Dear Sir,
The phone no and id u wanted.
Hippocampus Reading Foundation can be contacted on 51101927 or on
hrf@thehippocampus.com
Hippocampus Reading Foundation is trying to ensure that the pleasure of
reading is not the privilege of only some children
Reading and learning can be fun for every child, given the right
circumstances and resources.
THE SCHOOL lies beyond an open drain and a row of shacks. And in the
playground of the school are a bunch of kids playing with abandon. Both
the playground and the choice of games strike you as unusual. For, you
don't often see footwear-less children bathed in mud playing in a huge
playground (if at all) in a city inundated with privately owned,
matchbox-sized schools.
A little away, in a classroom, a bunch of kids are waiting for "Krishna
uncle" to arrive. Krishna is one of the volunteers of Hippocampus
Children's Experience Centre's reading programme. The centre, which offers
many exciting reading and learning activities for children from
comfortable backgrounds on its sprawling campus in Koramangala, also runs
Hippocampus Reading Foundation (HRF) in co-ordination with other NGOs to
make reading a pleasure and a learning experience for those from less
fortunate circumstances. The government school, in one of the long and
winding galis off Tannery Road, is one of the beneficiaries.
Good hosts
As I wait along with the kids for Krishna uncle, yet another thing strikes
me as unusual. The girls (all from 5th and 6th standards) don't dread
"stranger aunties". They introduce themselves falling over each other...
Kamala, Mala, Arshia, Suman... and decide to keep me engaged. "Aunty, can
you solve this riddle?" they ask, and challenge me to make a 1,000 out of
eight eights.
I wriggle out of the number game and start my typical journalistic talk.
Do they like staying back after school on Saturdays for the reading
sessions? Is it different from regular classes? Is it interesting, boring?
"It's nice," says a particularly articulate Mala. Arshia sounds a little
more tentative. "Yes... " she says. "But sometimes I do get bored." But
they all like their Krishna uncle, who seems unlikely to turn up that day.
So, we move to another classroom where a Kannada reading session is
already in progress. They are singing a song on chandamama, the moon, with
Sumitra, the volunteer from Akshara Foundation, an NGO that works with
Hippocampus. The kids then move on to singing a rhyme on the waxing and
waning of the moon. Many struggle to string letters together, you realise,
but that doesn't deter their enthusiasm. Santosh, for instance, stretches
his hand and goes "missss, missss, naanu," every time Sumitra asks who
would like to recite. But he stammers and swallows as he begins to read,
bright smiles filling the place of many missing words.
Neat library
The tiny library in the same campus looks fairly well stocked and neat,
which you least expect in a government school. Many children are bent over
books and among them you also find an American volunteer from another NGO,
Dream a Dream. She insists that children aren't put off by her thick
American accent.
Hajira, the librarian who works for Akshara, is better in the know of
ground realities. She talks of how children are so much more keen on
reading since the Hippocampus initiative started in the school. She points
to Suheil, who is busy with a comic book, and says: "He used to work in a
shoe shop. I enrolled him in the school for working children after
persuading his employer with great difficulty." There are times when
Hajira is abused by both parents and employees for "taking away" children.
"You might feed the child, but who will feed the rest?" they often ask.
But young Hajira, who comes from a lower middle class background herself,
seems undaunted, and talks of how more children are now keen on reading
English books.
Back in the Kannada reading class, the children are done with their
reading for the day and they decide to tell me all that they have done
over their reading sessions. They have not only read, but played, made
things with paper, made up their own dramas... "Some have also run away,"
says one cheeky thing, and reels out names. "But I like it here."
Next on the agenda, they plan to write their own stories. What about, I
ask. And every one has his/her own choice of theme: dolls, flowers, stars,
butterflies...
Santosh thinks for a brief while, and screams, with both his hands held
high up: "I'll write about people!"
Hippocampus Reading Foundation can be contacted on 51101927 or on
hrf@thehippocampus.com
With Best Regards
Geetha Venkatraman
Tata Consultancy Services Limited
SJM Towers, No.18, Seshadri Road, 6th Cross,
Gandhinagar
Bangalore - 560 009,Karnataka
India
Mailto: geetha.v@tcs.com
Website: http://www.tcs.com
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From 10 years at Infosys to founder CEO of the high-profile IT company Bangalore Labs, three years ago Umesh Malhotra looked every bit the typical corporate executive. Then in 2002, after selling Bangalore Labs to PlanetOne Asia, Malhotra put his cash to good use and chased a nagging dream. By March 2003, Hippocampus, Malhotra's very own library for Bangalore's children, was up and running.
From IT to I Read I have an engineering degree from IIT Chennai. I picked up the first job I was offered on campus, at a then little known IT company called Infosys Technologies. After 10 years at Infosys, managing their electronics payment vertical, my business vertical contributed 5 per cent of company revenue.
I quit in 1999 to start Bangalore Labs, an IT infrastructure management
company. Two-and-a-half years later, we sold the company. I quit IT and
followed my dream to start a children's library.
What is Hippocampus?
Hippocampus is not a library, or a club, a work shop, or a community
centre -- it is all that and more. We call it an experience centre -- a
vibrant and dynamic environment offering an almost endless range of
opportunities from every area of life.
Today, the Hippocampus library has more than 7,000 books for children to
choose from. Children can choose and watch DVDs in the film room, or play
games on the available PCs.
Kids can choose from six Hippocampus clubs -- the Art Club, Music club,
Journalism Club (a club which lets them start their own newspaper), Nature
Club, Cooking Club and the Adventure Club -- and participate in themed
monthly activities and creative learning forums.
The inspiration
Before I quit Infosys, my wife and I spent 18 months in the US and were
astounded by all that a child there is exposed to in terms of education
and hands-on experience. There were public libraries in every
neighbourhood.
Here you could find children of all ages engaged in reading, working on
school projects or checking out activities and workshops that they could
sign up for during the course of the year.
And all this, amazingly, was free. When we came back to India, in 1999, we
realised that although an enormous number of children's books are
published each year, children in India have hardly any access to them.
While the inspiration for Hippocampus came from American public libraries,
the concept itself took a life of its own.
Not just a library for rich kids
Our experience centre in Bangalore's Koramangala residential area was set
up for privileged children. In December 2004, we opened a second centre.
But we're far from being just a library for rich kids.
The Hippocampus Reading Foundation, which we set up together with our
non-profit partners like the Akshara Foundation, among others, is involved
in setting up libraries for kids in slum communities, government schools,
and NGO-run schools.
We currently run 38 such libraries. They have to prove that they are
serious enough about the cause to raise a one-time investment of Rs 5,000
per 20 kids. After that, we work with them on an ongoing basis for free.
We have also introduced a reading reward system whereby children are
positively reinforced for their reading habits, with quarterly day trips
organised for winners.
Where do we go from here?
Ultimately, we want all children to read. Just this week, along with
Wipro, we began a pilot run of taking over library transformations in
lower income group schools. We loan the initial investment to these
schools who repay based on an affordable installment plan.
This is not a business opportunity, it was born out of the realisation
that we need to fix a problem in school libraries and that all our work
can't be outside schools. We want our entire reading programme to be built
around a sustainable model.
We charge our beneficiaries in different segments based on their income
levels. Today, because our work with less privileged children has expanded
so much, we're running on a bit of a deficit.
But we're working on alternative revenue streams like developing reading
fluency assessment tests that we can then sell to mainstream schools for
profit. In two years, our entire programme will be self-sustaining.
Dr.P.Vyasamoorthy, Advisor, Virtual Information Centre,
ICICI Knowledge Park, Genome Valley, Turkapally, Shameerpet Mandal,
RR District, Hyderabad 500078 INDIA
Email: vyasamoorthy@icicikp.com
Phone - Office: +91(40)23480053 Fax: +91(40)23480007 Phone Residence:
+91(40)27846631
_______________________________________________
LIS-Forum mailing list
LIS-Forum@ncsi.iisc.ernet.in
http://ncsi.iisc.ernet.in/mailman/listinfo/lis-forum
ForwardSourceID:NT00019C8E
Notice: The information contained in this e-mail message and/or attachments to it may contain confidential or privileged information. If you are not the intended recipient, any dissemination, use, review, distribution, printing or copying of the information contained in this e-mail message and/or attachments to it are strictly prohibited. If you have received this communication in error, please notify us by reply e-mail or telephone and immediately and permanently delete the message and any attachments. Thank you
Dear Sir,
The phone no and id u wanted.
Hippocampus Reading Foundation can be contacted on 51101927 or on hrf@thehippocampus.com
�
Hippocampus Reading Foundation is trying to ensure that the pleasure of reading is not the privilege of only some children �
�
Reading and learning can be fun for every child, given the right circumstances and resources.
THE SCHOOL lies beyond an open drain and a row of shacks. And in the playground of the school are a bunch of kids playing with abandon. Both the playground and the choice of games strike you as unusual. For, you don't often see footwear-less children bathed in mud playing in a huge playground (if at all) in a city inundated with privately owned, matchbox-sized schools.
A little away, in a classroom, a bunch of kids are waiting for "Krishna uncle" to arrive. Krishna is one of the volunteers of Hippocampus Children's Experience Centre's reading programme. The centre, which offers many exciting reading and learning activities for children from comfortable backgrounds on its sprawling campus in Koramangala, also runs Hippocampus Reading Foundation (HRF) in co-ordination with other NGOs to make reading a pleasure and a learning experience for those from less fortunate circumstances. The government school, in one of the long and winding galis off Tannery Road, is one of the beneficiaries.
Good hosts
As I wait along with the kids for Krishna uncle, yet another thing strikes me as unusual. The girls (all from 5th and 6th standards) don't dread "stranger aunties". They introduce themselves falling over each other... Kamala, Mala, Arshia, Suman... and decide to keep me engaged. "Aunty, can you solve this riddle?" they ask, and challenge me to make a 1,000 out of eight eights.
I wriggle out of the number game and start my typical journalistic talk. Do they like staying back after school on Saturdays for the reading sessions? Is it different from regular classes? Is it interesting, boring? "It's nice," says a particularly articulate Mala. Arshia sounds a little more tentative. "Yes... " she says. "But sometimes I do get bored." But they all like their Krishna uncle, who seems unlikely to turn up that day.
So, we move to another classroom where a Kannada reading session is already in progress. They are singing a song on chandamama, the moon, with Sumitra, the volunteer from Akshara Foundation, an NGO that works with Hippocampus. The kids then move on to singing a rhyme on the waxing and waning of the moon. Many struggle to string letters together, you realise, but that doesn't deter their enthusiasm. Santosh, for instance, stretches his hand and goes "missss, missss, naanu," every time Sumitra asks who would like to recite. But he stammers and swallows as he begins to read, bright smiles filling the place of many missing words.
Neat library
The tiny library in the same campus looks fairly well stocked and neat, which you least expect in a government school. Many children are bent over books and among them you also find an American volunteer from another NGO, Dream a Dream. She insists that children aren't put off by her thick American accent.
Hajira, the librarian who works for Akshara, is better in the know of ground realities. She talks of how children are so much more keen on reading since the Hippocampus initiative started in the school. She points to Suheil, who is busy with a comic book, and says: "He used to work in a shoe shop. I enrolled him in the school for working children after persuading his employer with great difficulty." There are times when Hajira is abused by both parents and employees for "taking away" children. "You might feed the child, but who will feed the rest?" they often ask.
But young Hajira, who comes from a lower middle class background herself, seems undaunted, and talks of how more children are now keen on reading English books.
Back in the Kannada reading class, the children are done with their reading for the day and they decide to tell me all that they have done over their reading sessions. They have not only read, but played, made things with paper, made up their own dramas... "Some have also run away," says one cheeky thing, and reels out names. "But I like it here."
Next on the agenda, they plan to write their own stories. What about, I ask. And every one has his/her own choice of theme: dolls, flowers, stars, butterflies...
Santosh thinks for a brief while, and screams, with both his hands held high up: "I'll write about people!"
Hippocampus Reading Foundation can be contacted on 51101927 or on hrf@thehippocampus.com
�
�
With Best Regards
Geetha Venkatraman
Tata Consultancy Services Limited
SJM Towers, No.18, Seshadri Road, 6th Cross,
Gandhinagar
Bangalore - 560 009,Karnataka
India
Mailto: geetha.v@tcs.com
Website: http://www.tcs.com
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From 10 years at Infosys to founder CEO of the high-profile IT company Bangalore Labs, three years ago Umesh Malhotra looked every bit the typical corporate executive. Then in 2002, after selling Bangalore Labs to PlanetOne Asia, Malhotra put his cash to good use and chased a nagging dream. By March 2003, Hippocampus, Malhotra's very own library for Bangalore's children, was up and running. From IT to I Read I have an engineering degree from IIT Chennai. I picked up the first job I was offered on campus, at a then little known IT company called Infosys Technologies. After 10 years at Infosys, managing their electronics payment vertical, my business vertical contributed 5 per cent of company revenue. I quit in 1999 to start Bangalore Labs, an IT infrastructure management company. Two-and-a-half years later, we sold the company. I quit IT and followed my dream to start a children's library. What is Hippocampus? Hippocampus is not a library, or a club, a work shop, or a community centre -- it is all that and more. We call it an experience centre -- a vibrant and dynamic environment offering an almost endless range of opportunities from every area of life. Today, the Hippocampus library has more than 7,000 books for children to choose from. Children can choose and watch DVDs in the film room, or play games on the available PCs. Kids can choose from six Hippocampus clubs -- the Art Club, Music club, Journalism Club (a club which lets them start their own newspaper), Nature Club, Cooking Club and the Adventure Club -- and participate in themed monthly activities and creative learning forums. The inspiration Before I quit Infosys, my wife and I spent 18 months in the US and were astounded by all that a child there is exposed to in terms of education and hands-on experience. There were public libraries in every neighbourhood. Here you could find children of all ages engaged in reading, working on school projects or checking out activities and workshops that they could sign up for during the course of the year. And all this, amazingly, was free. When we came back to India, in 1999, we realised that although an enormous number of children's books are published each year, children in India have hardly any access to them. While the inspiration for Hippocampus came from American public libraries, the concept itself took a life of its own. Not just a library for rich kids Our experience centre in Bangalore's Koramangala residential area was set up for privileged children. In December 2004, we opened a second centre. But we're far from being just a library for rich kids. The Hippocampus Reading Foundation, which we set up together with our non-profit partners like the Akshara Foundation, among others, is involved in setting up libraries for kids in slum communities, government schools, and NGO-run schools. We currently run 38 such libraries. They have to prove that they are serious enough about the cause to raise a one-time investment of Rs 5,000 per 20 kids. After that, we work with them on an ongoing basis for free. We have also introduced a reading reward system whereby children are positively reinforced for their reading habits, with quarterly day trips organised for winners. Where do we go from here? Ultimately, we want all children to read. Just this week, along with Wipro, we began a pilot run of taking over library transformations in lower income group schools. We loan the initial investment to these schools who repay based on an affordable installment plan. This is not a business opportunity, it was born out of the realisation that we need to fix a problem in school libraries and that all our work can't be outside schools. We want our entire reading programme to be built around a sustainable model. We charge our beneficiaries in different segments based on their income levels. Today, because our work with less privileged children has expanded so much, we're running on a bit of a deficit. But we're working on alternative revenue streams like developing reading fluency assessment tests that we can then sell to mainstream schools for profit. In two years, our entire programme will be self-sustaining. Dr.P.Vyasamoorthy, Advisor, Virtual Information Centre, ICICI Knowledge Park, Genome Valley, Turkapally, Shameerpet Mandal, RR District, Hyderabad 500078 INDIA Email: vyasamoorthy@icicikp.com Phone - Office: +91(40)23480053 Fax: +91(40)23480007 Phone Residence: +91(40)27846631
LIS-Forum mailing list LIS-Forum@ncsi.iisc.ernet.in http://ncsi.iisc.ernet.in/mailman/listinfo/lis-forum ForwardSourceID:NT00019C8E � � Notice: The information contained in this e-mail message and/or attachments to it may contain confidential or privileged information. If you are not the intended recipient, any dissemination, use, review, distribution, printing or copying of the information contained in this e-mail message and/or attachments to it are strictly prohibited. If you have received this communication in error, please notify us by reply e-mail or telephone and immediately and permanently delete the message and any attachments. Thank you