As most of you know, I volunteer at a school of physically challenged individuals at Maan Village. The school is 20 years old, and so were its dining tables.
They were installed at the school during the inauguration so you can imagine the state of those tables and stools. A few of them had lost the length of their legs to rust causing it to become imbalanced. Due to disability, most kids don’t grow to be more than 5 ft tall. This meant these old tables were neck-high for the kids. The school was desperate to change these end-of-life tables as soon as possible. But it’s a costly affair for which the school had no budget.
As Paulo Coelho said, when you want something, the universe conspires to help you to achieve it. While I along with the school authorities, was worried about how to get the funding for this project, I got an email from the Pune DC CSR head- Priti Budhia, saying that there is a likelihood of a client visit at my school. I was all pumped up. This would be the first client visit during the pandemic and I wanted it to be perfect. I got all the details from Priti and started to plan the visit. Very soon, another mail appeared in my mailbox carrying an even better message – the account team is willing to donate to a priority cause of the school. It felt like the stage was set for us. It felt like we were getting the new tables after all. We started to explore what kind of tables we would need. However, there was one request that cleanly bowled us.
Could we have the dining tables delivered before the day of the client’s visit?
It felt like everything was working in our favor except the time. School authorities and I were ok with this request but we knew we had our work cut out for us. Less than a week to go for the client visit and we didn’t even have a vendor identified yet. We all scoured through our contacts for a good fabrication vendor. Some were not fitting in the budget and some were not delivering good quality output. Finally, we found a good vendor which satisfied both of our criteria but as often happens, there was a problem. The problem was, the vendor was 240 km away from Pune. There was a huge risk in selecting the vendor, he might not deliver on time for the client visit. Immediately we had to huddle up for a big decision.
But we were in love with the quality of output from this vendor, which made us accept the risk of delayed delivery.
After a stern discussion with the vendor on transportation costs, the vendor was selected.
We lost some time in the approvals, discussions with vendors, negotiations, etc., and by the time the funds were transferred, we had only 2 days left for the client visit. A countdown had begun.
We assigned a student to constantly follow up with the vendor for delivery so principal sir and I were focused on planning other details. We planned how we would utilize the hour that was assigned to us for the client visit. A quick tour of the school, stressing the importance of the school in the context of India’s middle class and how the school has achieved 90% success with its students. Finally, we had all the details planned out.
When the d day arrived, we were hit with a piece of bad news. The risk materialized.
“Sorry sir, I can’t deliver the tables on time. We need time to powder-coat them. I will not deliver a half-baked product.” – the message read. My heart sank. I immediately called up Priti Ma’am and sought her guidance. She laughed out, saying these things happen, and it’s not like we had given the vendor lots of heads up. I spoke to the account team about it as well and they were also ok with it. Since the key two stakeholders were ok, it lifted a weight off my chest. I was back in the action.
With that cleared up, students, staff, and I, all were dressed up and waiting for the client and Infosys delegation. Mr. Stephen Shirley, Mr. Paul McKenna, and Mr. Daniel Gardner arrived at the school along with 9 senior management from the Westpac account. We had an energetic tour of the school. We explained the brief history of the school, how the school was founded by people with disabilities, run by people with disabilities as the staff is disabled, and for disabled students. Different vocational courses the school offers and how it makes an enrolled student financially independent. Then I moved aside and gave the stage to a student who enthralled us. Hrishi- an orthopedically disabled fellow who is pursuing his CA course. He shared his life story, how the school has changed his life, and how Infosys’ association with the school has added value to his career.
With that, we moved to the ceremony where I expressed heartfelt gratitude to the clients and Infosys delegates to have spent some time with us. I also updated them that their donations have helped us buy awesome dining tables for the kids. Unfortunately, they couldn’t be delivered before the client’s visit. All of our visitors were very supportive and didn’t mind the small glitch in the delivery. We also talked about the school’s association with the Indian Paralympics. We requested clients to do a small ribbon-cutting ceremony to open the new sports equipment which was also sponsored by the account team. We promise that with this equipment, our students will surely bag medals in the upcoming tournaments. I also asked the Infosys delegation if they could get some interview opportunities for these kids, that would mean the world to these kids. Give us an interview opportunity and let our skills get us the jobs, echoed the students.
As the clients were leaving the school premises with broad smiles on their faces, I couldn’t help but be grateful, grateful to the school for such life-changing work they do for the underprivileged handicapped boys. Grateful to Infosys for having such a structured CSR program that allows employees like me to volunteer at the school. Along with that Infosys also ensures that it gives all the help to the needy, which makes us very proud of the company we work with.
You are a huge inspiration to many. Proud of your work at school and office.