Are We the Change We Want?

The words “Be the change you want” seems to have struck very hard to the minds of some. As we see a whooping’ no. of Non Government Organizations (or “NGOs” - for those who can not relate to the expansion) being registered and struggling with a cause, which they believe if eradicated, would make the world a better place to live in. Being blessed (or cursed) with an inquisitive mind, I decided to explore one such NGO & its founder and write it all for you. So if you happen to be one of those who are curious to know about the functioning of these organizations & wonder what exactly goes into the making of the flesh and bones of the people who build these NGOs, I recommend that you bear the next 800 words and figure it out.

The organization I elected for my task is called “Jaagriti”. It has been initiated by a young lad Anchit Goel and operates in the newly developed sub-city Dwarka. Now before I proceed to dissect the mechanism of this setup, here is a brief introduction of this NGO so that we are aware of the subject in discussion. With the intention of assuring the elementary education and basic skills to those unfortunate kids who have been deprived of this basic attention the project “Jaagriti” was launched last year by Anchit, as a chapter of the famous N.G.O called “AID Delhi”. In just a year’s time the project has successfully enrolled over 80 underprivileged kids to regular schools, approached over 150 kids, constructed a team of over 30 volunteers, expanded from only one centre to three centers, collaborated with four educational institutes, three well known NGOs and raised funds from legendary cooperates. All this, accompanied with workshops on computer literacy, theatre, music and other important crafts. After such a gigantic expansion, the project “Jaagriti” deserved to be converted from just a chapter of an NGO to a full fledged registered organization. The towering achievement gets even taller when this fact is unraveled that all the volunteers including Anchit are part timers and mostly contribute only on the weekends. Some of the volunteers are students while others are office going professionals; in fact Anchit himself works as a research associate in an economic council. Now the obvious question that arises is that, how such an impressive result was then accomplished? The analyzed answer would certainly be incomplete without mention of the phrases “team work” and “individual contribution” but it would be unfair to expect from a writer to cite the account of each person’s approach & contribution. Hence I choose to take the convenient-conventional way and describe the leader and his tactics that led to the rewarding times, assuring to myself that the team anyhow is inspired by its leader and identifies with him.

The story begins at a time when Anchit is in his formative years and is engaged in his school program of imparting non formal education to slum children. But due to a few unavoidable obstacles, he is unable to carry on with his deed & drops it halfway. This breakdown of his effort strikes him hard and a seed of inspiration is sown - a seed of which is nurtured further as he grows up. Anchit while growing up learns more about the world and its problems by reading & interacting with various people and situations, and gets firmer that he ought to do something. In his college years Anchit learns the art of management and organization by involving himself in various extra curricular activities and different initiatives and somehow develops a liking for entrepreneurship. By the time Anchit gets out of his engineering college he is sure that he would not settle for a regular life where the only concern is to get a heavy paycheque instead would do something that makes a change, something that is important, challenging, and that finds him a purpose, something- something that gives him satisfaction to be alive. But the question persists - what is this something? Luckily this time he has an answer-Jaagriti! So soon after finding a mean to earn his bread, Anchit starts working on his project & decides to work for it after his office hours. The reason I emphasize so much on Anchit’s pursuit of knowing what he wants to do, is to show his desperation to find a platform. And because he didn’t find one for himself, he made sure that others are not deprived of it. So Jaagriti is not only an NGO to help underprivileged kids but as Anchit puts it “Jaagriti is also a tool to awaken the youth and provide them a platform to act”. Perhaps it is because this motive to enlighten the economically backward children and to awaken the youth that he named his initiative Jaagriti.

Inspiration, vision and passion are fine but for a set up to be a success what is required is an idea that clicks. The innovative idea that gave Jaagriti a kick-start was Anchit’s plan to take it online; in fact much of Jaagriti’s success is credited to a strong network that has been developed on internet. At this point it is crucial to mention that Anchit doesn’t even spend a penny to get this strong base of network. All he does is that he stays regular and makes a point that the activities of Jaagriti are constantly informed and updated to a wide spread mass through free internet services such as blog, Youtube, Picassa and e-mail groups etc. Anchit defiantly says “I don’t want to work in isolation. If our work is good then others must witness it, so that they are encouraged to associate with us or they replicate such work at more places.” Due to this constructive use of internet, Jaagriti has earned a wide mass reach, because of which, funds and volunteers (two issues which otherwise have lead many organizations to collapse) were never a big deal for Jaagriti. Apart from gaining popularity, internet services have also been Jaagriti’s bulletin board. Be it a requirement, an event notification or any information about an activity, every single detail is updated to all the associates just by a single click. In view of these advantages Anchit goes on describing internet as “Least expensive but best quality output.”

Once you are out in the sea, the tides would not always be in the direction you swim, at certain times you would have to swim against the tide to reach the shore. If you have started to believe that Anchit has been a lucky chap for whom situations have always been lubricated then let me clarify he’s had a fair share of friction in his pursuit. He had some hard instances in the beginning, when he was still figuring out how to be sure of funds, human resources, convincing adamant laborers to send their kids etc. But somehow not only his tasks, but all the tasks that were picked up by Jaagriti cleared the hurdles that were on the way and emerged victoriously. When asked about his biggest challenge Anchit says “The most difficult thing for me has been to handle my parents, they know that this is a good cause that I am working for, but still they are not convinced and want me to focus more on my career.” and when asked about the solution he devised for this problem he replies “Well this is one problem that remains unsolved.”

Now that we have understood extensively about the working of Anchit and his team, how do we see the concluding paragraph to be? The adjectives and appreciation that describe Anchit as a heroic figure, is perhaps what most of us would expect. But hang on when Anchit was asked what appreciation meant to him he said “I try and stay away from it simply because I don’t think I deserve it. Had I been the almighty I would have made it mandatory for everyone to indulge in an activity that’s noble. What I do I believe is my duty and is not something extraordinary.” And I completely agree to what Anchit says. In this concluding paragraph I’ll give a brief recap of reasons which made things possible for Anchit and you will follow that he is not a hero or anything of that sort. By now it must have been clear that Anchit possessed certain managerial and organizational skills that he had picked up in his college years; it was his liking for entrepreneurship that helped him in his endeavors. Jaagriti for him in a way is an enterprise; he took a social problem as a management problem. So he is simply catering to his hobby by indulging in something that uses his abilities- So by what means is that heroic? In fact the whole team of Jaagriti is the same - the one who teaches music is doing so because of his interest in music so is the case with the one teaching dance and every one else. All of them do it because their qualities and abilities are used to accomplish the results. Now the argument that they are bringing a positive change to the society and thus are heroes do not stand because more than the positive change they bring to the world it is the inner change that they experience is what gets them going. E.g. Anchit groomed as an entrepreneur by taking the first hand experience of the real situations. He has become better with decisions, can take larger risks and finds himself more confident and optimistic than ever before.

The good that this young lot has done is that they have also made others benefit from their talent. The Mahatmas and Teresas of our time need to be this way; they need not be exceptionally different creatures of the only kind but be very regular people who bring change to society only because it helps them to bring a change in their own selves. The team of Jaagriti reminds - that all of us can do our bit to bring a change to the society, and not consider it as a sacrifice but as an opportunity to groom ourselves. All we need to ask is a question “Are we the change, we want?” and then work, in order to get an affirmative answer.

- Abhishek Kukreja