August 30, 2024 • 59 mins
This episode takes you to the mountains in the north of India in the western Himalayas, where there is a rural village called Tillu. It is here the non-government organisation Samta Tillu was born.
Devyani is an Indian woman who came to Tillu about 5 years ago while working and studying in the social sector. She quickly realised there were extremely unequal educational opportunities for students in the village.
This inspired her to start supporting students who were interested in not only academic support but also life skills, leadership growth, mentoring and creating a network of support in the village.
I speak to Devyani to learn how Samta Tillu has grown to a 24/7 space for students to connect, support and learn together. We will also hear from some of the Samta Tillu students about what the community means to them.
Follow Samta Tillu on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/samtatillu/
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Hello and welcome to the first episode of Ripples of Humanity. I will be sharing interesting
(00:20):
stories from people who are committed to creating change that can ripple within humanity. If
you want to know more about the inspiration for this series, please have a listen to the
previous introduction episode. For this episode today, I am taking you to the mountains in
the north of India in the western Himalayas to the state of Himachal Pradesh, where there
(00:44):
is a rural village called Tilu, where the non-government organisation Sampdhotilu was
born. Devyani is an Indian woman who came to Tilu about five years ago when she was
working and studying in the social sector. She quickly realised there were extremely
unequal educational opportunities for students in the village. This inspired her to start
(01:06):
supporting students who were keen to receive not only academic support, but also life skills,
leadership growth, mentoring and importantly a community within the village. I am speaking
with Devyani to learn more about the journey of Sampdhotilu, which has grown from meeting
secretly with students in the jungle during COVID, to supporting about 50 students in
(01:28):
the village as a 24-7 space for them to connect, support and learn together. We will also be
hearing from some of the Sampdhotilu students about what the community means to them. I
personally met Devyani in June 2024 while I was living in Dharamshala. She was wearing
a Sampdhotilu t-shirt which has a beautiful logo one of the students designed. I was so
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curious to learn more and then when she passionately explained what Sampdhotilu was all about,
I was really called to volunteer there and meet everyone and see for myself. I'm so
grateful I got to spend time with the students and to see the impact this community has in
their lives. And please bear with my substandard audio quality recording and editing. It's
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difficult to do this on the road but I hope you enjoy anyway. Let's get into it.
I'm here at Sampdhotilu with Devyani Pushpa, the founder of Sampdhotilu. And we're just
sitting on the bed at the moment at Sampdhotilu in Tilu Village. Devyani, thank you so much
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for being the first guest on this podcast. I wanted to first start with getting you to
tell me a bit about Sampdhotilu, where the vision came from and where the name came from
as well.
Hey, hi. Thank you, Rachel, for inviting us. Thank you for being a part of the family so
(02:56):
far. I think the word itself is close and acquaintance to the word family to me. Maybe
samta is something which is very close to me since my childhood, believing in the fact
that everyone's equal, everyone's got samanne rights, everyone's going to work with equity
in the world and will eliminate inequality or will eliminate all the discriminatory factors.
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But here the name came into the existence because of the village itself. The village
is still low. So we want to believe in the fact that everyone's equal and what we want
to make the equal world is about educating each other equally with all the equal resources,
opportunities like the other people in the village or big cities or metropolitan cities,
(03:41):
schools.
So basically the vision here always started with we are learning and we are teaching and
learning other people also with other people also. So we have also given a sub tagline
to it, which is parhenge or parhaenge, which clearly means that we are going to learn and
we are going to help in this journey of learning and leading with the help of our other fellow
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students, our other fellow family members with the entire community. So we are all equal
like samta and we are where we are based is tillu. So it becomes samta tillu as an organization,
which is also a family of a whole community of gadi people. Those people reside in the
hills in Himachal Pradesh and other some other castes also. And yeah, this is how we all
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started.
Thank you. And so how did you come to tillu? What's your journey to get here in a summary?
It all started in 2019. I came here to do a sort of an internship and fieldwork for
my PhD and I decided in the village tillu randomly landed up here finding a room. And
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yeah, that's that's how I met the people in the village and specifically specifically
students and then I realized they really need someone to assist them or maybe a push to
like study. They're all just occupied in doing all the household chores after school hours
and maybe just assisting their fathers in the fields, maybe you know working in some
(05:10):
hotels, maybe not thinking about the vision beyond this village. So that's how it all
started like staying with them only made me realize for almost two and a half years back
in 2019 till 2022 I stayed here and yeah all all these years was in realization maybe these
people need me and maybe the privilege I have to take I maybe the privilege I want to take
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forward with you know and maybe I want to share that privilege with the people those
who do not have it and yeah with the vision of it that nobody I think in the village has
ever gone to Delhi also for some educational purposes or some for for attending some conference
maybe and I've had the privilege to have that and maybe like sharing that with the village
and the people and maybe that connection that I built throughout these years and yeah.
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And so when you came here what were you studying at that time?
I completed my masters back in 2019. I just completed my post grad and post my that graduation
post graduation I came here to do like a field research sort of with an organization. So
that wasn't a plan plan landing up to this place that was just impromptu maybe some destiny
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one wanted to take me here I don't know. Yeah so you think you were kind of guided to be
here and then at what point did you know that it came from being something a bit more informal
with the village students to then becoming something that you thought could grow into
an NGO that it is today? That's really interesting to answer also because all these years when
I was in 2019 staying here 2020 mid 2021 I realized that I am from a background which
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includes only research and law and basically majors in political science honors. I do not
have any hold or degree for teaching or basically in teaching. So in India you basically have
a degree of BA or M.Ed and you become a professional teacher or you clear some sort of exam and
you become a lecturer but nowhere counts the passion here for teaching. So what I believe
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in I don't believe in degrees so far I believe if you're passionate enough to like change
a life in teaching maybe or in guiding the student or maybe becoming the mentor of the
student online mentor was itself works. So all of these like factors took me to a decision
where I wanted to go back to Delhi and then come back to Tillu again to like continue
this 24 7 or continue this professionally. So back in 2021 mid I went back to Delhi and
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in 2023 Jan I came back and when I like a hundred percent gave myself to an office space
now now particularly I decided back in 2020 only in 2022 when I thought of registering
it so started in 2019 2020 I was realizing I think making a hold of the things I think
maybe building relationships and maybe understanding these students or the kids or the village
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or the how the sector works basically and 2021 I decided I want to take some degree
and want to be in the hold of the place our people with a sort of professional training
that I'm teaching these kids or I'm leading a team who are teaching but do I know how
to teach do I even have a professional training in that and then I thought of like pursuing
(08:18):
it 20 but professionally back in like 2022 2023 and to and fro from the city from the
town from here to Delhi Delhi to here in between my degree in between my fellowship and yeah
that's how it all went from 2019 till 2023 mid we were on a journey of like believing
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the fact that we are there for each other as a family in Tillu we were there for each
other I wasn't here fully present for a long long time but I was here through the calls
through the online G meets through my local volunteers and friends there were people who
were assisting this project when I wasn't here so that's why I could come back with
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a belief that people are still there there might be people who are waiting for me to
come back and you started all over again with a bang now I'm 24 7 doing this I do not have
a job yeah and I'm jobless since a year now almost so managing everything on my own and
the entire team is beautiful to work with and maybe one of the purposes I've worked
in a lot of social sectors and and I really really wanted to create a safe space for my
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colleagues and for myself and I realized that is what one thing a lot of social sectors
are lacking in so you basically got to have a space which is your sacred space to work
with you're basically doing some arts a way in Hindi you call social sector social work
and this this area what you're working in is full of empathy and you know full of hurdles
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and challenges full of kindness a lot of times so there are a lot of strong emotions you've
got a portrayal if you're playing in this if you're being in this yeah so yeah that's
yeah yeah so you basically went from coming here in your work in the social sector to
then seeing that seeing there was a space for you to contribute something and then you
(10:04):
decided that it was more important for you to step away and go do some more training
while this was still informally running and then you came back and that was in 2023 yes
yes and then from there how's it how has the journey been I think earlier it used to be
like we are we are together we are in some that illu this is like illu village and this
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is an organization here now it's it's more of a professional or more of a very very sincere
space for a lot of people I can't call it sacred but it's a very sincere it's sort
of a growth in a sense where students are feeling so safe so secured in a way there
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they want to spend eight hours of their day in their vacations or summer vacations to
be here and learn and read and write there's a space the growth I feel has I think reached
from a small place where I had a small room where we were like accommodating 20-30 kids
all together in a small hall sort of a room and now we have a big space to like accommodate
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40-50 students together and you know growing from five started from five students back
in 2019 to now around 45 students is I think also sort of a growth we were covering one
village which was just illu now we have small small small sub adjoining villages here in
the hills those of you know sending their students with us it's a growth in the sense
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when I see my students the kid who was three is eight now from the kid you have seen who's
three very very young to reaching eight is also a sort of a growth I do not want to pinpoint
on particular growths of that student but that has reached a certain age with us and
we see the growth in them and yeah because of the team and students I think I was hooked
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to come back to the point which which was this I think the students when I was in Delhi
back in 2022 I was taking the degree I was with the Teach for India and I was staying
in residing in Delhi only I think I did not teach them in 10th grade the 10th batch in
2021 and I was just assisting them on calls and other the growth I could see was they
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were diligently asking me what to do that is also one growth of the organization who's
claiming to work with the rural kids and improving their lives maybe or you know providing their
them resources but it's not keeping those students in the loop here the growth is we
are a one team here there's this sort of a transparency there's a sort of authority to
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all of students in in their lives itself their leaders their students and their managers
here their coordinators here so like the growth from random students is sitting in the open
ground asking the cafe valley people and other people to just accommodate us and give us
a space to like read and study and be like hiding in the jungles from COVID in the COVID-19
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when there were patrolling of police and people asking what are you doing and kids are coming
up and saying we want to learn we're hiding in the jungles because schools are not opening
yet and we want to learn with all of us together so you were you were supporting the children
hiding in the jungles teaching them during COVID yeah wow what a memory that's so special
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that's a very special memory of all of us that we used to like do everything and everything
to study yeah that was one point that made me realize that I want to come back and do
it and take it as soon as possible people do realize this project or like having your
own organization post like 40s and 50s when you basically have your own capital you're
unenough you've lived a proper professional corporate life now you want to come back and
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give it to the society what I realized back in 2019 and 20 COVID happened quickly and
rapidly and it spread through hell I could not see a lot of people from my friends and
family were dying so I was not able to comprehend a lot of bad news around me a lot of things
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around me and I could sense that if I'm waiting for the 50s and 40s to be crossed to have
a project like this to where just you just have to be help people for saying you just
have to help people and you're waiting for 10-15 years to pass down and then do something
I think that's not the calling I think the calling is you're gonna do it right now so
that's what I think COVID only made me realize that I want to pursue it as soon as possible
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because people are dying people of my age were dying that night so I think one of those
things took me here that's awesome and you what cycle are you trying to break here in
the village in Tulu and the surrounding villages I think maybe allowing the students to understand
what their skill set area is what their capacity is what their capability is what their definite
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capability capable of and what they're definitely not capable of maybe not everyone here teaching
teaching does not just include teaching academics things teaching also any skill set maybe maybe
some students are good at achieving 90% and some are very very very very happily living
with 60 70 or 50 so why not support 50 so yeah I think one of the things that I wanted
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to remove from you know the mindsets in the village were that you cannot have your girl
be in the house after 18 she should be married she should be given it to somebody else and
she should be in her home that home is the second home the partner's home and yeah for
the boys maybe just following their chacha their mama or their father in the same league
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just doing the household chores or daily wages earning through that and maybe not envisioning
and aiming for big goals because they do not see a role model in the entire community or
family and maybe to get out to maybe making them believe maybe the first generation or
the first layer of the 12th graders or college goes in the village we'll set some examples
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we're hoping so crossing the fingers maybe they are the ones I keep telling the students
you are the ones who are going to change the mindsets in the village because you are going
to go to the college now you're the first first people from your house for your first
layer of people from your family and community going to the villages so now you're responsible
to set that example in the village maybe trying to show them the other side of the world also
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which is where women are not married till 30 where it's okay to not have a boy kid in
the house where it's okay to earn good money and it's okay to love any sort of you know
partner who you wish to be with and it's okay to have a lot of things in life which is in
general very very common in cities and other metropolitan areas but it's not here so and
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maybe showing that other world and other perspective to the kids also you do not you do not have
to rely on whatever you get in the village or be learning in the village there is this
other world which you have not entered yet village people in the village have not gone
to baksu or dharamkot also for say they're born here and they're 15 17 18 but they do
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not they haven't seen mclorganch so how I mean the amount of like and for this also
this is not just they can't reach mclorganch they do not have capital to reach there it's
also women cannot go there all alone because it's not safe or maybe not if they don't find
the capability in the women to walk alone maybe and for boys then they should not be
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going out of the houses because they'll be into bad company maybe so I think getting
out of this fear of you know keeping the child close to your heart and making not giving
the enough opportunities basically to the child if you tell them that your child is
going to get a training into in chandigarh for two months for say it will be very hard
to convince the family but the child is capable yeah and it's a male child there's no worry
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about the ladki ladka and boy girl thing also here male child 18 years old for say is not
able to convince the family and parents that I really want to go out and learn something
so maybe changing that mindset yeah so how are you finding that have you had any pushback
from the parents in the village of the children who you're supporting to step out of what
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might be the traditional way of being but I think I didn't start it too fast I look
like it's steady it's very slow so almost six years of building a relationship in the
village has reached somewhere where I'm the one who's gonna tell you what to do because
I am the one who's taking care of making you understand all these years and I'm the one
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you could see is helping amongst all your family members also you count me in your number
one why because we were here to help each other and I could believe the fact that if
I'm helping you you're helping me too in giving me the shelter in giving me the love in giving
me the space of your community of your this is your community this is your village and
the outsider here so maybe now I don't get those earlier also I didn't start it this
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way that I'm running and pushing and asking every household you know sending your send
your kid here do this do that we're having this we're having this no no no not at all
nothing ran that quickly that I had to see some setbacks from the village or from the
parents or other family members it all went very smooth I not only took care of their
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family members also there I think some stakeholders in the family not just your father is the
main person sole breadwinner in the family in Indian families there's this father's
father also who's waiting you know for your question or answer to be answered this is
there's this another chacha mama relative also uncle who's going to question and answer
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so these are like this chain of all of that so break to break that chain or you know to
run away from that chain wasn't an easy idea or you know as solution so I started it slowly
and steadily I lived here in the village for almost three years then went back for two
years and in those two years I was to and fro from the city I was I kept coming back
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here so it wasn't any time where you know they could sense that this person was come
and promised and did sort of things here and now vanished all of a sudden so I didn't vanish
so that that's how I think it so you earn respect yeah yeah yeah can we move on now
to hearing about what some to Tulu offers the community and what your role looks like
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deviani so I am deviani who wakes up five six in the morning I meditate every day before
starting my day and what I work in some that illu I think I run this organization with
the fellow mates and with my other team members and students collaboratively and collectively
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for each other maybe trying to help each other to become leaders and learners and I don't
just take up the classes for the students I also counsel them for different career growths
and parts and maybe doing all the admin department also maybe I'm the first person in the team
who's being used as a what do we call it computer checker maybe you file something and you want
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someone to cross check something so I'm the one who cross checks everything that is happening
in some that illu that's what I call myself and I'm a cross checker here would you cross
check whatever you're doing and I'm here to suggest and you know work in an overview we
would call some that illu to be a place where I'm just waking up every day and planning
the entire day with the students for the students by the students so basically I assist in the
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team we really a lot of times I hear students talking about he did these everything here
did he has started this did he came here to us back in so and so but what I really really
want to emphasize here on is that did he stayed that's the one thing that you know I would
want every volunteer to also feel and think about you stayed you you're staying and you're
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staying in touch means two different things all together you're going out of the place
you're transitioning to your world but you're still there with us in the groups maybe or
maybe by one of your messages in the entire month would make our next one one year and
yeah so I'm here to assist maybe you know to assist whatever is happening right now
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because this time I've given the responsibilities to the first layer of leaders maybe to the
12th graders maybe to other team members to even volunteers to my family who's here to
whosoever is like going to come here and be here like right now you are the mentor here
you're going to lead the entire office there's no hierarchy of course but maybe you're there
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so that I can assist maybe I can do other things also in the organization the outside
work and you know and a lot of other departments that I need to handle on my own only but I'm
here to assist the entire village maybe so I'm here to suggest to give you opinion to
maybe give you the best solution in the team and want to really really work back and only
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all my life I do not want to be that face who talks about I am the founder who's doing
this no I'm that I am the employee here you all are the founders here who's staying standing
tall with me and you know helping and you know spending your time to even take the interview
means everything to us so I think you are the one who's you know running this and I
want to be a part of it I'm still a part yeah that's so beautiful you really created like
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this collective community model yeah and so the but the essence of it is that like students
go to school in the in the village and then you've created this space for them to come
after school before school on a week anytime so it's 24 7 and you have workshops here on
different skill sets yoga maybe on some meditative activities or art and design science workshop
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on environment and module whatever is required yeah for the yeah yeah okay you said something
to me in a conversation we've had previously that this you see this as your end goal like
what you do here and like you're so established here you're living here your family lives
here as well which is so beautiful and I see your mother cooking for the children in the
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village and everyone and it's beautiful so could you explain like that yeah that that
when did you just when did you feel this is my end goal this is what I wanted this is
what I want like I'm gonna commit to this fully yeah I think I can't specifically give
you a date date but I think throughout 2019 2020 2021 almost three three and a half years
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of living here with the students and then deciding to pursue altogether a new degree
for them and for this cause for this work I think that maybe made made me realize that
I'm not a big city person at all when I was living here for almost three years I could
just sense that I'm a very simple person inside I'm I'm I'm into the world where I need a
(25:14):
bag which is 10,000 K or I need to wear good clothes because other people are wearing or
I like it sometimes but deep inside I don't want this I don't want I'm not rushing after
money here I I'm not running rushing after big city life or something lived in Delhi
for almost eight years and I could sense almost those eight years could not give me the amount
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of happiness I got here in a month or two or or a year so almost realizing it in in
a spam of like three years made me realize that I'm this is this is what my end goal
is I'm gonna come back that's what the first point was always because a lot of people came
here stayed here kids had interaction with them and they keep they kept telling me also
you know that via came that didi came but she went back nobody comes back that was the
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only setback you were asking me the challenge I was facing I was not able to make them realize
that I'm not going back I am going back to come back so there's a there's a reason there's
a sort of I think conclusion to everything that I'm going but I'm coming back I'm going
right now to come back only though yeah it all like went smooth yeah that way yeah yeah
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that's so cool I love that with where you've come from such a grassroots place how are
you funded and you mentioned like you're not working or anything so you kind of you're
just doing this and yeah how what's I guess how are you funded and what's your vision
for the future when we talk about funds and to casual to funded by rich friends we are
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funded by people working with us by heart we are not funded official officially by any
organization or any potential funder but we are funded by people those who really really
believe in the cause have seen me working all these years in different sectors and with
different people and communities and people believing in the fact that there's something
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authentic happening so that's one reason I call people here at the place I do not call
in us and pitch for the funds I straight away tell them to reach my place to reach our place
to see witness and then think about giving something to us and it is not just monetary
funds that we are looking for we're looking for anything sort of a yoga mat you're not
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using we would love to have it for our next 10 picnics and this is going to help big help
for us so not funded officially by any of the organizations or funders but we are funded
by people those really really believe the fact that we're doing something on the ground
on the field and that's authentic that's real yeah and that's that's incredible that I guess
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you've built those networks up and you have this faith that yeah that you've built you've
built what you wanted to and the and the funds will come yeah somehow somewhere yeah and
steady yeah I like that and what's been like what's been the biggest setback you've had
if any if anything since you've started and how did you overcome it I think the biggest
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setback has always been I think about different mindsets because the village and the people
in village have a very different mindset than you know comparing it with their own students
their own their own family members I think one of the challenges were always finding
a good place who would allow almost 40 students in a day to enter their house to a tenant's
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house and you know make noise and nobody says anything and you're allowed to like run a
sort of a small library office or hostel you know in a place which is not approved by anybody
who would you know give you a space nobody would want to give it give a space to almost
50 people and just earn a sort of sum of amount which is for you know equivalent to one person's
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expense so like setback would be I'll speak in very simple words would be finding an office
space in the village because you yourself is an independent woman from some the legal
lady they would call you from some metropolitan city they would imagine why would they trust
you at was first place you're an outsider so maybe the finding the perfect place for
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the students to accommodate to learn to be to create an office space and we're still
struggling with that we are finding a small land near the tillu and we want to like keep
our office in the village starting from this point to in the village only and but there's
a lack of land there are no places as such we're still hoping and finding so like finding
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the place and re like having it for a long because in India you have a rent agreement
for almost 11 months minimum so post 11 months you're going to find another place or it depends
on the landlord if that person is going to keep you or not so yeah maybe the setbacks
also not having digital media in the world in the village not having digital mobile phones
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one of the we have almost 70 members in the village which who are working with us but
in our whatsapp group we're almost 40 because 30 households do not have phones maybe that
tech thing we are lacking in maybe we want five printers here to like back to back print
like resources for students question papers for say their projects and everything yeah
(30:23):
lacking with the tech things for now and we're hoping for good funds and we'll continue
moving forward with it yeah and i see how hard you're working in the community to try
and get funding for different things you know like anything can help and what's been your
proudest moment like i mean or can you give an example of something even if it's a student
that you've seen achieve something or just yeah in a way you've just felt really like
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this is this is what i'm what i'm this is why i built this i think to create that safe
space i always say that i am working with this organization right now i'm not a co-founder
or a founder here i am working in samatha dillu because i wanted a safe space for myself
and i always lacked i not lacked i would say but i always felt that i wasn't safe in the
(31:13):
places i worked with i wasn't feeling myself to be here so one thing that i'm proud about
that the people the students the team have started feeling this is a safe space for all
of them so we're all coming together sharing if one person has gone through something very
personal in the village one of the students for say that student has the liberty to just
come here and talk to any of the team members and feel very safe and the safe thing i'm
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using for the confidentiality also that they're very very confident that this information
is not going to be passed and for kids what we really really what as a kid i lacked was
a safe space that i wanted a space where you know there's this therapist didi or bhaiya
is going to just listen to me what i'm feeling so maybe i'm proud about the fact that the
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students are now vocally talking about their miseries maybe you know they're being vulnerable
they're being themselves and that that's what we aimed for in the mid in the beginning only
that i want people and students to come together and feel that this is their space so that has
grown all these years yeah just to confirm when you say didi in the um in the interview
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you meet what do you mean by that the that's equivalent to sister sister or dear friend
yeah beautiful dearest friend or sister so what the all the students call me didi so i'm the
dearest didi their sister their sibling their best friend and to the males they call bhaiya
bhaiya is the sir that we don't want to create that hierarchy here so using madams and sirs are
(32:47):
usually in the corporate sector in india or in a professional world so here everyone's didis
and bhaiyas and everyone's like your own relative we're all together in it we do not know things
you do not know things we'll search it together on youtube and learn yeah so no worries at all
and i've loved that coming here as well i'm everyone's didi and it's just magical and your
mother is my is mine is my mom you know it's just lovely yeah yeah yeah yeah so nice oh lovely
(33:16):
okay i had a question about what you i guess what you sacrifice you know this is a big load
that you've taken on like it's 24 7 basically you're running this place and i'm sure you think
him out all the time and you're very passionate about it but do you miss anything that you may
have sacrificed to to be doing this um very funny it is to say these days i have a lot of weddings
(33:39):
to attend of my close friends and they're all planning their bachelor trips to koa thailand
bangkok i think i'm missing on all of those things and i'm not feeling sad or regret about it but i
think that's the only thing i'm missing out on or maybe some i i am not fond of anything so far i
feel like i have not attached myself to anything that i i don't miss my hometown i'll tell you
(34:03):
honestly i don't miss the place i was in last year i went to kerala i had so much fun and right now
also i want to go to some place and you know have a good vacation but i cannot because i want to be
here i have to be here there's no no other option too but i have to go to my hometown some for some
work so maybe i keep telling my students also maybe sacrificing the whole point here really
(34:25):
i have sacrificed the entire point of having a fascinated fancy life only so that's what big
one sacrifice you gotta do the other things like surpass only that they're overpowered by this
sacrifice i don't feel like going to some mall and buying some random things rather i would think
about thrifting from somebody yeah or there are a lot of people who you know donate us clothes
(34:47):
bags and slippers i am amongst the students only taking out and picking out things for myself from
those lots so yeah so there's nothing i miss about i feel like i have friends like family
they're always there to support to give me the luxury still the luxury of giving me some sort
of fancy bag or shit or calling me to parties maybe it's not missing out on anything or not missing
(35:12):
anything at all i think i've made that peace with my mind that this is what i love i love the nature
you do not get these trees air water animals in the cities and i am a fond of that person
and so yeah that's beautiful and i see the structure you're building here and it's a
it's a model of empowerment as well like so that if you did need to step away at some point things
(35:34):
could still function here yeah i see you do that with the students with the older students
they mentor the younger students you know the people who might be working here volunteering
here you empower them to take charge and do things so you've done really well in that area i can tell
um and just just on you personally i guess how how do you find keeping yourself grounded is there
(35:58):
anything in particular that you do or does that just happen naturally with what you're with what
you're doing and following your your passion and purpose i think keeping myself grounded or you
know oneself grounded maybe i think always sharing things you have around you so i think i'm always
always not always i can say but i'm most of the time calm and relaxed and as you can see i'll wear
(36:23):
anything and go and meet anybody and talk and spend time with kids but what keeps me grounded
is like i'm one of those people only those were here and i'm not the president or ceo of this
company sort of i am the person living with you i am sharing the same clothes with you and eating
in the same plates and we're living in the same village and i'm all yours and you're all mine so
(36:48):
i think that keeps you grounded here so there's nothing no experiment or no course i'm doing on
being grounded here i think sharing maybe the word that has come to me grounded being grounding
okay i'm sharing everything you have around you is that's what i say i i have no attachment to
things i do have attachment to a lot of things but if i'm if i'm open to share anything no
(37:13):
there's this open book sharing anything with you i do not feel very attached to any of the
materialistic world maybe not feeling anything like that i really really need in life to be
grounded i don't want to be grounded with a perspective or with a vision i want to be
(37:33):
grounded as in i'm grounded in general with a subtle smile on my face because i'm one of you
so maybe that keeps you grounded in the village specifically and specifically when you're in a
social sector or you know in a workplace like this you've got to believe that you're not the
one who's doing anything if they're not there they're not your audience you're nothing so that's
(37:54):
what one thing in social sectors we believe we we forget we mostly forget we often forget
we are nothing we speak in hindi and we're nothing if you do not if these students don't turn up
tomorrow all of these 40 students make a gang and they don't turn up tomorrow what am i
nothing so you gotta believe in the fact we're both running together we're both running this so
(38:14):
this is what one transparency we have in the team is all of the this is weird to say because i don't
think anywhere happens all of our team members especially the team leaders do know about the
fundings we get so far do know about which person has paid 10 rupees 100 rupees or 500 rupees so now
Rachel didi has given us some some sort of money one of the students know the entire village do
(38:38):
know it and we also segregate money that way so we're not running an organization which is
officially getting funds by somebody or you know some organization we are running that way if i've
got money which is like five hundred five thousand rupees extra in a month i would find some five
houses in the village discuss it in the team you think that family needs money right now you think
(39:00):
some that students papa is working these days do you think how much is the electricity bill you got
in the o so we all discuss about the money and that's how we segregate things and money yeah
even with the material also if we get some gifts and specific goodies for say 10 goodies and we
are 40 here so the student leaders and other student team members and everyone will sit together
(39:21):
and decide do you think you deserve this this month have you been this disciplined or you know
were you this diligent in studying and you know coming to tuition or doing other skill set
programs or workshops were you there hundred percent do you think you believe it you deserve
this that's how we decide for on things so yeah yeah it's such a collaborative model yeah yeah
(39:44):
so i keep telling them i don't want money yeah we all need money and we'll all run it together
yeah and i really get that sense here being here yeah it's yeah it's beautiful you i guess you you
kind of took this place off the ground but i can feel your hesitation to be like a hierarchy and
you could be at the top you know you're such a collaborative model um who in your life influence
(40:09):
has influenced you or like yeah influenced you the most it could be a person or i mean people
or um i think kids only yeah i've been very very i don't know why i pursued some other degree i
i was always curious to know what is in the mind what is in the small mind so i think some
(40:29):
inspiration or you know somebody i look up to i think all the kids i meet every day in the metro
or in the bus station i look at kids and i wonder what is it what is what what are you going to have
next and who are you and what are you thinking i think from the age of like from the months they're
newborn to i think 15 18 i'm to the kid who's 15 or 18 years old i'm really curious
(40:56):
i think that curiosity took me here also one of the things maybe i don't know yeah i love that
and apart from trying to find a new sort of location for for the office what else do you
have as a vision for some tutelu i'm sure you have lots of things in your mind of how it can grow and
evolve and shape and i know you're taking it slowly slowly but is there something you have
(41:19):
for the future and i'd love to check in with you some point in the future to see how things are
going sure thanks for saying that but we are the next vision would be an alternative school model
sort of for the students so right now we are having a sort of a library space for them but
next steps would be they're having this sort of one year or two years program which is
(41:41):
a skill-based program for the school going students that is going to prepare them for the
i think outside world maybe the professional world that they're going to enter after 12th
because there are exams and there are positions in india you can hire you can get into after just
after passing 12th grade your higher grade just going just after your school life so i think maybe
(42:03):
maybe maybe we're still in the process that's my next five years plan that after having a land or
a place for the students to like study come get classes take classes get resources live here stay
here go back to an alternative school which is sort of a school which is done by different
facilitators have different skill set trainings programs subjects academic work and yeah and
(42:28):
maybe working for different age groups of students different skill sets and yeah so yeah that's that's
awesome the dream yeah that's the way yeah right now but that's gonna be there someday yeah and
just for fun is there anything you can share that people in the village here wouldn't know about you
(42:49):
oh you could hear from the laugh only i think most of them know a lot of i think a lot of people know
a lot of things about me yeah but i think they do not know that i'm really really rebellious
because you're rebellious yeah and they do not know about my childhood i was a rebel kid i myself
(43:14):
could not listen to anybody in the world how would i you know i i think in the village people know
that i'm really hard working and i'm confident about my vision and maybe she they call me
deva so my name is devyani but a lot of aunties and uncles can't call devyani properly so they
call me divani divani is basically crazy person so i love being called that way i am so crazy so
(43:38):
they know divani is going to get out of these kids divyani divani is going to do something for the
village they believe but they do not know that i'm really rebellious that this is not something i'm
saying it on your face what's the most rebellious thing you've done i think i jumped from a running
train to like get my laptop from the station i left my laptop in the station and the running
(43:59):
train was running i was on the window like a movie and i just jumped i want to get back my laptop it's
worth one lakh i can't spend on it again so yeah and i've been fighting with my parents like fighting
with my parents not exactly fighting fighting but being rebel in the conservative household i was
born to that i want to go out i'm going to wear this i'm going to eat this i'm going to do this
(44:22):
i am not going to ask you you are not going to ask me that's what the deal is all about so i think
the entire village knows that divani the crazy person is actually here to do something but they
don't know the rebelliousness in me if you stop us including divani someday i think you don't know
the the vilpa the dream where that this dream is coming from i think from a personal experience
(44:45):
also born in a very conservative family didn't allow me to do a lot of things maybe i wanted to
be a fashion designer and i was privileged enough to be one maybe i wanted to be an air hostess and
why am i landing here and doing this maybe i wanted to do a lot of other things which i could not
because i wasn't able to raise the voice i think maybe wasn't that rebellious at that time that was
(45:06):
in need i don't know yeah so i think the village does not know that i'm a party person also a party
person yeah you do know that i'm a party person because i keep dancing and we keep we keep dance
classes and other sessions to dance like that only after the workshops so but yeah oh it's been so
nice to speak and i really hope that we can touch base again yeah of course yeah in the future to
(45:31):
see how things are going and how can people help at the moment like how do people support some
titillu how are you asking for support or open to support you mentioned earlier that you're open to
all different kinds but what's the best way for people to to join too i think maybe the campaign
that the students have decided this year and the campaign is about 10 rupee club so we we're just
(45:53):
just spreading the word about our campaign and about our organization through this 10 rupee club
where you're asked to pay us 10 bucks and just follow us just 10 rupees is the equivalent of
about 20 20 cents in in australia we're talking about so it's not much yeah with a bit less 15
cents yeah so 10 rupees not just you but ask 10 of your friends also five of your friends also
(46:16):
members also random people you meet someday and you want to tell them about one of the places you
believe that person or the places being in a very good cause or working towards a good cause
just spread the word about the campaign so this is how right now the students have thought of
this is how we're going to build the audience this is how we're going to be recognized in the
team or in the village or in the i think next some level so yeah i think that way and maybe some not
(46:43):
just monetary funds i repeat again we're not looking for monetary funds you have a spare phone
you aren't using it for from the last three years and you think of selling it to someone and we would
want you to think about us that's all you're throwing a t-shirt and you feel like oh it's
an old one we don't feel like wearing it anymore i would want you to keep it safe and parcel it to
(47:05):
us that you should worth million things to us so like sort of any anything any of your guides or
maybe your books and maybe anything maybe anything for that matter so yeah we're open to we are open
to getting curtains also these curtains are being gifted by one of my friends in the office so these
are not even our curtains yeah that mat has been gifted by some other friend in the office so
(47:28):
anything would work so yeah we're not just looking for the funds funds monetary when anything would
work yeah amazing thank you thanks debbie honey thank you so much rachel thank you
so now we are lucky enough to hear from some of the students who will share what some titillu
means to them please stay with it even if the audio quality isn't perfect you will even get
(47:52):
to experience some classic india car honking in the background yay my name is sahil and my future
hope is i hope i hope that we grow grow so much there that other student nearby tell you can
(48:17):
can can also come here get an opportunity to grow with us thank you thank you nice luck thank you
hi myself kavita when i am here some tarillu i have motivated to become a great writer
(48:43):
so thank you thank you for sharing my name is my name is ishita i hope we will get good marks in
our college and school and this marks we encourage our other jobs future time thank you thank you
(49:04):
for sharing so my name is arjun and i am a member of this family some that you do some that you do
is really a nice organization a family who help us in every way every way to learn to study to make
career which is possible which is possible and i would like to share my personal experience i
(49:31):
uh i joined uh i have become a member of this uh family uh one year ago and before that uh i
have not that much confidence to talk with other and uh talk with others but after joining this
family uh i gave my confidence i made a lot of friends here i came here always uh uh to get
(49:59):
uh free space uh free space uh uh uh uh uh i before i before i was a member of this
or family uh i was an average student but uh after i joined this uh organization uh i got 90 plus
(50:20):
90 percentage plus marks because of the help of uh acu via and davianity which is really good at
teaching they taught us everything that that is possible and i had a really good experience
a really great experience here um and that's it that's it thank you there are a lot of things
(50:40):
that i can't explain but i really enjoyed yeah and what do you hope for your future when you go to
college uh i i want to be a artist uh that's why i am doing a course call uh course in college uh
which is called uh uh bfa bachelor of fine arts uh after that i'll do ma uh in bfa and uh and i
(51:08):
think the dd bhaiya of here uh davianity and acu via will really will help me to achieve my goal
and i want this organization organization to grow large also so uh so this organization this family
can help others too thank you so much thank you arjun thank you anyone here
(51:33):
you say your name first my name is sakshi we starting we starting like in study and i love
this place thank you thank you anyone else uh only one word work hard and run fast thank you
it does not matter how slowly you go you go as long as you do not stop thank you my name is
(52:00):
babita thank you okay my personal growth here was like before joining this place academics were just
a pressure and it was zero graph was low after joining this place uh my academics like the graph
went up and i felt like studying is easier more easier here and i help the students to study many
(52:22):
deities and bhaiyas helped me to study and that's all yeah thank you graph went up and now my parents
are also happy because academics are good now and i'm also happy that's great what's your name
thank you so much for sharing
um myself kavita uh i am a senior leader of samta dilu uh samta dilu is a non-government organization
(52:47):
um
(53:11):
so basically what the students are trying to tell us here we are a sort of a family which has come
together to i think collaborate to help each other to understand each other's emotions properly or
maybe how the backgrounds are working in the background and how academically we are pushing
each other in the family in in a in sort of a holistic growth of all of us here and what
(53:36):
students are trying to also make a point here where this is not just an organization but this is
a home a sort of a home which is which is also associated with their family members and it's
sort of a community that we are building together and sort of a relationship in the community
okay
(54:22):
Basically we get a space where we are together for our night time where we are sharing with
each other about our day to day update, we are talking about our emotions together.
We basically get a space which we do not want to generalize into the category of hostel
(54:47):
or some library 24x7 but this is a space which we call it as Samta Ghar.
Samta Tillu is the organization which means Tillu is the small village who we are working
for Samta we are all samanai, we are all equal and we are learning from each other.
So the Samta Ghar symbolizes the exact emotion here which says that this is a Ghar, this
(55:10):
is a home which is equal for all of us and we all have the equal right and space to share
things mullibly and to be themselves.
Samta Tillu is an organization it got named Samta Tillu because where it is situated is
the name of the place is Tillu and it is a place who provides a very good study environment
(55:36):
all of us are studying and it is really enjoyable to study together.
The head Devya Nidhi she is really humble she always help us to study and it was really
nice to have a teacher like her and Samta Tillu believes in learn and teach a lot of
(56:02):
students learn here and a lot of volunteers who try very hard to teach others and it provides
a really good environment of study that's it.
Thank you and what was your name?
My name is Arjun and I am a member of this organization also.
Thanks Arjun.
It feels a little bit more free and we have been taught recording here which we have learned
(56:28):
for the first time in our lives.
We have three volunteers who have taught us coding and we have enjoyed learning their coding.
Thank you.
Thank you.
So I think Ishaan is talking about the coding which is also a skill set which we try to
(56:49):
provide through our different student leaders from other organizations and other schools.
So these were three volunteers from Teach for India Delhi and they generously spare
time to spend with Samta Tillu with the Tillu kids and they tried teaching coding to four
of our students of age group I think 8 to 13.
(57:11):
We are very happy to be here and here we get a lot of education.
We like the junior and the ones who teach us.
Thank you.
So we basically have senior or we can say big brother and sister for all the junior
students, small students.
So Prisha here is trying to tell us that there are mentors that really really try to help
(57:36):
them figure out their homeworks and anything related to their school curriculum.
I hope this interview has helped capture the essence of the Samta Tillu community and their
welcoming family that I had the joy of experiencing.
If you would like any more information about Samta Tillu the best way to follow their journey
is through social media which is in the episode notes.
(57:57):
Please let me know if you have any more questions for Devyani or the students and I would love
to connect you with them.
Thank you so much for listening.
Hello and welcome to the first episode of Ripples of Humanity. I will be sharing interesting
(00:20):
stories from people who are committed to creating change that can ripple within humanity. If
you want to know more about the inspiration for this series, please have a listen to the
previous introduction episode. For this episode today, I am taking you to the mountains in
the north of India in the western Himalayas to the state of Himachal Pradesh, where there
(00:44):
is a rural village called Tilu, where the non-government organisation Sampdhotilu was
born. Devyani is an Indian woman who came to Tilu about five years ago when she was
working and studying in the social sector. She quickly realised there were extremely
unequal educational opportunities for students in the village. This inspired her to start
(01:06):
supporting students who were keen to receive not only academic support, but also life skills,
leadership growth, mentoring and importantly a community within the village. I am speaking
with Devyani to learn more about the journey of Sampdhotilu, which has grown from meeting
secretly with students in the jungle during COVID, to supporting about 50 students in
(01:28):
the village as a 24-7 space for them to connect, support and learn together. We will also be
hearing from some of the Sampdhotilu students about what the community means to them. I
personally met Devyani in June 2024 while I was living in Dharamshala. She was wearing
a Sampdhotilu t-shirt which has a beautiful logo one of the students designed. I was so
(01:53):
curious to learn more and then when she passionately explained what Sampdhotilu was all about,
I was really called to volunteer there and meet everyone and see for myself. I'm so
grateful I got to spend time with the students and to see the impact this community has in
their lives. And please bear with my substandard audio quality recording and editing. It's
(02:14):
difficult to do this on the road but I hope you enjoy anyway. Let's get into it.
I'm here at Sampdhotilu with Devyani Pushpa, the founder of Sampdhotilu. And we're just
sitting on the bed at the moment at Sampdhotilu in Tilu Village. Devyani, thank you so much
(02:35):
for being the first guest on this podcast. I wanted to first start with getting you to
tell me a bit about Sampdhotilu, where the vision came from and where the name came from
as well.
Hey, hi. Thank you, Rachel, for inviting us. Thank you for being a part of the family so
(02:56):
far. I think the word itself is close and acquaintance to the word family to me. Maybe
samta is something which is very close to me since my childhood, believing in the fact
that everyone's equal, everyone's got samanne rights, everyone's going to work with equity
in the world and will eliminate inequality or will eliminate all the discriminatory factors.
(03:20):
But here the name came into the existence because of the village itself. The village
is still low. So we want to believe in the fact that everyone's equal and what we want
to make the equal world is about educating each other equally with all the equal resources,
opportunities like the other people in the village or big cities or metropolitan cities,
(03:41):
schools.
So basically the vision here always started with we are learning and we are teaching and
learning other people also with other people also. So we have also given a sub tagline
to it, which is parhenge or parhaenge, which clearly means that we are going to learn and
we are going to help in this journey of learning and leading with the help of our other fellow
(04:03):
students, our other fellow family members with the entire community. So we are all equal
like samta and we are where we are based is tillu. So it becomes samta tillu as an organization,
which is also a family of a whole community of gadi people. Those people reside in the
hills in Himachal Pradesh and other some other castes also. And yeah, this is how we all
(04:27):
started.
Thank you. And so how did you come to tillu? What's your journey to get here in a summary?
It all started in 2019. I came here to do a sort of an internship and fieldwork for
my PhD and I decided in the village tillu randomly landed up here finding a room. And
(04:49):
yeah, that's that's how I met the people in the village and specifically specifically
students and then I realized they really need someone to assist them or maybe a push to
like study. They're all just occupied in doing all the household chores after school hours
and maybe just assisting their fathers in the fields, maybe you know working in some
(05:10):
hotels, maybe not thinking about the vision beyond this village. So that's how it all
started like staying with them only made me realize for almost two and a half years back
in 2019 till 2022 I stayed here and yeah all all these years was in realization maybe these
people need me and maybe the privilege I have to take I maybe the privilege I want to take
(05:33):
forward with you know and maybe I want to share that privilege with the people those
who do not have it and yeah with the vision of it that nobody I think in the village has
ever gone to Delhi also for some educational purposes or some for for attending some conference
maybe and I've had the privilege to have that and maybe like sharing that with the village
and the people and maybe that connection that I built throughout these years and yeah.
(05:58):
And so when you came here what were you studying at that time?
I completed my masters back in 2019. I just completed my post grad and post my that graduation
post graduation I came here to do like a field research sort of with an organization. So
that wasn't a plan plan landing up to this place that was just impromptu maybe some destiny
(06:20):
one wanted to take me here I don't know. Yeah so you think you were kind of guided to be
here and then at what point did you know that it came from being something a bit more informal
with the village students to then becoming something that you thought could grow into
an NGO that it is today? That's really interesting to answer also because all these years when
I was in 2019 staying here 2020 mid 2021 I realized that I am from a background which
(06:47):
includes only research and law and basically majors in political science honors. I do not
have any hold or degree for teaching or basically in teaching. So in India you basically have
a degree of BA or M.Ed and you become a professional teacher or you clear some sort of exam and
you become a lecturer but nowhere counts the passion here for teaching. So what I believe
(07:07):
in I don't believe in degrees so far I believe if you're passionate enough to like change
a life in teaching maybe or in guiding the student or maybe becoming the mentor of the
student online mentor was itself works. So all of these like factors took me to a decision
where I wanted to go back to Delhi and then come back to Tillu again to like continue
this 24 7 or continue this professionally. So back in 2021 mid I went back to Delhi and
(07:33):
in 2023 Jan I came back and when I like a hundred percent gave myself to an office space
now now particularly I decided back in 2020 only in 2022 when I thought of registering
it so started in 2019 2020 I was realizing I think making a hold of the things I think
maybe building relationships and maybe understanding these students or the kids or the village
(07:56):
or the how the sector works basically and 2021 I decided I want to take some degree
and want to be in the hold of the place our people with a sort of professional training
that I'm teaching these kids or I'm leading a team who are teaching but do I know how
to teach do I even have a professional training in that and then I thought of like pursuing
(08:18):
it 20 but professionally back in like 2022 2023 and to and fro from the city from the
town from here to Delhi Delhi to here in between my degree in between my fellowship and yeah
that's how it all went from 2019 till 2023 mid we were on a journey of like believing
(08:40):
the fact that we are there for each other as a family in Tillu we were there for each
other I wasn't here fully present for a long long time but I was here through the calls
through the online G meets through my local volunteers and friends there were people who
were assisting this project when I wasn't here so that's why I could come back with
(09:00):
a belief that people are still there there might be people who are waiting for me to
come back and you started all over again with a bang now I'm 24 7 doing this I do not have
a job yeah and I'm jobless since a year now almost so managing everything on my own and
the entire team is beautiful to work with and maybe one of the purposes I've worked
in a lot of social sectors and and I really really wanted to create a safe space for my
(09:24):
colleagues and for myself and I realized that is what one thing a lot of social sectors
are lacking in so you basically got to have a space which is your sacred space to work
with you're basically doing some arts a way in Hindi you call social sector social work
and this this area what you're working in is full of empathy and you know full of hurdles
(09:44):
and challenges full of kindness a lot of times so there are a lot of strong emotions you've
got a portrayal if you're playing in this if you're being in this yeah so yeah that's
yeah yeah so you basically went from coming here in your work in the social sector to
then seeing that seeing there was a space for you to contribute something and then you
(10:04):
decided that it was more important for you to step away and go do some more training
while this was still informally running and then you came back and that was in 2023 yes
yes and then from there how's it how has the journey been I think earlier it used to be
like we are we are together we are in some that illu this is like illu village and this
(10:28):
is an organization here now it's it's more of a professional or more of a very very sincere
space for a lot of people I can't call it sacred but it's a very sincere it's sort
of a growth in a sense where students are feeling so safe so secured in a way there
(10:48):
they want to spend eight hours of their day in their vacations or summer vacations to
be here and learn and read and write there's a space the growth I feel has I think reached
from a small place where I had a small room where we were like accommodating 20-30 kids
all together in a small hall sort of a room and now we have a big space to like accommodate
(11:11):
40-50 students together and you know growing from five started from five students back
in 2019 to now around 45 students is I think also sort of a growth we were covering one
village which was just illu now we have small small small sub adjoining villages here in
the hills those of you know sending their students with us it's a growth in the sense
(11:34):
when I see my students the kid who was three is eight now from the kid you have seen who's
three very very young to reaching eight is also a sort of a growth I do not want to pinpoint
on particular growths of that student but that has reached a certain age with us and
we see the growth in them and yeah because of the team and students I think I was hooked
(11:56):
to come back to the point which which was this I think the students when I was in Delhi
back in 2022 I was taking the degree I was with the Teach for India and I was staying
in residing in Delhi only I think I did not teach them in 10th grade the 10th batch in
2021 and I was just assisting them on calls and other the growth I could see was they
(12:17):
were diligently asking me what to do that is also one growth of the organization who's
claiming to work with the rural kids and improving their lives maybe or you know providing their
them resources but it's not keeping those students in the loop here the growth is we
are a one team here there's this sort of a transparency there's a sort of authority to
(12:41):
all of students in in their lives itself their leaders their students and their managers
here their coordinators here so like the growth from random students is sitting in the open
ground asking the cafe valley people and other people to just accommodate us and give us
a space to like read and study and be like hiding in the jungles from COVID in the COVID-19
(13:02):
when there were patrolling of police and people asking what are you doing and kids are coming
up and saying we want to learn we're hiding in the jungles because schools are not opening
yet and we want to learn with all of us together so you were you were supporting the children
hiding in the jungles teaching them during COVID yeah wow what a memory that's so special
(13:23):
that's a very special memory of all of us that we used to like do everything and everything
to study yeah that was one point that made me realize that I want to come back and do
it and take it as soon as possible people do realize this project or like having your
own organization post like 40s and 50s when you basically have your own capital you're
unenough you've lived a proper professional corporate life now you want to come back and
(13:46):
give it to the society what I realized back in 2019 and 20 COVID happened quickly and
rapidly and it spread through hell I could not see a lot of people from my friends and
family were dying so I was not able to comprehend a lot of bad news around me a lot of things
(14:06):
around me and I could sense that if I'm waiting for the 50s and 40s to be crossed to have
a project like this to where just you just have to be help people for saying you just
have to help people and you're waiting for 10-15 years to pass down and then do something
I think that's not the calling I think the calling is you're gonna do it right now so
that's what I think COVID only made me realize that I want to pursue it as soon as possible
(14:30):
because people are dying people of my age were dying that night so I think one of those
things took me here that's awesome and you what cycle are you trying to break here in
the village in Tulu and the surrounding villages I think maybe allowing the students to understand
what their skill set area is what their capacity is what their capability is what their definite
(14:56):
capability capable of and what they're definitely not capable of maybe not everyone here teaching
teaching does not just include teaching academics things teaching also any skill set maybe maybe
some students are good at achieving 90% and some are very very very very happily living
with 60 70 or 50 so why not support 50 so yeah I think one of the things that I wanted
(15:20):
to remove from you know the mindsets in the village were that you cannot have your girl
be in the house after 18 she should be married she should be given it to somebody else and
she should be in her home that home is the second home the partner's home and yeah for
the boys maybe just following their chacha their mama or their father in the same league
(15:43):
just doing the household chores or daily wages earning through that and maybe not envisioning
and aiming for big goals because they do not see a role model in the entire community or
family and maybe to get out to maybe making them believe maybe the first generation or
the first layer of the 12th graders or college goes in the village we'll set some examples
(16:06):
we're hoping so crossing the fingers maybe they are the ones I keep telling the students
you are the ones who are going to change the mindsets in the village because you are going
to go to the college now you're the first first people from your house for your first
layer of people from your family and community going to the villages so now you're responsible
to set that example in the village maybe trying to show them the other side of the world also
(16:29):
which is where women are not married till 30 where it's okay to not have a boy kid in
the house where it's okay to earn good money and it's okay to love any sort of you know
partner who you wish to be with and it's okay to have a lot of things in life which is in
general very very common in cities and other metropolitan areas but it's not here so and
(16:51):
maybe showing that other world and other perspective to the kids also you do not you do not have
to rely on whatever you get in the village or be learning in the village there is this
other world which you have not entered yet village people in the village have not gone
to baksu or dharamkot also for say they're born here and they're 15 17 18 but they do
(17:14):
not they haven't seen mclorganch so how I mean the amount of like and for this also
this is not just they can't reach mclorganch they do not have capital to reach there it's
also women cannot go there all alone because it's not safe or maybe not if they don't find
the capability in the women to walk alone maybe and for boys then they should not be
(17:38):
going out of the houses because they'll be into bad company maybe so I think getting
out of this fear of you know keeping the child close to your heart and making not giving
the enough opportunities basically to the child if you tell them that your child is
going to get a training into in chandigarh for two months for say it will be very hard
to convince the family but the child is capable yeah and it's a male child there's no worry
(18:03):
about the ladki ladka and boy girl thing also here male child 18 years old for say is not
able to convince the family and parents that I really want to go out and learn something
so maybe changing that mindset yeah so how are you finding that have you had any pushback
from the parents in the village of the children who you're supporting to step out of what
(18:25):
might be the traditional way of being but I think I didn't start it too fast I look
like it's steady it's very slow so almost six years of building a relationship in the
village has reached somewhere where I'm the one who's gonna tell you what to do because
I am the one who's taking care of making you understand all these years and I'm the one
(18:48):
you could see is helping amongst all your family members also you count me in your number
one why because we were here to help each other and I could believe the fact that if
I'm helping you you're helping me too in giving me the shelter in giving me the love in giving
me the space of your community of your this is your community this is your village and
the outsider here so maybe now I don't get those earlier also I didn't start it this
(19:13):
way that I'm running and pushing and asking every household you know sending your send
your kid here do this do that we're having this we're having this no no no not at all
nothing ran that quickly that I had to see some setbacks from the village or from the
parents or other family members it all went very smooth I not only took care of their
(19:35):
family members also there I think some stakeholders in the family not just your father is the
main person sole breadwinner in the family in Indian families there's this father's
father also who's waiting you know for your question or answer to be answered this is
there's this another chacha mama relative also uncle who's going to question and answer
(19:55):
so these are like this chain of all of that so break to break that chain or you know to
run away from that chain wasn't an easy idea or you know as solution so I started it slowly
and steadily I lived here in the village for almost three years then went back for two
years and in those two years I was to and fro from the city I was I kept coming back
(20:16):
here so it wasn't any time where you know they could sense that this person was come
and promised and did sort of things here and now vanished all of a sudden so I didn't vanish
so that that's how I think it so you earn respect yeah yeah yeah can we move on now
to hearing about what some to Tulu offers the community and what your role looks like
(20:39):
deviani so I am deviani who wakes up five six in the morning I meditate every day before
starting my day and what I work in some that illu I think I run this organization with
the fellow mates and with my other team members and students collaboratively and collectively
(21:00):
for each other maybe trying to help each other to become leaders and learners and I don't
just take up the classes for the students I also counsel them for different career growths
and parts and maybe doing all the admin department also maybe I'm the first person in the team
who's being used as a what do we call it computer checker maybe you file something and you want
(21:27):
someone to cross check something so I'm the one who cross checks everything that is happening
in some that illu that's what I call myself and I'm a cross checker here would you cross
check whatever you're doing and I'm here to suggest and you know work in an overview we
would call some that illu to be a place where I'm just waking up every day and planning
the entire day with the students for the students by the students so basically I assist in the
(21:50):
team we really a lot of times I hear students talking about he did these everything here
did he has started this did he came here to us back in so and so but what I really really
want to emphasize here on is that did he stayed that's the one thing that you know I would
want every volunteer to also feel and think about you stayed you you're staying and you're
(22:13):
staying in touch means two different things all together you're going out of the place
you're transitioning to your world but you're still there with us in the groups maybe or
maybe by one of your messages in the entire month would make our next one one year and
yeah so I'm here to assist maybe you know to assist whatever is happening right now
(22:34):
because this time I've given the responsibilities to the first layer of leaders maybe to the
12th graders maybe to other team members to even volunteers to my family who's here to
whosoever is like going to come here and be here like right now you are the mentor here
you're going to lead the entire office there's no hierarchy of course but maybe you're there
(22:54):
so that I can assist maybe I can do other things also in the organization the outside
work and you know and a lot of other departments that I need to handle on my own only but I'm
here to assist the entire village maybe so I'm here to suggest to give you opinion to
maybe give you the best solution in the team and want to really really work back and only
(23:16):
all my life I do not want to be that face who talks about I am the founder who's doing
this no I'm that I am the employee here you all are the founders here who's staying standing
tall with me and you know helping and you know spending your time to even take the interview
means everything to us so I think you are the one who's you know running this and I
want to be a part of it I'm still a part yeah that's so beautiful you really created like
(23:39):
this collective community model yeah and so the but the essence of it is that like students
go to school in the in the village and then you've created this space for them to come
after school before school on a week anytime so it's 24 7 and you have workshops here on
different skill sets yoga maybe on some meditative activities or art and design science workshop
(24:04):
on environment and module whatever is required yeah for the yeah yeah okay you said something
to me in a conversation we've had previously that this you see this as your end goal like
what you do here and like you're so established here you're living here your family lives
here as well which is so beautiful and I see your mother cooking for the children in the
(24:27):
village and everyone and it's beautiful so could you explain like that yeah that that
when did you just when did you feel this is my end goal this is what I wanted this is
what I want like I'm gonna commit to this fully yeah I think I can't specifically give
you a date date but I think throughout 2019 2020 2021 almost three three and a half years
(24:52):
of living here with the students and then deciding to pursue altogether a new degree
for them and for this cause for this work I think that maybe made made me realize that
I'm not a big city person at all when I was living here for almost three years I could
just sense that I'm a very simple person inside I'm I'm I'm into the world where I need a
(25:14):
bag which is 10,000 K or I need to wear good clothes because other people are wearing or
I like it sometimes but deep inside I don't want this I don't want I'm not rushing after
money here I I'm not running rushing after big city life or something lived in Delhi
for almost eight years and I could sense almost those eight years could not give me the amount
(25:36):
of happiness I got here in a month or two or or a year so almost realizing it in in
a spam of like three years made me realize that I'm this is this is what my end goal
is I'm gonna come back that's what the first point was always because a lot of people came
here stayed here kids had interaction with them and they keep they kept telling me also
you know that via came that didi came but she went back nobody comes back that was the
(26:01):
only setback you were asking me the challenge I was facing I was not able to make them realize
that I'm not going back I am going back to come back so there's a there's a reason there's
a sort of I think conclusion to everything that I'm going but I'm coming back I'm going
right now to come back only though yeah it all like went smooth yeah that way yeah yeah
(26:22):
that's so cool I love that with where you've come from such a grassroots place how are
you funded and you mentioned like you're not working or anything so you kind of you're
just doing this and yeah how what's I guess how are you funded and what's your vision
for the future when we talk about funds and to casual to funded by rich friends we are
(26:49):
funded by people working with us by heart we are not funded official officially by any
organization or any potential funder but we are funded by people those who really really
believe in the cause have seen me working all these years in different sectors and with
different people and communities and people believing in the fact that there's something
(27:10):
authentic happening so that's one reason I call people here at the place I do not call
in us and pitch for the funds I straight away tell them to reach my place to reach our place
to see witness and then think about giving something to us and it is not just monetary
funds that we are looking for we're looking for anything sort of a yoga mat you're not
(27:30):
using we would love to have it for our next 10 picnics and this is going to help big help
for us so not funded officially by any of the organizations or funders but we are funded
by people those really really believe the fact that we're doing something on the ground
on the field and that's authentic that's real yeah and that's that's incredible that I guess
(27:51):
you've built those networks up and you have this faith that yeah that you've built you've
built what you wanted to and the and the funds will come yeah somehow somewhere yeah and
steady yeah I like that and what's been like what's been the biggest setback you've had
if any if anything since you've started and how did you overcome it I think the biggest
(28:14):
setback has always been I think about different mindsets because the village and the people
in village have a very different mindset than you know comparing it with their own students
their own their own family members I think one of the challenges were always finding
a good place who would allow almost 40 students in a day to enter their house to a tenant's
(28:36):
house and you know make noise and nobody says anything and you're allowed to like run a
sort of a small library office or hostel you know in a place which is not approved by anybody
who would you know give you a space nobody would want to give it give a space to almost
50 people and just earn a sort of sum of amount which is for you know equivalent to one person's
(28:59):
expense so like setback would be I'll speak in very simple words would be finding an office
space in the village because you yourself is an independent woman from some the legal
lady they would call you from some metropolitan city they would imagine why would they trust
you at was first place you're an outsider so maybe the finding the perfect place for
(29:20):
the students to accommodate to learn to be to create an office space and we're still
struggling with that we are finding a small land near the tillu and we want to like keep
our office in the village starting from this point to in the village only and but there's
a lack of land there are no places as such we're still hoping and finding so like finding
(29:40):
the place and re like having it for a long because in India you have a rent agreement
for almost 11 months minimum so post 11 months you're going to find another place or it depends
on the landlord if that person is going to keep you or not so yeah maybe the setbacks
also not having digital media in the world in the village not having digital mobile phones
(30:02):
one of the we have almost 70 members in the village which who are working with us but
in our whatsapp group we're almost 40 because 30 households do not have phones maybe that
tech thing we are lacking in maybe we want five printers here to like back to back print
like resources for students question papers for say their projects and everything yeah
(30:23):
lacking with the tech things for now and we're hoping for good funds and we'll continue
moving forward with it yeah and i see how hard you're working in the community to try
and get funding for different things you know like anything can help and what's been your
proudest moment like i mean or can you give an example of something even if it's a student
that you've seen achieve something or just yeah in a way you've just felt really like
(30:48):
this is this is what i'm what i'm this is why i built this i think to create that safe
space i always say that i am working with this organization right now i'm not a co-founder
or a founder here i am working in samatha dillu because i wanted a safe space for myself
and i always lacked i not lacked i would say but i always felt that i wasn't safe in the
(31:13):
places i worked with i wasn't feeling myself to be here so one thing that i'm proud about
that the people the students the team have started feeling this is a safe space for all
of them so we're all coming together sharing if one person has gone through something very
personal in the village one of the students for say that student has the liberty to just
come here and talk to any of the team members and feel very safe and the safe thing i'm
(31:39):
using for the confidentiality also that they're very very confident that this information
is not going to be passed and for kids what we really really what as a kid i lacked was
a safe space that i wanted a space where you know there's this therapist didi or bhaiya
is going to just listen to me what i'm feeling so maybe i'm proud about the fact that the
(32:00):
students are now vocally talking about their miseries maybe you know they're being vulnerable
they're being themselves and that that's what we aimed for in the mid in the beginning only
that i want people and students to come together and feel that this is their space so that has
grown all these years yeah just to confirm when you say didi in the um in the interview
(32:25):
you meet what do you mean by that the that's equivalent to sister sister or dear friend
yeah beautiful dearest friend or sister so what the all the students call me didi so i'm the
dearest didi their sister their sibling their best friend and to the males they call bhaiya
bhaiya is the sir that we don't want to create that hierarchy here so using madams and sirs are
(32:47):
usually in the corporate sector in india or in a professional world so here everyone's didis
and bhaiyas and everyone's like your own relative we're all together in it we do not know things
you do not know things we'll search it together on youtube and learn yeah so no worries at all
and i've loved that coming here as well i'm everyone's didi and it's just magical and your
mother is my is mine is my mom you know it's just lovely yeah yeah yeah yeah so nice oh lovely
(33:16):
okay i had a question about what you i guess what you sacrifice you know this is a big load
that you've taken on like it's 24 7 basically you're running this place and i'm sure you think
him out all the time and you're very passionate about it but do you miss anything that you may
have sacrificed to to be doing this um very funny it is to say these days i have a lot of weddings
(33:39):
to attend of my close friends and they're all planning their bachelor trips to koa thailand
bangkok i think i'm missing on all of those things and i'm not feeling sad or regret about it but i
think that's the only thing i'm missing out on or maybe some i i am not fond of anything so far i
feel like i have not attached myself to anything that i i don't miss my hometown i'll tell you
(34:03):
honestly i don't miss the place i was in last year i went to kerala i had so much fun and right now
also i want to go to some place and you know have a good vacation but i cannot because i want to be
here i have to be here there's no no other option too but i have to go to my hometown some for some
work so maybe i keep telling my students also maybe sacrificing the whole point here really
(34:25):
i have sacrificed the entire point of having a fascinated fancy life only so that's what big
one sacrifice you gotta do the other things like surpass only that they're overpowered by this
sacrifice i don't feel like going to some mall and buying some random things rather i would think
about thrifting from somebody yeah or there are a lot of people who you know donate us clothes
(34:47):
bags and slippers i am amongst the students only taking out and picking out things for myself from
those lots so yeah so there's nothing i miss about i feel like i have friends like family
they're always there to support to give me the luxury still the luxury of giving me some sort
of fancy bag or shit or calling me to parties maybe it's not missing out on anything or not missing
(35:12):
anything at all i think i've made that peace with my mind that this is what i love i love the nature
you do not get these trees air water animals in the cities and i am a fond of that person
and so yeah that's beautiful and i see the structure you're building here and it's a
it's a model of empowerment as well like so that if you did need to step away at some point things
(35:34):
could still function here yeah i see you do that with the students with the older students
they mentor the younger students you know the people who might be working here volunteering
here you empower them to take charge and do things so you've done really well in that area i can tell
um and just just on you personally i guess how how do you find keeping yourself grounded is there
(35:58):
anything in particular that you do or does that just happen naturally with what you're with what
you're doing and following your your passion and purpose i think keeping myself grounded or you
know oneself grounded maybe i think always sharing things you have around you so i think i'm always
always not always i can say but i'm most of the time calm and relaxed and as you can see i'll wear
(36:23):
anything and go and meet anybody and talk and spend time with kids but what keeps me grounded
is like i'm one of those people only those were here and i'm not the president or ceo of this
company sort of i am the person living with you i am sharing the same clothes with you and eating
in the same plates and we're living in the same village and i'm all yours and you're all mine so
(36:48):
i think that keeps you grounded here so there's nothing no experiment or no course i'm doing on
being grounded here i think sharing maybe the word that has come to me grounded being grounding
okay i'm sharing everything you have around you is that's what i say i i have no attachment to
things i do have attachment to a lot of things but if i'm if i'm open to share anything no
(37:13):
there's this open book sharing anything with you i do not feel very attached to any of the
materialistic world maybe not feeling anything like that i really really need in life to be
grounded i don't want to be grounded with a perspective or with a vision i want to be
(37:33):
grounded as in i'm grounded in general with a subtle smile on my face because i'm one of you
so maybe that keeps you grounded in the village specifically and specifically when you're in a
social sector or you know in a workplace like this you've got to believe that you're not the
one who's doing anything if they're not there they're not your audience you're nothing so that's
(37:54):
what one thing in social sectors we believe we we forget we mostly forget we often forget
we are nothing we speak in hindi and we're nothing if you do not if these students don't turn up
tomorrow all of these 40 students make a gang and they don't turn up tomorrow what am i
nothing so you gotta believe in the fact we're both running together we're both running this so
(38:14):
this is what one transparency we have in the team is all of the this is weird to say because i don't
think anywhere happens all of our team members especially the team leaders do know about the
fundings we get so far do know about which person has paid 10 rupees 100 rupees or 500 rupees so now
Rachel didi has given us some some sort of money one of the students know the entire village do
(38:38):
know it and we also segregate money that way so we're not running an organization which is
officially getting funds by somebody or you know some organization we are running that way if i've
got money which is like five hundred five thousand rupees extra in a month i would find some five
houses in the village discuss it in the team you think that family needs money right now you think
(39:00):
some that students papa is working these days do you think how much is the electricity bill you got
in the o so we all discuss about the money and that's how we segregate things and money yeah
even with the material also if we get some gifts and specific goodies for say 10 goodies and we
are 40 here so the student leaders and other student team members and everyone will sit together
(39:21):
and decide do you think you deserve this this month have you been this disciplined or you know
were you this diligent in studying and you know coming to tuition or doing other skill set
programs or workshops were you there hundred percent do you think you believe it you deserve
this that's how we decide for on things so yeah yeah it's such a collaborative model yeah yeah
(39:44):
so i keep telling them i don't want money yeah we all need money and we'll all run it together
yeah and i really get that sense here being here yeah it's yeah it's beautiful you i guess you you
kind of took this place off the ground but i can feel your hesitation to be like a hierarchy and
you could be at the top you know you're such a collaborative model um who in your life influence
(40:09):
has influenced you or like yeah influenced you the most it could be a person or i mean people
or um i think kids only yeah i've been very very i don't know why i pursued some other degree i
i was always curious to know what is in the mind what is in the small mind so i think some
(40:29):
inspiration or you know somebody i look up to i think all the kids i meet every day in the metro
or in the bus station i look at kids and i wonder what is it what is what what are you going to have
next and who are you and what are you thinking i think from the age of like from the months they're
newborn to i think 15 18 i'm to the kid who's 15 or 18 years old i'm really curious
(40:56):
i think that curiosity took me here also one of the things maybe i don't know yeah i love that
and apart from trying to find a new sort of location for for the office what else do you
have as a vision for some tutelu i'm sure you have lots of things in your mind of how it can grow and
evolve and shape and i know you're taking it slowly slowly but is there something you have
(41:19):
for the future and i'd love to check in with you some point in the future to see how things are
going sure thanks for saying that but we are the next vision would be an alternative school model
sort of for the students so right now we are having a sort of a library space for them but
next steps would be they're having this sort of one year or two years program which is
(41:41):
a skill-based program for the school going students that is going to prepare them for the
i think outside world maybe the professional world that they're going to enter after 12th
because there are exams and there are positions in india you can hire you can get into after just
after passing 12th grade your higher grade just going just after your school life so i think maybe
(42:03):
maybe maybe we're still in the process that's my next five years plan that after having a land or
a place for the students to like study come get classes take classes get resources live here stay
here go back to an alternative school which is sort of a school which is done by different
facilitators have different skill set trainings programs subjects academic work and yeah and
(42:28):
maybe working for different age groups of students different skill sets and yeah so yeah that's that's
awesome the dream yeah that's the way yeah right now but that's gonna be there someday yeah and
just for fun is there anything you can share that people in the village here wouldn't know about you
(42:49):
oh you could hear from the laugh only i think most of them know a lot of i think a lot of people know
a lot of things about me yeah but i think they do not know that i'm really really rebellious
because you're rebellious yeah and they do not know about my childhood i was a rebel kid i myself
(43:14):
could not listen to anybody in the world how would i you know i i think in the village people know
that i'm really hard working and i'm confident about my vision and maybe she they call me
deva so my name is devyani but a lot of aunties and uncles can't call devyani properly so they
call me divani divani is basically crazy person so i love being called that way i am so crazy so
(43:38):
they know divani is going to get out of these kids divyani divani is going to do something for the
village they believe but they do not know that i'm really rebellious that this is not something i'm
saying it on your face what's the most rebellious thing you've done i think i jumped from a running
train to like get my laptop from the station i left my laptop in the station and the running
(43:59):
train was running i was on the window like a movie and i just jumped i want to get back my laptop it's
worth one lakh i can't spend on it again so yeah and i've been fighting with my parents like fighting
with my parents not exactly fighting fighting but being rebel in the conservative household i was
born to that i want to go out i'm going to wear this i'm going to eat this i'm going to do this
(44:22):
i am not going to ask you you are not going to ask me that's what the deal is all about so i think
the entire village knows that divani the crazy person is actually here to do something but they
don't know the rebelliousness in me if you stop us including divani someday i think you don't know
the the vilpa the dream where that this dream is coming from i think from a personal experience
(44:45):
also born in a very conservative family didn't allow me to do a lot of things maybe i wanted to
be a fashion designer and i was privileged enough to be one maybe i wanted to be an air hostess and
why am i landing here and doing this maybe i wanted to do a lot of other things which i could not
because i wasn't able to raise the voice i think maybe wasn't that rebellious at that time that was
(45:06):
in need i don't know yeah so i think the village does not know that i'm a party person also a party
person yeah you do know that i'm a party person because i keep dancing and we keep we keep dance
classes and other sessions to dance like that only after the workshops so but yeah oh it's been so
nice to speak and i really hope that we can touch base again yeah of course yeah in the future to
(45:31):
see how things are going and how can people help at the moment like how do people support some
titillu how are you asking for support or open to support you mentioned earlier that you're open to
all different kinds but what's the best way for people to to join too i think maybe the campaign
that the students have decided this year and the campaign is about 10 rupee club so we we're just
(45:53):
just spreading the word about our campaign and about our organization through this 10 rupee club
where you're asked to pay us 10 bucks and just follow us just 10 rupees is the equivalent of
about 20 20 cents in in australia we're talking about so it's not much yeah with a bit less 15
cents yeah so 10 rupees not just you but ask 10 of your friends also five of your friends also
(46:16):
members also random people you meet someday and you want to tell them about one of the places you
believe that person or the places being in a very good cause or working towards a good cause
just spread the word about the campaign so this is how right now the students have thought of
this is how we're going to build the audience this is how we're going to be recognized in the
team or in the village or in the i think next some level so yeah i think that way and maybe some not
(46:43):
just monetary funds i repeat again we're not looking for monetary funds you have a spare phone
you aren't using it for from the last three years and you think of selling it to someone and we would
want you to think about us that's all you're throwing a t-shirt and you feel like oh it's
an old one we don't feel like wearing it anymore i would want you to keep it safe and parcel it to
(47:05):
us that you should worth million things to us so like sort of any anything any of your guides or
maybe your books and maybe anything maybe anything for that matter so yeah we're open to we are open
to getting curtains also these curtains are being gifted by one of my friends in the office so these
are not even our curtains yeah that mat has been gifted by some other friend in the office so
(47:28):
anything would work so yeah we're not just looking for the funds funds monetary when anything would
work yeah amazing thank you thanks debbie honey thank you so much rachel thank you
so now we are lucky enough to hear from some of the students who will share what some titillu
means to them please stay with it even if the audio quality isn't perfect you will even get
(47:52):
to experience some classic india car honking in the background yay my name is sahil and my future
hope is i hope i hope that we grow grow so much there that other student nearby tell you can
(48:17):
can can also come here get an opportunity to grow with us thank you thank you nice luck thank you
hi myself kavita when i am here some tarillu i have motivated to become a great writer
(48:43):
so thank you thank you for sharing my name is my name is ishita i hope we will get good marks in
our college and school and this marks we encourage our other jobs future time thank you thank you
(49:04):
for sharing so my name is arjun and i am a member of this family some that you do some that you do
is really a nice organization a family who help us in every way every way to learn to study to make
career which is possible which is possible and i would like to share my personal experience i
(49:31):
uh i joined uh i have become a member of this uh family uh one year ago and before that uh i
have not that much confidence to talk with other and uh talk with others but after joining this
family uh i gave my confidence i made a lot of friends here i came here always uh uh to get
(49:59):
uh free space uh free space uh uh uh uh uh i before i before i was a member of this
or family uh i was an average student but uh after i joined this uh organization uh i got 90 plus
(50:20):
90 percentage plus marks because of the help of uh acu via and davianity which is really good at
teaching they taught us everything that that is possible and i had a really good experience
a really great experience here um and that's it that's it thank you there are a lot of things
(50:40):
that i can't explain but i really enjoyed yeah and what do you hope for your future when you go to
college uh i i want to be a artist uh that's why i am doing a course call uh course in college uh
which is called uh uh bfa bachelor of fine arts uh after that i'll do ma uh in bfa and uh and i
(51:08):
think the dd bhaiya of here uh davianity and acu via will really will help me to achieve my goal
and i want this organization organization to grow large also so uh so this organization this family
can help others too thank you so much thank you arjun thank you anyone here
(51:33):
you say your name first my name is sakshi we starting we starting like in study and i love
this place thank you thank you anyone else uh only one word work hard and run fast thank you
it does not matter how slowly you go you go as long as you do not stop thank you my name is
(52:00):
babita thank you okay my personal growth here was like before joining this place academics were just
a pressure and it was zero graph was low after joining this place uh my academics like the graph
went up and i felt like studying is easier more easier here and i help the students to study many
(52:22):
deities and bhaiyas helped me to study and that's all yeah thank you graph went up and now my parents
are also happy because academics are good now and i'm also happy that's great what's your name
thank you so much for sharing
um myself kavita uh i am a senior leader of samta dilu uh samta dilu is a non-government organization
(52:47):
um
(53:11):
so basically what the students are trying to tell us here we are a sort of a family which has come
together to i think collaborate to help each other to understand each other's emotions properly or
maybe how the backgrounds are working in the background and how academically we are pushing
each other in the family in in a in sort of a holistic growth of all of us here and what
(53:36):
students are trying to also make a point here where this is not just an organization but this is
a home a sort of a home which is which is also associated with their family members and it's
sort of a community that we are building together and sort of a relationship in the community
okay
(54:22):
Basically we get a space where we are together for our night time where we are sharing with
each other about our day to day update, we are talking about our emotions together.
We basically get a space which we do not want to generalize into the category of hostel
(54:47):
or some library 24x7 but this is a space which we call it as Samta Ghar.
Samta Tillu is the organization which means Tillu is the small village who we are working
for Samta we are all samanai, we are all equal and we are learning from each other.
So the Samta Ghar symbolizes the exact emotion here which says that this is a Ghar, this
(55:10):
is a home which is equal for all of us and we all have the equal right and space to share
things mullibly and to be themselves.
Samta Tillu is an organization it got named Samta Tillu because where it is situated is
the name of the place is Tillu and it is a place who provides a very good study environment
(55:36):
all of us are studying and it is really enjoyable to study together.
The head Devya Nidhi she is really humble she always help us to study and it was really
nice to have a teacher like her and Samta Tillu believes in learn and teach a lot of
(56:02):
students learn here and a lot of volunteers who try very hard to teach others and it provides
a really good environment of study that's it.
Thank you and what was your name?
My name is Arjun and I am a member of this organization also.
Thanks Arjun.
It feels a little bit more free and we have been taught recording here which we have learned
(56:28):
for the first time in our lives.
We have three volunteers who have taught us coding and we have enjoyed learning their coding.
Thank you.
Thank you.
So I think Ishaan is talking about the coding which is also a skill set which we try to
(56:49):
provide through our different student leaders from other organizations and other schools.
So these were three volunteers from Teach for India Delhi and they generously spare
time to spend with Samta Tillu with the Tillu kids and they tried teaching coding to four
of our students of age group I think 8 to 13.
(57:11):
We are very happy to be here and here we get a lot of education.
We like the junior and the ones who teach us.
Thank you.
So we basically have senior or we can say big brother and sister for all the junior
students, small students.
So Prisha here is trying to tell us that there are mentors that really really try to help
(57:36):
them figure out their homeworks and anything related to their school curriculum.
I hope this interview has helped capture the essence of the Samta Tillu community and their
welcoming family that I had the joy of experiencing.
If you would like any more information about Samta Tillu the best way to follow their journey
is through social media which is in the episode notes.
(57:57):
Please let me know if you have any more questions for Devyani or the students and I would love
to connect you with them.
Thank you so much for listening.
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