Leaving No Stone Unturned : Story of Santosh

This is the story of Santosh, a young boy from rural India who went on to become an Electronics Engineer and even travelled abroad for work. Santosh underwent counselling at Swadheen Centre[1] and his liking and ability for learning technical subjects was identified through an aptitude test and counselling. His story represents an example of how guidance plays and important part in nurturing dreams.

Santosh Talekar came from a very poor family in Kem, a village in Solapur District in Maharashtra. His father was a land labourer and Santosh’s family lived with his uncle due lack of own house. The family lived hand to mouth and their life was full of struggle for survival.

Despite his financial conditions, Santosh had a passion for education. He passed the 10^th grade but leaving home and going to the city for college education was a distant dream for him. Therefore, he completed the 11^th and 12^thgrades at Kem, his native village, while helping his family in farming. While studying in the 12^th grade, Santosh took benefit of the aptitude testing and counselling, a facility made available at the school through Swadheen project of LAHI. Santosh’s score was good and the test showed his suitability for technical subjects. He followed the lead of the counsellor, Mr. Mahajan and decided to move to Pune for technical education.

After shifting his base to Pune, he enrolled for a short term course at Kohinoor Technical Institute. LAHI’s NGO Partner for Swadheen project, Students Welfare Association (SWA) offered him accommodation and boarding facility at one of their hostels as subsidized rate. Santosh also simultaneously registered himself for theB.A. (Bachelor of Arts) course as self-study student. Later on Santosh was enrolled into ‘earn while you learn’ program under the guardianship of Mr. Udyan Dixit.

After completing his course at Kohinoor Technical Institute Santosh immediately got a part-time job in a radio repairing shop. Soon after, he got an opening in a large firm – LG Electronics. From there, he moved on toJahangir Hospital, one of the well known hospitals in Pune and an affiliate of famous Apollo Hospitals. Due to his quick learning ability he could pick up the skill of repairing and maintenance of modern elctro-medical equipments. He was so good at the job that people often asked whether he was a ‘degree or diploma engineer’, and wouldn’t believe him when he said that he was qualified just as a technician’s assistant.

Finacial security from a job at Jahangir Hospiral did not make Santosh complacent. Instead, he enrolled for a diploma course as a self-study student and completed it while continuing with his job. Santosh’s dedication, zeal to learn new things and his ‘never say die ‘ attititude helped him to bag a job with a dialysis equipment manufacturing company. Soon after joining, his company deputed him to Australia and then to Zambia for assignments which he completed successfully.

Today, Santosh is working with Trinitron Healthcare Ltd, on a good position with higher salary.

Santosh, now a refined city youth, has bought a house with is own savings. He also fulfilled his family responsibilities by supporting his brother to set up a small Electrical Equipment Repairing Shop.

While soaring high in life, Santosh has not forgotten his roots. Even while getting married, he chose to participate in a mass wedding ceremony, thereby going against the social tradition of spending huge amount of money on ceremonies. By this he set an example for his peers as to how wasteful expenditure needs to be avoided.

Santosh himself says that his story is incomplete withouth acknowledging the role of LAHI and SWA in his success. He is grateful for the help and direction he received. He says that his story could have been much different had he not chosen the path of technical education; he would have continued to toil in the arid fields.

Santosh ‘s advise to rural youth is to shake off complacency , which creeps quite inadvertently in village youth; to set a goal in line with their aptitude, give preference to life-skills, be successful and most importantly support their families.

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[1] Under Swadheen Project Lend-A-Hand India provides career guidance to young boys and girls from rural communities. Rural students are usually deprived of such services. Career counseling includes aptitude testing, individual/group counseling, and capacity building workshops. LAHI runs Swadheen centers in five villages.

Gorakh makes it Big !

Meet Gorakh Kahalat. Originally from a farming family, he is a successful businessman and the biggest dealer in selling irrigation equipment in Kem, a village near Pune (India). Taylor-made drip irrigation systems designed by him have proved very beneficial for his customers. He has also innovated a di

fferent design of “ventury” (a component in drip irrigation equipment).

After reading this information,

one might assume that Gorakh probably has an engineering degree or a diploma …but hold on, he doesn’t!

A few years ago, Gorakh was facing several problems in his life. As his family was traditionally into agriculture, he tried his hand at farming but was unsuccessful due to dry agricultural land and lack of availability of water. He tried various alternatives to earn a livelihood and to settle down in life. Gorakh started a tractor service in partnership with a friend but unfortunately could not succeed. Naturally this undermined his confidence.

Gorakh , however, continued doing odd jobs to earn his livelihood. His knack and liking for technical work were noticed when he worked on the job of laying a pipeline in the field. He also participated in the Swadheen project(meaning self-motivated) of LAHI which provides vocational training and career guidance to young boys and girls from urban and rural communities in pre-identified trades. A plan to depute some youths like Gorakh to Vigyan Ashram in Pabal for doing Diploma in Basic Rural Technology was taking shape and Gorakh was enthusiastic for participating in the same. Unfortunately he was refused admission on account of age. He then joined as an instructor for IBT programme (Introduction to Basic Technology- programme conducted in schools) and got the opportunity to get training at Vigyan Ashram.

Even while working as an IBT Intrstuctor Gorakh realized that there was need of providing drip irriagtion equipement to farmers in his water starved area. He received guidance regarding raising capital, marketing, and other business- related matters by LAHI. This, coupled with the practical experience that he got while working as an IBT instructor at Vigyan Ashram, resulted in good growth in his business; so much so that he had to give up the instructor’s job to concentrate solely on the business.

Today, because of his technical skill, hard work and his passion for learning new things, he is a leading entrepreneur in the area. He has become biggest dealer of irrigation equipment in the area and other dealers seek his guidance and see him as an inspiration.

Gorakh had no formal degree or diploma in engineering. But he had an engineeringbent of mind. All he needed was confidence, expert guidance and mentoring. He sincerely acknowledges that he has reached to the present status only because oftraining he received at Vigyan Ashram, his work experience as an IBT instructor, support of LAHI-Swaadheen and guidance from Dr. Ankush talekar and Mr Prabhakar patil of Vidyarthi Sahayak Samiti (a pioneering institution supporting underprivileged boys and girls).

Gorakh belives in giving back to people who supported him and to the entire community .He has offered 2 acres of his land to LAHI and Swaadheen Social Welfare Association for their use and encourages more youth to shed their laziness and start working. He keeps in touch and is always available for guidance through Swaadheen.

Gorakh’s story is a perfect example of how proper guidance, encouragement and techical skills can translate stumbling blocks into stepping stones!

Welcome to all the readers

Welcome to the official blog of Lend A Hand India. We will bring you news,stories and updates directly from India. See how our programmes are working in the schools and how each day our students learn new skills in the most fun ways...!!! We would love to hear from you so watch this space!