We recently asked readers to tell us how they are bringing about a change in India, even as they grapple with their education and workplace matters. rediff.com celebrates the sincere spirit of these young Indians.
We began with IIT-Madras graduate Apoorve Dubey followed by Rohit Prakash's efforts in trying to bring about a social change in their own small way.
The third part of this series highlights Kartheeban's -- an engineering graduate from Tamil Nadu -- contribution in bringing about a change in India.
The name Team Everest might give you the impression of a bunch of enthusiastic college kids and grads wanting to scale the Himalayas.
While the founder of Team Everest is indeed a fresh graduate, we don't know if he's really interested in mountaineering. He is however keen on making a difference in the lives of young school children.
The initiative that has been started by Kartheeban C, an engineering graduate from Salem, Tamil Nadu, reaches out to deserving students who cannot pay for their education.
Team Everest started off in August 2006 -- when Kartheeban was just 21 and in his fourth year of college. The idea came to him when he saw a lot of his classmates trying hard to make ends meet.
"They never had the money to pay their fees, buy a decent uniform or notebooks. I'd decided then to help out such students," Kartheeban says.
So the first activity Kartheeban engaged in was collecting Rs 4,000 from four people who contributed from their first month's salary and donating uniforms and notebooks to students in a rural school near Salem.
There has been no looking back ever since. Three years later Team Everest has over 3,500 'helping hands'.
Kartheeban says, "We focus on education and have carried out more than 700 community services so far. Most of our activities happen in rural Tamil Nadu."
Team Everest has selected a school each from the 31 districts in Tamil Nadu and gives out motivational prizes for the three class toppers. Kartheeban tells us that about 6,000 students reap the benefits of this programme each year.
According to Kartheeban, besides identifying students who perform well academically the idea behind the programme is to identify the ones who are the most needy.
Besides this, Team Everest conducts a stream of extra and co-curricular activities that keeps everyone on their toes.
"We don't have a single worker with us. All of us are involved on a voluntary basis," Kartheeban tells us adding that one of Team Everest's initiatives is also to make citizens socially responsible.
"We watch a film or visit a mall every weekend. Why can't we visit an orphanage or an old age home just as regularly?" he argues.
"Japan is successful because their citizens are socially responsible," he adds to emphasise his point.
Kartheeban says that whenever they need money for their initiatives, all he has to do is send out an email to his 'helping hands'.
"Whenever we require funds we send a mailer to our helping hands with all the relevant details and documents. Interested volunteers can come forward and contribute funds.
There is no minimum contribution we expect from them. A single ruppe is collected with the same amount of gratitude and pleasure as a bigger amount. We do not have any monthly or yearly subscription fees for Team Everest. All that you need to join Team Everest is a strong passion to serve others."
Would you like to share your story with us? Tell us how you are following your heart while doing your bit for society. If you are under 35 years of age then write to us at getahead@rediff.co.in with the subject line: 'I'm following my heart' along with your name, age and photograph.
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