I have always felt very fortunate and blessed to have gotten the lottery of being born in an educated family. It was sheer luck. So many people are not lucky to win that lottery and hence don’t have a chance to get even basic education, forget higher education.

I was on the lookout for the right project to get involved in with the goal of helping many kids’ education as possible. Education brings the possibility for the family to get out of poverty and helps open new doors for the entire family.

Fortunately at a concert in Boston area, through my dear friends Rajeshwari and Rajesh Godbole, I met Agathe and came to know of Kalkeri Sangeet Vidyalaya near Hubli/Dharwad in Karnataka. KSV is a boarding school, where children from surrounding communities who otherwise would not be able to afford education get a chance to learn Indian classical music/dance in addition to normal curriculum. Classical music captured my attention even more. At the very first meeting with Agathe I connected with her and the work KSV was doing, and I decided to sponsor one child at KSV. It barely takes one family pizza outing cost to support one child’s monthly expenses.

This started a new journey for me. 6 year old Shivakanya became part of my new journey. Then I began to figure out how to expand support to KSV by involving more people. That’s when I joined the Asha for Education Boston chapter. Asha for Education Boston went through their thorough vetting process and agreed to include KSV in their project list. Thank you Asha!! The impact of Asha’s support at KSV has been tremendous.

In June 2017, I visited KSV for the first time with my cousin Dr Usha Katti. We were amazed to see how the principal Adam Woodward, his team of teachers, wardens, cooking staff, and volunteers have created a safe, beautiful, respectful and loving environment for children to thrive in. What I noticed was love and respect instead of intimidation and force. I got to meet my Shivakanya, the lovely happy girl. Usha being a doctor noted at the cleanliness all around, and discussed measures taken by the school for the children’s health and well being.

Santosh, who drove us from Pune to Hubli to visit KSV, had initially decided to take rest while we were visiting the school. However he joined us for the whole day, going around the school and wanted to go back for a visit to KSV whenever I go back.

My beautiful journey with KSV continues with Shivakanya and Nagraj and the whole KSV family.