Goergo had a story yesterday on Basu- one of our first few volunteers to teach at Deepam’s Olcott high school centre.This beautiful article covers his journey as a software engineer at Infosys to a full time teacher at Olcott high school now. Well Done Basu! We are proud of ya !!!! The online version can be found here http://www.goergo.in/?p=4044
Goergo has a story on Deepam in today’s ‘ paper. Deepa, the journalist had interviewed the students and volunteers last week. This beautiful article covers our previous and current activities and highlights some of our future plans. The picture is from our very first batch that started in April 2008. The online version can be found here http://www.goergo.in/?p=3953
“I have not seen a bunch of kids as happy and contented as these kids are ” mentioned Rahul Nayar, as he observed the kids at the Deepam 1st anniversary celebrations. The life of Deepam, these kids made the anniversay a very special day for all of us, who were present at the celebrations. The Nalamdana centre at the olcott kuppam , venue for the event, was charged with enthusiasm and energy – thanks to the kids, the chief guests and the volunteers.
The MC’s for the event, Basu and Meera, keeping the kids engaged..
We had a special person talking to these kids on Saturday – Sarath Babu – He was truly ‘one of them’ . 
As he stood in front , sharing his rags to riches story, one could see the kids getting inspired. The room went silent , as the kids and the volunteers were in rapt attention.
Sarath interacting with the kids
Kiruba, the other chief guest, in his usual way , engaged the kids with an interesting story and conveyed a nice ‘life-lesson’ across.
It was a year ago, when Ram , our mentor, suggested we go to govt schools and teach kids there. His point was simple – ‘Lets start small , 2 or 3 of us can go teach at a local school but the focus should be on making an impact ‘ . Since then, he not only taught the kids, but the volunteers as well. 
Ram announced a scholarship program for kids – 5 deserving kids ( Deepam Stars ) will get all their education expense covered for 2009-2010.
The anniversary cake , cut by the kids
We also had performances from kids – Nalamdana Centre girls mellifluously sang a popular tamil song
These kids can sure shake a leg..
All the winners of the cultural events were awarded medals. Kids got participation certificates as well.
Meera who comes to Chennai every weekend, from Bangalore – She and her husband Vijay, teach on saturdays and sundays, every weekend
A big thanks to all the kids and the volunteers !
P.S More photos can be found here http://picasaweb.google.co.in/chauhanarchu/DeepamFirstAnniversary#
First Saturday of March every year Deepam turns another year old.
This year its on Saturday 7th March 2009 that Deepam celebrates its First Anniversary.Its been a roller coaster year- our first year with loads of activities that have kept us busy on all the weekends.Deepam from a 20 member group has more than 200 members on facebook today.New programs have been launched, New centers have been approached and courses have been launched there , reach to several underprivileged students across Chennai city , computer and other resources have been provided to the centers, new activities, additions to curriculum etc etc .All this has been possible only bcos of the dedication and commitment of volunteers off-line and on field.Thank you all for your support!
Its time to celebrate now.None of you needs an invitation as you are all a part of one big “Deepam Family”
So “BE THERE” on the 7th March between 2.00 PM and 4PM to witness the Annual Function of Deepam at Nalamdana Centre, Besant Nagar.Meet all our students from different centers, interact with them, perform with them and take home a bunch of good memories and smile that will last for a long time.Guests are welcome.
The Talent Show on sunday at Pudiyador saw the children bring out the dancer/singer/actor in them.
The winners are the eight children who presented the tamil skit on “Smoke is our enemy” with so much enthusiasm and involvement. All the volunteers were amazed by this. These kids 7-12 years old didn’t forget the sequence or lines and kept us all rivetted for a good 15 mins.
The Girls who did the kolattam were the runners-up, awarded for their co-ordination and execution of the dance. 
Everybody’s a singer at Pudiyador! All the children wanted to sing for us. We were entertained with classical and desiya-geetham songs.
Gymnastics- The boys bent over backwards to show their talent. They also formed a human pyramid! And they did some pretty good crumpin dance moves.
Special Mention to Dilip who swirled the “kambu” so fast, it couldn’t be captured on camera! He also did a head-stand making it look so easy.
That afternoon at Pudiyador will remain unforgettable for all who were there.
Photos courtesy: Noopuran Sivaguru. Thanks Noopuran.
While the quiz at Olcott school had three teams with one volunteer and two kids in every team and Basu playing the quiz master ,Nalamdana had Moorthy and Karthik Narayan from the IQL who were the quiz masters for the day and the centre had five teams with 3 kid in every team,
The quiz had several general knowledge rounds, audio rounds and visual rounds, We had rounds on Indian Epics, On Indian Monuments, Musical Instruments, Famous Personalities etc The kids were eager to know their question and answer them and win more points than others. A big thanks to Anupama, Shwetha, Pramod, Karthik and Moorthy for having helped us with the questions and organizing the various rounds and making them simple yet interesting. Our Quiz masters, scorers and volunteers at both the centers’ again deserve a huge round of applause for making it another success story.
The Irony : The ultimate winners were TEAM A in both the centers’. Special prizes wIll be given to them on the final day of anniversary celebrations on 7th March 2009. If you wish to sponsor this event or any other event do contact us.
PS:The answers to the questions above are Argon; Ornithology
