kartheevidya.com - Blog , Kartheekartheevidya.com - Blog , Kartheehttps://www.kartheevidya.com/blogs/UncategorizedWed, 25 Feb 2026 03:25:23 -0800http://zoho.com/sites/<![CDATA[2020 - A year, we will never forget]]>https://www.kartheevidya.com/blogs/post/2020
2020 - This is a year that our generation will not forget easier. The first pandemic of our lifetime. A virus which is so small that we cannot see in our naked eye bought the entire world to a standstill. It looked like the virus has pressed the huge ‘Pause’ button.

This world which is divided by boundaries, race, colour, religion united to face the common enemy. At times, it makes you think pandemic like this happens for a reason.


The pandemic made us stay in our home for longer periods than we ever thought.


It gave us time to do something beyond work.

It gave us time to spend our time with family.

It gave us time to connect back with our old friends.

It gave us time to reflect back on our life.

It taught us to appreciate the small things in life.

It told us, not to take things granted in life.

It made us to live LIFE.


For me personally, 2020 is an year of fightback. Dec 31, 2020 concludes my completion of 6 years of quitting my corporate job. For a guy like me who comes from a not so financially strong background, quitting a steady corporate job is a big step. I made that decision so that I can go and live my dream of serving others, promoting volunteering in this country. Hence, I make sure that the work I and my team does is worth quitting a well paying job a 1000 times.


Here are few milestones by Team Everest which I’m proud of this year:

Milestone-1: We closed our office on 20-March-2020 thinking it will be for weeks or a month. Never in our wildest dream we thought it will extend for a year. Our team of 20+ employees need to work entirely from home. I always believed in having ‘Laptop’ for employees than ‘Desktop’ as I loved the portability the ‘Laptop’ offers. All our employees were using laptop for work which made the job easier. In less than 24 hours, we became a 100% remote team without any additional investment.
Milestone-2: The first task in our hand is to help our beneficiaries fight the pandemic. 1 in 2 families lost job with no income at all. Their next meal became a question mark. We launched a ‘Covid Livelihood Relief’ fundraising campaign. We ended up raising Rs 45+ Lakhs helping 600+ families by paying them directly to fight poverty in their home. More than 2000 people had food because of support from volunteers like you.

We even raised funds to sponsor the salary of teachers who lost their jobs during pandemic.

I can never forget the heartfelt thanks these people shared with us. Nothing can be better than a timely help.
Milestone-3: Our students most of them from rural areas and in slums, huts in Chennai stopped learning as the schools and colleges closed. We launched Virtual Volunteering with 17 types of activities on March 23, 2020 which is within 48 hours from the day we closed our office. By end of the year, 7000+ volunteers volunteered to teach 8000+ children virtually. There is zero physical volunteering and 100% of our activities went virtual.

For me, to adopt to such a change in a short period is a massive achievement. A big thanks to all the volunteers and my team who made this happen. For me, just this alone shows the resilience of the organisation. I want ‘Team Everest’ to be an organization which is ready to face any challenges in future and come out with flying colours. Every challenge is an opportunity to become stronger. We became more stronger from this challenge.


Check all our virtual volunteering opportunities here.

Milestone-4:‘I am the Change’ scholarship is our flagship program where we identify parentless, single parented students and sponsor them for their UG degree. We started this scholarship in 2016 with 19 students. In 2019, we added 200 new students to this scholarship and was sponsoring a total of 400 students by end of 2019.


I wanted to double the number of students whom we sponsor in 2020. We worked hard. We reached out to people and asked for help. We crowdfunded for this initiative. 10,000+ people donated and we ended up sponsoring the education of 450+ new students in 2020 which is 125% more than 2019. As of now, 850 students are part of this scholarship and 70% of them are sponsored by individuals like you (Rest is sponsored by Corporate sponsors).


Because of Covid, we converted our student selection process virtually. We received 6000+ applications. After 10,000+ calls, thousands of interviews, we shortlisted 450 students for this scholarship program in 2020.


Interviewing 6000 students virtually, doubling the number of students to sponsor when the entire economy is crashing shows the faith our volunteers, donors have on Team Everest. Thank you everyone for stepping in when the world needs the most.


If you wish to sponsor a student, click here.


Note: We also introduced ‘Covid Scholarship’ and currently sponsoring 50 students whose family is affected because of Covid.

Milestone-5: Team Everest vision is to promote volunteering in the country, in the world. We strongly believe that to create a culture of volunteering, we should start it from home. Hence, we introduced ‘Children Volunteering’ on Children’s day (14-Nov-2020). We introduced 10 virtual volunteering activities designed exclusively for children. Already more than 500 children volunteers are part of various initiatives. We look forward to introduce volunteering to many more children in 2021. (Click here to know about our children volunteering programs)
I want to take a moment to thank all the volunteers, donors, my teammates, friends and family members who gives me the strength to keep going.


When the going gets tough, the tough get going. There is no better proof for this statement than 2020 for Team Everest.


We will find strength from 2020 and will build 2021 with more hope and optimism.


Team Everest promises to spread volunteering more and to help more children in 2021.


Happy New year everyone.

]]>Sat, 02 Jan 2021 10:15:21 +0000<![CDATA[The Picasso in me!]]>https://www.kartheevidya.com/blogs/post/picasso

This happened during my 5th std. School inspection is going to happen.


My science teacher who is also my class teacher entered our class in a rush. We can clearly see a sense of urgency in her face.


She informed the entire class that School inspection is coming up in next 1 week. I don't know what a School inspection is. She told that everyone should draw a chart and bring it to paste in the classroom.


She opened the Science textbook and started giving topics to each and every child as per attendance order. I'm all excited. For the first time in my life, I'm going to be part of a school inspection. My art is going to decorate the walls of my school.


I was eagerly waiting for my turn.


Gopal - Reflection

Harish - Sound Waves

Karthee - Teeth


Yes, I got my topic. I have been assigned the task of drawing 'Teeth'. Yes, teeth.


Human beings has 32 teeth. Right. That teeth. Same teeth, I need to draw!


I was expecting a bigger challenge. A more tougher challenge. But, that's ok. I need to draw a teeth now. The human teeth.


This is my first assignment. I need to prove this world who I am. Time to show my artistic skill to the world.


The teacher finished assigning tasks to all students and left the classroom. The deadline is 3 days. On the 4th day, I need to bring it to the school.


I got up from my seat with lot of proudness because someone has trusted me and has given me an assignment.


I felt like an astronomer who was shortlisted by NASA for their next Moon mission.


With the background music playing inside my ear, the one which only I can hear, the school bell rang. It is time to leave school and get in to action.


My teeth mission started.


My uncle came to pick me from school. Once I reached my home, while I was removing my slippers, I was shouting 'Mummy, Mummy...'


I came inside, quickly removed my school bag and told my mom about the important project that I has been assigned in School.


I clearly explained her all the raw materials that I need to accomplish this mission. We listed them down on a piece of paper. We made a call to my dad using our landline phone and asked him to purchase the items while coming back to home today (Thanks to the technology. I'm making some quick progress in my mission!).


My dad use to come back to home by 8.30PM or 8.45PM everyday. It is just 5.30PM. I'm looking at the clock every 5 minutes. The clock is ticking slowly. I felt like a boy who is waiting in the park for his girl friend. Excited and impatient.

The excitement and waiting took a toll on my health. I went asleep by the time dad reached home. Day-0 is over.


Day-1:

I woke up the next day and felt excited to see all the raw materials for my mission ready. But, it is time to go to school. I went to school, done for the day and back to home now.


Time to take my first step. I opened the chart. It is the first time, I'm working on a chart. I never thought that it will be that big. It is almost 20 times bigger than my regular notebook which I use everyday in my school. It is almost half my height.


Mastering such a big piece of paper is my first challenge.


I remembered the instruction given by my teacher. The chart should have a margin.


Wow. That's great. I decided to complete this milestone first.


The chart is so big and my scale is very small. What's the fun in it if there is no challenge?


I started drawing the margins. I was rolling, diving, jumping, sleeping, kneeling down and used all humanly possible postures to complete the margins on all four sides of a chart.


I'm done. It took me 2 hours to finish drawing the margins.


I stepped back to see the work I have done. Wow, 4 lines on 4 sides of a chart. Not very perfect. Not straight. But that's okay. What is more important is the art inside these margins and not the margins.


With all those gymnastic postures, acrobatic moves that I made for drawing the margins, I got tired and slept near the chart itself.


Day-1 is over. More importantly, I completed Milestone-1: Drawing margins.


Day-2:

I'm back home after a tough day at school. After drinking my routine cup of boost, it's time to immerse myself in the world of art.


It's time to bring the Picasso in you.


I opened my chart, looked into my margins and felt proud once again.


You can't pride yourself in victory when there is a bigger mission to achieve. I stopped glaring at those beautiful margins and opened the page number which my teacher marked me for my art.


I saw 3 art in that page:

  1. An art with single tooth
  2. An art with 5 or 6 tooth put together
  3. An inside view of one's mouth trying to cover all 32 teeth.

A decision paralysis engulfed me. Which one to draw now? My teacher only gave me the page number and topic. She did not tell me exactly which art.


Oh, my God. How am I going to make a decision now? Should I choose the easy art which is a single tooth or chose the complex one which has 32 teeth in it.


A champion always chose tougher challenges over easier ones. So, I decided to choose the 3rd art: 32 teeth.


By the time, I made the decision, I already spent 1 hour.


I started drawing the teeth, one by one. Every curve, every shape, I started to replicate. My full concentration is on the art.


Suddenly, I stopped. I got a doubt whether the original image has all 32 teeth in it. I started counting them in my book. I cannot find more than 20 (I was not aware that we need a 3D model to show all 32 teeth and it is tough to replicate it in a 2D model).


Oh my god. I'm in mid of my art work and my original art has a big mistake. It do not have all the 32 teeth. Confused by whether to go ahead or not, I'm paralysed once again.


With all these tough decisions to make, my brain got tired and I slept for the day.


Day 2 is over.


Day-3:

The final day before submission. My chart now has a margin and partially drawn teeth.


The clock is ticking.


An artist need creativity and time to build his masterpiece.


I'm full of creativity. But, the clock is ticking. I need to submit the art to my class teacher next day. I'm running out my time.


I had a proverb in my 5th std English book which said 'Time and tide wait for none'.


Now, being confident that time is not going to wait for me, I'm in a race against time. I brought the best in me. I'm in full flow. The teeth's are laid out one after another. There is no Colgate or Pepsodent to look at my art. If they were there, they would have sponsored me to show my art in their advertisements.


It's time for dinner. I quickly completed my dinner and back to work. It's time to colour my teeth.


I gave it white colour (Thank god, I chose a light blue chart for my artwork!).


The masterpiece is ready now. I asked my mom to roll the chart and tie it with a thread.


I went to bed while my masterpiece is waiting to be rejoiced by the world the next day.


The D-Day:

I woke up a little earlier. Took a nice bath, dressed myself, applied oil to my hair, combed my hair properly and made sure that I'm looking in the best possible version of me.


Had breakfast and my journey to the school started in my dad's TVS 50.


My lunchbox is put in the front while I'm holding my school bag in my back, my two hands are carefully holding my artwork.


There are no siren in our vehicle. There are no security guards surrounding us. The responsibility of safeguarding my masterpiece is absolutely with me.


I need to carefully hold it against the racing wind (Even if I'm in a TVS 50), the bumpy roads and the dust in the atmosphere.


I finally reached the school on time. Myself and my masterpiece, both of us were waiting for the Science period to start.


The most expected period has come. My class teacher is inside our classroom. She is going to see all our art and appreciate us.


She started calling one by one in alphabetical order.


Akash....


Akash handed over the art work to the teacher. The teacher saw the art and showed it to the entire class. The entire class goes in wow and clapping hands like crazy.


My teacher called out the the next names...


Arun

Bala

Chitra

....


That's the first time in my life, I blamed my parents for naming me with the starting letter as 'K'.


I was waiting for my turn.


Gopal

Harish

Karthee


My name came. The teacher called out my name. I stood up from my bench. Took my masterpiece and proudly walked towards my teacher in slow motion and a background music in my ears.


I handed over my artwork to the teacher like a king handing over the sword to his Army head before the war.


The teacher opened my chart. She gazed over it. She took extra few seconds to look at my chart.


She lifted her eyebrows. I felt so happy. I'm sure she is impressed. I'm waiting for her to turn and show my art to the entire class. I'm waiting for my class to applaud me, applaud my art.


Time to tell the world, that the Picasso of this generation is here.


My teacher looked me into my eyes. She rotated the chart and showed it to the entire class.


I was looking at my classmates. I'm waiting for the class to go in awe.


Suddenly, everyone's opened their eyes to their maximum. They bought all their focus to my chart.


But, unfortunately they could not find the art in it. Everyone is searching for the art.


I'm a very practical guy. I love to bring reality in whatever I do.


So, in that big chart, I drew the teeth in the teeth size itself. Yes, my teeth is just 1 to 2cms in that big chart.


When my classmates found it out, the class erupted in laughter.


My teacher looked into my eyes and said something which I will never forget in my life - "Karthee, unaku drawing varadhu. Nee ini drawing try pannadey" (Karthee, drawing is not for you. Do not try to draw anything in future).


She said this and told "Rajashekar, take this chart with you and draw teeth at the backside of the chart". Rajashekar is the 1st rank holder in my class and a very good friend of mine.


I came back to my bench disappointed. The eyes are filled with tears. The background music stopped. Only my teacher word is echoing in my ears. She told me I couldn't draw.


All students trust their teachers. When a teacher say something, the student believes it. I believed my teacher. I believed that I cannot draw.


I started avoiding any drawing assignments. To draw animal and plant cells during my 8th std is like hell. It will take me days to get it done.


I will skip a simple drawing which will take just 5 mins to draw in exams and start answering questions which will take me 20 mins of writing a big essay.


I decided to choose 'Computer Science' group in Plus-1 because 'Biology' group will involve a lot of work to do with diagrams.


Drawing margins on my unruled notebook is the most complicated work for me. I could not draw a straight margin because my teacher told me that I cannot draw. I believed her.


When they introduced 'Integration' in Maths in 11th std, I could not draw the integration symbol which looked like a big piece of art to me. I could not draw it because my teacher told me that I cannot draw.


When my family asked me to take 'Mechanical Engineering' after my Plus-2, I avoided it because it involves doing lot of drawing about machines.


Despite joining 'Metallurgical Engineering' (in Govt College, Salem), I could not avoid the 'Engineering Drawing' subject in my second semester.


What? A full subject dedicated for drawing to become an engineer?


I use to bribe my friends with tea, biscuits to get my engineering drawing assignments done. Somehow, I cleared my 'Engineering Drawing' exam.


I joined an IT Company. Whenever, I try to draw something on whiteboard during a brainstorming session, my colleagues have a lot of fun looking at my drawings.


My sweet teammates at Team Everest use to take pictures of my whiteboard drawings and even blackmail to make it public 🙂.


All this happened, because my teacher told me that I cannot draw. And, I believed her.


A teacher can make or break you. This is a story of a teacher who killed the artist in me. (I have a story of another teacher who made me realise my full potential. That's a story for another day)


If you are a teacher, choose your words wisely.

If you are a student, choose your teacher wisely.


Because, a teacher can make or break the Picasso in you.

About the Author

I'm Karthee Vidya, founder & first volunteer of Team Everest, a non profit organisation which I founded in 2006 when I'm fresh out of engineering.  For 8 years (2006 to 2014), I worked in Cognizant. 


I quit my high paying job 5 years back to promote volunteering in India. Check my complete journey here.


My dream is to inspire every Indian to Volunteer.


Today, we have 15,000 volunteers and helping 40,000 children a year. You can know more about our work in www.teameverest.ngo


Interested to volunteer& teach kids? Click here to Volunteer.


Ready to sponsor a kid? Click here to make a small donation or be a monthly donor.

]]>Wed, 22 Jul 2020 07:25:11 +0000<![CDATA[Do you know my full name? It is 52 characters long!]]>https://www.kartheevidya.com/blogs/post/do-you-know-my-full-name-it-is-52-characters-long

Do you know my real name? It is


Kartheeba Kandeeba Kathirava Prasanna Deepan Chakravarthy


Yes, it is 6 words and 52 characters long. There is an interesting back story to this name. Our diety God name is ‘Kamatchi Amman’ and our family wants to name me with names starting with ‘Ka’.


Thus ‘Kartheeba’, ‘Kandeeba’, ‘Kathirava’ was born.


Some of our relatives want to name me differently without following the ‘Ka’ rule.


Thus ‘Prasanna’, ‘Deepan’ & ‘Chakravarthy’ was born.


There was a chaos among relatives on which name to finalise. In order to please all our relatives, my parents decided to combine all the names and named me as


Kartheeba Kandeeba Kathirava Prasanna Deepan Chakravarthy


My friends use to play tongue twister, memory game using my name. Looking back, it is so much fun now. My name story didn't end there.


I’m passionate about Cricket and I have noticed that all cricketers have two names (First Name & last Name). In order to make my name look stylish when I join the Indian Cricket team, I added ‘Raghul’ to it while studying 8th std.


And, I became ‘Kartheeba Kandeeba Kathirava Prasanna Raghul Deepan Chakravarthy’


When my parents approached school for my admission, the school told that this name is too big (Difficult to put in attendance in one row) and asked to shorten it.


That’s how I became ‘Kartheeban’.


After marriage, I decided to add my wife’s name to my name. (Check the full story here)


Finally, I’m Karthee Vidya now.


So, next time when you call me, what name are you going to call me by? 😂

]]>Mon, 20 Jul 2020 14:07:23 +0000<![CDATA[Lets Give Challenge - 1st Salary after 5 Years!]]>https://www.kartheevidya.com/blogs/post/lets-give-challenge-1st-salary-after-5-years

I worked in Cognizant for 8 years. I’m passionate about Volunteering and my vision is to inspire every Indian to volunteer.


So, I quit my job 5 years back on Dec 31, 2014 and decided to do full time volunteering.


Today, Team Everest NGO works with 40,000+ children with the help of 15,000 volunteers. During these years, I have not got any salary and I managed my family with my savings and my wife’s salary.


There are many individuals like me who want to serve the society but not able to quit the job because of financial commitments. 


So, I decided to build a model to give confidence to such youngsters. This January 2020, after 5 years of quitting the job, I asked individuals to sponsor me. You can check the blog post here.


28 People agreed to sponsor me. And for the first time after 5 years, I have got my first salary on May 1st. It is completely sponsored by individuals who want to help me to continue doing social work. (If you wish to sponsor me, click here to whatsapp me or whatsapp me at +91 89399 12365.)


I want to give away 100% of this to people who are affected by Covid.  As I told, my vision is to promote volunteering in India and in the world.


So, I have chosen 50 kids and giving them this money. Each kid will choose one person who is affected because of Covid and will handover this money to them. I feel this is a wonderful way to teach kids about kindness, empathy and giving. I call this as a ‘Lets give challenge’.


If you have a child, ask them to give their piggy bank money as a donation to help covid affected families. They don’t have a piggy bank? No worries. You can give them some money and ask them to whom it can be donated? Once they choose a beneficiary, give that money to them.


If you do not know any beneficiary, donate to Team Everest Livelihood relief fund and we can donate it to a person in need. Click here to donate. 


It’s a great opportunity to teach ‘Giving’ to our children. Try it out now and share your conversation with your child as a video with a hasgtag #letsgivechallenge


Let’s start giving!


Note: If you wish to join as a volunteer, sign up here.

Get Started Now
]]>Wed, 06 May 2020 14:06:22 +0000<![CDATA[An inspiring Banyan Tree..]]>https://www.kartheevidya.com/blogs/post/an-inspiring-banyan-tree

On the way to my meeting venue, I saw a Banyan tree with a message board in front of it.

I’m sharing the message written in front of this tree below: 


“This 70 year old banyan tree was transplanted from Padiri Village, located 60Km from here. The branches were chopped and the tree was uprooted to make way for putting up a structure in the village. Even in the uprooted condition, the tree showed no sign of giving up and started bearing green shoots giving signal it wants to live. 


Six months after it was chopped, the rehabilitated tree was transplanted in the present upright position. It has started growing again giving the message


 “NEVER GIVE UP”


After reading the message, I was dumbstruck. Someone has put great efforts to transport and maintain this tree with the only intention to motivate others.

 

Wow! Hats off to that person and their attitude. What a nice innovative way to motivate someone. 


I wonder how this world would look like if we often see these kinds of inspiring things in our day to day life.


 Thanks to the tree for inspiring me and to the person who wants to motivate others. This world is beautiful because of people like him and stories like this. - KartheeVidya Volunteer


#lifeisbeautiful 


P.S-1: If you are in Chennai and wish to see this tree, you can visit ‘Estancia Township’ in Guduvanchery. 


P.S-2: If you would like to volunteer with Team Everest India NGO to educate children by giving time or money, whatsapp with your name to +91 89399 12365. Keep making this world beautiful!

]]>Fri, 10 Mar 2017 07:01:36 +0000<![CDATA[Happy Birthday to me :)]]>https://www.kartheevidya.com/blogs/post/happy-birthday-to-me
This is the first post ever I’m writing about my birthday which I recently celebrated on Dec-12, 2015. It is a special birthday because it’s spent with Team Everest Smile 100 kids in Arni. These are 100 kids whom we are sponsoring for their education and we take free daily tuitions as well. You can understand more about Smile 100 initiative through the below video:
I would say it is the best birthday celebration I ever had. My wife and my friend Mani has planned for secret birthday celebration along with kids. We gave a mask to all the kids and celebrated by cutting a Cake.

The highlight of the birthday is Pani poori. Manikanta bought Pani poori for all kids from the shop where I use to eat Pani poori right from my 6th standard. This is the first time the vendor has come out of his shop to put a pani poori stall in client’s place :).

While thanking the vendor at the end of the event, I shared a story with our kids which I thought I can share you the same story. 

I use to eat Pani Poori in their shop right from my 6 th standard. Most of the days, after school ends, I go to their shop in bicycle, have Pani poori and then go home. My mom use to give me pocket money to eat since I feel very hungry after school hours. They use to put Pani poori in a small moving Vehicle during those times. 

One such day, when I went to the shop, the owner of the shop whom I call as ‘Anna’ (Brother), was wearing a huge bandage on his head. I asked what happened? He told that he met with an accident, few hours back and he went to hospital to wear the bandage and came back to the shop to sell Pani poori. It was such a big bandage and he is badly hurt. You could see the blood marks on his head. But still he came to shop. I was amazed at his dedication and hard work.

 Years rolled on. Even after 15 years, I still keep eating Pani Poori in the same shop whenever I go to my native Arni. Now, he got a shop in the same place where he use to sell Pani Poori on moving cart. A lot of customers keep coming to his shop to taste his dish. 

For me, he is one of the inspiration. He thought me at young age that there is no replacement for dedication and hard work. Am lucky to have the same person to give Pani poori to all my kids during my birthday. 

The other thing, I wish to share is the various gifts which I received for my birthday. It was strictly informed to kids that they should buy any new gifts. Instead they can make their own gifts if they want to :) . So, a lot of kids drew pictures, wrote stories and poems for me. Am sharing some of them for your reference. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did: 

While celebrating birthday with Smile 100 kids, kids who are taking up computer class in Mom Dad also planned for my birthday celebration. 


Mom Dad Community center is our home where I was born and brought up by my parents. When both my parent passed away, we converted our home into a community center to teach computers, yoga and other classes. We called it as Mom Dad Community center. 


You can look at the below video to know more about the center:

So, I went quickly to Mom Dad Community Center to cut cake and celebrate birthday with them. The kids have collected raised funds using their pocket money and bought a pack of pens for Team Everest. They requested me to give it to any kids who cannot afford to buy a pen. It is one of the best gifts I ever got in my life. I almost had tears in my eyes. I opened the pack and gifted one pen to each one of thekids and left to Smile 100 tuition center to continue the celebration there. 

I opened each and every gift and read the writings or showed the drawings toall kids and parents.

It is one of the memorable day ever in my life. Being with kids, I would call it as ‘Heaven’. Feeling so blessed and happy to have the love of so many kids and volunteers. 


I could not have asked for a much better birthday. Thanks for all the love and the blessings. This journey is beautiful. Living to the fullest. 


Now, I feel that my responsibility to serve has increased by many fold. I hope to live up to the expectation. 


Thank you once again! 


Note-1: We are looking for donors to provide evening snacks to our Smile 100 kids every day. It costs an average of Rs 1000 per day to provide evening snacks. If you are interested to donate one time or monthly, please whatsapp to +91 89399 12365 


Note-2: To get our regular service updates, whatsapp with your name and city to +91 89399 12365. Happy Volunteering!

]]>Sat, 26 Dec 2015 09:33:40 +0000<![CDATA[Things you miss when you leave your corporate job!]]>https://www.kartheevidya.com/blogs/post/things-you-miss-when-you-leave-your-corporate-job

Leaving a well-paid corporate job is not an easy thing to do. But, when you are passionate to do something big and good for the society, quitting the job seems one of the easiest steps to take in life!


That’s how and why I quit my job on Dec-31, 2014 to do full time social work with the NGO I founded in 2006 – Team Everest (www.teameverestindia.ngo). Team Everest objective is to promote volunteering and provide education to those who could not afford it.


For the past 6 months, my home is my office and I work from my home every single day.


Six months down the line, though I have started doing things which I want to do in my life forever, I was thinking about the things that I miss after leaving my corporate job.


Here are the things that I miss – Both Big and Small:

You miss your team and friends: Having worked in team size of 20s and 30s, sitting alone inside a room, looking at your monitor from 9am to 6pm with no one to talk around is boring at times. Though I have multiple calls a day, speaking with different people and getting things done virtually, having a physical team in place is something which you miss while leaving the corporate job. You also miss loads of fun, chit chats and those cute pranks.


You miss your manager and mentors: Yes, very true. You will miss your manager, if you had a good relationship with them. In my case, I miss my manager who mostly would be the first person I wish every day. Now, you have no one who can set your goals, guide you when you are struck with a problem and support you at your tough times. When you work alone, your overall productivity is solely dependent upon how personally motivated you are. No sticks and carrots around!


You miss seeing people: Having worked in one of the biggest corporate, I keep seeing people all the time around the company. You go to your desk, pantry, cafeteria, auditorium, you can see crowd everywhere. You can see so many faces, some very enthusiastic, charming, smiling, sad, worried etc.


Now, it’s about me and my laptop. There is no one around. Only if I go out for meetings, I see fresh faces. You miss meeting new friends and networking with people. Hope this will change in 2016 when I start going out and meeting new people.


You miss your Desk: Yeah.. The first day after I quit my job, when I started my work, I was quite confused where to sit and work. Since, you always have a nice cubicle in office, you don’t require a desk in home. The first week after I quit my job, I was sitting on sofa, over the bed, and even on the floor with my laptop. Looking at my poor postures, my wife decided to buy an office table and a rolling chair (Yeah, the one similar to the chair in corporates with confusing multiple screws across it).


My home office is set up now with a cute Buddha statue smiling on my desk :). All I need to reach my office now is to walk from one room to another.


You miss your coffee: I still remember my Day-1 in the company. My friends told that coffee and tea is provided free inside the company. I had 6 coffees on Day-1. Slowly, I started hating the machine made coffee. But still, I ended up having 2 coffees (11AM and 4PM) a day during my 8 years of corporate life.


Now, being in home all alone, you need to prepare your own coffee. So, I have my morning coffee by 8AM itself when my wife is in home and I prepare my 4PM coffee every day.


Yeah! AC: I still remember those days where I run to office earlier just to avoid the scotching Chennai heat. Gone are those days. Now, I sit inside my room below a ceiling fan. With low voltage playing the role of culprit, I have bought a pedestrian fan to have some air in the room. Though we have an A/C in one of the rooms, I rarely use it.


Have your lunch all alone: Going to lunch with friends is always fun. Your mouth is busy talking than eating. You consume more stories than food. You get to share everyone’s food and end up eating 5 to 10 different items than what you bought.


Now, it’s all alone. My wife keeps my lunch ready on the dining table. It’s only me and the lunch now. Sometimes, our TV accompanies me for lunch.


You miss those minimal walking too: After joining the corporate in 2006, my physical activities have reduced a lot. The only exercise I had was walking from one block to other block, walking from your seat to cafeteria or a pantry. If you are in a big ODC, walking from your seat to a nearby water cooler and rest room is considered as a big exercise. Rest of your movements is taken care by internal shuttle, office bus and cabs.


After quitting the job, my minimal walking routine during office time has also come to an end. There is no need to walk till bus stand to catch the bus since my office is inside my home itself.


My water cooler is just 5 feet away and rest room is 3 steps away. I’m trying to incorporate the habit of walking for 30mins every day now to keep myself physically active.


You miss your ID card: For the first one month after quitting my job, whenever I’m travelling out, I keep checking for my ID card to ensure that it is in place, forgetting that I don’t have an ID card any more. While in corporate, the ID card is your licence to enter the office. It’s your sacred Mantra. Having it with you gives you all power inside the company.

I weigh 20 grams less now since I do not wear an ID card nowadays.


These are few little things which you miss to have what you want in your life. I thought, I can write this blog post to let you know what you will miss when your time comes to quit your corporate job :).


Till then, happy working…


To be part of the volunteering journey and to get updates, whatsapp as ‘Update Me’ with your name and city to +91 89399 12365. You will get individual whatsapp msg each week about volunteering opportunities in your city. Happy Volunteering!


Want to know what I did after quitting my full time job?


Read my first 6 months report card here - www.bit.ly/karthee2015h1.

Note: I’m planning to have an office for Team Everest in Chennai from March 2016 which can provide space for 4 to 5 people and a small meeting room for discussion with volunteers. In case you have a place which you are ready to provide for Team Everest office, please let me know. Thank you :).


About Me: I’m Karthee Vidya with a dream to promote volunteering in our country. I have a dream where every person volunteers at least once a month (12/365). I love kids and volunteering. Education and Volunteering is very close to my heart. I’m 30 years old on this planet and 9 years old to volunteering as of 2015. To know more about me, check my Facebook page.

]]>Wed, 12 Aug 2015 03:48:49 +0000<![CDATA[An Ode to Samsung Galaxy Note 2]]>https://www.kartheevidya.com/blogs/post/an-ode-to-samsung-galaxy-note-2

I called it as my darling. My wife hates me when I  do so! It is one of the best friends I ever had in my life.  Yes, it is Samsung Galaxy Note 2. 


I bought it in 2012. It stayed with me for close to 3 years – Both during the good and bad times. 


It helped me reach out to thousands of Team Everest volunteers – asked them to volunteer by giving their time or money. 


It helped me in coordinating and run 10 free study centers in 10 villages of Tiruvannamalai Dt, helping 900 kids. 


It helped me in getting bicycles for students from rural area who walk a minimum of 3 Kms a day to reach schools.


 It helped me in converting our home in Arni to Mom Dad Community center which  benefits 500 children a year. 


It helped me to take farewell pic with my friend and mentors when they left the organization where I worked.


 It helped me record when Mr. Neil Bush spoke about me in Washington D.C 

It gave a face to the quotes that I write.. 


Every time, there was a special occasion  at our home, it  used to be a part of the celebration.


 I recorded my mom school farewell video using it. She passed away 4 months after that speech.


 May-2, 2013, 6.00AM – I got a call from my brother. I picked up my phone. He told that my father is no more. I used the same phone to coordinate with Theni Medical college to donate his body for the medical college so that the students can use his body to study during  lab hours. 


When I quit my job in Dec-2014, all those ‘All the Best’ messages and calls were received  through my Samsung Galaxy Note-2.


 In 2015, when I was searching for those 100 parentless and single parented kids to sponsor for their education, my phone was my robot. I would stand in the middle of a road, click a photo of a hut, email it, take  call from a sponsor and whatsap the child’s picture for background verification.


 It did everything for me. It was with me during my good and bad times. During those 3 years with me, it worked even after I slept (Would download something or the other for me.) 


It reminded me about my meetings and mobile bill payments. 


One fine day, it stopped working. I rebooted it, gave it in a service center. But the efforts went in vein. I could not bring it back to life. The game  was over. 


My darling is no more with me. I do not want to cremate it. So, it silently hibernates inside my desk. I’m still working now but without my darling.

Good friends are those who spend valuable amount of their time with you, helping you out or having fun. 


Samsung Galaxy Note 2 did the same with me. It’s just that it doesn’t have a soul. It was with me all the time helping me day in and day out.


Just because it doesn’t have a soul means we shouldn’t respect and care for it?

I take this opportunity to Thank you my darling for being with me. Thank you Samsung for making Note-2 part of my life. It really helped improve my productivity and helped me do things which I want to do in my life. 


I will miss my ‘Darling’ forever irrespective, of whichever smartphone I buy in future. Bye.

]]>Sat, 08 Aug 2015 23:50:58 +0000<![CDATA[What I did after quitting my job?]]>https://www.kartheevidya.com/blogs/post/what-i-did-after-quitting-my-job

It’s been 6 months since I have quit my full time corporate job. My last working day as a full time corporate employee was on Dec-31, 2014.


After which, I was working 5 days a month for part time in the same corporate. I quit that as well by May-2015.


So, I have spent the past 6 months in the area which I like the most – ‘Service and Volunteering’.


Note: I founded Team Everest in August 2006 and was doing volunteering work for the past 8 years from Aug 2006 to Dec 2014 while working in a corporate. From Jan-1, 2015 I quit my corporate job to spend all my time and energy on volunteering work.


Starting Jan 2015, to keep my work open and transparent, I wrote one blog post a month covering all the activities that I did for that particular month. You can read them here - Jan-2015, Feb-2015, March-2015, April-2015, May 2015, June 2015


As in corporate, you have a self-appraisal once in 6 months. I would like to consider this blog post as a self-appraisal for myself. I would like to reflect on my work, see where I went right and where I need to improve.


I wrote a blog post in Jan-2015 listing the  targets  that I would love to achieve in first 6 months of 2015. Here is an update on it:

Mom Dad Community Center:


Goal: Set and ensure the Mom Dad Community Center (MDCC) initiatives goes on smoothly. Will be ensuring that the first batch of students have a quality learning experience in the center.


Hits:

We have completed computer course for 8 batches (6 Student Batch and 2 parent batch) in Mom Dad Computer center. It includes 1 month of summer computer crash course for 2 batches of students. 

We conducted 2 Medical camps, 1 summer and 1 winter camp in MDCC. 

We are also using the MDCC to take free tuition classes on Sundays for SMILE 100 kids.

Misses: We wanted to start Yoga classes in MDCC. We could not do it due to lack of Yoga teachers in Arni. Once we find the right teacher, we will start the classes there.

First Batch of students who completed their course. 

Computer classes for a Parent Batch

SMILE 100:

Goal:Identify 100 parentless and single parented kids in Arni, Tiruvannamalai Dt, Tamil Nadu and put them in a proper English Medium school and sponsor till they finish formal education.


Hits:

Identified and shortlisted 100 parentless and single parented kids. 


We have admitted them in a good private school in Arni. 

We are also conducting free after school tuitions for all 100 kids since there is no one to guide them after school hours. We have identified a venue for these classes and appointed 4 staffs to take daily tuition. 

Every Saturday, we conduct extra-curricular activities for the children.

 Every Sunday, we conduct bridge course for students from 6 th to 8 th standard since they are weak in English.

 Smile 100 Home Visit

Smile 100 - Result Day 

Smile 100 Inauguration 

Day-1 in School! 

Reaction of students on first day at tuition

Smile 100 - Parent Meet

Misses:

We underestimated the fund raising efforts for Smile 100 initiative. We need to put  in 10 times more efforts in raising the required funds for Smile 100. We have raised funds for 80 students so far. Need sponsors for 20 more students. Interested volunteers can sign up here. To know more about Smile 100, please read here.


The lesson learnt is, that I should be more careful in estimating efforts for our future initiatives.

Starting Everest Chapter in Bangalore:

Goal: To start Team Everest in Bangalore


Hits:

I made a visit to Bangalore, stayed there for 10 days and kick started Team Everest. We had a volunteer meeting followed up by school visit. 

Now every weekend, 5 to 10 volunteers in Bangalore are doing some good to the people of Karnataka.

Misses: The entire Bangalore activity is dependent upon one volunteer. Need to strengthen the core team in Bangalore to scale up the initiatives in the city.

Bangalore Volunteer Meet 

Reading Session for Visually Challenged in Bangalore

Library set up across the Country:


Goal: To set up 50+ Libraries which is donated as part of Team Everest Contest for a Cause (C4C) prize money.


Hits: We  successfully set up 50+ libraries across various cities in India which includes Chennai, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Pune, Delhi and Dindugal.


Misses: We chose the wrong time frame to set up libraries. Since many schools were busy with exams, summer vacations from February to May, the bulk of the library set up happened only by June. I underestimated the external factors which will affect our library set up.

Contest for a Cause winners distributing the library in a Govt School

Additional Goals achieved:

Strengthening Hyderabad activities:

We have appointed one full time staff in Hyderabad. Hanumanth is one of our volunteer who has quit his corporate job similar to me to do social work. He Joined Team Everest in March-2015 and played a key role in executing Smile 100 initiative along with me. I successfully mentored him for 3 months and we hope to  see the results through our Hyderabad Everest activities.

Re-Structuring Internal support team:

We had a lot of re-structuring within our support team with the focus on empowering the  team volunteers, providing  them clarity and giving them responsibility for the initiative they own. It is bringing a lot of clarity internally, speeding up decision making process and helping us scale our initiatives.

Everest Support Team!

Partnership with Corporate:

We started focusing on partnering with like-minded Corporate who share a similar vision. Corporate tie-ups need not be purely fund oriented. In fact, we look for corporates who are ready to motivate their employees to engage in community activities.


We had one successful partnership with Lennox who supported Team Everest’s Smile 100 activities during the first half of 2015.

lennox Sponsored Visit

Volunteers from TCS started to regularly volunteer in our schools for our digital literacy programs.


Volunteers from Cognizant Outreach helped in conducting summer camps in 10 villages and they continue to volunteer in various Team Everest activities.

Cognizant Outreach volunteers during Summer Camp

What amazed me is the interest shown by start-ups and small sized corporates who truly want to give back to the society.

Team from Aadhyaa Studios

Team Everest will expand its platform to engage as many corporate volunteers as possible to promote volunteering and motivate them to volunteer at least once a month (12/365).


I’m a person who looks at the past with gratitude and the future with hunger. The first 6 months of this new volunteering journey is fruitful and enjoyable. I was able to set up goals and chase them as well.


The next 6 months is going to be challenging and game changing as we are experimenting with various new initiatives to promote volunteering in our country.


Till then, it is bye from Karthee Vidya. We can meet up again through my monthly review blog post and will write a one year summary blog post by Jan-2016.

Happy Volunteering. Keep Supporting!


Note: If you wish to get my personal updates on whatsapp, plz whatsapp to +91 8939912365 as ‘Update Me’ with your name and city mentioned in it. You can also follow my updates on Facebook and Twitter – @kartheevidya

]]>Wed, 22 Jul 2015 15:33:52 +0000<![CDATA[Smile 100 - Let's create 100 smiles in 2015!]]>https://www.kartheevidya.com/blogs/post/smile-100-lets-create-100-smiles-in-2015

Hi friends,

As you are aware, one of the key initiatives that we are planning to launch in 2015 is the Team Everest ‘Smile 100’ initiative.

The idea behind this initiative is to provide best of the best education to the poorest of the poor in our country (India).

We strongly believe that ‘Quality Education’ is really a game changer. It empowers and help a person to stand on his own legs. They can be out of poverty. Not just that. Now they have the power to change the world around him. With better knowledge, you create a better world.

If you are reading this blog post, I can assure that you are one among the elite crowd – ‘Educated’. The basic foundation among us would be a good sound 'Education'. Not many in the same world are as privileged as you and me. Hence, we decided to gift quality ‘Education’ to those who could not afford it.

I believe that ‘Education’ is a ‘Magic’.

It just does not changes a person’s life. It changes the life of the entire family, in fact their entire generation.

I still remember the story which my mom use to tell me. This is a story happened in early 1930s in India. My grandfather (Mom’s Dad) use to study well. He studied up to 5th standard and for his next class, he needs to go to another school which is 2 Kms away and had a yearly fees of Re 1 per year (Re 1 is very huge in those days. Imagine, that you can by a shirt with Re 1 :) ).

My great grandfather who under estimated the power of Education, told my grandfather that he is not ready to pay Re 1 and there is no need to walk 2kms a day to study further. My depressed grandfather discontinued his studies and started selling Sarees along with his father (My Great Grand father). He had a fire in his belly at that time. He decided that when he gets married and have kids, he will give education to them. That’s how my mom completed Masted in Education (M.Ed) and worked as a Govt school teacher. In later years she worked as a School Principal in a small Government school in a village in Tamilnadu.

When I was a kid, she use to tell me this story ‘n’ number of times. She use to tell me that because her father educated her, she is putting me in school now. Looking back at it, whatever I got today is because of the education I received. It was my foundation. Without it, I would not have reached where I’m today.

With Education, I have the power to choose what I want. Without it, I’m nothing.

That’s why I told that ‘Education’ not only changes one person. It changes an entire generation. Nothing can replace ‘Education’. That’s why I call it a ‘Magic’.

So, what are we planning to do through ‘Smile 100’ initiative? Let me explain this initiative through a Question and Answer model:The Plan?

We are planning to adopt 100 parentless kids and Single parented kids mostly from age group less than 10 and support them for their education till they complete college (Or atleast the schooling!).

Where these children are from? All these 100 children would be from a place called ‘Arni’ in Tiruvannamalai Dt. It is just 150 Kms or 3 Hours drive from Chennai! Why are we selecting children from same place?

We are selecting Children from the same place because we have many such deserving children there itself. Moreover, picking students from one place will help us run after school coaching classes where we can help the kids do their homework, help improve their other extra-curricular skills and help them become a better human being. We will miss those opportunities if the kids are scattered in a different place. The idea behind this initiative is not just providing scholarship for their educational support. We want to help create an atmosphere, where they can express themselves, experiment, identify and nurture their talents. We want to help them become good human beings who can grow up and create a ripple effect of goodness in the society.

On what basis the students are selected?

We have a detailed due diligence process involving 7 to 10 steps to select the right and deserving child for this initiative (I know that all kids are deserving. Unfortunately, our budget and bandwidth at this point of time can be used effectively for only 100 kids). Our basic criteria is to select a financially poor kid who have no parents or have a single parent with dreams to come up in life. By parentless, we mean that these kids are not from orphanage. They might be with their grandma or grandpa who struggles to pay the fees for the kid. Our kids group may even have school dropout kids or kids who are yet to go to school.

When will we know the students name and their details?

We have started the background process for student identification, school identification and sponsor identification. By May-2015, we will complete our back ground works and we will finalize the 100 kids who will be part of Smile 100. So we will reveal the students name and their details by May-2015. We are also working on a website to publish all the details of 100 kids. We are facing a shortage of technical assistance and the website plan might get delayed depending upon the amount of support we receive to build it as soon as possible.

What is the cost of sponsoring one student?

To be honest, we are actually yet to figure the actual amount. As of now, we have an average cost idea behind it. Out of 100 kids, we identified 1 kid last year and put him in schools for 6th standard. It costed us Rs 30,000 per year. So, we have taken Rs 30,000 as an average for a student per year. The actual cost for a student may be less or more. It depends up on which class and school the kid is going to study in. So, for 100 kids, we need Rs 30 Lakhs per year to educate them.

I find the cost per student is very high. Why don’t we put them in a cheaper school so that we can educate more children? That was one of the idea we discussed during the start of this initiative. But, we had one question in front of us:

‘If I have a kid, which school will I choose to educate him?’.

Just try answering this question to yourself. Most of us would want to put our kids in best of the best schools so that our children can get more opportunities and excel in their lives. That’s the same idea behind Smile 100 as well. We want to give the best of the best education to these kids who could not afford such education even in their wildest of their dreams.

I would also like to recollect that we do not mean ‘Costlier’ means ‘Better’. We look for a school which can help the kid to become better and excel in their life. If there is a low cost school with much better learning experience, we will choose that school also for our Smile 100 kids. That’s why I have mentioned earlier that the cost per child will vary depending upon the school in which we admit the kid.

How about ‘Transparency’?

Whenever I speak with my friends, many of them have shown interest to adopt and support a child for their education. At the same time, they feel that NGO’s are not transparent enough. In most cases, they do not have enough trust with the NGO. It might be a truth or just a perception. That’s why when we decided to start this initiative, we thought that ‘Transparency’ should be the core and central part of this initiative.

We want to keep it as transparent as possible and want our donors to question us whenever they have slightest of the doubts in their minds. We would also like to invite the donors of Smile 100 initiative for an open audit every month so that we ensure greater transparency and maximum impact. Team Everest is just an organization connecting people and facilitates by creating an opportunity to connect the volunteers with the needy. Our core belief is ‘Of the People, by the People and for the people’.

We want our volunteers not just to be ‘Donors’. We want them to be a ‘Mentor’ to the child whom they sponsor. We want our donors to meet the child atleast once a month and guide them further. These kids will be just 150 kms away from Chennai and we could facilitate a visit to our donors in Chennai. If you are any where apart from Chennai, we would be glad to connect you with your kid through Skype, phone calls and updates through online. However, facilitating such options for each child and each donor would be time consuming and needs a lot of ground work.

Being a small NGO, we have little man power but a BIG dream. So, these options will be rolled out in a phased manner so that, on the long run, we have options for donors to collect with their kid any time.

Ideally, we want each donor to be connected with a child so that they know whom they are sponsoring and where their money is going. We will be able to enable this option once our website is ready.

If you have any other options to keep this initiative transparent, feel free to suggest us by emailing to info@teameverestindia.org

We want to show this world that there are still many NGO's and people who are honest, transparent and making a deep impact in this world. And we wish to be one among them!

So, How do I contribute?

We recommend that you can be one of our Monthly donor and donate month on month. Minimum contribution amount is Rs 50. To join as a monthly donor, register at www.bit.ly/everestsmile100

If you want to make a onetime contribution of Rs 1000 and more, you can do that as well. You can register here for the same - www.bit.ly/everestsmile100

Feel free to write us at info@teameverestindia.org for any other queries or support for this initiative. You can also call our Everest help desk number at +91 8939912365 to talk about this initiative.

Let us create 100 Smiles in 2015. Are you ready for it??

Thanks & Regards, Karthee Vidya Team Everest - First Volunteer and Founder www.facebook.com/kartheevidya

]]>Fri, 23 Jan 2015 21:04:18 +0000