Relationships are meant to last. And they are meant to grow. And who can better demonstrate that than our very own forum members at PaGaLGuY.com. I have recently joined the company and was blessed with a chance to go for an All India PaGaLGuY meet (AIPGM) soon after joining. This is where I saw the exceptional relationship that the forum members share with each other. No one could have guessed that some of the people at AIPGM were meeting each other for the first time!
PG as PaGalGuY.com is fondly called is as close knit as close knit can be. Hence, apart from being there for each other for preparation for CAT and other MBA entrance examinations, the members have started a thread under the forum touching lives where they can serve other people outside the PG community who would gain from their experience and expertise. Preparing the Special KIDS in Bangalore to make their dreams come true is one such thread started by Prem Ravi Kumar (prem_ravi). Prem_ravi is easily one of the most active members on PG and also off PG. He is also a moderator (which shows how much PG HQ respects his decision) and his resilience is something anyone will vouch for.
On November 15, 2008 prem_ravi received a phone call from one of his colleagues who requested him to talk to his friend who was physically challenged in order to motivate him for CAT which he was writing the next day. The conversation touched him emotionally and influenced him to start working for the benefit of MBA aspirants who were physicallychallenged or economically weak. Along with Prem, two other PG users Abhishek (the_hate) and Sandhya (Sandhya venkat) joined in this exercise to help the special kids achieve their dreams of cracking the CAT. Prem had (and still has) his focus clear, “I need to instill self confidence in them”. According to him, even if they do not crack it, the experience of taking the CAT with three lakh aspirants will make the special kids confident enough to take on any challenge in the world, the learning will be high, he says. By the way, three lakh?. Oh Yes. He wants them to write the CAT in the general category.
Presently there are three students in their class which is now called Spurti. Two of the three students are visually challenged and are taught with the help of the JAWS software. Although they are visually impaired, their grasping powers exceed expectations. The infrastructure is provided at no cost by Career Launcher (CL), Bangalore after its city head, Anant heard Prem’s story and decided to let his center be used for the noble cause. Hence on Saturdays at CL Banglore, Prem teaches the students data interpretation (DI), Abhishek teaches quantitative aptitude (quant) and Sandhya, verbal ability (VA). All of them have full time commitments but that does not come in the way of giving their full support to Spurti.
In the entire story, we have two sides. One is trying to take one of the most competitive examinations in the country even when it is at a disadvantage physically. The other is trying to train them to take this challenge even when it does not have the optimum time and resources.
Things will never be perfect. However, it is us, who can (and who will?) make them perfect.