HE was 17, when something clicked inside him. Something gentle and remarkable. It was a realisation, that his life was meant for something bigger and greater, for the welfare of others. And so began his new journey, with a barter. A barter with the young children of Yashwant Stadium in Nagpur. A delicious morsel of pav bhaji for one alphabet was the deal between the children and their teacher, then 17-year-old Khushal Dhak. After washing utensils at a Pav Bhaji stall in the stadium, he would sit and teach the children. “My life was very much like the lives of the children in the stadium. The only point of distinction was the access I had to education. It was something that they didn’t have easy access to and that made all the difference,” said Khushal.

 

A venture that started at the hands of this young man has now grown big and taken over the slums in Nagpur. From teaching children at the stadium, Khushal has started convents at Rahate Toli and Gond Basti with only Rupee One as admission fees. “Education was an almost foreign concept to these children. They did not know, nor did they realise its importance. To begin something like a school in an area that had turned to crime to fulfill basic needs was difficult,” said Khushal about the initial days. To introduce and pull people towards something new presented a great challenge to Khushal but overcoming every storm and sailing the tides, he successfully established a school in the slum areas.

“The challenge was not just to pull the children to school. It was also to tackle the negative influence of the people around them. Half of them were thieves, or beggars. Half of them were substance addicts. And the infrastructure of the slum is such that it is highly contagious, in a sense that habits spread fast,” Khushal stated. Finding it important to help people find different sources of earning, he established a sewing centre in the area. The centre has trained young girls and women to sew and earn Rs 300-400 every day. “It is in these places that one realises someone else’s desire and need to live a better life without having the ability to do so. So, it was important to introduce a source of earning and learning,” he added. It was later that Khushal realised children needed spaces to learn. A place they could associate with education and learning after school hours. So, he started libraries with a vast collection of books. With a library, school, and a sewing centre he was ready to change the world.

 

As important as it is to educate the mind it was also important for Khushal to introduce health and healthy habits to the children. He also heads the students football team at national level and takes care of their nutrition needs himself. His work, as inspiring as his persona, has carried through for years. “I was working at a bank in Pune for years. But it always felt incomplete. I started looking for something part-time. Even as I did that, the sense of incompleteness never left me,” said Khushal. Today, he dedicates all his time and energy to the children and aims to establish schools, sewing centres and libraries in all of the slums in the city and help elevate the lives of these children. Loved and supported by many, Khushal has now helped build a community. A community in the whirlwinds of revolution. People have joined him for a bigger purpose. The profound and transformative change in the Tolis and Bastis is proof enough that even consistent small actions can make a huge impact. As Khushal has shown, with a small barter!