The Scholars’ Avenue wishes to thank the faculty member who contributed this very excellent article. In deference to his wishes, the article is anonymous.

I am a through and through mediocre person except for occasional bouts of intelligence exhibited typically during leap years. Matters could have been far worse but for the fact that God, in the from of guru, interfered with my life, and guided me as if I was a confused sheep. I carry lasting impressions of some of these great human beings who helped me steer my life and instilled vague love for science and engineering and teaching using which I am able to survive in this greatly bewildering and intimidating world and also make ends meet. At this juncture of pushing very late forties, an inner call tells me, I must make public my reverence and gratitude for these people. (more…)

It’s dark.

I look left, I look right. I don’t know if I should go down the lane to get those notes.

It seems improbable that something might happen, I am probably over-reacting. I have walked along that street so many times – but the Law of Averages – that makes things scary.

What is scarier though is the notion that someday I might look at a dimly lit street, and follow this train of thought.

I am lucky I was born in a country that doesn’t legalize honour killings. I am lucky the people I talk to think dowry deaths are a shame. But there is still somebody who thinks it is necessary to remind me time and again, that I need to be afraid of the shadows, I need to be afraid of being alone, and I need to be afraid of standing up for myself.

(more…)

I had never dreamt I would set foot into IIT Kharagpur’s classrooms one day. Being a student there was out of the question—I had struggled with subjects like physics, chemistry and mathematics in school. As for being a teacher there, what would I teach India’s budding scientists? IIT was another world and it did not intersect mine in any way. Further, as I was born and bred in Kolkata, my activities had tended to revolve around this city. When I came back to India after obtaining higher education in the West, it seemed natural that I settle into my known world. Yet, the unthinkable happened because I was looking for a challenging career and this meant I would need to look beyond my comfort zone. I had studied Humanities, and luckily for me, like all other IITs, IIT Kharagpur had a Humanities and Social Sciences department. Thus, one fine morning, I found myself walking along the corridors of IIT Kharagpur towards room, F-116, my heart beating gently at the prospect of addressing a class of undergraduate engineers. One glance at the audience and another first screamed at me—there were hardly any girls in the class. On the flip side, about forty five young men had gathered in a classroom to learn French as a foreign language and that challenged a stereotype many Indians have about scientific education—scientists do not study languages. 

(more…)

Harish Hande, an *IIT Kharagpur alumnus* holds a PhD from the University of  Massachusetts, Lowell and has a reputation for being a pioneer of change in rural India. What is truly incredible is the business model around which he
has built his profitable social venture. Harish’s company Selco, India (Solar Electric Light Company) has made a mockery of critics who believe that the rural population of India does not have the means to buy and
sustain dependable products, based on sound technology that bring a positive  change to their normal way of life. True, as with most successful social  enterprises, Harish had to bear the initial hardship of creating a strong  base amongst the rural folk and marketing his product through door-to-door campaigns. However, with innovative schemes bordering on payment through  installments and collaboration with MFI’s and other funding agencies, it was
not long before his solar lighting systems were selling like hot cakes. An annual revenue generation of more than US$ 3 million when one’s clientele’ consists entirely of street vendors and people earning below US$ 4 per day
is indeed startling. One particular success story of his company was equipping rose pickers in Bangalore, who used to pick roses every morning holding an oil lamp in one hand with solar-powered headlamps. What resulted
was a considerable increase of their income due to the doubling of productivity. Dr. Hande was named the Social Entrepreneur of the Year 2007 by the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship.
The Scholars’ Avenue, in an effort to investigate such opportunities available in the field of social entrepreneurship contacted students and alumni, who’ve worked in such enterprises.

Sarabjeet Singh a.k.a Surd (of the ‘Where the hell in Kgp’ fame) left a lucrative job option at ZS Associates and is now working full time for  Ethos, a start-up in the social sector. In an interview with TSA, Surd discusses the reasons for his choice.

TSA-What made you leave a lucrative job option at ZS Associates and join
Ethos? How is the work culture there different from a stereotypical corporate company?

(more…)

The following is the experience of Shrey Goyal (3rd year, RK Hall),wh o through the E4SI programme got a taste of the
world of social entrepreneurship in the summer following his first year.

I chose to work at iDiscoveri,a social enterprise foundedwith a mission to renew education in India. It was backed by a team of exceptional individuals, from many of the top Ivy League Colleges, the IIMs and the IITs, many of whom had previously worked with and played leadership roles in Fortune 500 companies in India and abroad; definitely not the profile of social entrepreneurs that I had envisioned. A company with a “you can be serious without a suit” dress code, complete lack of a sense of hierarchy,and a warm and friendly office environment, iDiscoveri was scripting its own version of the Google Story. And all of this completely reflected in the iDiscoverite team’s enthusiasm and dedication towards work.
My experience with them completely changed my outlook towards social entrepreneurship. The social impact made by iDiscoveri, revolutionizing education all over, is by far greater than most “social workers” can hope for. I realised that the impact made by Social Enterprises not only makes a dent in the society, but it is also sustainable as well as profitable in nature. It’s not just about being for-profit or not-for-profit. It’s about being not-just-for-profit.

It’s a new year for all of us, with final years looking around wondering whether they will actually miss this place when they leave a year from now, and first years wondering if they’ll find something to miss at all in these rustic surroundings. Everyone has come back after their summers to find changed halls, even longer lines in the mess (if that was even possible), and in some cases an entirely new coat of paint (some of the shades havent gone down well with the general populace though). Those of us who will leave at the end of this year will accept that a lot of things have changed, not always for the better, and those standing at the throes of a new life will know that the place they leave four-odd years from now will definitely not be the place that they came into.

(more…)