.. A Multi Dimensional Quality ..

Pankhudi Foundation
Volunteer Achievements

Graduated in 2005, Mr.Yatin Sethi started working with with a design research firm (HP labs) in Bangalore - having a descent corporate-ish work. But he always wanted to do something and meaningful for the society. Thus, He kept himself involved with various social organizations (specifically with Pankhudi) -addressing different needs, serving different audiences / areas thus benefiting numerous individuals in more than one way. On the laurels of his passion and a wide experience, he got a fellowship with Atlas Corps- USA. Since then, he has leaped several benchmarks. He has developed project-plans / fund-raising for numerous global organizations, he has done a great deal on promoting "Youth ventures" across many countries. He works for reputed Ashoka Youth venture. He also got selected for the prestigious Fellowships of TED & StartingBloc (U.S).

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I have been associated with Pankhudi almost since its inception and thus have been fortunate enough to see its various levels of growth. It’s gladdening to see where Pankhudi has reached over these years. And, I must say it is only and only because of the hard work and determination on the part of its members and volunteers which has enabled Pankhudi to reach great heights.

Over these years, I have held all the 3 posts-chapter rep, finance rep and pr rep pertaining to My Chapter (Delhi). This not only honed my leadership skills and instilled great confidence but provided me with a platform to learn in depth about the functional roles of the posts and implement the same. A great deal of learning and unlearning took place while I was carrying out my role with many accomplishments. Working at Pankhudi has helped me grow both professionally and personally which has undoubtedly been a significant attribute.

Last but not the least, working here augmented my interest in the field of development and I decided to study further specializing in the same. My experience with Pankhudi has been a great value addition and I have been fortunate enough to get admission for a MSc in development studies in top universities like LSE and Cambridge.

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 It was the fifth year at IIT, when there was an even further increase in the level of enthusiasm to do something concrete that I, along with Uma (my roommate in the first year) decided to work towards the prevalent social issues in the country.  The idea was to identify and fill in the missing gaps in the various efforts of many others. That was when we joined ~Pankhudi.

While serving in ~Pankhudi, I was confronted with various issues that surround the School Education in India. This propelled me to explore this sector more and went on to join National Knowledge Commission (NKC). NKC, an advisory body constituted by the Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh has been focusing on bringing reforms to the knowledge institutions and infrastructure of the country. NKC is a unique platform that has provided me with tremendous exposure not only to various issues, but also to a vast variety of opportunities that exist as a result of them. I have also been deeply inspired by the fellow members of Pankhudi and leaders of NKC, whose ideas and conviction have strengthened my passion further.

In between, along with a couple of friends, I have also been exploring the possibility of starting a self-sustainable enterprise called Aayudh Technologies. Aayudh works at the intersection of technology and social sector organisations. It aims to bring technology services to the doorsteps of millions of NGOs, thereby strengthening the warriors to win the war more effectively.
 

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You are the winner of the Catalyst for Social Change (Infosys) Award at Chennai DC for your contribution to the education and development of underprivileged children. Could you tell us what you got this award in recognition for?

This award is in recognition of my work in association with two NGOs – The Tamil Nadu Science Forum and Pankhudi – for the past 15 years.

The Tamil Nadu Science Forum is a 28-year-old NGO that aims to take science to the common man. I’ve been involved in several of their projects like Arivoli (Literacy Campaign), Women empowerment through Self Help Groups, Cadre development, and Science Camps for Kids including one for Tsunami affected children.

The other NGO that I am working with actively now is Pankhudi, a three-year-old NGO that works for underprivileged children across India. I have been associated with it since the early stages and am a member of its core group. I take care of activities in the Chennai region. We are currently working in a slum near Saidapet.

My association with Pankhudi began though a social networking website where a group of people interested in working with underprivileged children came together. Now, we are a registered organization with a work-base in more than seven cities in India and abroad, and more than 1000 members.  I joined Pankhudi right after my training period. I was also a member of the Infosys Chennai CSR group, Sneham. For most of my orphanage visits/ programs my colleagues too volunteered.

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18 role models/institutions, 13 cities and 18 days of train journey with 350 enthusiastic youngsters form the India and abroad that was TATA Jagriti Yatra. It was not an easy trip but meeting with every role model was an enriching experience. They are true leaders and their success story and life journey was lifetime learning in 20 days. In this article I have tried to discuss briefly talk about the role models who, according to me, are walking source of inspiration In this attempt I have also tried to list the qualities of these real time heroes that have ignited the flame of desire and quest to do it in me. My first inspiring moment at the TJY was hearing Usha and Jaykumar from Thanal at Trivandrum. Their work towards environment and women development with awesome spirit to go on against all odds was truly stimulating. Individual or as a team anyone of us can make a difference if one cares. Aravind eye care at Puducherry is another motivating organsiation. Before that visit, for me Puducherry was all about a weekend break from Chennai with cool beaches and good food. The Jagriti Yatra visit opened my eyes to the largest and the most productive eye care centre with a mission to eradicate needless blindness  in Puducherry. They are making eye treatment accessible to economically backward people in rural areas too. All the treatment is done with the best of the technology available. They simply have a differential payment system to have sustainable revenues.

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I have joined Pankhudi recently & the inspiration to do so came to me from a train journey. It was the Tata Jagriti Yatra 2008.For me it was an eye opener. The concept of the yatra was to have 350 young & qualified people to travel across India & see some unsung heroes & how they conquered against various social problems & built sustainable enterprise just through sheer determination.

Initially my main aim to attend the yatra was to socialize & broaden my social network & evne travel across India. But when some days passed my whole objective was changed.

Firstly I should tell abiut my yatra experience. To travel in a train & practically living in it was a very new experience. We had to bathe once in two or three days due to lack of time @ the stations. We had innovative bathrooms to tackle the problem.To sleep throught the chiily nights was again a challenge which I passed successfully. We also had to sleep @ the Bhubaneshwar platform due to unfortunate circumsatnces. But I think it was good in some ways. The point is that yatra had made us so tough that we can take all the challenges that overlook us.

The group of friends I made is an asset to me. The yatris were from diverse cultures. They had different educational backgrounds. Some of them had their own enterprises & NGO's working for various causes. The amount of information we share with each other opened a whole new world to me. People were from Africa as well as Australia, they shared their values & problems of their part of the world.

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About DonateYourPC.com

It was an exciting start. Just 2 weeks back, I had donated by computer at SRMAB, Bangalore. And I saw the great excitement in kids towards that computer. Just because it had lot of movies + it was black in color. They can't see the color but they know this is the only black computer here. After 2 weeks, me and my friend decided to make this site. Idea was simple and honest, Engineers in our country release lot of computer in a year and even if we get 10 of it, we can educate more than 100 kids. Not very surprsing, we were true, we got lot of donotions across india. You won't belive we have more number of donors than takers.

If you can help out please visit : http://DonateYourPC.in. You will also get to know how this system works.

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About SearchMyCampus.com

SearchMyCampus.com is a campus based classifieds website for students. It helps students with their needs for jobs, books, coaching, gadgets, coaching and more. It is a free service where students post classified advertisements describing their requirement. Employers, student service providers or other students from their campus can respond to these advertisements to help them with their needs. The brainchild of Peyush Bansal, SearchMyCampus.com was launched in December 2007 and boasts of over 40,000 users a month at present.

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Other achievers making difference in the society:

• Mr. Surya Adavi & Mr. Jivan also participated in Tata Jagriti Yatra 2008 along with  Ms. Anvesha Khandelwal & Mr. Nitin Nagori
• Mr. Krunal Desai, Ms. Smriti Dey, Mr. Amit Naik, Mr. Dilkash Wakeel selected for initial round of Teach India, Teach For India and Tata Institute of Social Science
• Mr. Surya Adavi (Who also heads PR & Resource office) along with Pankhudi Hyderabad volunteer Mr. Sunil have successfully started a National Youth Magazine called ODE- Of Distinct Expressions
• Ms Aditi Kulkarni (Who also heads Pankhudi’s Finance office) is working on environment and carbon credit issuance through her venture Green Earth Consultancy 

Leadership Development Group (Pankhudi LDG)
Krunal Desai, Aditi Kulkarni, Namita Dalmia, Surya Adavi, Ram Kumar, Yatin Sethi, Jyotsana Bobba

To join any of the teams, please send an email to: join@pankhudifoundation.org
Please also visit ~Pankhudi Community on Orkut

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