The work behind the questions.

Pratigya is an evening learning space for first-generation children from low-income communities. Children from different grades come for two hours, six days a week. As Academic Head, I teach and coordinate volunteers, often deciding on the spot how to use two classrooms and the people available.

Knowing the children matters as much as knowing the timetable: who works well together, when someone needs a different approach, and which volunteer can help them get there. That is where I have learned to make quick decisions without losing sight of the child in front of me.

UDAAN gives children a chance to perform in front of their parents. In my first year, I saw children watching from the side because they had not been chosen. I did not want to leave them there, so I led a six-minute dance with 21 children, though I had never thought of myself as a dancer.

The following year taught me how much work sits behind a performance: choosing who gets a part, helping volunteers, and making room for children who are still learning. By 2026, I was shaping the overall performance plan, assigning and mentoring volunteers, and running an act of my own. I wanted parents to see more than an annual show, so the performances followed a child growing up and the expectations that come from home, school and the wider world.

The moments I remember best are smaller: children running toward me at rehearsal, hands going up to join a dance, or one child finding the courage to try a step again. That is why the work mattered to me.

One hundred first-generation girls, about to choose subjects for Grade 11, came to an engineering college to explore what science could look like beyond a textbook. I designed the student experience around four stations and a single hour. That meant mapping the flow, briefing volunteers to meet children at their level, explaining the purpose of each stop to teachers, and leading on the floor too.

Sanjhi Sikhiya organised the event with Avanti Fellows, Youth United and Pratigya Abhiyan volunteers. The Indian Express covered it. What I wanted most was for a girl to leave able to picture herself there and think, maybe this is for me too.