Mera Gaon Meri Dunia

Kumkum is a 10-year-old child who studies in 4th grade in a nearby school in her village in Madhya Pradesh, namely, Jhutawad. The village is at a distance of 80 km from Ujjain district where the majority of the population used to rely on agricultural activities for its sustenance until the struggle to make the ends meet called many families to migrate to nearby towns for better opportunities. Kumkum's family is among a few left in the agriculture business and all the members spend their major part of the day in the fields. Her family wants to see her getting a quality education. Kumkum, since, her early childhood has lived at her Nani's home (maternal grandmother's home) to be able to attend comparatively better schools as compared to her native village. Due to the COVID outbreak, the most immediate change that she witnessed was her annual exams getting cancelled for which she had prepared a lot. Earlier, she was supported by her family members, then and now, ...

"आज की दुनिया के सुरक्षित भविष्य के लिए हर शख्स के हाथ एक अच्छी किताब होना बहुत आवश्यक है!" एक तरफ जब दुनिया तकनीक के सहारे अनगिनत उपक्रम बना रही है, कुछ लोग किताबों और पुस्तकालयों की परम्परा में नये कल की उम्मीद तलाश रहे हैं. गाँव के परिवेश में बच्चों और युवाओं के लिए ऐसा माहौल जहाँ वे स्वाध्ययन और विचार-विमर्श कर सकें. प्रशांत, नवादा जिले के रजौली में एक सार्वजनिक पुस्तकालय - "अब्दुल कलाम लाइब्रेरी" के सञ्चालन का कार्य कर रहे हैं। उनका विचार है कि ऐसे माहौल में कोई भी शख्स कभी भी आकर‌ पठन-पाठन कर सकता है। वे इसे एक सामुदायिक तौर पर संभाला जाने वाला और संचालित किया जाने वाला पुस्तकालय होते हुए देखना चाहते हैं जिसमें सत्ता का केन्द्रीकरण न हो. वे इस पुस्तकालय में बच्चों के लिए पुस्तकें, युवाओं के लिए अलग अलग Study materials, आदि सामग्री का भण्डारण चाहते हैं और पूरानी हो चुकी किताबों को भी कैसे उपयोग में लाया जा सके इस पर भी काम कर रहे हैं. प्रशांत, मेरा गाँव मेरी दुनिया के आईना देखो 2.0 प्रोग्राम का हिस्सा रह चुके हैं और समाज में युवाओं के योगदान को कै...

A man from Delhi seemed to know nobody in the big city of Mumbai. A time came when he took a courageous decision of pursuing his dreams of understanding filmmaking and writing scripts. What went into making him cross his threshold of finally moving to action guided by his heart is a separate story.  However, through a circle, he met another guy who offered his rented apartment to accommodate him (in Mumbai) for a month. These people had never met before.   What is it that creates such trust among the unknown, to give and to receive? What do these platforms for connecting look like? What value do they hold in the world of unending human desire? Mera Gaon Meri Dunia is a dream envisioned by many youths who immensely believe in the magic of collaborative trust and sharing. It, bi-yearly, organize a journey called Aaina Dekho which welcomes youth from diverse background to live, work, talk, and travel together. The participant could be anybody who is looking for...

Komal is a young woman from Pune who is a freelance writer. She has been a part of the second cohort of Aaina Dekho. Even after her remarkable performance at UPSC, she has taken a brave decision of choosing writing as a career. However, her parents believe that she can do better things with her life.  Komal has often shared at the platform that she has never enjoyed listening to others much. The importance of listening has always been a question until she practised this at Aaina Dekho platform. Komal, with her dreamy eyes and in a stance of intense reflection says, “After coming to AD I could realize how important it is to listen to others at a personal level.” Post-program, going back to home, she could sense that she is not avoiding lengthy conversations with her mother. Earlier, she used to think it to be not much useful but now she could experience more acceptance and patience in the reception of feelings and thoughts of her own mother. She also documents that earlier...

Some experiences work as triggers to spark the change we have always wanted to see. A similar incident happened with our cohort member of Aaina Dekho, Vinay.  Vinay works at a corporate firm as a Marketing head. A corporate work culture like his with over 60 employees in the office often comes with innumerable facilities for the workforce to be at ease while working. Vinay, as he had his glass of water in the pantry, crushed the plastic disposable item and was about to throw it in the dustbin as when he noticed a pile of used glasses and reminded of the workshop of system thinking he participated in at Aaina Dekho 2.0.  Vinay thought of doing something about it and chose to write to the head of the HR department regarding his concern of excessive use of one-time-use plastic. The executive soon responded with affirmation and notified him that all the branches of his office in Uttar Pradesh will get rid of this disposable plastic cutlery. Through his single ‘conscious’ a...