Education and its impact

Education and its impact

All names, except Ramu Uncle's have been changed to protect the identity of my friends.

All my social work in India is done through my cousin, Ramu Uncle. His real name is K .S.Ramamurthy . He is 78 years old and has very progressive ideas on everything. His father was a Freedom Fighter and Gandhian. There were many days, may be years when the family has struggled with poverty. Going to bed hungry was not something Ramu Uncle has not experienced. Even today, he is proud to talk about it. He is humble. I like that. That is the atmosphere Ramu uncle grew up in. Ramu Uncle went to college at night, worked for the US Embassy in India, and later for the Government of Botswana as Deputy Post Master General. He returned to India to work with the less fortunate people. He did not just preach about the need for equality, but practiced it at his own home. Two side notes: One, Ramu Uncle’s younger brother, Cheenu, is married to my younger sister, Bhanu. I know Ramu Uncle, from about my age twelve, well before Cheenu married my sister. It is in the home of Cheenu and Bhanu that I met the people I am talking about. Second, Ramu Uncle and his wife Malathi have no children.

When the cleaning lady / cook (Chandra) used to come to Ramu Uncle's home to start her work day, he would insist that she eat first. This was generally not done in the India of forty years ago. I guess, in some homes even today. India is a very status conscious country.

Chandra’s husband (Sarathi) was a driver for a retired educationist, living right across the street from Ramu Uncle's home. Ramu Uncle drilled it into Chandra and Sarathi that their only son, (Ganesh) should go to college, get a degree, and work for a “big company”, just as he expects his nieces and nephews to do. Radical thinking for sure.

Education is not cheap. Given India’s population and the severe competition for college seats, and the proliferation of “for profit” colleges, the “donation” to get a seat in engineering school can be sizable. Given the limited income of the parents, Ganesh could not have imagined his parents paying for "donation", tuition, books etc. every year.

The prohibitive cost of education in India did not stop Ramu Uncle with going forward with his idea of educating Ganesh. When the time came, Ganesh should go to college. Period. He collected funds from his friends and admirers and helped put Ganesh thro college.

Fast forward four years.

Ganesh has a four year degree in computer sciences. Armed with that degree, he got a job offer from one of India’s top software companies. As I write this, Ganesh works in London, is a project manager and manages a fifteen member team. That is the power of education. He has already bought an apartment for his parents to stay in, a car and the “need” for his parents to work is greatly reduced. All because of the four year college degree Ganesh got, thanks to the “out of the box” thinking of Ramu Uncle.

Ganesh has since married, another software professional, also working for a major Indian Software company and they are expecting their first child soon.

God bless Ramu Uncle, Chandra, Sarathi and Ganesh. And the new bride and the child to come. My best wishes to all of them.