Social Responsibility begins at home.... and office too!

Vishwanath works as a front desk/security supervisor at our Glassbeam India office. For those of us who work in India would know that the salary he earns is barely enough to meet basic living needs. He has a daughter who finished her 10^th standard and got her results a couple of days back. She cleared the exams with flying colours, scoring 88.5% overall with - 98 in math, 98 in Social science, 94 in English, 100 in Kannada (out of 125), 86 in Hindi and 77 in General science. While it is an amazing achievement on its own, the following factors make it even better.

1.   Her background - For many of us who come from a background of financial stability or well educated parents/relatives/siblings, its less difficult to score well than to those children who lack the basic background they need to do well. Kids who do well in such scenario deserve a multi-fold applause for their achievement

2.   She studied in Kannada medium till 8^th standard - She moved to English medium only from 9^th, which means that not only she learnt English in just 2 years ( She scored 94 in English), but she also learnt all other subjects in English and fared really well too. This is not a small achievement by any means. For some of us here who have studied in our mother tongue for most part of our schooling and switched to English medium of learning later, would know that this is indeed commendable.

She was planning to join one of the top colleges in Bangalore for her pre-university. The fees for the college was Rs 30,000 + other expenses for books etc. Vishwanath had managed to arrange for Rs 10,000 and didn't know what to do for the rest of the money. It was heart-warming to see how quickly the whole team contributed the remaining amount, as soon as they got to know about it, to help her get admitted to the college. She joined the college of her choice and wants to study Engineering once she completes her 2nd PU ( 12th Standard in Karnataka). She is really happy and excited about her college. Vishwanath is happy that the next generation in his family will be much better educated and financially stable than him.

Social responsibility doesn't have to always mean doing something outside. It can start right where you work. Social responsibility in simple words is about being sensitive to the issues around you and taking some action to find solutions or mitigate those issues. For those of us who have crossed the barrier and stabilized ourselves socially and economically, it is a simple action, to help others around us cross.