Darsh Pant is 13 years old, passionate about sport and a most promising writer. The world is his proverbial oyster but instead of chasing his own dreams like most others his age, this student from Inventure Academy spends his weekends bringing the less fortunate a better chance at life.
In April 2016, he founded his own organisation, BRYO, through which he works with children from low-income families, helping them with their school work and teaching them conversational English. On Saturday and Sunday afternoons, he bids his friends goodbye and leaves his gated community in Whitefield to walk to the small village nearby, where he spends a couple of hours with the kids, helping them improve their spoken English.
"I wanted to bring a smile to someone's face and reciprocate some of the privilege I have,” Darsh says simply, speaking with a gravity far beyond his years, when we meet for lunch at his house in Whitefield. “I just arrived at the colony one day, not really knowing anything - and started!” His domestic help, 'didi', he calls her, lived in the colony at the time with her two children and was his only point of contact.
“My first class was in a one-room house, where the single room served as bedroom, kitchen and living room,” said Darsh. The house was generously offered up by the family of a student - Shashank, for Darsh to take his classes. He decided to help them brush up on their Math and Science, but found they were well up to par. “Their only problem was English - and today, communication is at the heart of everything,” he said.
We set out to Kannamangala village on Christmas Day — his mother generously offers to drive us. Darsh begins to fidget excitedly as we approached the village, eager to get out and walk. Adults and children alike call out to him happily as he arrives — a small boy escorts him quietly to their 'classroom'. About a dozen children have gathered outside the small temple, between the ages of five and 13, each armed with a notebook and a pen. Mats are spread out on the ground and the kids cluster around their beloved little teacher, telling him proudly that they have finished their homework!
The kids have made extraordinary prowess — that much is plain to see. They chat in English with ease, picking up this reporter's notebook, pouring over it and coming back with the question - “Are you from the press?” Darsh smiles proudly at this - “They're such quick learners,” he said. “I think that if you truly want to do something, you give it everything you have. There's no time for excuses.” We spend two hours with the kids, teaching them tenses and learning some Kannada in return.
All the children study at a government school nearby and come from low income families - Shashank is one of Darsh's oldest students, he's in the eighth grade. “My father is an electrician and my mother works in a beauty parlour,” he said. “I want to be a doctor, though,” he smiles. Another boy pipes up saying he wants to be a policeman. One girl asked this reporter if she went college. “Yes and you will too.” She nods with steely determination. “Yes, I will. I want to be a doctor.”
Darsh is meticulous about his process, painstakingly drafting lesson plans that make room for the fact that all the students are at different levels. “I helped them with their vocabulary and taught them how to use these words in their daily lives to accomplish simple things like buy vegetables at a shop,” Darsh explained. “I give them frequent tests and realised along the way that I had a lot to learn as well.” Darsh's parents, who are extremely encouraging of their son's efforts, pitched in as much as they could, giving him reading material and helping him expand his horizons.
A couple of friends joined him at the start - “Karun, Joel, Agastya, Jashvinu and Shyam,” Darsh says. Family and school commitments got in their way after a time and they dropped out, one by one. That hasn't stopped this little warrior, however. “This was my idea. I wanted to do it and I will, no matter what,” he said.
The class comes to an end around dusk and the children, in a sudden spurt of activity, scamper around, laughing, talking and ringing the temple bell, much to the amusement of the adults watching. There isn't the slightest trace of disparity in terms of religion or opportunity. “It doesn't matter who you are or where you come from,” Darsh said later, remarking, with great profundity, “If you're motivated to do something, you will go out and do it no matter what stands in your way. The whole is always greater than the sum of its parts.”
