We are fortunate to realise that we owe a debt to society for all we take from it. And we realise our responsibility in paying back, in whatever way we can. Since there is so much to do, we figured it might be a good idea to focus our time and energies into a singular activity. And our chosen field is building infrastructure for imparting primary education to underprivileged children.
This blog showcases some of the stuff we are involved in...
April 21, 2007
April 15, 2007 School is inaugurated
This is going to be my last update for this blog.
Four hundred and thirty six days after the bhumi poojan, we finally reached the momentous inauguration day. It has been a dream for all of us at Delhi Dynamic Round Table to build a showcase school for Round Table India, Area V. With the generous support of ten tables in our Area, the Round Table India Foundation and Round Table Netherlands, not to mention the numerous donors, large and small, this dream has finally come true.
The project was inaugurated by Mr. Rakesh Gupta, the Deputy Commissioner and District Magistrate of Gurgaon. As you know, small finishing related issues usually take another few weeks after the formal inauguration, before the building is finally complete. After factoring in this 'extra time' we expect to hand over the project to Literacy India on May 6, 2007.
As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words. So without further ado, here are the inauguration pictures.Click on any picture to enlarge it.
It has been an eventful time since I last reported on the progress to you. The school is coming up surely, if a tad slowly. We have had a Dutch donor from Round Table Netherlands handpick our project for directing their money. And we have had our dear architect Khushroo undergo a triple by-pass surgery. By God's grace, he is now doing well.
Vishal and I have been visiting the site every Sunday for the past many weeks and as the April 15th deadline approaches, it appears we may have to go to the site even more frequently to make sure things wrap up in time.
Have a look at the pictures... (hopefully they have been worth the wait!)Click on any picture to enlarge it.
Khushroo and I had a meeting with our contractor at the site to review progress. We were happy to find that the first floor is up and the second floor should get its roof in a week or so. We have been assured that the building will be ready for possession by mid-February.
Dignitaries present President, Round Table India, Tr. Shivkumar Eashwaran Vice President, RTI, Tr. Prashant Jalan Immediate Past President, RTI, Tr. Ravi Khanna North Star awardee, Ram Seshu Project Convenor, Area V, Tr. Mohit Arya Tr. Vishwas Makhija, DMRT-43 This is indeed a moment of great pride for all of us at DDRT 157! After almost six months of hard work and with the dedicated efforts of Sq.Leg Khushroo Kalyanwala and Tr. Vishal Gupta, we inaugurated the ground floor today! Here are the official pictures...
While I was away on holiday with my family, Vishal supervised the roof casting for the ground floor last to last weekend. He was quite satisfied with the progress. The basic structure for the ground floor is now ready. It is quite satisfying to see the fruits of all the fund raising, spending time with the architect, weekend site visits, etc. bear fruit. It is even more satisfying to know that this building will be the foundation on which the lives of several less fortunate children will be built!
It had been about a month since our last visit and I had been getting impatient to go have a look at the new developments at the school site. I had been invited over for a Sunday lunch by a friend who stays at Gurgaon. This is all the motivation I needed to leave home early, drop by at the school, test my new digital camera out and head out for lunch.
As you can see the digital camera (Canon Ixus 55 for the photography minded) does deliver great results - even on an overcast day! Oh the weather was wonderful! The light drizzle made the mood so romantic that the school looked even better. Check it out...
Vishal and I had a site visit this past Thursday and were happy to see that the building is coming up nicely. We have now reached about one foot above lintel level on the ground floor and expect to reach the stage of roof casting in another 2-3 weeks. Here are some pictures... Vishal and I standing in front of the building
Site administrative office with RTI name
Right side elevation of the building (shows stage of construction)
Facade from the school entrance
The official sign board
Mr. Gupta inaugurates the building!
The official Round Table signage
Nursery class
