00:00:17
well thank you
00:00:18
randy for joining us uh just wanted to
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start off by asking you to help us
00:00:22
understand literacy in there
00:00:24
and what it is and what you do there
00:00:27
it's an organization where i feel that
00:00:30
whatever my vision was when i started
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to make it come true day by day and
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reach a particular level where
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india is nowhere right now
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i started about 15 years ago with
00:00:44
just five kids and right now we have
00:00:47
touched over
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10 to 15 000 children women and youth
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as i see it's hardly any kind of a scale
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i have gone up
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per year if i see but it has taught me
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this whole organization has taught me um
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something different about india
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something uh which needs to be done
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urgently for india something which has
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to be addressed by people like me
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or many people who are working in this
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field
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for india so
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it is an organization which is trying to
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address many things at the same time the
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literacy education empowerment
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employment
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of all kinds of beneficiaries that be it
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youth be it women
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be children adolescent
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but i feel that many of us are trying to
00:01:41
do that
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and i think miners are just a small
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little
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uh drop in the ocean which i'm trying to
00:01:48
do through literacy india
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how did you become interested in this
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uh as a kid i think since my childhood
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i could never see like i am in a better
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off position
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and i see children on the street i'm
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going to school and i find children on
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the street
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i feel that there got to be something
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you know someone got to do something
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about it
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i said why it is not being helped and i
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am clad properly and there is nobody
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i mean i find people they are not clad
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properly they are sleeping on the street
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and i think it was there since my
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childhood and it just happened that it
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got a little more
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when i was in kolkata i was supposed to
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there i was there for a
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long time i used to watch these nuns
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working
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so selflessly and you know picking up
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this
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little child on the street and how they
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will take them and take them i visited
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the orphanage
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and i felt that i need to
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come to a position where i am going to
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do something like this
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i didn't know how it was like a
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frustration i had this
00:02:54
restlessness in me and i was thinking
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that
00:02:57
when is that time gonna come when i'm
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gonna actually go do something about it
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and i you will really not believe it i
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really didn't
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go places to ask somebody how to go
00:03:09
about it how does it happen
00:03:10
what are the regulations what what am i
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supposed to do
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i learned abc's right from the scratch
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to
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going places and i felt shy asking
00:03:22
anybody who's running an organization
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and take some lessons
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because they would look at me because
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once a while i tried
00:03:29
they would look at me in a very cynical
00:03:31
manner you're a pilot
00:03:33
you're doing pretty well what i mean you
00:03:37
must be a nut case or
00:03:38
you know looking at this sector you're
00:03:41
well off they're going to be some
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internal hidden agenda for getting into
00:03:46
this
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so for small little things i really had
00:03:50
to work hard
00:03:51
to find out details and i
00:03:55
learned a lot there was so much of
00:03:57
self-learning i i can't tell you it was
00:03:59
a
00:03:59
great it was a fantastic journey
00:04:03
so that's it what you just mentioned so
00:04:05
you don't have a
00:04:06
sort of a usual background for anybody
00:04:09
in india or anywhere across the world
00:04:10
for example
00:04:11
so can you tell us where you started off
00:04:14
obviously your dad was also a pilot
00:04:16
and uh can you tell us whether he had
00:04:19
influence on you
00:04:20
becoming a pilot as well and how did he
00:04:23
end up being
00:04:24
no my father is not a pilot oh he's not
00:04:25
a problem my father-in-law is a pilot
00:04:28
okay um no my dad
00:04:31
and my mom i think they have
00:04:35
didn't realize it but they have an
00:04:36
important role to play
00:04:38
because they both come from very humble
00:04:40
background my grandfather worked
00:04:43
when the english rule was there and
00:04:46
i heard a lot of stories as to what
00:04:49
happened in the villages
00:04:51
i heard a lot of stories my father lost
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her
00:04:54
dad and how a single mother
00:04:57
struggled her way up and bringing up her
00:05:00
daughter
00:05:01
so all those stories actually had a deep
00:05:04
impact on me i think
00:05:06
i was making base through my parents and
00:05:09
my
00:05:10
grandparents so this background actually
00:05:13
is
00:05:14
has helped me and made me
00:05:17
think about you know if somebody is in
00:05:20
that situation
00:05:21
what will that person think and try
00:05:24
survive what will the person do
00:05:26
so when i reached the level where i was
00:05:30
so comfortable
00:05:32
staying in a five-star hotel going
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places
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you know whatever i wanted with my money
00:05:38
i could do
00:05:40
i could relate to somebody who didn't
00:05:42
have
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you know i had seen both the sides and
00:05:46
it made my life much
00:05:48
easier when running an organization
00:05:50
stepwise
00:05:52
growing so made me a streetwise smart
00:05:56
for uh getting into a situation and how
00:05:58
to get out of it and how to resolve it
00:06:01
and it's a learning for me whenever i
00:06:03
meet
00:06:04
people from any kind of
00:06:08
background be it industry education
00:06:12
i'm forever curious to find out where
00:06:16
india is heading
00:06:17
because if i know how we are getting
00:06:20
developed what all areas we are working
00:06:22
on
00:06:23
it becomes easier for me to handle my
00:06:26
beneficiaries
00:06:27
give them that kind of a channel and
00:06:28
that kind of a path that these are the
00:06:30
areas they can you know grow
00:06:32
because literacy india is working on
00:06:34
three e's
00:06:36
and that three e's also took me by
00:06:39
working on first e and the second e and
00:06:41
the third the first t
00:06:42
was the empowerment part you know go on
00:06:44
motivating go on telling them over and
00:06:47
over again that you
00:06:48
you guys can do it you guys can do it
00:06:51
and the second e was the education
00:06:53
that it is important for you you can't
00:06:56
do without it
00:06:56
and the third e that after getting
00:06:58
educated
00:07:00
employment is so very important
00:07:03
because i've seen there are graduates no
00:07:06
jobs
00:07:07
there are school pass-outs no jobs
00:07:11
so what were what were the answers and
00:07:13
they i had
00:07:15
you know sleepless nights trying to find
00:07:18
out the answers
00:07:20
go and read the mint papers and i
00:07:23
you know pilots reading a business
00:07:25
standard or
00:07:26
any kind of this kind of a paper it
00:07:29
doesn't interest
00:07:30
they will read about the aircrafts what
00:07:33
the engines do
00:07:34
and blah blah blah and how many
00:07:36
aircrafts are coming in what are the new
00:07:37
aircrafts
00:07:38
my interest diversed when i stepped into
00:07:42
this world
00:07:42
and it's intriguing day by day as to
00:07:46
what all
00:07:46
areas india is diversifying to
00:07:50
and it makes my vision more and more
00:07:53
clear
00:07:54
that what am i going to be what's my
00:07:56
goal for the next 10 years
00:07:59
you mentioned a step-by-step process for
00:08:01
your organization could you walk us
00:08:02
through what the process was how did he
00:08:03
go about setting this up
00:08:05
very simple say i started with five
00:08:07
children
00:08:08
okay we adopted these five kids and
00:08:12
i had other co-founders also we
00:08:14
discussed
00:08:16
and they said okay good school you know
00:08:18
they must go to good school
00:08:20
so the background is parents are
00:08:22
completely illiterate
00:08:24
so we put them in good school uh what is
00:08:27
the definition of a good school
00:08:28
that i learned over a period of time
00:08:30
that whether the school is teaching well
00:08:34
so they go to the school when they come
00:08:36
back
00:08:37
who's going to help them do the homework
00:08:41
no answer so we we go to find a teacher
00:08:44
who would tutor them after school hours
00:08:47
help them with the homework and that's
00:08:48
how the process started
00:08:50
so what next i mean they go to the
00:08:52
school
00:08:54
they are not treated well because they
00:08:56
are poor class
00:08:57
and mingling with the regular kids who
00:08:59
are privileged class what next
00:09:01
so no this is not going to end here we
00:09:04
must do something about confidence
00:09:05
building
00:09:06
that you're good is your if your grades
00:09:09
are good and if you are groomed well
00:09:11
nobody can make out that you're not from
00:09:13
that class
00:09:14
so that journey begun with the fight
00:09:16
with fried children then i realized that
00:09:19
my five you know when i'm working i
00:09:22
might as well increase the number
00:09:23
so the number went up to 50. and then
00:09:27
100
00:09:27
and then 150 and then you know that
00:09:29
multiplied
00:09:30
now in this journey i realized that what
00:09:33
is the quality of education we are
00:09:35
having
00:09:37
what is that next step these kids when
00:09:39
they pass out and what kind of a
00:09:40
question they're going to be asking me
00:09:42
so i should be ready with their
00:09:46
of higher studies and then further
00:09:49
higher studies or
00:09:50
their what are they going to be getting
00:09:52
into what kind of an employment
00:09:54
what is their uh you know what i will be
00:09:57
thinking about my son
00:09:59
i should be thinking about these kids
00:10:01
until late even now
00:10:03
all the planning is going on i have a
00:10:05
school i have few schools in fact
00:10:08
um the principals and the teachers are
00:10:11
counseled and
00:10:12
they're told that you should be doing
00:10:14
this homework
00:10:15
who are the averages who have very
00:10:18
little interest in the school
00:10:19
they just want to quickly finish their
00:10:21
schooling and who are the ones who are
00:10:23
you think
00:10:24
they are studious type map those ones
00:10:28
keep them aside now also when you map
00:10:30
them
00:10:31
who have a scientific vent of mind so
00:10:34
you can have doctors or
00:10:36
you can have engineers and who don't so
00:10:39
the
00:10:40
science and the non-science stream they
00:10:42
diversify
00:10:43
these are the things which i found none
00:10:46
of the non-profit organizations were
00:10:48
doing
00:10:48
they were just regularly doing the
00:10:50
education but you know
00:10:52
if the chap is ready we'll find us
00:10:56
or her way in the regular life but it
00:10:58
doesn't happen i found that if we
00:11:01
do these experiment then it becomes a
00:11:04
module
00:11:04
a model for us to copy it to and give it
00:11:07
to any other non-profit organizations
00:11:09
and tell them hey this is what you can
00:11:11
do
00:11:12
and believe it or not after 15 years i
00:11:15
am giving away
00:11:16
whatever i learned in this process to
00:11:19
others you know you can do this you can
00:11:20
do that
00:11:21
many new people when there are new
00:11:23
players who are coming into this field
00:11:25
they are looking for some sort of a
00:11:28
mantra moola about what you can you know
00:11:30
tell us please tell us
00:11:32
so i share it all i said this is how i
00:11:34
learned and i think these are the things
00:11:35
if you do
00:11:37
it'll be good for you it'll be
00:11:38
successful and
00:11:40
sure short it is so you've scaled
00:11:44
you've gone from five to you said ten
00:11:46
thousand ten uh no i think fifteen
00:11:48
thousand fifteen thousand students so
00:11:49
that that's
00:11:50
a huge scale up or whichever way you
00:11:53
look at it
00:11:54
so how do you manage that scaling
00:11:55
process and how do you ensure
00:11:57
unfair there was a very good question
00:11:59
back there um somebody from america
00:12:01
india foundation
00:12:02
came up with it that most of the
00:12:04
non-profit organizations
00:12:06
are running by individual a strong
00:12:08
leader
00:12:09
and i i consider that okay i am the
00:12:11
leader
00:12:13
and i have about 174 staff now it
00:12:16
started with
00:12:17
two staff two teachers now i have so
00:12:19
many teachers
00:12:21
supervisors and uh your coordinators
00:12:24
project coordinators because we have six
00:12:26
seven projects
00:12:28
going on at simultaneously and
00:12:32
ahead above that who reports to the
00:12:34
trustees
00:12:36
so uh yes it is leadership driven so
00:12:40
i was telling the watanians i said hey
00:12:42
i'm here i was trying to
00:12:44
wonder that there is it's a house full
00:12:46
so many uh
00:12:48
you know young faces i see here why are
00:12:50
you here
00:12:51
you know i i and i was asking myself why
00:12:54
am i here
00:12:56
so the answer came that i'm looking for
00:12:59
leader
00:13:00
so any of you who be interested in
00:13:03
taking my position do contact me so i am
00:13:06
also
00:13:06
actually searching for a successor who
00:13:09
will eventually next
00:13:10
10 15 years groom the young
00:13:13
person when i started i was quite young
00:13:17
and down the road i am also looking for
00:13:20
a successor i don't want this thing to
00:13:22
die
00:13:23
i don't want and you require a strong
00:13:25
leader because
00:13:26
vision is very important in this field
00:13:28
and if you have a vision then you will
00:13:30
go on
00:13:31
strategizing come up with the new
00:13:33
methods innovation
00:13:35
and it's an ongoing thing it can never
00:13:37
uh
00:13:39
stop at one place every year they've got
00:13:41
to be something new
00:13:43
let's switch gears for a second and talk
00:13:45
about flying so
00:13:47
how what's your experience like i mean
00:13:49
you being the first person being the
00:13:50
first woman
00:13:51
to fly no i'm uh actually um
00:13:55
i'll make it little technically correct
00:13:57
um
00:13:58
i started on the boeing 737s
00:14:01
then came on the 320s when the 320s came
00:14:05
in
00:14:05
that time it was a fly-by-wire
00:14:07
technology
00:14:08
and something new in the world it was
00:14:11
introduced
00:14:12
so i was the first indian woman that
00:14:13
time to go for my training
00:14:16
there and i was asked questions how can
00:14:19
india
00:14:20
being in parda how is that you're here i
00:14:22
said no it's
00:14:23
people are changing things are changing
00:14:26
so that time it was the first time for
00:14:27
the 320s
00:14:29
fly-by-wire aircraft but
00:14:32
actual recognition came on the
00:14:34
wide-bodied
00:14:35
when i started flying i was given an
00:14:37
option
00:14:38
whether i want to go back on the boeings
00:14:40
on the 320s
00:14:41
or remain on the 300s and fly in command
00:14:45
i said i'd like to fly in command i had
00:14:47
no idea whether i'll be
00:14:49
getting into a history book i said i'd
00:14:51
like to fly in command
00:14:53
so it was kind of a shell shocking for
00:14:55
many
00:14:56
my seniors for a very simple reason that
00:15:00
no woman had been there on that seat in
00:15:02
the left seat
00:15:04
so i didn't realize it you know it was
00:15:07
for me
00:15:08
it was a regular thing i had to go for
00:15:09
my command
00:15:12
till the day i got my command the day i
00:15:14
started doing my solo that's the time i
00:15:16
realized that it was actually
00:15:19
why people are worried about it because
00:15:21
a woman
00:15:22
going on the left seat never before
00:15:25
and it's a huge aircraft you see and it
00:15:28
has an impact it has some sort of an
00:15:29
impact on you when you
00:15:30
look outside and god there can be a
00:15:34
woman over there
00:15:35
and the kind of system we live the
00:15:37
tradition which we have in the
00:15:38
in our country uh women pilots it's a
00:15:42
big thing
00:15:43
so 1996 it was
00:15:47
uh back then
00:15:50
and that's when the day i got my command
00:15:53
and
00:15:54
95 literacy india had started
00:15:57
i think they were all moving on
00:16:00
parallelly in my mind so
00:16:03
you actually have a wonderful story to
00:16:04
tell so i want to thank on behalf of
00:16:06
knowledge1 want to thank you for
00:16:07
spending time with us today thank you so
00:16:20
much
00:16:24
you
