"Zaariya started as the social service “club” in my college NISER, whose main aim was to promote social awareness and responsibility in our college students. It was the brain child of one of our seniors, Surya Bhaiya and eventually, many student volunteers signed up for it. One of the first activities we performed was the cleanliness drive in our IOP campus.

 

        However, a major turning point (at least for me) was when we started educating the kids living on the opposite side of the road in the slums. Initially, we would play with the kids and enquire about how far they have studied, whether they ever went to school, their dreams and aspirations and their family situation. All of them had varied life experience. But they had one thing in common, they wanted to study.

 

       I would say my personal experience has been a very emotional one. A nostalgic one. There is a certain wonderful satisfaction that one derives from teaching, and I think I can relate to my parents, teachers and professors better. I hope Zaariya is successful in expanding further."

-Sayoni Mitra