Nadar ka Prayas

Hello Mr Nadar there?

Inglis Nahin…Hindi mein bolo, spoke a person with a South Indian accent.

Sir, hum aapke bachhon ke liye kuchh karna chahte hain (we want to do something for your children).

Tum aake pehley dekho, fir bolo kya karega (first come and see the children then decide what you wish to do).

I found this strange for two counts. Most people in the NGO space speak impeccable English and secondly would swoon at your offer of help. They would themselves come to meet you, show you a presentation worthy of showcasing at any Board Meeting. Plus their branded clothes often made you feel if you ought to be a recipient of their dole!

This man, Nadar made me think. I had recently taken charge of the CSR role when we were asked to engage employees to do volunteering activities. A friend had said he knew of Prayas, an NGO working in the field of education for street children. With no one to help, I wondered if I should go and check this NGO as invited or work with other easier options. Since the place was quite near my residence, I decided to accept the invitation.

As usual, I reached 30 minutes before scheduled time and saw about 70 children of different ages sitting on plastic mats with a couple of teenage girls teaching and engaging groups of kids. I observed from across the street and was taken aback…a school without a roof, a school without a room…out in the open under the blue sky…what will happen when the skies open up during monsoon? What irony…this street school was bang opposite another school where the affluent people sent their children…with swimming pool and air conditioned classes and children travelling mostly in luxury cars…the Prayas kids surely appeared children of a lesser God.

Dot at 10.30am, came a man on a motorcycle wearing a white bush shirt and a black trouser. Shook hands with me and then took me to the street school where the children greeted me by standing up and wishing, Good Morning Sir. Mr. Nadar then took me to another place around 750 metres away where nearly 125 children were studying in the open in a market place on Linking Road with all the noise, dust and people passing by. He finally walked me to a garden nearby where about 70 slightly older children were doing their classes. It had taken Nadar a lot of persuasion with the guard in the park to allow a school to operate there both in the mornings and afternoons. Over the time, the guard saw the good that was happening there and allowed them to use the store room in the park to keep the mats and mobile black boards. The street school on the Linking Road used a dilapidated closed auto rickshaw as their store room.

We took the 150 kids for a screening of Mary Kom to a nearby Multiplex and treated them to some snacks there as part of the volunteering activity. Gradually I started going to Prayas whenever I got some time on weekends, just to be with the kids and be of some help here and there.

Prayas is an NGO where kids of a slum in the vicinity, who go to Municipal Schools, are given tuitions to be able to progress. The parents of the children are into menial work and can do little to help the children with their education. More importantly the schools hardly teach the kids much. Even children in classes 5 and 6 are unable to write a line correctly yet get promoted to the next class. Prayas steps in to fill the gap with volunteers and part time enthusiastic teachers, many of them in hijaabs.

After nearly a year of being associated with Prayas, I was able to make Nadar share his story. Reluctantly he said that he came to Mumbai just to visit the city twenty years ago. He grew up in the outskirts of Chennai and does not remember much about him having done any formal education. He fortunately had a politically strong Uncle who controlled the liquor business in the city. Nadar was given charge of one such shop and was doing all right but had to help his Uncle in many of his activities including flexing muscles which he did not like.

Nadar never returned to Chennai. He stay put with his family in a chawl near Versova and did many small jobs. Today he runs the distribution of Britannia Breads in Andheri with his day typically starting at 3am when the deliveries would reach his store. From there the bread would be handed over to some cycle borne boys who would then go to deliver shop to shop. By 5am Nadar is free and he goes for his morning walk on the beach nearby along with Rasikbhai, the man who started Asha Kiran, a school for street children at Four Bunglows. By about 10am Nadar is at Prayas schools at Goregaon East and makes sure everything is available to the kids and teachers. He even goes to their homes when some kids do not come to the school, convincing the parents to make sure children are regular. Nadar has, along with him a few regular team members, who do teachings and arrange for morning meals. By midday he goes back to his shop accounting for the daily collections from bread distribution and at 3 pm sharp he is back at the garden school ensuring everything is working well.

Prayas does not go out to corporate or individuals for financial assistance. Anybody wanting to help must do it on their own seeing the work they are doing. And let me tell you, there are many good souls around and Prayas goes on. This monsoon Nadar arranged for a large water proofing in the garden to ensure the children of senior classes did not suffer during rains. Six of the brighter children have now been admitted to good schools paid for by individual donors. People come on almost all days, some give them note books, others toys and a majority give them food to eat. Nadar helps people organize such simple feasts and he knows what children like. He will ask you your budget and then arrange things quickly. Last time we went there he arranged for coconut water including the kernel plus a 5 Star bar for 150 kids….all came in lots to the vendor, had their coconut, none asked for an extra, put the litter in the proper place and went back to their classes saying thank you with a big, big smile.

Nadar is the soul behind Prayas. From arranging for books, permission for school, talking to parents, annual check-up for kids, arranging for Independence Day and other celebrations….with no formal education of his own, the man has made sure one of his son is now an engineer and the second one works with a large multinational consultancy firm as he pursues his CA program. From selling country liquor to now managing bread business and yet living a life of passion for educating children sitting at street corners, never to give long speeches, never to boast of his achievement, just doing what he does best…Mr Nadar, you are a True Hero.  He is now selling the best intoxicant in the world…dreams though learning.

Often makes me think what if some of us who are far more ‘so called’ educated and better placed in life were to be Nadars? What if each one of us were to educate 30 if not 300 kids? What if 10 of these 30 do stand up on their feet on life, we would have done our service to humanity and earned our license to live. Education is the key to all our problems and missions be it Swachh Bharat, Skill India, Tolerant India and India of My Dreams.  As Poet Harivansh Rai Bachhan wrote:

ज्ञान के मंच पर सब एक सामान हैं,

विधि का विधान पलट दे, तो ब्रह्मास्त- ्र ज्ञान है.

तो आज से ये ठान ले, ये बात गांठ बाँध ले,

की कर्म के कुरुक्षेत्- र में,

ना रूप काम आता है, ना झूठ काम आता है,

ना जाती काम आती है, ना बाप का नाम काम आता है,

सिर्फ ज्ञान ही आपको आपका हक़ दिलाता है.

All of us can do our bit for the country, our bit for the world. All we need to do is Prayas to become a Nadar in life.