Returning home on this day-train is a new experience. We’re getting to see the land “passing by” beside the train, enjoying the changing scenery. It was a lush green when we started, paddy was the main crop. We’re now passing through fields of lentils and surprisingly, cotton. Lots of time to read books aloud to each other… and share a laugh over random thoughts.
A thought that’s been recurring is how education and opportunity can bring about changes that move a family to different strata within one generation. We recently met two people that represented such upward mobility. Both stories are inspiring and while there are parallels, the differences are worth examining too. On another day, let’s talk about the boy that could fix a bike. Today, we will tell the story of the boy that could sew.
The village tailor’s son, he was a brilliant student for whom the dad’s highest ambition was to make him the best tailor the village ever saw. The son excelled in his village school and his teachers saw the potential in him. A tribute to all teachers everywhere that truly care about their students’ future, this boy’s teachers pooled money out of their pockets to bring him to the district headquarters to appear for a competitive exam. This propelled him to continue his education for free at excellent schools, beyond what was available in his village – and the boy topped his entire state in standardized tests at the 10th and 12th-grade levels. He qualified to get into an engineering college (professional school) and then… reality collided rudely with his dreams.
“Dad took the position that his son should bundle up his certificates of achievement and take up tailoring”
Although this young man qualified with an enviable rank for a “free seat” in a prestigious institution, it still cost a significant amount of money to pay for his food, clothing and books. The well-meaning and poor dad took the position that his son should bundle up his certificates of achievement and take up tailoring. A local theatre held a fundraiser that brought in about 60% of the start-up costs for the first year of college. Dad looked at the gap and again pointed to tailoring as the only viable option. Seeing no other avenue, the son reluctantly agreed and did bundle up his certificates into the corner of a room… and took up sewing. Yet, he remained hungry for learning and spent each evening at the free library of the village. One evening he found a tiny ad in a local newspaper aimed at students that had high marks but whose education was thwarted due to finances.
Measures of different kinds: a tape measure to sew clothes, the GPA to calculate marks on class tests
If that was where it ended, the story could be told of thousands of very fortunate young people, who got a break and prospered.
The young man started a nonprofit whose aim was to give a break to other brilliant students that started financially poor like he was when he started as the village tailor’s son. He started a family, made his fortune and made long-range plans. With a clear strategy, he wound down his commitments, bid goodbye to the corporate world and moved to India with his young family, on a one-way ticket.
That’s the backstory of the man we met yesterday in Kakinada, Surya Prasad Padala, whose story we started off calling “the boy that could sew”.
Surya’s organization, the Padala Charitable Trust (see below for link), has funded the higher education of hundreds of students whose selection is limited to those that studied in government schools or colleges. That is important in the Indian context because while education falls firmly under the government’s purview, the conditions in myriad schools run by governments in various states are abysmal. At these typical government schools, the infrastructure is bad (or nonexistent), quality of education low, morale of staff (if they even show up for work) pretty bad and here’s the interesting twist: the pay of (a majority) of these government teachers (these days) is almost as high as that of software engineers!
The terrible quality of such typically bad government schools has led to a proliferation of private schools that charge an arm and a leg, that provide students with varying levels of quality of education. Just yesterday, we talked to a cab driver in a small town that paid the equivalent (in purchasing power) of what a Bay Area couple would pay to an exclusive school such as Harker: just so that his 6th-grade daughter could get a “convent” education. But unlike that typical Bay Area couple, this equivalent tuition (plus transportation in an auto and “extras” for sports and quiz) amounted to nearly 50% of his family income.
There are some excellent government schools and colleges and naturally, the competition for these is fierce. That has led in turn, to a “tuition” industry and a “preparatory” industry who advertise with photos of “toppers” that they coached. As we heard in a recent movie, Super 30, “… education [in India] is a huge and lucrative business”.
Going back to Surya’s story, his organization has now reached thousands of people. There are four areas of focus for this organization: (1) Scholarships to needy students beyond grade 12 (“intermediate level”); (2) teaching life skills and career counseling; (3) motivating students that are at-risk of dropping out to continue in school; and (4) empowering young women through education in menstrual hygiene.
In all this, there is the underlying theme of paying it forward. From being a poor village tailor (a noble profession, also a low-paying one) to a place where all his needs are met and there’s so much gratitude that he can dedicate to a life of service without a paycheck, along with his very loving and supportive wife, Smt. Varalakshmi. We also got a chance to say hello to his team. The boy that could sew had a quantum jump in just one generation (what sociologists call intra-generational mobility).
All because someone that came before him created an opportunity and opened doors for his education. Now it is time to pay forward. How divine!
In the comments below, please tell us stories of positive change that you saw or helped with. Share your motivation to make such changes happen in the community around you. Did this story resonate with you? Please, leave a comment (ask us how to do this).
Link to the website of the North South Foundation, that funded the young Surya. We were fortunate to work with this organization while in the US and present our workshops. Hopefully, we will work some more with this volunteer-run group, maybe develop a webinar in the near future. This links directly to their India scholarship page.
Link to the website of the Padala Charitable Trust
Photo credits:
Cover photo of a sewing machine needle:
Man using sewing machine:
Tape measure:
Assorted color-thread lot:
Black Singer sewing machine:
Jumping person:
