Inspired by Russi Mody, sister duo Jyoti and Priya start a Foundation after his name in the Steel City of Jamshedpur
The setting is a centre in the steel city of Jamshedpur where 40-odd children from the less fortunate families are being educated. Their teacher Jyoti Choudhary tells them, ‘your mind is everything. Believe in something and then reach out for it. True, there would be many obstacles along the way but your mind will ensure that you overcome all hurdles’.
Jyoti Choudhary has lived what she preaches today and believes in the power of the mind. It was indeed her growing up years which paved the way for her becoming a social crusader. Her mother, of two young daughters, was diagnosed with a medical condition and had to be hospitalized every two or three months, something which meant that her father had to constantly attend to her needs and the family had to go through a financial crisis of sorts.
Hailing from a typical middle class family, I got a lot of help from non-profit organizations in my hometown, who supported me and my sister to pursue our education,
says Jyoti. Born and raised in Jamshedpur, the steel city, her determination also became steely and she thought she would give back to society one day. Society, which stood by her and her younger sister Priya, when they were very young.
And she did live up to the promise she made to herself – she started the Russi Mody Foundation, a body which runs a centre to educate children from the lower middle class families.
While Jyoti went to Punjab to pursue a degree in software engineering on an educational loan after finishing her Std 12, her sister, three years younger than her, moved to Delhi for her higher studies. Jyoti got placed in a startup and moved to Mumbai subsequently to pursue a career in IT and Priya is currently pursuing an MBA in Finance from Delhi University.
Starting up the Russi Mody Foundation
Whoever has lived in Jamshedpur would understand the town’s association with Russi Mody, who lived there for a substantial period of his life and interacted a lot with its residents.
Known as a people’s man, Jyoti had met him once as a child and her father always asked her to be like him.
He was an idol of sorts for all of us, so it was but natural that I would name my startup after him,
says Jyoti with a smile. In 2013, she started the Foundation with a specific aim – to educate the masses and instill a growth mindset in them.
Two years down the line, she is imparting quality education to 40-odd children from the lower middle class and has five teachers in her team. She and her sister Priya are Managing Trustees of the Foundation.
It is a registered Foundation and though the sister duo is not present physically at all times, they have pretty well defined roles in their Foundation – Priya manages the operational part of the body while Jyoti looks into the day-to-day affairs of the running of the Foundation.
Managing the show well
Sitting in Mumbai and working full-time, Jyoti manages to make rounds of her hometown once in every two or three months, just to ensure that things are alright at the Foundation and the centre being run in Baridih is going in the direction she always had dreamt of. Priya too is a regular at the centre.
“Be it project management to connecting with people and raising funds, it comes naturally to me and therefore I am in charge of it at the Foundation. It is nice to be able to give something back to the society. Our curriculum is based on a recent research that says that the mind is the biggest constraint. If there is a growth mindset, there can be no stopping the individual from attaining the greatest heights in life. Impossible is nothing – that is exactly the mantra we want to introduce these children to,” says the 24-year-old.
The initial struggle to start up the Foundation
At the time when the sister duo conceived the idea, there was not much support around. Parents, who were the target audience of this centre, did not care if their children attended school and got a formal education.
They rather thought it would be best for them to get employed somewhere so that they become financially contributing members to their families. It was challenging but interesting to work closely with them and counsel them and get them to agree to send their children to school,
says Jyoti.
Even now, the sisters are struggling to get the tax exemptions of the Foundation in place so that people could send in their donations and help this centre financially. As of now, it is money from Jyoti’s savings and a few ad-hoc contributions that run the show.
A free centre, Jyoti aims to convert it into a full-fledged school after she gets an affiliation. She takes parents’ and teachers’ feedback from the centre at regular intervals.
“I involve my children and volunteers too and ask for their feedback in any matter related to the running of the centre. I keep track of the children’s progress too. Whenever I am there, the children are encouraged to stand and speak, that gives me a fair idea on their progress and their ability to speak in public, after all that is an important facet in today’s world,” says Jyoti.
Happy that she is finally able to make a positive difference in people’s lives, Jyoti says on a parting note, “As I am growing in life, my centre is growing too.”
