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In 1993, an earthquake struck Latur in Mahrashtra, in the western part of India. The loss of life was massive due to the poor construction materials used to build houses. I must have been 9 years old at the time.

Around that time, the school had organized a school picnic to take the kids to a city nearby Delhi. I can't remember but I vaguely think it was Meerut. The picnic was optional as you had to pay Rs. 370. It was a large sum of money in 1993, it was almost a month's school tuition. As the news of the earthquake came in, the school started a fund raising campaign, asking the children to request their parents to donate money.

I went home told my dad about both things in the evening. He offered a choice, to either go to the picnic or donate the money to the victims of the earthquake. A nine year old presented with such a choice has a very tough decision to make. Fortunately, I chose to donate the money. My dad gave me the cash that very moment to take to the school.

I went to school the next day, went up to the class teacher to give that money to the teacher. She counted it and said, oh so this is for the picnic. No, I said this is for the Latur earthquake fund. She understood. She mentioned it to the class. That was it. I don't think it prompted any other kids to follow the example.

Why am I writing about this today?

I see poverty, stark poverty around me, all day, every day. Food is a luxury, clothing is a luxury. Everything appears to be a luxury. Any consumption seems to be wasteful, extravagant. The question which strikes me is how many people could I have educated with any money I spend on any kind of consumption. The luxury of living in the first world is that you don't see the poverty. It is on TV, on hulu advertisements. Not a real, breathing 9 year old girl who I saw today sweeping the floors. What is the promise of the city, the country, the world to this nine year old? I am sorry but Gandhiji's talisman which was printed on all NCERT books from grade school to high school, which was promptly ignored, seems relevant today. Here it is:

"I will give you a talisman. Whenever you are in doubt, or when the self becomes too much with you, apply the following test. Recall the face of the poorest and the weakest man [woman] whom you may have seen, and ask yourself, if the step you contemplate is going to be of any use to him [her]. Will he [she] gain anything by it? Will it restore him [her] to a control over his [her] own life and destiny? In other words, will it lead to swaraj [freedom] for the hungry and spiritually starving millions?
Then you will find your doubts and your self melt away."

- One of the last notes left behind by Gandhi in 1948

What will we do for the swaraj of this nine year old? We need to figure out how we will educate the young, so that they can be overfed little buggers who are annoying in their adidas sneakers.

In this education, mind you, we have to tell our little girl that she needs to save the earth, her rivers, her trees, her mountains. We have to teach her algebra, her local language, English and using a computer. Maybe she'll learn how to program, maybe she'll be an artist, maybe a musician.

I'll start work on this. I am trying to think what can I do which the hacker in me wants to scale.

I can think of the fantastic work of Khan Academy. I can think of translating the primary and middle school lectures to Hindi.

I also came across Teach for India. Its a fantastic program. A two year commitment. No sitting on the fence, no postponing, no excuse. Its a real startup. Its fantastic. I don't want to proselytize. I'll try to figure out a way to help them while I work on building my startup.