 million – toward global humanitarian efforts, including children’s education, access to healthcare, food security, and support for families living in extreme hardship.

The effect was immediate. The room fell silent. People were stunned, then everyone stood up and applauded with reverence.

I too was at first stunned when I read these words and then my heart filled with gratitude as here was a man who said what I had always felt at a gathering of the world’s most rich and famous. A chance I would never get’

Nevertheless I have been saying just that for the past 25 years to whoever is willing to listen notwithstanding the fact that many or actually most believed the it was an old woman rambling. I continued to walk the talk and over the past quarter of a century have reached out to thousands in need and will continue to do so till my last breath. I will also pray that Djokovic’s words will resonate and open the hearts of many. It is all about seeing with your heart.

Thank you Novak Djokovic for restoring my faith in humanity and setting a standard. God bless you.

PS. We wrote to the Novak Djokovic foundation and were humbles and elated to receive a prompt reply promising that they would consider our appeal when they start reaching out to other countries. We wait with bated breath.

In the sands of time – an India song

Memories are the footprints we leave in the sands of time

For the past few days I have been travelling down memory lane and that for a very special reason. In 2015 if my memory serves me right I decided to write the Project Why story. It was time when the elephant in the room ie what happens to Project Why after I go, loomed large and we were looking at diverse options. I somehow intuitively felt that Project Why as I had seeded and nurtured would soon become a thing of the past. It would take on a whole new avatar as it had to be freed from the tender clutches of an ageing lady who had somewhat kept it hidden from the world. A whole new chapter had to be written. I had mixed feelings as every parent whose child is about to leave the nest.

It was also the time whenI realised that the project why story till then was in great part in my head. It was time that I put it on paper. So I began writing in earnest and must have written about 150 pages when a series of unforeseeable events hit me and turned my life on its head. The house that had been my haven after the death of my parents needed to be broken down as it was falling apart. Emptying the house was heart breaking and left me rudderless. That was also the time when I started getting pain in my bones. The next three years were difficult as the pains grew and nothing helped. We moved back in early 2020 to a sparkling new house but to me it felt soulless. The pains were now excruciating. In May 2020 I was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, another shock and then underwent chemo. For a long time I found myself unable to read more so write, It was frustrating as writing had somewhat defined me in more ways than one. It would take five long years for me to pick up my virtual pen again and when I dd I felt alive!

Now picking up something you wrote a decade ago is not easy specially when you are dealing with what is called chemo brain. My memory was mush; I. needed an anchor.That is when I remembered the over 1500 blogs I had written and decided to visit them again. A herculean task to say the least but one that proved a heartwarming and incredible experience.

What I thought would be a tedious task turned out to be a wonderful journey down memory lane.When I had written those 1500 blogs it was always subsequent to some occurrence or the other, some good, some disturbing and some even infuriating. As I read through those posts I realised that they were in no ways a linear account of Project Why’s happenings but more a personal reflection of what came my. way and many a times they influenced our journey, made us make course corrections, take on new challenges and steer us on the right path. Just going through 500 posts showed me how amazing our journey has been, a journey one should be proud of. So I am now rearing to finish the Project Why story so that everyone can share this amazing India Song as I recall the footprints we have left on the sands of time.

PS: I rarely put my picture on a blog but decided to share an old snapshot of Utpal, Kiran and me just to remember the good old days!

All Blogs

Reminiscing

I have written a blog entitled “what a year it has been” where I looked back at the year gone by through my Project Why lens. It was indeed a very special year one that will usher a transformation for Project Why.

But today I would like to take a walk down memory lane and share what 2025 was for me.

The one thing that comes to mind is my health that was abysmal to say the least for the larger par of the year gone by. Several health issues practically grounded me and locked me up within the four walls of my home. This was understandably extremely disheartening as I was unable to visit the Project and interact with the children and my team.

My lifeline to the Project was the WhatsApp group where the teachers diligently share pictures of various activities in all centres. And pictures do speak a thousand words. Regular Zoom calls kept me in touch with the staff and the lead team.

2025 saw sea changes in Project Why thanks to our funder turned mentor AdishJi who helped us address the elephant n the room: the long time sustainability of Project Why. To this end he suggested seminal changes in our way of functioning. Change as he warned us was ALWAYS painful as it entailed giving up comfort zones and embracing the unknown. I watched my staff struggle through the changes and could feel the resistance but hats off to them they soldiered on. I am confident that 2026 will bear the fruits we seek.

2025 did not only usher changes in the management structure that graduated from the mom and pop culture where everything grew organically and somewhat haphazardly. Today we have three verticals: programmes, Administration and Finance and Marketing and PR. The idea is to free Project Why from the shadows it was relegated to, mostly because of my reclusive personality, and showcase its achievements and successes. An aggressive marketing and social media thrust and a series of YouTube films showcasing our success stories were the highlight of the this new avatar. I must admit that even I did not realise how much we had achieved. This sentiment was echoed by many after they watched our silver jubilee celebrations on November 1st. It was an incredible show!

2025 also saw our entry into the digital world of learning with the setting up of our very own state-of-the-art recording studio where lesson were recorded fr most of the subjects of classes 9 and 10. This will launch Project Why to a wider audience.

It was also the year where I finally felt that we had addressed the elephant in the room that loomed large for several years. It finally felt that Project Why will live beyond me and that is all thanks to Adish Jain our donor turned mentor and friend. He ensured that we present a cohesive and trustworthy image to the world. My gratitude to him knowns no bounds.

All in all 2025 was a great year in spite of my health hiccups!

I look forward to 2026.

I will end with the new year wishes I sent this yer:

Let the past rest softly,
let the present breathe deeply,
and let the future unfold with hope.
Wishing everyone a beautiful New Year ✨

Project Why 3.0 Preparing children for the future

Project Why 2.0 was after the pandemic, when we had to reinvent ourselves, rebuild our donors network and adapt to a new normal.The year was 2021. We limped back to some semblance of normalcy, with some changes but ready to continue our journey notwithstanding the short Covid hiatus.

Our mission was always to ensure our children get the best start in their lives after school. For a long time we believed that what was needed was a good school leaving result as it was essential to get admission in a good college. And we fell back into old patterns though I was not comfortable with this approach. But I had to set my qualms aside as there was larger elephant in the room that need to be addressed and that was: what will happen to Project Why after I leave this world. So before making any sea change in our programmes, we needed to secure our future. Time to. conjure another miracle.

The miracle happened in the form of a donor who promised long term support for one centre and also promised to find out more donors like him. But there was a caveat: we had to accept to change ourselves to meet the demands and challenges of the 21st century. We accepted his advice and slowly transformed our functioning. Last year the elephant in the room was dealt and we could see Project Why living beyond me if we payed the game right.

After a much needed organisational change to make us more efficient of course but also to transform what has till date been an organic sometimes hap hazard structure to one that would gain the confidence of our potential donors. In spite of some hiccups, some resistance and some pain we were able to do so. Today we have a modernised and strong administration that will stand the test of time.

It was rime to address the other elephant in the room: how to prepare our children for the challenges of the 21st century. It was a clear that a simple BA would not get anyone anywhere.

The main objective of Project Why 3.0 is to make our children ready for the rapidly changing employment scenario as just teaching the 3Rs is in no way sufficient.

To this end we began making some changes to our programmes. It was decided to put emphasis on English and computers. Today all children from class I to XII are learning English every day and have computer classes thrice a week. This has been very successful and appreciated both by parents and children. And of course speaking English and having a good grasp of computers are skills needed in the future.

While surfing the Internet to find out what are the skills needed for children today I came across an. interesting article of the World Economic Forum. It states the following Today’s job candidates must be able to collaborate, communicate and solve problems – skills developed mainly through social and emotional learning (SEL). Combined with traditional skills, this social and emotional proficiency will equip students to succeed in the evolving digital economy. Good leadership skills as well as curiosity are also important for students to learn for their future jobs.

The article has a graphic (shared above) that gives details the skills by dividing them into three categories: foundation literacies, competencies and character qualities. A quick perusal of the graphic shows us that what we are teaching children today can in no way prepare them for the future. We need to find a judicious system whereby we teach children the curriculum needed to complete school while integrating the skills they need to gain meaningful employment.

The present education system in India was designed by the British to make ‘babus’,people who would do what they are told and not think for themselves. What is needed in today’s day and age is the absolute contrary. According to the article to succeed today you need critical thinking, creativity communication, collaboration, curiosity, initiative, leadership and so on. Certainly not to do what one is told. What is needed is the ability to think out of the box. The million question dollar question is how?

The answer was provided in the article itself through another graphic,

This graphic outlines the approach that needs to be taken to introduce and perfect these skills within the existing structure. As we can see the idea is to create the right environment for children to grow and bloom.It is suggested to encourage play-based learning and break down learning into small pieces. The child should be allowed time to focus in order to foster reflective reasoning. The child should be allowed to discover topics taking advantage of their own strengths and personalities in an enabling environment where the child is praised.

Specific examples are given for each skill. For eg to develop creativity the child should be given autonomy to make choices or to ameliorate communication one should create a language rich environment. To awaken curiosity encourage questions and to foster critical thinking it is necessary to give constructive feedback. The bottom line is simply that one has to flip the equation and make the child the centre of all activities. This is quite akin to the Socratic method that uses open-ended questions to spark curiosity, critical thinking, and deeper understanding, moving beyond simple answers to explore “why” and “how. Ask More, Tell Less: Instead of giving answers, ask questions that guide them to discover the answer themselves. This boosts critical thinking and problem-solving,
develops communication and listening skills, fosters a love for learning and intellectual curiosity, builds confidence in expressing ideas.

The task is daunting and will require teachers to get out of their comfort zone and change their approach to teaching. The curriculum remains the same, the way of teaching changes. It is a huge challenge but we have never shied away from any challenge and I have full faith that my team will rise to the occasion and do wonders.

Come to think of it, I have always felt uneasy with the way children are taught as . Way back in 2006 and even before I had given my views on education several times an always believed in Jacques Delors 4 pillars of education: Learning to learn, learning to be, learning to do and learning to live with others. Sadly one was not able to incorporate these in our way of teaching.

But today the writing is on the wall and if we do not make the needed change our children will not be ready for tomorrow. So Project 3.0 is just that: changing our approach to education so that Project Why children can think out of the box and shine.

That is the difference we need to make today, so help me God

The why we cannot answer

Over the last 25 years we have been able to answer all the why’s that came our way, even the most disturbing ones. But today we stand helpless as Delhi chokes on the most toxic air imaginable. Readings have gone beyond the fathomable, breaking the 500 mark and even going to 1000. Let me remind you, readings should be under 50!

This not the first time this has happened. Over the past two decades or so we have seen pollution rising to alarming numbers. Every year the ruling dispensation goes into crisis management and comes up with a series of measures some more ludicrous than the other with a new one added this year: banning tandoors! When the air quality improves they simply slink back into their comfort zone. They never seem to want to address the situation in the long term,

Come October or November when the pollution strikes the ruling party decrees a series of short time measures: sprinkling water on the roads, banning construction activities, banning cars from outside Delhi and of course closing schools! As always it is the children who get hit first., Online classes are not the solution. Those who come up with such ad hoc solutions do not realise the reality on the ground. Younger children cannot study online on their own and working mothers have to take leave to enable the children to do so. And if you do not have household help, what do you do with your child. But who cares.

Children from privileged homes have staff to take care of them and air purifiers in their rooms, but what about the underprivileged ones? If the school closes they roam about the streets breathing more toxic air. There could be a simpler solution: make it mandatory for schools to have air purifiers in the classroom. But who is listening? (I just heard that the State Education Minister has said in a Press Conference today that air purifiers will be installed in 10000 classrooms across Delhi. Let us see when it happens!)

Construction causes pollution they say! Look around you there is construction everywhere with old houses being knocked down and bigger ones coming up as rules are relaxed to please the construction lobbies. Who will the bell the cat? And what about the labour who loose their livelihood when ad hoc bans on construction are decreed.

It is also believed that cars cause pollution. The car lobby is powerful and with the advent of easy loans everyone is buying a car or a bike. Look around you there are no more cycles on the road. In richer homes they are several cars, one for each member of the family. I know of people who go the same wedding from the same house in several cars. And recently I learnt that some even have cars for their dogs.In Singapore buying a second car comes at a price with stringent rules and makes people think hard before they decide to purchase a second car as taxes and insurance are very high.

Car pooling is almost anathema to the privileged and taking public transport is unheard of! People who happily jump into metros or buses while holidaying abroad would never do so when they are back home and yet this is a solution to the pollution we are always complaining about. So to resolve pollution we need to change mindsets and that in my humble opinion is quasi impossible though it is time to give it some serious thought.

I was a tad amused when an eminent doctor stated that one should simply move out of Delhi! The rich may do so but what about he poor. I know many families have relocated because they can do so. People are rushing to hill stations which are getting overcrowded and not only that but the AQI of a place like Dehra Dun that was once unpolluted is now above 300!

Our city does not have a proper garbage disposal and recycling programme. In parts of Delhi mountains of smouldering garbage release toxic fumes 24/7. I shudder to think about the state of the children’s tiny lungs in those areas. As citizens we are not even able to segregate garbage and dispose of it in a responsible manner.

Potholes abound and roads are cleaned with broom sticks with more dust rising in the air. What about mechanised cleaning of roads.That would be an option.

It was sad to see that though the Parliament spent over 10 hours discussing Vande Mataram, it could not find the time to discuss pollution as the opposition created a ruckus and Parliament was adjourned. Pollution was not important enough to be addressed by those we elect to represent us in Parliament.

Help me breathe say the children of Delhi but their plea goes unheard. What is even more disturbing is a senior politician saying that pollution does not result in lung disease and even death and if that was not enough another added that the WHO numbers do not apply to us. I guess for him we belong to another planet and have steel lungs. It is believed that breathing in Delhi today is like smoking a pack of cigarettes. Imagine what that does to the minuscule lungs of a new born.

Unless we all, government and citizens, are willing to address the elephant in the room and catch the bull by its horns nothing will change. We all will be breathing toxic air and complaining come winter 2026.

As I said in the beginning, we are faced with a why we are unable to answer. We are totally helpless and can just watch our children struggling to breathe as we cannot help them reclaim their right to breathe.

Children’s day

It is children’s day today but actually every day is children’s day at Project Why! In all centres children are busy celebrating with games and competitions. 10 children from every centre have been invited to lunch by Azure hospitality at their famous Dhaba restaurant and you can imagine how excited the chosen few are.

As always, the onset of winter has got the pollution levels rise to unimaginable levels and Delhi is a real gas chamber. You can barely breathe. The privileged can shut themselves in their homes with air purifiers running 24/7. But the poor have no such luxury. They just continue surviving as they always do with a smile. My heart goes out to them.

With all my health issues, I have not option but to remain indoors.

This forced incarceration has a silver lining I guess as I decided to write a blog after many moons. My once prolific creative juices ran dry for years and in spite of many attempts I have not been able to resume my ‘one blog a day’ routine of yore years, But somehow I have the feeling that time has come to at least try and bring back the lost practice.

So much as happened since the terrible day in 2020 when I got diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a death sentence of sort as this cancer it is said is not curable. But here I am 4 years later ready to take on what life still has in store for me.

One of the let us say ‘elephant in the room’ is undoubtedly what happens to Project Why after me. A succession plan has to be put in place and that is what we have been busy with lately. Project Why 3.0, the one without Anou, is being conceived, albeit gently.

The true successors of Project Why can only be those who have been associated with it since its inception. New roles are being defined and a transition plan set in place. It is felt by one and all that I should still be the one to see the transition through. I am honoured and humbled by this decision and will find the strength to abide by it in spite of my advanced age.

The levels of anxiety and even fear are high but they are accompanied by dollops of excitement and enthusiasm. The next weeks and even months are not going to be easy as getting out of comfort zones is a challenge. The new leaders will have to work hard to be accepted by the team but they are willing to accept the challenge. I am confident that they will be able to succeed though there will be hiccups along the way.

So challenging and exhilarating days await us at Project Why but this all behind the scenes. On stage Project Why will continue its mission of creating spaces for children to be children!

Happy Children’s Day!

Project Why’s beauty salon

In January of this year, we opened a beauty skills centre for the women of the community. This is to teach the ladies new skills and make them more independent.

In this centre, we have employed the mother of one of our ex students.

In the first 6 months, the ladies learnt the basic and now many of them are doing well and have started earning after learning this new skill.

In the month of September, the first batch completed level one ( basic of beauty course)

Blessed!

Many years ago I added a tag line to my email signature. It was : “I am busy being grateful”. This was because of the miracles big and small that came my way as Project Why and I embarked on am incredible journey that is still enfolding. The tag line sat quietly on my screen as we travelled on.

Last week I was reminded of these words written so long ago and realised that subconsciously they had remained as new and pertinent as when I first wrote them. Project Why could not be without the deep gratitude I felt at every instant.

So who am I grateful to? First and foremost to all those who have reached out and helped me, from the big donors who reach out and adopt a centre to the tiniest donation of a child’s pocket money to help the surgery of another child.

This year I feel blessed as we welcome all our major donors.

Last week Mr Trivedi and his daughter Shelly and son-in-law Andres celebrated Republic Day with us at the Yamuna centre. The Trivedi Family Foundation sponsors our Yamuna and Khader centres. Thanks to their generous support we are able to help over 400 children dream big! My heartfelt gratitude to this wonderful and compassionate family.

In February we welcome Adish and Asha Jain of the Asha and Adish Jain Foundation. They sponsor the Okhla centre; another 350 children. And that is not all. Adish Jain has committed to support Okhla as long as it exists. How can I not be eternally grateful.

And there is more. In February we welcome Kiran Frey and Pradeep Sethi and their daughter Nina from Chess without Borders. Thanks to them Meher who had suffered terrible burn injuries when only a few months old underwent restorative plastic surgery to enable her to get back the use of her hands and then went to boarding school to complete her education. Today she is preparing for entrance to medical school. More gratitude.

In March we await the visit of Hans Emde and his family from Project Why Germany. They have supported our work for more than a decade now. We are deeply grateful again. Few months ago we had the visit of Xavier Ray from Enfances Indiennes who have been with us for more than two decades and stood by us unwaveringly. Chapeau Bas!

We feel blessed that all our main funders visited or are visiting us this year.

My gratitude also goes to a very special being that I call the God of Small Beings. She/he has walked with me every step of this journey and never left my side. It is she who has ensured that we do not falter or miss a step and always guided us in the right direction. It is also this very special God who has woven one miracle after the other. I would like to share one.

In February 2003 a toddler fell into a boiling pan and sustained third degree burns. He would then go and to lose his dysfunctional family and be left all alone. It is this very special God who crafter a future for him. Little Utpal was healed, went on to complete his school and then college and is now in Mumbai living his dream: making serials.

This is only one of the many Project Why miracles.

So you now understand why I AM BUSY BEING GRATEFUL!

I feel blessed.

You reap what you sow

India’s ancient system of education and the New Education Policy talks about Panchkosha, the five dimensions of a child’s development. Education which fosters holistic development and goes beyond academics is what builds WHOLE child.

At project WHY we create a leaning environment which offers opportunity to every child, irrespective of their age, to identify/explore, develop and build their interests, skills and talents. We do not limit our work to after school academic education. We know that children will grow

Every Saturday is devoted to extra curricular activities. Children engage in activities of their choice. Painting, drawing, dancing, singing, gardening, reading, board games, debates, discussions, theatre are all given equal importance. Building communication skills, learning social etiquettes, imbibing moral values is an integral part of our wholesome education.

All this is done against the wishes and desires of most of the parents. To them, education is about learning from school books and getting good grades. We are still facing lot of opposition to the concept of holistic education. Not being discouraged, our team of educators have continued their efforts to facilitate holistic learning. WE DO WHAT WE STRONGLY BELIVE IN.

The result of Project WHY’s efforts is visible through the achievements of our children who have been regularly receiving acknowledgement for their performance in both academic and extra curricular.

From Okhla centre –

Rozy class 8 students got 1^st Position in her class and won certificate and shield from her school.
Nagma class 8 students stood 1^st in her class and won certificate and shield from her school.

Vibha class 8 student 1st Position in her class class and won certificate and shield from her school.

Nandini class 6th student won a tablet in school for her excellent academic performance.

Saloni class 6th student won a tablet in school for her excellent academic performance.
Sheela class 6th student won a tablet for her excellent academic performance in school.
Vanshika class 6th student won 1^st position in Essay writing Competition and got certificate and medal from her school.
Kanchan class 7th student got 1^st Position for her academic performance and won certificate from her school.

9.Riya class 7th student got 1^st Position for her academic performance and won certificate from her school.

Chanchal class 7th student got certificate for her amazing dance performance in her school.
Deepak Kumar class 12th student got third position in Kabaddi game at zonal level inter school competition.

Janvi class 7^th students got certificate for her following all the schools rules and regulations.
Aesha class 7^th students got certificate for her following all the schools rules and regulations.
Anjali class 9^th students got certificate for her following all the schools rules and regulations.
Roshani class 8^th student won a tablet in NDDP organization for her excellent academic performance.
Payal class 7^th students won 3^rd position in science toon competition and also got certificate for annual function decorationand Nepali Dance Performance in her school.

From Khadar Centre

Himashu class 7^th students won trophy and medal in drawing and dance competition

From GirinagarCentre

Trisha class 2 student got 1^st position in playing Carom board. Her school took her for the competition to Thyagraj stadium of delhi.
Harsh won 1st prize in Vedic math competition got certificate and won second prize in group singing competition.
Ayush got 1st position in his class by scoring 85% in midterm examination.
Sonali class 9t students won 3^rd position in football match at zonal level of school.
Sonia class 9^th students won 3^rd position in football match at zonal level of school.

A year gone by

2023 was a rewarding year as we finally emerged from the aftermath of the pandemic and could proudly say that we were back to pre covid times. The children had made up for the losses incurred during the pandemic and were back on track! Classes were once again full and he chatter and laughter of the children filled every corner of the centres as well as the recesses of our heart. It was pure unadulterated pleasure. So this year I decided that my message will be a bird’s eye view of the year gone by so that each one of you can get a taste of Project Why.

Let us begin with academics. The year saw classed filled to the brim and little and not so little heads studiously bent over open books or listening with bated breath to what the teachers were saying. This year teachers went outside the box and came up with new teaching methods. There was a lot of practical teaching and children learnt how to identify chemicals and other scientific experiments. Visual learning was another tool teachers used with the help of movies and the Internet. Debates and quizzes were organised every month to help the children deepen their knowledge. Outings to local parks helped the children learn about nature and were excellent prompts for drawing and painting. June 10th was a special day as it saw the reopening of our early education programme that we had to close because of the pandemic. We were all thrilled to see our tiny tots back and once gain hear their laughter and giggles.

Of course regular reading and writing practice were a daily routine and assessments were held every quarter. Remedial measures were taken when needed. Children performed well in their respective schools and did us proud as they always do. All board examinations were cleared with success with many children doing exceedingly well. Everyone got promoted to the next class. PTMs were conducted across all centres to ensure that parents become part of their children’s learning journey.

But is was not all studies. This year we could finally resume our educational outings and the children visited India Gate, Doll Museum, Bharat Darshan Park, Bal Bhawan, Railway Museum, Waste of Wonder and Children’s Park. They all had a great time. In-house creative pursuits were the order of the day. The children learnt how to make decorative items with waste material. They also tried their hands at wall paintings,cloth painting and spray painting and unleashed their creativity.

A summer camp was organised in all centres and the children had great fun. They engaged in indoor and outdoor games, learnt fireless cooking and partook in a host of creative activities. They of course completed their holiday homework.

At Project Why we celebrate all festivals and commemorative days: New Year, Diwali, Xmas, Republic Day, Women’s Day. Word Health Day, World Environment Day to name a few. Children make drawings, write slogans and essays and engage in spirited debates, These celebrations help children increase their knowledge in a fun way. The special needs children made Rakhis and Diyas and sold them at Azure Hospitality and CSKM school.

Several workshops were organised. Dr Gulabani led a 16 days workshop to help teachers deal with children who have problems and difficulties in learning. This was a very successful initiative held over 16 Saturdays. Modicare Foundation held its yearly workshop on teen and adolescent issues and ETPA Foundation held story telling activities. These workshops are very useful and a good way to network.

It was also a year of repair and maintenance. We repaired the roofs of Khader and Yamuna as they had been severely damaged by rain, built a much needed toilet in Okhla and built a classroom in Giri Nagar. This was thanks to the generosity of our supporters.

But it was not all fun. 2023 had its sombre moments too. We lost a student from Okhla in a road accident and severe floods damaged our Yamuna centre and the homes of all our kids. Many reached out to help. The Rotary Club gave tents and sleeping bags and Azure Hospitality provided hot lunches to over 150 persons during 10 days, Avantika led a blanket drive that yielded or 650 blankets that were distributed before the cold set in. Clothes too were collected and distributed. We are grateful to each and everyone who reached to to help the flood victims.

Teachers had their fun time too. A day visit to Agra was organised with the support of Enfances Indiennes and was enjoyed by one and all. The staff of all centres visited the Yamuna centre had lunch with the children and engaged in a lot of fun activities with them. Teachers visited CSKM school and shared their ideas and teaching methods. It was rewarding experience. And finally they enjoyed a picnic lunch with Xavier Ray at the Nehru Park.

This year saw many visitors. Mr Ashok Trivedi, Mrs Anju Trivedi and Ms Shelly Trivedi were chief guests at our Republic Day function at Khader. Mr Trivedi hoisted the national flag and addressed the children. Mr Trivedi also visited the Yamuna centre and shared lunch with the children. Mr Adish Jain and Mrs Asha Jain visited the Okhla centre interacted with teachers and a few students and had lunch with the staff. Mr Jain has adopted the Okhla centre ‘forever’!

A group from Enfances Indiennes led by its President Xavier Ray and Hans Emde President of Project Why Germany also visited us this year. They spent quality time with the children and shared lunch with them.

We were really blessed to have many of our main funders visit us this year and very proud of showcasing our work to them.

This was a short glimpse of 2023, a year when things fell back in place after the dreaded pandemic.

I would like to thank all our supporters as well as my incredible team and terrific board without whom none of this would be possible.

We look forward to 2024 and all the miracles that will unfold.

Happy 2024

Love

Anou

Another rite of passage

I am just back suitcase shopping. Not for me though! I do not travel.

Come Monday Utpal will board a train and leave for Mumbai to fulfil his dream of working in the movies. The stage is set for him as Mrinal and Abhigyan wait for the shooting of their next serial. My mind goes back to 2006 when I had gone suitcase shopping for him as he was going to boarding school. He was 4. We bought a little red bag and filled it not just with the things on the list given to us by the school, but also with a plethora of dreams yet to be revealed and fulfilled. Today one of these comes true.

Over the past years as he moved from class to class we packed many suitcases for him never forgetting to tuck in the yet unfulfilled dreams.

If his going to school the first time was a rite of passage for the two of us, today as he moves into the adult world is yet another one we both have to go through.

I remember when he left for school the first time, I wept like a baby, a mix of feelings gushing through my mind, and my heart being ripped wide open. Was I doing the right thing in sending such a tiny tot to a big boarding school. The mind jumped in to quell the heart: it was for his good; education was what would make the dreams come true.

The primary years ended and we moved to secondary school, then the final examination and results. School days were over. Then came college in another city a few hundred kilometres from here. His BA in hand, Utpal came to Delhi for his internship and then secured a job in a digital media start up. But that was not in the dream box.

I was happy having him at home, seeing him every day. It was comforting but as I said not part of the dream. I was quite happy the way things were but not the God of small things to whom all dreams were entrusted. He had to make them come true. So the universe conspired to make things happen and they did at lightning speed: a phone call or two and before we knew it Utpal had a job offer and even a place to stay for the initial days. It was time to go.

The last few days have been busy shopping, packing, cooking special treats. No one is saying anything. Each quietly counting the days till the suitcases are ready to move and our little Utpal with them.

The coming days will be hard. Keeping a brave face is hard. The half packed suitcase in the room stares at me and I feel my throat constrict and my eyes well up.And I am not the only one. Though no one says anything. There are so many things I want to say but can’t. I find myself patting his cheek or giving him a furtive hug and walking away.

I know I have to let him go as that is the only way he will be able to find his wings and fly and let him go I will as there is no other option. I know that when it is time to leave the house, I will send him off with a smile and the right words but I also know that when the car is gone and one has stopped waving goodbye, I will break down and weep.

But suitcases with dreams have a destiny to fulfil.

I will simply pray everyday to the God of small things to take care of my darling child and walk with him always.

So help me God

Since July 2020 when I was diagnosed with multiple myeloma I have been compelled to stay away from my beloved Project as I was immuno compromised and that mixed with the Covid pandemic was a heady toxic cocktail. Over the past three years I have been to the project a handful of times. However I keep in close touch with the Project thanks to the innumerable pictures posted every day in the famous Project Why WhatsApp group.

Pictures of children studying diligently, of children playing, singing, dancing, painting with fervour, of visitors dropping by, Pictures of the meals at the Yamuna centre; pictures of celebrations. Sometimes children are prompted to share their thoughts and dreams as was the case recently when a group of children were asked what they want to be when they grow up. The answers were heartwarming: engineer, teacher, IAS officer, police officer, bank manager and even artist. The list is endless, the dreams are big for only if you dream big can you aspire to see your dreams come true.

We at Project Why strive to give wings to all these little big dreams and hope to make as many as we can come true. And we have seen many come true over the last two decades.

When I see the pictures of these children holding their dreams for all to see my heart fills with joy, my eyes go moist and my throat constricts. I feel blessed but also overwhelmed by the magnitude of the task but nowhere ready to give up.

Over the past two decades I have felt the presence of a very special God, the God of lesser beings as I chose to call him or her! This very special God has helped me at every stage and brought so many miracles in our lives. It is to this God that I pray everyday to give me the strength to soldier on no matter what.

Soldier on I will.

So help me God.

Once you learn to read you will be forever free

“Once you learn to read, you will be forever free.” wrote Frederick Douglass. At Project Why we strive to instill the love of reading in all our students.

That is why we have a library period where children can go look at books, feel them, browse hem and be motivated to read them

A year gone by

2022 turned out to be a rewarding year after many months spent wondering how we would carry on. The pandemic had been a huge blow though we managed to stay the course even on choppy seas. Thanks to all our well-wishers, friends and supporters who never stopped believing in us, we continued our work in spite of all the challenges, with Project Why looking a far cry from the vibrant space it was packed with children and replete with smiles and laughter. The small masked groups of children sitting far from each other, the sanitization between each class, the online classes for the few who had the resources to take them, in no way reflected the spirit of Project Why. To say the least, these were sad times.

But the clouds lifted slowly in the beginning of 2022 and by April 2022 we were almost back on course. At the end of 2022 classes were again jam packed with long waiting lists! But the pandemic had taken its toll on the education graph of our children. Two long years without proper studies, when children got promoted without any teaching having been done. Suddenly a student who was in class VI in 2020 was now in class VII! Needless to say, she was completely lost. It was a huge challenge for our teachers but Project Why teachers are one of a kind and took on the challenge head on. A lot of planning had to be done, but in no time new methods of teaching were adopted, new groups made according to the level of the children and work began in earnest. By the end of 2022, the teachers were pleased to see that most of the gaps had been bridged and were confident that the remaining would be by the close of the academic year in March 2022.

By the end of 2022, the Project Why family was back to its strength of 1200 and we were all happy and relieved. It was not all studies. We resumed our fun activities too. The children went for outings to different places: the crafts museum, the rail museum, the garden of five senses and the Red Fort. On children’s day 45 children were treated to lunch by Azure Hospitality at several outlets of their Dhaba restaurant chain. It was a unique experience. The staff were treated to a day long outing at Pratapgarh Farms courtesy Enfances Indiennes. A wonderful day of fun and bonding.

As always, the children did us proud. Everyone passed their school and Board examinations and two of our students from Okhla got into Delhi University cracking the new All India Entrance Examination. This motivated us to look at beyond class XII. We decided to begin career counselling and also started Spoken English classes and coaching for competitive examinations for Government jobs. These classes are taken by a Project Why alumni and are open to Project Why alumni and the community. The classes are free of cost.

We celebrated all festivals with fervor and fun. The children sang and danced, made posters and wrote slogans and sweets were distributed to all. 2022 was also the return of our volunteers, with Felix, a young volunteer from Germany spending six weeks at the Yamuna centre. We are expecting more volunteers in the coming year.

It was a year when the Gods were kind to us.

In January 2022 we were in a precarious situation on the funding issue. Things looked gloomy as we were short of funds and did not know where to go. But then the Universe sprung into action. The better half introduced us to the Trivedi Foundation who generously accepted to support the Khader and Yamuna centres for a year. Meenal Madhukar, one of our board members brought Mr. Adish Jain into the picture. He and his wife Asha visited the Okhla centre and decided to adopt it for ‘as long as it existed’! That was a huge moment for us. Another board member introduced us to Avantika Chopra who decided to help us full on. She led a crowdfunding initiative with the Fuel-a-Dream platform and managed to raise over 24 lacs. She also helped us increase our visibility in India something we were always wanting to do. She brought in the Max India Foundation who decided to adopt our Giri Nagar centre. We have now inducted Avantika to our Board as an Advisor.

Our regular donors continued their unstinted and generous support be it Enfances Indiennes, Project Why UK or Asha for Education. And to our utmost delight Project Why Germany came back after a short break during the pandemic. We are grateful to each and everyone of them. Their valued contributions allowed us to fill in the gaps and at times undertake much needed repairs. They are the ones who have allowed us to continue our work for over two decades now.

We hope that the Trivedi Foundation and the Max India Foundation will continue their support in 2023.

We will continue to work towards sustainability as only then can I be sure that Project Why will live beyond me. With each passing day my team is taking on more responsibilities and is now communicating with donors. I wait with bated breath for the day I become redundant.

We move into 2023 with renewed fervor and faith.

My eternal gratitude to my team, my Board and all our donors, well-wishers and supporters who stay the course. Without them Project Why would not exist.

Miracles are again waiting to happen in 2023.

Anou’s blog
I am busy being grateful

I have a lot to be grateful for! We survived the pandemic almost unscathed. Thanks to our die hard supporters we were able to ride the storm and find our way back to days gone by after two years of uncertainty.

Schools have now reopened and we are inching back to a new normal. The children are back and the centres are once again humming with activity. The sound of children laughing albeit behind masks is nothing short of heart warming. New patterns have emerged with smaller groups and longer hours but that is a small price to pay. Everyone is thrilled and ready to go.

The gods too are smiling and showering us with their choicest blessings. After years of a hand to mouth existence, where every end of month found me gnawing at my nails wondering how we would meet the expenses of yet another month, we finally were able to secure some long term funding. Two of our centres, namely Khader and Yamuna were adopted for at least a year and Okhla was adopted for as long as it would exist. And to crown it all, a crowdfunding initiative yielded far more than anticipated. Our long term funders continue to be by our side. We can breathe easy, at least for some time. This is a first for Project Why. I am enjoying every minute, at least for the time being. I know that the search for funds will have to resume and we are ready for that when the time comes.

But today I want to express my gratitude to those who ensured that this year will be an easy one. Khader and Yamuna was adopted by the Trivedi Foundation thanks to the unrelenting efforts of my life partner. Okhla was adopted by the Jain Foundation thanks to our dear board member Meenal and the fundraising effort was made possible by the dynamism and never say die attitude of Avantika and her band of friends. To all of them I say ‘Chapeau Bas’!

We may have to face another upheaval as Delhi schools may shift to a single shift mode thus making our present model of boys in the morning and girls in the afternoon redundant. Children will only be free post lunch and the team is busy working out a new pattern. We may have to change timings and run the centres till late evening. But we are ready for that too.

We will also have to find new activities for the mornings where the centres, barring Yamuna, will be empty. Many ideas are being mooted: sewing classes, spoken English classes, adult literacy classes etc. This will take a little time to set up but I am sure that by the end of the summer vacation we will be ready to go.

New and exciting times await us and I am looking forward to them.

For now I am simply busy being grateful.

What’s new
Happy New Year

The children, staff and management of Project Why wish you a very happy 2022!

Anou’s blog
Miracles are waiting to happen

In April 2022 I turn 70. A milestone in any life. A time when you feel the need to pause and look back at the years gone by. A time to look at your life with utmost honesty: the ups and downs, the successes and failures, the joy and sadness. Seven decades is a long time and I do not intend to subject you to life long reminiscences. Today I just intend to look back at the last two decades.

2000 is a watershed moment in my life as that is when Project Why began its work on the field. Project Why is undoubtedly the sum of my existence as I poured into it all that I had learnt and experienced over half a century as well as my hope and dreams: be it the lessons learnt at my parents’ knee, the joy of becoming a parent, the challenges faced at the workplace, the anger felt at all injustice, the desire to change things and so much more.

Project Why became the new challenge I embraced in my 50^thyear. As my thoughts travel back I remember the little street and tiny mud house where it all began. I remember how Manu’s plight seared my soul and compelled me to find the first answer to that very resounding why. That was the beginning of an exhilarating journey where the sky was the limit. From a mere 20 we became 40 then 100 and reached 1000 in no time. We opened new centres in different locations, each to answer yet another why. Our enthusiasm was almost hubristic but somehow the Universe helped us in extraordinary ways bringing us support from the world over.

I look back at the wonderful family we became: the children, the teachers but also a plethora of people from many lands who came and volunteered with us and left an indelible mark in our hearts. Some even came back many times! Very precious legacy.

But it was not just a fairy tale. Project Why brought to the fore the many social inequities, the injustices and the ever growing gap between the privileged and underprivileged. This compelled me to raise my voice. This is how I began to blog. The attitude of the powers that be was nothing short of incomprehensible leading to ugly spats. But we overcame all.

This walk down memory lane is meant to be honest and I would be failing if I did not look at the failures, the biggest one being our inability to seed a proper sustainability option. It is not that we did not try. Our biggest attempt was Planet Why. Alas we were unable to raise the funds needed. If I look back with brutal honesty one would have to admit that the ‘success’ of our hand to mouth existence clouded our ability to see the writing one the wall. What we resorted to was crisis management. Not the best way to go.

Once again we face a crisis. True we will need to go into crisis management mode, but it is time we looked beyond. It is time to build our sustainability model. That is what I pledge to do as Project Why deserves to live beyond me.

So much for reminiscences. Time to look at the year gone by. In a nutshell 2021 was the year we seeded Project Why 2.0. It took a while as the situation on the ground kept changing. Schools barely opened and online teaching was here to stay. However the past year had taken its toll on the education of children from underprivileged homes and it became imperative for us to work a hybrid model that would address the situation. Project Why 2.0 aimed at bringing back children to school. That is what we are in the process of doing.

It was not an easy year. I end it with abundant gratitude to my team, the Board, and our supporters and funders who stayed with us in these harrowing times. Without them Project Why would not be.

I do not know what 2022 will bring us. I just know miracles are waiting to happen.

With love

Anou

Mataji – 7-11-2021 – The end of an era

Mataji breathed her last yesterday evening.

I met her for the first time in May 2000 when I had gone to her in the throes of the deep grief I had sunk in after the untimely death of both my parents. For years I had just lpcked myself up and lost the key. No doctor, or soothsayer had been able to help me get out of the hole I had sunk in. It was the young woman who came to do my nails that hesitantly told me about her as she feared I would not accept to go to a slum as that is where Mataji reigned. But my grief was so raw that I was willing to go every and anywhere I could find solace.

She lived in a temple, where Gods and humans lived side by side in perfect harmony. The tiny abode was a cornucopia of eclectic things that the senses took time to get used to, but notwithstanding the initial shock, it was the feeling of peace and love that embraced you as you stepped in the tiny door. I found myself going day after day to that haven of peace. Slowly I shared my grief and the loss I felt and she gently just kept telling me that it would all be OK. All I needed to do was to transform the negative energies I had let myself sink in to something that would make my parents proud.

I did not know how but as I spent time with her, the answer came. To all of you who have followed my journey the answer was Project Why!

It is Mataji who found us the first tiny slum tenement that we would buy and begin our work in. It is in a corner of her home that we set up our first office and it is with her blessings that became who we are today. She helped us weather every storm and fought with the community when detractors raised their ugly heads.

For almost two decades my day would begin with a stop at her temple and a lovely cup of tea shared with her. It was the highlight of my day. But with the pandemic and then my being diagnosed with multiple myeloma that lovely ritual stopped.

For the last year or so I hardly met her. With my immunity being at its nadir I gad to remain locked up in my home and got news of her ailing health from Shamika or Rani. Even today I will not be able to pay my respects. But Mataji and I have her heart connect and I know she knew that she was always in my heart.

For Project Why its is the end of an era. The only way we can honour Mataji is by continuing our work with renewed commitment with the hope that she continues showering our blessings on us.

I have lost a mentor, a guide, a friend….

May she rest in heavenly peace.

Anou’s blog
Bye bye chemo brain

I has been months since I have not written a word. It is not that I did not want to write. I just could not. Each time I sat at my computer hoping to write something, my brain would go mushy. Thoughts would vanish or become incomprehensible and the ensuing frustration would make me shut my computer in anger. I had heard of ‘chemo brain’ but never knew that it would be so debilitating. My chemotherapy stopped way way back in October 2020, but the side effects are still here with me the biggest one being this d**** chemo brain!

But today, the head seemed lighter and the urge to write was strong. So here I am trying to string one word after the other in the hope that I come up with something coherent. I will just let my thoughts flow and try and remember the past few months.

The biggest joy that came into my life was little Inaya. She landed in my lap on a cold January morn looking at the me with big eyes filled with trust and hope. She was 7 months old. Inaya is my granddaughter, Shamika’s adopted child. A real gift from God! And as I looked into her eyes I too was filled with hope: hope that all will be well, that the clouds would lift, that I would heal from my terrible ailment, that Project Why would be safe for years to come. In short that all my dreams would come true.

Inaya brought with her the strong belief that nothing is impossible. You just have to hold on like she did for 7 long months in an orphanage waiting for someone to rescue her. What I learnt from that is that no matter how bleak things get, there is light at the end of all tunnels.

Inaya is 15 months now and has set the mood for our household. She is a feisty little person who has each one of us dancing to her tune. There is no room for sadness; only laughter and joy.

Since she has come my health has improved and I am now feeling well. I am out of the stranglehold of conventional treatments – chemo etc..- and into alternative therapies. My blood counts are holding and the myeloma seems to be in check. I hope I can sail this course steadily.

Project Why took a set back and is in the process of reinventing itself. Our teachers have met all challenges head on and fine-tuned their online teaching approach. Due to the pandemic we have lost some children but have now open our doors to new entrants as the present online teaching enables us to do so. But online teaching is not sufficient for underprivileged children and hence we have decided to call students in tiny groups – maximum of 4 at a time – to clear their doubts and help them in this critical situation.

The sad reality is that the pandemic has hit education at all levels, but more so education for the less privileged. We need to come up with a flexible approach with on line and face to face teaching. We are in the process of doing just that.

Our staunch supporters have stood by us and hence we were able to remunerate all our staff even during the pandemic but our secure funding meets about 60% of our needs so we still need to find new avenues to raise the shortfall. We are trying to approach institutions and corporates. Fingers crossed!

At this juncture we do not know what the future holds. Are we going to see more lockdowns and new deadly waves? Are schools going to reopen soon? Will life ever go back to what it was? To the last question the answer seems to be no! We are going to have to come up with a new normal where masks and social distancing will be par to the course. We just need to accept the new normal and carry on.

The fact that I could write this blog is yet another miracle. Has the time come to say Bye Bye chemo brain! I certainly hope so. But I will take it one day at a time and let Inaya lead the dance.

What’s new
In lockdown time

In lock down times project Why does not stop work. Our team of dedicated teachers take online classes for all their students. Our goal is to ensure that no child drops out of school in Covid times. we hope we can meet our goal

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