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Finding Synergy

By Gandhrav Telhan '05

I met Srinivas Rao through one of my friends in my village, Dunu. Srinivas is Dunu’s older cousin and is serving India as a soldier of the Indian Army in New Delhi. He has left his mother and father who miss him dearly in Machavaram, the village in AP where I am residing for the year. I had the good fortune of meeting Srivnivas while he was home for Diwali break. He’s a mountain of a man, both in character and stature.

On Sunday’s the children at the youth hostel are off from school so we went to play cricket in a near by field. Srinivas and Dunu joined me as I played with the thirty some children. The kids had a change of heart and decided they wanted to play football first, Indian football that is, and Srinivas dove straight in to the mix. We had only one rule for the kids, “Me kutko, Me Kurcho,” which means “You hit, you sit.” We had one hell of a game, Srinivas, myself, and the kids were going at it with everything we had.

Shortly after my team scored three goals on Srinivas’ there was a motion to start playing cricket. At this point Dunu joined us also, he wasn’t much of a football fan but cricket was right up his ally. Thus far, I had only been a spectator to all of the cricket matches the kids had played. It was time for me to show my stuff, the pressure was on. Dunu and I were on the same team, playing against Srinivas. I was so excited to have both of these young men engaged with the kids and interacting in a way that both seemed to be enjoying thoroughly. During my first swing the bowler knocked down all three wickets, but I didn’t feel so bad because the same thing happened to Srinivas, so much for being the next Indian cricket champion. Dunu on the other hand, was unstoppable, he hit one run after another. Eventually, he lead our team to victory, no thanks to me; although I did do some mean bowling if I may say so myself. After the match, I asked any of the kids whether they wanted to be in the Army and they had a brief question and answer session with Srinivas. One of the questions was “Can you use the same bullet again after it has gone through someone’s body?” Srinivas patiently answered any questions they had. He won medals for boxing, drill, basketball, and running. I got such a thrill out of seeing them interact with such a great role model.

On Sunday mornings I play with the children and in the evening from 4PM to 6PM I conduct a weekly workshop on personal leadership. On this particular Sunday I showed up to the hostel, as I always do, ready to present only to find that the teacher that translates from Hindi to Telegu for me was nowhere in sight. I had worked hard to prepare this lesson for the high school aged children and if I didn’t present between 4PM and 6PM I would have to wait another week since the kids spend most of their time with their studies. So I took a look at my options and I ran to Dunu’s house to see if Srinivas could help translate for me during the presentation. Dunu and I ran into Srinivas while looking for him and without even giving it a thought he volunteered himself for the task and helped me out. Srinivas had learned to speak Hindi with the Indian Army in Delhi and of course his Telegu was exceptional. As Srinivas and I presented the material together I could feel the excitement building in the room, Srinivas was getting just as giddy as me as we taught the children about how the way we see the world, our paradigms, determines the actions we take and how our choice of actions determines the outcome of our lives. By the end of the presentation we were ecstatic and the kids were at the very least interested and attentive. After the presentation Srinivas shared with me how much joy he got out of being in front of the children and helping awaken them to their inner potential. As an NRI, I experienced such profound satisfaction standing next to Srinivas and working with him for the common interest of improving the lives of these children. The union of our skills and resources made us exponentially stronger and effective than either of us could be alone.

Did You know?

Indicorps offers a variety of programs and opportunities that encourage leadership and civic engagement. While the fellowship focuses on empowering people willing to do whatever it takes to affect change, we also have local volunteer programs in India, an established internship program, an emerging domestic program, an effort to engage late-careers seniors in development, an online volunteer opportunity site, and more....

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If you have come to help me, you are wasting your time. But if you have come because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us work together.

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