Deepam > 2009 > March

Month: March 2009

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Deepam Fellows 2008

We are happy to announce the Deepam Fellows Program – Every year, the volunteers who had made a big impact on the endeavours of Deepam will be made the ‘Deepam Fellow’, in recognition of their contribution. This year we have 3 volunteers who have made significant contributions to Deepam in 2008. They were awarded a certificate and a memento, at the anniversary celebrations

Anbu :

The guy’s commitment levels are phenomenal – he commutes 4 hours every saturday, to teach the kids for 2 hours. He also ‘connects’ with the kids easily – he understands the kids and speaks their ‘language’. His ability to draw the kids out and engage them are truly worth emulating. 


Mohan :

The one guy who truly doesn’t understand IST – he is always ahead of time, for every single class / meeting – truly, a students’ nightmare !!! Being a fast runner, helps! There has been very few times he missed teaching on Saturdays. The most regular feature at the Nalamdana centre.


Bhargav :

He has a gift of explaining concepts to the students – His methods of giving examples makes students visualize the concepts and understand them easily. This regular at Nalamdana centre ( along with Archana and Mohan ) is responsible for the regular high turnout ( over 95% attendance ) for all the sessions .

Blog, Deepam

Deepam 1st Anniversary Celebration

“I have not seen a bunch of kids as happy and contented as these kids are ” mentioned Rahul Nayar, as he observed the kids at the Deepam 1st anniversary celebrations. The life of Deepam, these kids made the anniversay a very special day for all of us, who were present at the celebrations. The Nalamdana centre at the olcott kuppam , venue for the event, was charged with enthusiasm and energy – thanks to the kids, the chief guests and the volunteers. 

The MC’s for the event, Basu and Meera, keeping the kids engaged..

 We had a special person talking to these kids on Saturday – Sarath Babu – He was truly ‘one of them’ . As he stood in front , sharing his rags to riches story, one could see the kids getting inspired. The room went silent , as the kids and the volunteers were in rapt attention.

 Sarath interacting with the kids


Kiruba, the other chief guest, in his usual way , engaged the kids with an interesting story and conveyed a nice ‘life-lesson’ across.


It was a  year ago, when Ram , our mentor, suggested we go to govt schools and teach kids there. His point was simple – ‘Lets start small , 2 or 3 of us can go teach at a local school but the focus should be on making an impact ‘ . Since then, he not only taught the kids, but the volunteers as well.

Kids presenting a memento to Ram

Ram announced a scholarship program for kids – 5 deserving kids ( Deepam Stars ) will get all their education expense covered for 2009-2010.

The anniversary cake , cut by the kids

We also had performances from kids – Nalamdana Centre girls mellifluously sang a popular tamil song


These kids can sure shake a leg..

All the winners of the  cultural events were awarded medals. Kids got participation certificates as well.





Its the volunteers , who work tirelessly, who have helped Deepam make an impact. They were awarded certificates as well. Anupama’s commitment to pudhiyador center is outstanding.
Meera who comes to Chennai every weekend, from Bangalore – She and her husband Vijay, teach on saturdays and sundays, every weekend

Archana, who puts in a lot of energy and helped build Deepam, gets the certificate from Ram


The start has been good – The 1st year flew by. It can only get better !

A big thanks to all the kids and the volunteers ! 

P.S More photos can be found here http://picasaweb.google.co.in/chauhanarchu/DeepamFirstAnniversary#

Blog, Deepam

Vote for Deepam

An Essay and a Film on Deepam is in the running for the National Knowledge Commission Prize. Essay / Film talks about how Deepam is solving some of the problems in Indian Education System.

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