Rising above the gloom of circumstances

Bajgera: A motley group of youngsters are huddled excitedly inside an animation studio inside a building belonging to Literacy India (LI), a pan-India non-governmental organisation (NGO). As glasses of fragrant elaichi chai (cardamom tea) do the rounds, the youth pore over the post-production work of an animation film which they have conceptualised, scripted and directed.

"Our film is due for a pan-India release in November," beams Shyam, 17, the son of a daily wage earner who was rehabilitated by LI four years ago and now nurtures hopes of becoming a filmmaker.

For hundreds of underprivileged youth like Shyam, Literacy India, the brainchild of 45-year-old Indraani Singh - a pilot by profession - has brought sunshine into their drab lives.

Captain Singh, or didi as she's affectionately called by children at the NGO, has been a senior pilot with Indian (the national carrier) for the last two decades.

The plucky woman also holds a record for being Asia's first woman commander to fly the wide-bodied Airbus 300. In addition, she has also clocked a whopping 10,000 flying hours - another Asian record by a woman pilot - by extensively flying Boeing 737s and 747s.

Singh now flies the uber sophisticated Airbus 300 family - 319, 320 and 321. In fact when she went to Toulouse, France, for her Airbus training programme in 1990, the European pilots were surprised that "an Asian woman could clock so many flying hours in a short span of time!"

After being adjudged the "best glider pilot" during a competition at Delhi's Palam Airport in the eighties, Indian gave Singh her break as a trainee pilot. But despite stellar professional achievements and a fulfilling personal life (she is married to a pilot with the same airline and has a 16-year-old son), she says she felt the urge to "give something back to society".

Inspired by the nuns

"I started my flying in Kolkata and saw the nuns at work in the slums without inhibitions about the filth and gut-wrenching surroundings. This moved me immensely and I resolved to do something for the community," she recalls.

With such good intentions was born Literacy India in 1996. Today it takes up practically all of Singh's non-flying hours. Gradually, the NGO's scope broadened and in 2004 it also commenced the "Indha Project" for the marginalised local women. The project aims to give vocational training to poor women in making handicrafts, bags and simple jewellery and other such trades. The products are then retailed across the country.

"Indha", says Singh, "is the base women carry on their heads to balance pitchers of water. So we've used it as a symbol of stability for their future."

In other words, the Indha project aims to create community-based livelihood enhancement models to achieve reduction in poverty in rural and semi-urban areas in Gurgaon on a sustainable basis. As part of the rehabilitation of the women and children, Singh also gets celebrities/experts from various walks of life to meet them at the NGO.

Though Literacy India now seems to be cruising smoothly, with about 2,000 kids and women under its wings, Singh says the project had a turbulent beginning with only five reluctant children of daily wage earners.

"Even these kids," she recalls, "joined after I pleaded with their parents to send them to school".

Understandably too. The children had been running households and taking care of their younger siblings while the parents were at work; their going to school disturbed the domestic equilibrium, she points out.

Gradually though, the parents began to see the amazing metamorphosis wrought by the NGO. Word spread and now there's not enough space to manage as more and more people from the neighbouring villages clamour to get their kids in.

The LI formula for admissions is simple - it assesses the child and, depending on his/her age and level of education, puts the individual under one of several projects (see box).

First step

The first step is to get the children to know about personal grooming, personal hygiene and cleanliness. The kids are given nutritious meals, clothes, books and school bags to take back home.

To solve the space crunch, LI recently acquired a new building in Bajgera village (it had started off in Chauba village) for its activities. It has also acquired many Indian and foreign sponsors, one of whom donated a dozen computers.

Experts and volunteers are also teaching the older children about animation films at the NGO's fully-equipped animation studio. Many of the kids have already mastered the art of making 2-D films and are now in the midst of wrapping up a 3-D film which is eyeing a pan-India release later this year.

Drama and theatre offer other creative outlets for the children.

Not long ago, the younger children put up a cultural show for the first citizen at the president's residence. Some have performed at prestigious venues in other cities across the country. Several of the older children have even found employment with corporate organisations, export houses and hotels, earning a reasonably good salary, says Singh.

Having a blast

Each Child Right's Day (November 20), Singh organises a special treat for the children. It may be a plane ride one year, ice-creams and a Bollywood film the next or just a friendly cricket match. But the idea, as the lady puts it, "is to have a blast"!

'Ladder of Learning' takes all along

Bajgera: Literacy India (LI) works with children from underprivileged backgrounds in several villages in and around Gurgaon, Haryana.

The organisation identifies, supports and nurtures children from deprived backgrounds, offering them schooling and projects to mould them into productive and responsible citizens.

LI aims to shore up a movement whereby socially sensitive persons from diverse backgrounds can help assist children in regaining their lost identities. The programme is envisaged to be innovative, sustainable and replicable in other parts of India.

To achieve its aim, the organisation has fleshed out a strategy - called the "Ladder Of Learning" Strategy - for the holistic development of children. The first step in this unique strategy is Jaagrukta, or awareness. In this initial stage, it is recognised that there is a need for community awareness (and amongst parents of the underprivileged children) to prepare children for the whole journey of education.

Shiksharth, or the introduction of theatre and drama to children, is the second step. This stage aims to introduce joyful learning amongst the children and bring out their hidden creativity.

Stepping stone

Paathshala is a stepping stone to the entire learning process where a child is taught the basics of formal education. The third and the fourth stages are Vidyapeeth and Gurukul. The former is a non-formal curriculum or "grooming" for children to get inducted into schools while the latter slot is for the meritorious who show an inclination for higher learning. Literacy India then sponsors these children in English-medium schools.

Finally, there is Karigari which provides a platform for vocational training to students above 18 who are disinclined towards formal education or are school dropouts.

Journey: First woman commander of Airbus-300

Captain Indraani Singh, 45, was born in New Delhi in a conservative, middle-class household to a Bengali mother and a Rajput father. She did her schooling at New Delhi's Green Fields School and graduation in Political Science at Kamala Nehru College. She acquired her Commercial Pilot's Licence from the Hissar Flying Club in north India.

Singh, currently based in New Delhi, lives with her pilot husband Kirath Singh Garewal, who works for national carrier Air India, and a 16-year-old son.

She started her flying career in 1987 with Indian Airlines on the Boeing 737, the first woman in Asia to fly the fly-by-wire aircraft. In the eighties, Airbus 320 was an entirely new proposition technology-wise and very few pilots flew it. In 1995, Singh became the world's first woman commander of the wide-bodied Airbus-300. Till date, she has flown 10,000 hours and is currently flying the entire Airbus family — i.e. Airbus 320, 319 and 321. In 1990, she was chosen by Indian Airlines to go to Toulouse (France) for training on the A-320.