AAGAAZ... the begining :)

No children in the class..

Electricity connection gone just before playing the movie..

Children’s parents barge in and take back their kids without explanation..

…..Those were some of the crisis moments that we went through with the start of classes at Aagaaz, but by God’s grace we pulled it through on all those occasions. And then, what’s the fun working without challenges! These moments remind me of an Ashutosh Gowarikar movie like Lagaan or Swadesh where the impending failures threaten the strugglers before success finally takes over. I may be dramatizing it too much, but it was the first social start-up I’ve worked on and it did scare the hell out of me some of the times :)

Thanks to Darshan’s support things seem to be headed for sunshine times. I wouldn’t like to bore you with details, but currently we’re teaching approx 15 kids, most of whom are going to school. We’re visiting the community to tap the most needy non-schoolgoers.



And yes, we celebrated 26th Jan by showing them the movie ‘Air Buddies’ (hindi version)- the movie in which the puppies run away from home because they don’t want to be separated. The kids enjoyed it. After that each child presented an impromptu performance- a somg or a joke (or even a PJ at times! Esp the one by Anita’s brother Jasvinder which neither me nor Mayank were able to understand!!). Then we concluded with a brief discussion about the importance of Republic Day, and yes, the sweets.

Deciding on a fixed curriculum and interaction with the community people are next on the cards. Plus admitting the non schoolgoers to the Govt school, for which of course we’ll need more volunteers. Thank you for bearing with the post in case you’ve read it through till hereJ. And yes, the pictures I’ll arrange next time. This one is one of my old Prayas pics.


Shruti Tewari