The other day, our dear friends, Abhay and Padmaja were at home. While Abhay is a very successful lawyer practising in High court and the Supreme Court, Padmaja, Abhay’s life partner, teaches in a premier school in Noida. They are blessed with two wonderful daughters who are pursuing their interests, making their parents proud of their achievements.
We had long conversations on wide ranging subjects from making authentic South Indian coffee to politics to polarisation in India today to creating a corruption free society to ShikshaDaan’s work.
Padmaja was keen to understand our partnerships, the partners themselves and our model of engagement. When we started to discuss our partners, she shared in detail how she immensely liked the work of Om Foundation, an NGO based in sector 51, Noida, close to her home. She was highly appreciative of the discipline of their students, their preparedness, energy and enthusiasm, and felt that the students who were from Om Foundation were many times better than students from premier schools and those with an affluent background. Padmaja said that she was aware of Om Foundation’s efforts to ‘go beyond’to ensure that every one of their students did well not only in their studies but also in extra curricular activities. She attributed this excellence of students at Om Foundation to their management, teaching staff, and their committed donors.
Bindu and I then took over the conversation and shared our deep rooted connection with Sanjay Drabu, founder of Om Foundation. We spoke about Sanjay’s energy, enthusiasm, commitment and dedication, and the way he has over the years built a committed team of teachers, staff, trustees and donors that has taken Om Foundation to where it is today. Om Foundation also works with the parents of their students through a number of initiatives. Personally for me, one of the outstanding qualities of Sanjay is his willingness to listen to new ideas and implement them instantly in the school should he be convinced.
Our hearts swelled with pride as Padmaja heaped genuine appreciation on Om Foundation and their outstanding work.
Congratulations to you Sanjay and your team.
Good work gets noticed, always and appreciated too!
