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How far would you go to do your bit for society? Shalini Krishnan left her high-paying job to help hone the artistic abilities of tribal children.
Krishnan, an alumnus of the National Institute of Design (NID) and a computer science graduate, worked as a user experience designer in MNCs such as Adobe and Cisco for seven years.
She left her career behind after she joined the State Bank of India’s (SBI) 13-month fellowship – aimed at improving lives in rural India.
She was inspired by a video by an SBI fellow, who quit his job to teach spoken English to children in a remote village.
Her decision to shake up her life came from her urge to contribute to society, reported The Better India.
Krishnan currently works with tribal children in the remote village of Kanika in Odisha.
She started as a volunteer at a residential school for 469 tribal children run by an NGO named Gram Vikas. The school caters to children whose families are unable to afford quality education. Krishnan said that she was amazed by the depth and the artistic abilities of the children.
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Seeing their potential to grow into great artists and designers, Shalini started a design and creativity studio for the children, called Kalpanadham, which translates into “house of imagination”. Through experimentation and a learning framework in place, she’s inspiring these kids to think out of the box and innovate.
The curriculum of Kalpanadham includes elements of visual arts, like painting and drawing, as well as performing arts, like theatre, singing and dancing.
Kalpanadham runs on solar power and the walls of the design and creativity studio have been painted by the children themselves.
Krishnan has also succeeded in convincing a number of renowned artists and educationists to come to the village, away from the hustle and bustle of the city, to conduct workshops for the children.
Construction is currently underway to transform the studio into a fully functional state-of-the-art centre for design.
Krishnan also plans to connect Kalpadhanam with prestigious art, design and engineering institutes in a bid to create avenues for the talented students.
(Source: The Better India)
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