Together we can !

In the era in which we use Google maps to reach any destination, shouldn't we need something to show us the right direction in the Journey of Life ? That's called the powerful tool of mentoring !!

When I came across MentorTogether.org, I felt it was a great initiative and as I  have been benefited by all my mentors who provided me timely guidance, decided to be a part of it.  I have always felt complete and satisfied about mentoring people at work too, hence there was no looking back.

The enrollment was through a simple email registration and then there was a day long workshop, where we were introduced to the program and got to know the organization in depth. The ask was clear - for an effective mentoring program, we had to commit to spend 6-8 hrs per month for 8 months.

The mission of the MentorTogether program, is to provide underprivileged youth with enduring and empowering one-on-one relationships with mentors, to help them achieve their goals & dreams. The work based mentoring program has several modules, the preliminary modules are carefully designed to focus on relationship building between mentor & mentee. The subsequent modules are youth-oriented, and focus on the soft skills required by them to be successful in their career.

The team, at MentorTogether, matches the mentor/mentee after doing a thorough study of the mentee’s requirements/background and mentors’ abilities. In  the mentor-mentee meeting, I met Pragati - A small town girl, with great dreams of making it big in her career.

In our initial few meetings, we focused on knowing each other and building trust. In these meetings,  I found that Pragati’s immediate challenge was to clear the aptitude tests in her ongoing campus recruitment processes. So we took a deviation from the pre-defined course and  did some aptitude exercises together. This included online tests, solving puzzles and math problems. Gradually I could see Pragati getting more confident about the tests. Our efforts did not go futile, as in the next few campus events, she was able to clear the aptitude tests.

In the subsequent meetings, we worked on body language, communication skills, negotiation and presentation skills. We did role play, watched relevant videos , debated, discussed and played some games to sharpen the skills.

The major challenge for us was “time”.  Both of us were committed and flexible enough to meet anywhere depending on the time constraints. We met in my office / house /her hostel / few Sundays we met in Jayanagar Park too !

Pragathi has now graduated and has been successful in finding a job of her choice, I am extremely happy for her and am thankful to the MentorTogether team to have let me help her out in her journey. Our journey in the context of the program is over,  but our friendship has just begun !!

Now,  I am all excited to be another Google map in the next MentorTogether Program :)


If you want to be a mentor please visit : http://www.mentortogether.org/pc/apply/mentor/

Hampta Pass Trek - A tryst with the Himalayas

The call from the gigantic mountains has been there for few years now. Sometimes its the fear , sometimes its the natural calamities that didn't let me go....finally this time all things fell in place and I was going to the Hamta Pass trek organized by KMA.

Preparations started by booking flight tickets, exercising, shopping trekking essentials and anxious packing.

On  May 16th, flew to Delhi.  From airport we went to Himachal Bhavan, where we were supposed to alight a bus to Manali in the evening. Very close to Himachal Bhavan there is a Bengali place where we had awesome food and some sweetest sweets :) little did I know that this sweet hogging extravaganza would continue for the next ten days.

I realized I had missed to get lens cover for my camera, bought  it in Delh and alighted the bus to Manali. Delhi traffic didn't help me much in forgetting the ORR of Bangalore :)

Bus stopped at a place called “Karnal Haveli” - Great ambiance, folk songs being played outside, brilliant lighting , had the time permitted we would have stayed longer. But since it was the dinner break, had to wind up quickly.

Day-2:

Next morning we arrived at Manali bus stand, from there went to Prini base camp . A simple cosy place, where I got introduced  to all my fellow trekkers.

We were told we wouldn't be getting the luxury of 
hot water bath , mobile charging points and mobile signal for the next 6 days, so we spent most of the energy in charging phones here :D 

Evening was an acclimatisation trek, now thinking of it...I wouldn't even call it a trek. we went to sharvari temple, i didn’t visit the temple, for me gods were outside, in the beautiful peaks and mountains. It rained heavily and we all got a sense of how the days going forward would be.