In a nation of 1.25 billion you may beg to differ but very rarely will you be able to beg to educate. But one man has done the unthinkable. He has taken to begging to light the lamp of wisdom in many a young gun.
In a country that is 74.04% literate Sandeep Desai holds his own as a man who has worked tirelessly to spread knowledge. Desai, a former marine engineer begs on a Mumbai local.
He spent the better half of his working years trying to convince colleagues to not disown him. He took Co-trustee Professor Nurul Islam to accompany him to the Goregaon station.
Islam agreed to stand and watch as Desai tried to convince commuters to contribute money to build English medium schools in the rural arena.
Desai made himself comfortable and visible in trains full of strangers.
He started off with Rs 700 first day and gradually he did not have to look back at all. Six years on his hard work has borne fruit.
Desai now has a school in the drought-hit Yavatmal district in Maharashtra and three in Sipur, Sadakadi and Naijhar villages in Udaipur. Desai’s trust is called Shloka Missionaries which was set up in 2001.
Over the years, the school acquired nearly 700 children and offered classes upto eight standard.
Clever fundraising coupled with a proper public outreach helped Desai reach closer to his desired goals. Nearly two years after he started campaigning national newspapers and TV channels gave him prominent placement.
Later gradually personal contributions started trickling in too and corporates started taking interest in the idea. In 2015-2016 alone, Desai raised Rs 40 lakhs in corporate donations.
For the record, Desai was roped in by Arvind Kejriwal to join AAP before the elections in Maharashtra and later asked him to run for the Lok Sabha polls. He is still a member of the AAP party.
Currently on break from begging he believes that whenever the need arises he won’t shy away from begging for change.
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