HAD
you met Ramesh in September 2007, you’d have noticed the fear in his
eyes. He was an outsider. He had come to Bangalore for the first time in
his life. For the first two-and-a-half days in Bangalore, he never
spoke to anyone. He sat in a corner in a room and asked everyone to
leave him alone.
Ramesh was a cowherd. He had never ever been to school. He didn’t know
to write his name in any language. His life was all about his buffaloes.
His brothers and sisters were studying something – and they were able
to read and write. He would stare at them blankly whenever they were
reading books or singing songs. The only songs he knew were the ones
that his mother had taught him.
| Training, commitment and perseverance helped Ramesh turn his life around |
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 |
(LEFT) In Sep 2007, Ramesh could not read or write and he was afraid of many things.
(RIGHT) By Mar 2008, Ramesh had undergone a transformation so drastic, his mom did not recognise him! |
Ramesh’s father used to drink quite
often when Ramesh was a kid. Having seven children and looking after all
of them – as a manual labourer it isn’t easy even in a village.
Ramesh’s mother’s routine was to see her children off to the farm in the
morning and come back in the evening. She wasn’t one who believed in
miracles. Ramesh’s biggest dream was to become a hero – which he saw
sometimes in movies. He thought that heroes in movies had special gifts.
They drove bikes and cars. They were powerful and could scare away
goons. He could think of no other dream that would be worthy of
dreaming.
Ramesh’s parents, when he was born, had thought that he was born dead.
He hadn’t moved for quite some time or cried. Hence, they’d assumed that
he wasn’t going to see the world at all. Somehow, he was found to be
alive – just before being cremated as a still-born. Knowing this story
had made Ramesh tough – from childhood.
OCT 2007: Clear, determined and focussed,
Ramesh started learning. As training progressed he also started speaking
confidently within a group |
At the interview for the training
It was in 2007 June that I’d met Ramesh for the first time. He looked
like everyone else whose roots are well entrenched in a village. Gruff,
slightly afraid, conscious and not very forthcoming at all. I asked him
to say “My name is Ramesh.” He couldn’t pronounce it properly. He tried
for half an hour and couldn’t say it properly. I was confused as to
whether to select him for the training.
I asked him to sit in a corner of the interview room and practise. After
about two hours, when all the interviews were over, we asked him to
leave. He stood up, stretched his hands for a handshake and said, “My
name is Ramesh. ‘Tenk’ you.” Me and my colleagues made up our mind to
select him!
Beginning of Ramesh’s transformation
In the first few days of the training, Ramesh found it extremely
difficult to learn alphabets. P’s and Q’s would look the same to him. He
would also find it difficult to remember all the keys on the keyboard.
He constantly had headache. One day, he got lost in a bus in Bangalore –
with no money. He didn’t know how to use toilets – since he always used
the open grounds as his toilet. He didn’t know how to shake hands
because he had never done it. Ramesh was scared – of touching a
computer, of talking to people, of travelling on a bus, of studying with
girls.
Ramesh and his friends
However, Ramesh was determined and clear about his goals. Slowly, Ramesh
started learning. He had nine more people with him – Megharaj, Chandru,
Hemanna, Chandana, Divyashree, Jayaraj, Uttam, Neelamma and Raghavendra
to accompany him on this journey.
PEER LEARNING Ramesh and his nine
colleagues had set out to do something that was considered impossible in
their villages - learn and aspire or a different way of life. But some
did succeed. |
Ramesh and his nine colleagues had set
out to do something that was considered impossible in their villages.
Two of them, Neelamma and Raghavendra, dropped out in the initial
stages. However, the other eight, including Ramesh, started learning
together. In the first few days, there were many instances when they
would be petrified with a few things during the training.
One day, as I was entering the training room, Megharaj’s computer screen
had turned upside down. Megharaj was trembling with fear. When I asked
how this had happened none of them wanted to really answer that.
Somehow, after some coaxing, I figured out that Megharaj had
accidentally pressed some buttons on the keyboard. And they had
concluded that they have messed up the machine. The fear of the unknown
was to be seen to be believed.
Ramesh found it difficult even to speak in
English
in the beginning. Reading and writing looked extremely difficult.
Slowly, as he got used to the new language and the environment, he
became more and more comfortable to speak in English. He also started
speaking confidently with his friends. Slowly, he started sharing his
previous struggles in his life with his friends.
What made him tick?
Ramesh was interested in drama – he slowly started acting out drama and
songs with his friends. He also became confident enough to start acting
out simple sentences in English as well.
SUCCESS BECKONS THE BRAVE Ramesh's story is
too good to die. Seen here at the CNN-IBN show where he recounts his
tale with Mukesh Ambani, Chairman, Reliance Industries |
As he became more confident, he started using the computers, slowly started opening the Internet. Once he learnt how to
Google,
it became his best friend. He tried to search everything in Google,
though in the beginning he would only understand what was in pictures.
For Ramesh and his friends, reading small paragraphs and trying to
understand them became an obsession. They started reading stories,
newspaper articles. Slowly, they started interacting with strangers – by
speaking a few sentences in English. They started becoming more and
more confident as they spoke more and more. Slowly, the confidence was
building.
Taking the centre stage
Ramesh’s first test came after about five months of training. This was a
‘Show and Tell Session’. Ramesh was supposed to showcase what he had
learnt to a group of dignitaries who were eager to know how Ramesh and
his colleagues had fared. Ramesh practised the whole night before the
session.
He had practised every word he was supposed to speak. Ramesh came out
trumps – he truly stood there and spoke – for the first time on stage
and in English – this was the beginning of a new future – where he
started believing that he might just be able to stand up and become
something in his life.
The big leap !
Ramesh, after about six months of training, went back to his home for
his brother’s wedding. His mother, who hadn’t seen him for over six
months, couldn’t recognize him. She had to be shown his identity card
where his earlier photo was printed to truly believe that it was her
son, Ramesh!
Head Held High Foundation
|
Set up by Madan Padaki,
Rajesh Bhat, Samik Ghosh and Sunil Savara, Head Held High Foundation,
together with its subsidiaries, works on creating sustainable models for
rural transformation.
It identifies the communities, selects vulnerable youths,
puts them through a six-month unique training programme and gets them
employed either in its own subsidiary Village BPO or elsewhere. For
more information log on to www.head-held-high.org |
Ramesh’s first ‘job’!
After his training, Ramesh could type at 60 words per minute - he was
‘employed’ and started his first job! This was something he could not
have even dreamed of before.
On CNN IBN – National TV
Recently, Ramesh bought home a new television set – to help the people
at his home watch him on television. Ramesh was seen on TV sharing the
stage with the likes of people like Asha Bhosle, Anil Kumble, and so on –
who were surprised and excited to hear about Ramesh’s story.
Industrialist Mukesh Ambani, asked him at the end of Ramesh’s speech –
“How did you learn all this so fast?!”
Ramesh, an inspiration!
Ramesh is now like a torchbearer – who brings hopes to the lives of many
more people like him in his village. And there, a lot of people,
including people who have much more formal education than him, look up
to him! His dream is to empower thousands more like him!
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