What am I doing with what I have…!?
Its’ ironical when I see people who have less n’ who do much more…
Only this thought bugged me when I met this chap called Charudutta Jadhav. Let me tell you he’s a programming geek, an expert of C, C++, VC++, Java, ORACLE, VB, .NET…and he’s visually challenged!! I had gone to meet him with a couple of friends so that he and his employer can meet the management of our company, talk to them and remove their apprehensions regarding recruitment of differently able people…!! During the meeting all that I learnt was how optimistic a person can be…this guy worked in a bank for 12 years! He gave exams for promotion every year but was rejected ‘coz of his disability inspite of his clearing exams each time…he finally resigned and happened to get a chance in this company called GTL whose VP believed in him and gave him a chance…inspite of holding a Masters in Economics, Charudutta had tried his hands on coding out of mere curiosity and interest…and that’s the reason he has gained such expertise on so many technologies in a span of six years…!!!
He’s working as a Project Manager of the RnD dept. of his company…and to add another feather in his cap, he used his knowledge of chess (he’s playing chess for the past 22 years and is a national Champ) and expertise in coding, and developed a CHESS game at par with the World’s best chess game with special features or the visually challenged and launched it with the minimum possible price so that people can afford it!! He gave a demo of this game and all I can say is FANTABULOUS!!!!
His aim is to develop utilities for visually challenged people which are affordable and can be used by them easily. Currently he’s working on a project to develop a counterpart of JAWS (in short, JAWS is the s/w through which visually challenged people can use computers independently) called Screen Reader that he’ll be launching at almost 1/10th price of that of JAWS.
Happened to write all this ‘coz I just received the news that Charu Datta Jadhav is getting the Best Employee of the Year Award by the honorable President of India on 4th December!! I was so happy after getting this news and wanted to share it to as many people as possible…so thought of putting it up over here…
Each one of us is gifted with some trait or the other to serve the world in our own way…we just need to find it and use it…guys like Charudutta are exceptions but they make you believe that challenges can always be triumphed…however big they are…
Showing posts with label VMS. Show all posts
Showing posts with label VMS. Show all posts
Saturday, December 02, 2006
Monday, June 26, 2006
Interesting Sunday...
I watched a late night show of MI3 on Saturday night…Sunday morning was so good a time to sleep, when the alarm started making noise, I thought of skipping the meeting I was supposed to attend with the volunteers of “Teaching to visually impaired drive”…but somehow the “sincere and responsible” part in me was strong enough for me to make it in the meeting on time…right on time…Shabbir, I, Piyush and Kasi met at Jogeshwai Station at 10:30. We were supposed to visit Tanya Balsara, a visually challenged girl who teaches computers at one of the places in Jogeshwari. We happened to know about her through one of the acquaintances and thought of meeting her to hone our teaching methods to the kids at VMS (Victoria Memorial School for the Blind).
Shabbir had talked to Tanya regarding the meeting and taken down her address…we came out of the station and the sight was pretty anticipated, people pouring in from all sides, since it had rained sometime back, it wasn’t very clean a sight. Looking for the landmarks, the four of us entered this place that was bang opposite the Jogeshwari station…it was a Parsi Colony…and GOSH what a place that was!!! I could never ever dream of such a place in Mumbai and that too SO close to Jogeshwari station! All greenery around with beautiful bunglows…a school, a fire temple in the campus itself…what a lovely place!! The most ideal place to take a walk or read a book or write something...
We finally reached Tanya’s house…an amazingly beautiful, cosy but not very small bunglow…I wasn’t getting a break from admiring everything around…we met Tanya and her sister…parsi gals are SO pretty…fair n’ flawless skin…lovely eyes…cute smile…any normal guy can fall for them!! And Tanya’s eyes were really beautiful…they seemed to carry the reflection of her clean heart…I was getting so confused about what all to admire at one time…the lovely colony, the beautiful bunglow, Tanya’s innocent smile, or the flawless skin of Tanya and her sis…!!
We were discussing things with Tanya when her friend Vishnu joined in…he introduced himself as a VMS passout and currently working as a programmer in Emphasis…Vishnu gave us really valuable inputs as in making the kids at VMS proficient in English, mathematics and logic right from the start because that is what makes a difference down the line…we happened to talk about the career paths the kids could take in computers once they pass out from the school and stuff…It felt really great to know that Tanya was a Xavier’s graduate while Vishnu pursued programming out of his interest after doing his Bachelor’s in Political Science from Wadia, Pune…we talked about how they went ahead with their interest in computers, what problems they faced and how they managed to overcome…Vishnu talked about his experiences while coding in VB and .NET…Shabbir, I, Kasi and Piyush were listening with questions in between…then we were introduced to Tanya’s dad…when he entered in the room, his face looked so familiar…I was struggling hard to recollect where had I seen this man before…my struggle went on till he introduced himself as, “Hi! I am Sam Balsara…Tanya’s dad.”; and I was like Oh, Sam Balsara…and then SAM BALSARA…(if you people aren’t aware, search for this name on Google and you’ll relate to my reactions…). Anyways we talked to Sam as Tanya’s dad wherein he asked us about our initiative, gave inputs from his side and stuff…finally Tanya gave us a hands on demo on how and what she teaches the kids about computers…
We finally took leave from Tanya and her parents scheduling our next meeting with her at the institute itself. I couldn’t help mentioning to Tanya’s mom how beautiful their bungalow was wherein she told us that it was their ancestral bungalow and was some “100” odd years old…on my way back I was too full of thoughts and emotions to ponder upon…right from admiring the awesome place to Tanya’s and her sis’ flawless skin, Tanya’s graduating from Xavier’s to Vishnu learning programming on his own to his working as a software professional and coding in VB and .NET to acting upon the valuable inputs we got from them to meeting Sam Balsara in person…while I was sitting there in the local train on my way back to Borivali, I patted my back for getting up early on Sunday morning after a late Saturday night…or else I would have missed the whole experience which was unique and special in so many ways…quite an interesting Sunday…
Shabbir had talked to Tanya regarding the meeting and taken down her address…we came out of the station and the sight was pretty anticipated, people pouring in from all sides, since it had rained sometime back, it wasn’t very clean a sight. Looking for the landmarks, the four of us entered this place that was bang opposite the Jogeshwari station…it was a Parsi Colony…and GOSH what a place that was!!! I could never ever dream of such a place in Mumbai and that too SO close to Jogeshwari station! All greenery around with beautiful bunglows…a school, a fire temple in the campus itself…what a lovely place!! The most ideal place to take a walk or read a book or write something...
We finally reached Tanya’s house…an amazingly beautiful, cosy but not very small bunglow…I wasn’t getting a break from admiring everything around…we met Tanya and her sister…parsi gals are SO pretty…fair n’ flawless skin…lovely eyes…cute smile…any normal guy can fall for them!! And Tanya’s eyes were really beautiful…they seemed to carry the reflection of her clean heart…I was getting so confused about what all to admire at one time…the lovely colony, the beautiful bunglow, Tanya’s innocent smile, or the flawless skin of Tanya and her sis…!!
We were discussing things with Tanya when her friend Vishnu joined in…he introduced himself as a VMS passout and currently working as a programmer in Emphasis…Vishnu gave us really valuable inputs as in making the kids at VMS proficient in English, mathematics and logic right from the start because that is what makes a difference down the line…we happened to talk about the career paths the kids could take in computers once they pass out from the school and stuff…It felt really great to know that Tanya was a Xavier’s graduate while Vishnu pursued programming out of his interest after doing his Bachelor’s in Political Science from Wadia, Pune…we talked about how they went ahead with their interest in computers, what problems they faced and how they managed to overcome…Vishnu talked about his experiences while coding in VB and .NET…Shabbir, I, Kasi and Piyush were listening with questions in between…then we were introduced to Tanya’s dad…when he entered in the room, his face looked so familiar…I was struggling hard to recollect where had I seen this man before…my struggle went on till he introduced himself as, “Hi! I am Sam Balsara…Tanya’s dad.”; and I was like Oh, Sam Balsara…and then SAM BALSARA…(if you people aren’t aware, search for this name on Google and you’ll relate to my reactions…). Anyways we talked to Sam as Tanya’s dad wherein he asked us about our initiative, gave inputs from his side and stuff…finally Tanya gave us a hands on demo on how and what she teaches the kids about computers…
We finally took leave from Tanya and her parents scheduling our next meeting with her at the institute itself. I couldn’t help mentioning to Tanya’s mom how beautiful their bungalow was wherein she told us that it was their ancestral bungalow and was some “100” odd years old…on my way back I was too full of thoughts and emotions to ponder upon…right from admiring the awesome place to Tanya’s and her sis’ flawless skin, Tanya’s graduating from Xavier’s to Vishnu learning programming on his own to his working as a software professional and coding in VB and .NET to acting upon the valuable inputs we got from them to meeting Sam Balsara in person…while I was sitting there in the local train on my way back to Borivali, I patted my back for getting up early on Sunday morning after a late Saturday night…or else I would have missed the whole experience which was unique and special in so many ways…quite an interesting Sunday…
Wednesday, March 29, 2006
may be...
Days coming, days passing….life’s just moving on…many a times I end up feeling like this…somewhere down in my heart I have come to realize that this is not I want to do; getting up, coming to the office, tapping the keyboard, chatting, checking mails, having meals and going back home at odd hours…but still I am doing it…’coz there are some things which you have to do. Maybe I am in the process of finding a destination, the journey of which will make me happy…
But in spite of all this I have found a place which brings the “feel good factor” in my life! A place where I go whenever this monotonous and boring life gets onto me! Its’ this school for visually impaired, a bit far from my home…I actually don’t mind travelling to that place…the moment I enter the school; I leave behind everything that bothers me. The very sight of kids is enough to lift up my spirits!! The warmth and affection in the touch of kids makes me feel special…their enthusiasm to learn new things, the confidence they exhibit in all their actions, the amount of talent they possess makes me feel small at times…
I go there and teach them conversational English; but then that’s only one side of the story…whenever I come back from that place I carry an experience worth cherishing…an experience that makes me feel enriched as a human being…maybe I have found a chore that gives me a feeling of contentment of doing something worthwhile….maybe I have found a way to lifts my spirits to face life!!
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