In her Effort for Survival How Rajni Gupta Turned into a Changemaker

The sun was high in the sky when I was born on May’10 in the year 1968 in the city of Kanpur. Born in a joint family and being the youngest of 8 siblings, I was pampered the most by my father. Being the only bread and butter earner in the family, my father fulfilled all our basic needs and inculcated us with good morals and practices. My mother’s caring nature and dedication towards her family helped us in doing well in school and embracing our co-curricular achievements.

Happy families are all alike, but every happy family is unhappy in its own way.

Beginning of childhood was a memorable phase of my life as a daughter, as a sibling and a keen learner in the school. I was always fascinated by books and the education system to which I was introduced. Happy families are all alike, but every happy family is unhappy in its own way. In my middle childhood, issues like domestic violence, gender inequality knocked at our door. I witnessed my mother being the victim of these snags which shattered me from inside. Small, as I was, I struggled to raise my voice against the violence towards my mother but I neither got scared nor stayed numb.

To make myself focused and gain my peace of mind I started reading “The Bhagavad Gita” from class 8^th which helped me out in analyzing the lessons of life that I experienced and made me stronger to fight against all odds in near future.

High school sudden demise of my father

While I was still climbing the stairs of my high school sudden demise of my father broke my heart into pieces. The end of his journey made me felt the end of my dreams in every context and milieu. Teaching and preaching of my father encouraged me to continue my journey of life again with memories in my heart for a lifetime. My desire to learn and enrich knowledge has always been my priority for which I wished to take spoken English classes but my elder brother being the decision maker of the family denied paying a sum of Rs. 150/- for the same. I still hold that regret deep in my heart but never let the hope to learn English buried.

I believed marriage doesn’t make things at rest rather It equips you with more responsibility and less time to invest in yourself.

Kanpur to Delhi

After completing my schooling in the year 1986, I enrolled myself in a BA program and graduated with 2^nd Division in the year 1988. As soon as I completed my graduation, My family wanted me to get married and settle for life though, I believed marriage doesn’t make things at rest rather It equips you with more responsibility and less time to invest in yourself. As I moved from Kanpur to Delhi in the year 1988 with a change in my identity from Ms to Mrs I felt being blessed to find a great friend, partner and a caring husband in my better half Mr Sanjay Gupta. With every ray of sunshine, I started learning that only the place has changed geographically as the evening Chai time gave me the essence of the same joint family bond in which I was nurtured.

With every ray of sunshine, I started learning that only the place has changed geographically as the evening Chai time gave me the essence of the same joint family bond in which I was nurtured.

After marriage, I expressed my desire to enrol myself for further studies so that I can support my family financially as we were three families residing under a small roof with big hardships, but due to some stumbling blocks, my determination for further education was not entertained by my family. With the passing of days, my husband was working round the clock to meet the requirements of the family but the state of penury seemed to be never-ending. I started striving to save money by walking kilometres to save travelling expenses and giving tuition classes to the children residing nearby.

Ruchika and Utkarsh

In the middle of the daily life chores, my life turned into a blessing when I gave birth to my daughter Ruchika in 1990, I again started living my toddler-hood with her. In the year 1992, tiny toes and little fingers came to hold my daughter's hand in the form of her little brother Utkarsh. My children became my source of happiness and the chapter of motherhood started turning its pages with the delicacy and moments of joy. With turning of calendar's pages, my life underwent through thick and thins.

My School

Financial crises and depression made a drastic impact on our family in these years resulting in instability of income and selling a part of my house for generating revenue to meet our basic requirements. It was high time for me to take a step for my family's well-being and supplementing with a new source of income. After 15 years of serving my responsibility as a wife, daughter in law and most importantly as a mother in 2003, I decided to enrol myself in the course of NTT. B.Ed in the year 2004 followed Public speaking and English-speaking courses as my children became mature enough to take care of themselves.

Being the most supportive person in of my life he encouraged me and gave a chance to my thoughts. I and my husband came up with all our savings in bits and pieces of a decade to start with a new effort for survival...

In the meanwhile, I shared with my husband a thought of opening a school in Noida as education has been always close to my heart. Being the most supportive person in of my life he encouraged me and gave a chance to my thoughts. I and my husband came up with all our savings in bits and pieces of a decade to start with a new effort for survival, but the money we had was not sufficient to realise my dream of starting a school into reality.

We took a loan from the bank to meet the scarcity of resources. In the scorching heat, I administered all the construction of the school and tried to minimize wastage at the site to save even a single penny. Day and Night I was giving my best to make my effort count. Skipping meals, rainy days at the construction site, ill-health all seemed to be disparaging to reach my destination. In the year 2004, we started with my school Ramagya School in Sector 50 Noida.

Today, after 15 years “Ramagya Group” is a well-known brand in the education sector. Apart from the pursuit of academic success, children sometimes need a break from the classroom and an opportunity to release a pent-up energy for which sports academy, Gym and many other sports activities for overall development of the students were focused upon.

Student's Counseling

I personally partake in counselling sessions with children and their parents. Gradually, I started observing the importance and impact of counselling sessions that were conducted which motivated me to excel my knowledge in the field of counselling. In the year 2016, I procured my degree of Masters in Psychology for serving the society and changing lives for better.

In the year 2017, under Purusharth Charitable society, I established my NGO Unnati Shiksha Kendra to provide education and vocational training skills to the underprivileged students belonging to marginalized sections of the society as I have been one of them who struggled to get their education and I want nobody in this world to stay away from this beautiful world of books.

Rajni Gupta is the Director of Ramagya Group. The views expressed are author's own.