Perhaps it’s the driver’s kid – greeting you with an enthusiastic ‘Good Morning’ every time he sees you. Morning, noon and night. Or the jhadoo-pochcha waali shyly asking you if have an extra Class XII maths book lying around. For the eldest of her four daughters. Or the two foot rascal at the redlight who holds your car ransom with a dirty rag and a brilliant smile. You feign anger, asking him why he’s not in school. His smile widens and you can’t help but fall under it’s spell. You crossly relinquish a few coins, telling him he better start studying soon.

You’ve thought about it. Often enough. You may have even tried to do something about it. Gathered a few kids from the neighbourhood in on your front porch.

‘Let’s start at the very beginning,’ you say enthusiastically. ‘When you read you begin with A, B, C.’
‘A, B, C,’ a chorus of voices chant back.

The first day passes with great results. You are impossibly happy with the kids. They’re bright and full of potential. And you make a wonderful Julie Andrews. However, soon enough, the newness of it all wears out. The kids are still enthusiastic, but you tire to see that their progress is slow and at times painful. They are learning at different levels. You find it hard to manage them. One kid wants to draw. Another wants to play. One can read. Another can’t recognize the alphabets. You hate to say it but their enthusiasm irks you. Gradually, the frequency of the classes lessen. Till they entirely stop.

So where does that leave you? Incapable of ‘giving back’ to society despite wanting to? I don’t think so. Not all of us are born teachers. There are other ways you can help out. Read on:

1. Ads4Good.org: ‘Ads4Good is a unique initiative which allows everyone with a blog or a website to raise funds for their favorite cause for free.’ Basically, look at the ad at the bottom right side of this page. Instead of making $8.33 on Google AdSense in 3 years, I’m giving whatever money generated by clicks on the ad to Ads4Good in support of education. Akshay Surve, the very nice guy I met last year who gave birth to Ads4Good, sent me a mail yesterday saying that Ads4Good has made enough money in the short span of time its been running to send 12 kids to school for a year on a recurring basis (or to plant two hundred trees!)

If you want to add the widget to your site, just go the the Ads4Good  website.

2. Avanti Fellows: ‘Helps underprivileged students study at the best Indian Universities. We support our students with coaching for competitive exams, mentorship and financial aid through their high school and undergraduate education.’ Avanti Fellows was founded in 2009 by another Akshay (Akshay Saxena) and Krishna Ramkumar as well as other undergrad students from IIT Bombay. From what I gather, the main aim is to get kids admission into an IIT by offering financial support as well as mentorship by current students/alumni of IIT Bombay. It’s similar to Bihar’s Super 30 in it’s intent, but is more participative according to me. You can recommend a student for a fellowship, offer your support as a mentor or even give a donation. While this is a great idea, I would love to see a more self-sustaining financial solution (this usually my biggest problem with non-profits).

Anyway, I think these are two examples of a great idea being actualized. It’s awesome to see young people dedicate so much time and energy into things which can’t exactly be termed as lucrative.  Also, being the ‘creative-type’, I’d love to see similar support for the arts. Not everyone is born with a logical frame of mind. Not everyone can be an engineer. Some people are simply more visually inclined. I think it sucks that if you don’t have money to fall back on – you simply can’t pursue a career in the arts, be it writing, photography, design, fine arts, etc, etc.