In over 20 years of working in the financial industry, Anubha Sharma (46) was hardened to wild swings on the stock market. But nothing prepared her for the uncertainty in her life.
In 2007, when she decided to quit as head of retail, northern region, at Kotak Securities, all she knew was that it was time to move on. She had no clarity on where she ought to be, or what she needed to do.
Between 2008 and 2011, as the markets did a yo-yo, Sharma changed three jobs. She first joined Religare, which planned to start a private client division; within six months, they called it off as the markets had crashed. So Sharma was on the road again – she moved to Reliance, and worked in their retail space for the next one-and-a-half years. She then decided she needed to be in the wealth space, and joined Edelweiss.
“I had a tough time settling into the organisation. Somewhere, it wasn’t working out for me,” she recalls. Also, a health issue laid her low. So after 20 years of chasing numbers and targets, Sharma chose to let go. She gave herself a year to “chill” – the luxury of movies in the morning, afternoon lunches were all part of the deal. “But there’s only so much of that you can do,” she says, adding she quickly got bored. After about three months, something moved.
She was wishing a friend on her birthday, who told her she was planning to take some children from a street school to McDonald’s for a treat. Sharma was asked if she could help pick up the children. At the party, she interacted with some older women, who were running the Friday Kitchen. Five women had decided that they would cook for at least 200 children every Friday. The idea left a deep impression on Sharma. Unwittingly, she had opened herself up to an alternate career.
On her regular walk at Carter Road one morning, she noticed a few children sitting on the promenade, with some senior citizens teaching them. Her curiosity was aroused, but she was hesitant to approach them. The next morning, she mustered some courage and asked one of the teachers if she could bring breakfast for the children. ‘“Sure’, he said, ‘but why don’t you also teach them? We help 30-40 children from the slums nearby with their curriculum for about an hour-and-a-half in the morning.’ I said I’ve never taught anybody. All he said was, ‘See if it appeals to you’.”
She decided to take up the challenge. Her engagement deepened one January morning, three to four months into her new calling. “One child asked me, ‘Teacher may I sit in the centre? I’m feeling cold.’ The next day, I put up a post on Faceboook post asking for donations of warm clothes, and volunteers.” A friend shared the message on her Blackberry group, and, she says, the phone just kept ringing. “Some 3,000 people called me in the next 10 days. It was like a wave. People wanted to help with all kinds of stuff,” she says.
Sharma knew she was at the centre of something bigger than she had ever imagined, and began to give it the momentum it needed. The year was 2012, and the markets didn’t look like they would look up for at least another year. Sharma decided to hang on for another couple of months, and egged on by her mentor, decided to continue with the new venture. A woman who was in touch with her expressed interest in working with her, and the two set out to explore places in Carter Road where they could expand operations. They got in touch with the Bandra Bandstand Residents’ Trust (BBRT) with a proposal, which clicked instantly.
In April 2012, Sharma’s Angel Xpress Foundation began with about 18 children. In the next three to four months, it had grown to 80 children, and a sizeable number of volunteers. Soon, the venture was replicated in the Kamla Raheja Garden in Santa Cruz.
From two learning centres, Angel Xpress now runs eight, and reaches out to 800 children.
She has the math worked out. In Mumbai, she says, four-and-a-half lakh children go to Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation-run schools, and probably three times as many attend low-cost schools. All of these are first-generation learners. But that’s just one part of the story. At least 82 per cent of the city lives in slums, chawls and footpaths, and if even 1 per cent of the 18 per cent of the educated affluent contribute two to three hours in a week in a park near their home, they can create a volunteer force of 20,000 people and reach out to at least 2 lakh children.
From her experience, there is value in the proposition. “Our volunteers say we get far more than what we’re giving,” she says. They are witness to increasing levels of confidence and academic improvement in the children. Anger issues and other behavioural problems subside. More than English or math, for the first time ever, the children are exposed to love – often “tough love”– besides values. Corporates are also supporting the venture with grants or even offering to take care of expenses at the centres.
So who are the people who offer their time and money to her cause? Besides homemakers and retired people, there are working professionals who want to engage in the joy of giving. “There’s something missing in everybody’s life. For some people volunteering closes that gap,” she says.
Her friends, she says, have been a great source of support – not just for the cause, but also in terms of devoting resources. Her family too, has been supportive; they offered to support her at any time she wanted to drop the idea and move back home.
That might have made the journey a little more bearable, given that four years into her venture, she still lives off her life’s savings. “I’m not somebody who has a great deal of use for money. But it bothers that you are digging into your savings to live because then it becomes a finite thing. So I thought that in two to three years if I can draw enough of a salary to make ends meet, then I’m okay. But it hasn’t happened yet,” she says. The potential of the idea is enough to keep her going, she says. “Money-making comes a distant second. If I can survive, it’s all I need.”
It wasn’t easy giving up a successful career and lifestyle. “I had to struggle for almost three to four years before I could convince myself that I am doing something big enough with my time and effort to justify giving it all up.”
The compensation here is that she is doing something that gives her satisfaction. “I’m doing it for myself, not anybody else. But in the process I’m seeing people who are going beyond themselves, and doing it from the heart. To see that love and commitment and to be in touch with people; to see people coming together as communities makes it all worth it.”
Her larger aim is to bridge a deep societal divide. “There’s always a limit to how much the government or any organisation can do. If you get the person on the street involved in doing something constructive with just two to three hours of his or her week, who knows how much this can achieve?”
Angel Xpress Programmes
AXF Learning Centres
School children from slum communities get free tutoring from their educated, affluent neighbours who also serve as mentors and guides. For an hour every day, public parks become classrooms.
In-School English programme
AXF-sponsored teachers help children studying in regional language medium schools, with their daily English lessons held inside schools with permission from the education department. The foundation reaches out to 1,700 students.
Free franchise
AXF provides free franchise to communities, corporates, and affluent schools who are open to adopting its learning centre format. It reaches out to citizen groups to pitch for new centres in residential societies located near slum pockets.
