Dreamz unlimited !!!

The sparkling eyes showed innocent joys. The never-ending smiles enjoyed every moment of those 3hrs. They laughed, clapped, cheered and lived thru the entire period. Sometimes they even cried, out of empathy and humanity. Yes, the kids of the DI2020 Borivli chapter showed that they too are as human as others - and they too wanna enjoy life to the fullest.

Well, the scene was Lage Raho Munnabhai being screened for 29 kids, who stay in the slums of Kulupwadi, Borivli. The organisers were the members of the DI2020 team. The occasion was 'nothing - but smiles'. So what's DI2020 ?

Dream India 2020 (or DI200 as it's fondly referred to) is an NGO striving towards the betterment of the less-fortunate ones by educating them. Teaching English and Math are the prime objectives, along with imparting certain values too. Started by a couple of engineering students of Chennai, this NGO now has centres in 5 cities - Mumbai, the leader, has 4 centres. I was fortunate enough to know about this enthusiastic group a couple of months ago and there has been no looking back since. While Kiran still remains a dream, DI2020 actually paved the way for it. Life surely hasnt been the same - of course changed for the better !!!

Never have I come across a more dedicated set of individuals working towards a certain goal. Everyone of them is a working professional (mostly IT ) who slog it out the entire week (sometimes weekends too !) and yet find quality time for those wonderful kids. The classes are held on Sat eves and Sun morns. So, when they have a chance to just rest for a while on a relaxed sunday, we find people actually travelling from Ghatkopar to take a 2 hr class inBorivli. This is what struck me as something surely extra-ordinary.

And all this is possible coz of the man behind this - the founder of DI2020 - Varun R. A simple guy armed with simple thoughts and simple methods - he has undoubtely taken on a complex system with a resolve of changing it. Apart form these simple qualities, that guy has an unmatched vision and relentless will to implement the vision. It's about 2 yrs since they started their first class, and needless to say, the journey has been first-class. Hats off !!!

Amidst all this are those lovely souls who are deprived of the comforts which their 'well-to-do' counterparts enjoy. But, they have the will, the will to learn, the will to grow in life, in stature. They have the yearning for learning, they have the inclination - they just need the time from us adults. And that's precisely what we try to do at the Borivli class - try to bring about a change in them without changing their individuality. We try to give them an opportunity to have a holistic view towards life - Munnabhai was born out of this. Not only did the kids have a golden chance to walk proudly on the shining floors of the mall, not only did they escalate merrily, not only did they have a blast with the pop-corns ... they also got a chance to meet the Mahatma. The simplicity of the movie touched them; as they live, nothing, but a very simple life.

I have always been inspired by the Mahatma's words - Be the change you want to see. Call it a coincidence or conspiring of the universe - we practised what he preached :-)

P.S : For any info please visit http://dreamindia2020.org/