My Story: Manjunath Gogi

My Story

Manjunath Gogi, KLEIT Hubballi

Hi, I am Manjunath Gogi. I began my LEAD journey in the November of 2012 and since then it has been a constant learning experience of over 3 years. When I think about how it all began, the first thing that strikes me is that I was always passionate and involved about my technical ideas and wanted to work with them. However, the urge to join LEAD arose only after I began watching my enthusiastic friends who stayed busy with different LEAD projects. Soon I joined LEAD and got a good platform from where I could pitch my ideas and also could get involved in the social issues. After joining LEAD, over time my ideas and thoughts over the various issues, my perspective to see things and eventually my mindset at large has changed.

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I have done three social projects in LEAD and out of these three; I would like to talk about one. It is about giving security helpline number to women. I believe that women should be always respected and seeing them getting eve teased and harassed bothered me. I wanted to do something. So I took a step and launched my first project ‘Women Security Protocol’. I talked to a women association near my home about my idea and intention behind this project and they agreed to help me out. The women from the association gathered on the 8th of March 2013, the International Women’s Day. On the very day, with the help of these women and the police authorities, I re-launched a security helpline number for the women in the area of Navanagar. This would not have been possible if the women association, Mr. H.D. Kulkarni (C.P.I. of Navanagar Police Station) and Mr. I.M. Dundasi (P.S.I of Navanagar Police Station) had not supported, encouraged and stood by me. The helpline number is 0836-2233512.

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At Talaash 2014 with LEAD Functional Head Mr. Ajay Suman Shukla

My biggest accomplishment in my LEAD journey has been starting Talaash. Having a dream is not a big deal but achieving it is what matters!  I wanted to organize a technical event and came up with the idea ‘TALAASH’. The event was meant for the students pursuing engineering and diploma course. The participants were required to prepare a prototype model and the best innovative and commercial viable projects will get seed capital for its execution. The main motto of the event was to transform the student into an entrepreneur using his or her own idea.   It was both my biggest dream as well as challenge. Since it was being organized for the first time, I faced many setbacks at the beginning but with the help of my mentors and my teammates I came through those setbacks and achieved success. I started alone but later a lot of people joined me one by one and we had a great team at the end. The biggest challenge was still to get the sponsorship.

Amidst many negative responses, the first positive response came in form of Mr. Sasishekar Krish (Founder and CEO, nanoPix) who agreed to sponsor the event with Rs. 1.5 Lakhs. It brought a new zeal within me and helped me to move forward. I began working harder. Later on I approached Dr. B.S. Anami, the Principal of my college with our LEAD coordinator Madhumati Madam and my principal agreed to host the event in our college. Thus, my college became hosting partner of our event ‘TALAASH’ and we finally ended up raising a sponsorship of Rs.177,500/-.

Thereafter, our next milestone was to get registrations of 50+ projects. At the beginning, we had only 10 registrations which made us worried. But later on with the help of Dr. B.S Anami, we finally reached 57 registrations from the different parts of the state.

TALAASH '14 gave a good platform to over 225 students, and also venture capital of Rs. 40,000 to two projects, Rs. 25,000 to two more projects and Rs.15, 000 to one more project.

Finishing the event successfully was not the end for me, it was the starting step which made me test my abilities to the extinct. I started working with the winning teams of Talaash’14 and helped them to start their company. Now, that winning team named CAKEBOARD has already started their company. (www.cakeboard.in)

On stage with the judges at Talaash 2015

The success of Talaash ’14 triggered me to start it again. Team TALAASH and I started it again. This time we aimed for a bigger target; 4 times larger than Talaash’14... and we successfully reached the target! Even this time, Mr. Sasishekar Krish (Founder and CEO, nanoPix) sponsored for the prize money, which was Rs. 3,00,000/- total.

TALAASH had received 200 applications/ideas from 23 different cities and 37 different colleges’ across Karnataka, Chhattisgarh, Greater Noida, Delhi, Maharashtra, and Telangana. Out of 200, top 85 ideas were shortlisted for the second round, and the top 30 teams were further selected to showcase their prototype in the final event on 7th May at KLEIT, Hubballi.

Top 3 Ideas were chosen among all the presented ideas. They were awarded with a seed fund of Rs. 1,00,000/- each from nanoPix Company and incubation support from Deshpande Foundation’s Sandbox Startups. 

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At LEAD Prayana 2015

Through LEAD, I have had many other great opportunities. I have taken part in LLP 2014 and LEAD Prayana 2015. My experience in LLP in 2014 helped me get the idea for Talaash, and then in Prayana in 2015, I got the motivation to execute it. Both of these LEAD opportunities were amazing, but in different ways. LLP was very helpful for me in terms of skills development, and Prayana was immensely inspiring!

At Yuva Summit 2016, I was a speaker at LEAD Talks and shared my leadership story with the crowd of 500 attendees, including my peers and special guests. It was my first experience doing major public speaking, and it was a tremendous learning opportunity for me.

Speaking at LEAD Talk, Yuva Summit 2016

KLEIT LEADer Conducts Blood Donation Camp; 102 Students Donate

Blood is essential for saving lives in medical emergencies, but blood scarcity due to decreased blood donation is becoming a serious threat.  LEADer Yashwini from KLEIT collaborated with KIMS Blood Bank to conduct a Blood Donation Camp at her college.  At the Blood Donation Camp, 125 students checked their blood and 102 students donated blood.   Because of Yashwini's initiative, 100 lives will be saved in the future.

 

 

My Story: Aarya Hallikeri

Aarya Hallikeri (KLEIT, Hubli)

"It is easy to sit up and take notice.  What is difficult is getting up and taking action."

My name is Aarya Hallikeri.  I am a mechanical engineering student from KLEIT, and in my latest project, I took action when others refused to. 

The Old Bus Stand in Hubli was in a horrible condition.  The walls were stained with red from people spitting on them and alcoholic bottles littered the ground.  There was clearly no respect for public space. Local officials, including the police, were doing nothing.  I decided to do something about it.

I made a team of 12 students and LEADers and together, and we worked throughout the day to clean up the entire bus stand. We painted the walls, we picked up trash, and we declared the area as a plastic free zone.  Our goal was to make the Bus Stand area as hygienic as possible.  We spread awareness by talking to the people at the bus stand.  We told them what we were doing, and we encouraged them to stop spitting and to throw away their trash properly.

After we had been working for 2 hours, some of the depot managers approached us and tried to stop our work.  They criticized our efforts.  We spoke to higher authorities and convinced them to let us continue our work. 

The impact of my project was big.  LEADers in Davangere, Chikodi, Dharwad, and Laxmeshwar have implemented the same initiative in their locations.   On August 15^th, Independence Day, we received appreciation certificates from the Managing Director of NWKSRTC.

In addition to cleaning the bus stand, I have implemented six other projects.  I completed one technical project (the first technical LEAD project from my college) in which I created a device that can generate electricity from cow urine. 

My intiative that has generated a large amount of measurable success, though, has been in the realm of social media.  When KLEIT formed the first LEAD student governing body back in November of 2012, I stepped up and accepted a position as the official KLEIT LEAD Cell Media Head.  As Media Head, I have taken the KLEIT LEAD Cell Facebook page to a new level.  Within only one and a half months, I actively reached out to my different networks and was able to acquire 445 likes.  I have also recently joined the LEAD team as a Social Media intern, and I’m now managing the main LEAD Facebook page, as well as the other LEAD location pages.  The main LEAD Facebook page currently has over 10,000 likes. 

I think completely differently.  I have my own thoughts and my own beliefs.  Before LEAD, I was not realistic.  I used to only just think.  LEAD helped me with my implementation.  Learning how to implement my ideas has really helped me improve my self-confidence. 

My Story: Bharath Hanamaraddi

 Bharath Hanamaraddi (KLEIT, Hubli)

What sets me apart from other students at my college is that I have taken the responsibility of leading 25 of my college peers and overseeing their initiatives, while ensuring that teamwork and coordination is continuously fostered among them.  In November of 2012, I was elected as the first President of the KLEIT LEAD Cell, which was the first student-led LEAD governing body.    

The idea to start a LEAD Club came about in October of 2012.  KLEIT LEAD students had collaborated and worked with each other on several projects.  After successfully working together to implement Sai Prakash Rao’s project, Diwali with Orphans and Old Age People, in which we fundraised over Rs. 5,000, we found that we work well together and possessed similar ways of thinking, and that we could capitalize on our excellent teamwork ability to enhance the success and outreach of future LEAD projects.  

The KLEIT LEAD cell consists of 25 members, but our team hopes to eventually expand to 50 members.  The members have been assigned to teams or committees based on their own personal interests and availability.  The LEAD government is composed of Financial, Scouting, Documentation, and Logistics Teams, as well as Advisory, Planning, and Deputy Committees.  The Financial Team is responsible for collecting all approved project funds, creating a budget, and redistributing the funds to projects, based on need, prior to their implementations.  The Scouting Team is responsible for scouting and recruiting good leaders.  The Documentation Team Is responsible for documenting and preparing reports on Leaders, projects, and leaders’ academic performance.  The Logistics team handles all logistic arrangements and coordination for KLEIT projects and events.  

As the President of the KLEIT LEAD Cell, I am responsible for maintaining enthusiasm within the group, mentoring students on their projects, advertising and branding LEAD at the college, and communicating with the college Principal and faculty members.  

By taking on such an active leadership role in the KLEIT LEAD Cell, I have improved a lot within myself.  LEAD has given me many opportunities to help me understand and practice team and people management, patience, and interpersonal communication.   my LEAD experience has given me public and media exposures and many networking opportunities, which will benefit me personally and professionally.  Everything I’ve learned has come by way of experiential learning provided by the LEAD Program.  Ultimately at the end of the day, LEAD really builds your character.

In addition to the development and changes that LEAD has helped me catalyze within myself, I really admires LEAD for how it is changing other students. LEAD is one such organization that finances you without taking any guarantee from you…it is the only organization that provides you with financial support by just raising your hand.  It gives the same opportunity to everybody, and it provides a big platform to serve for social causes.

Hubli LEADer Encourages Public to Celebrate an Eco-Friendly Ganesh Chaturthi

This year's Ganesh Chaturthi, LEADer Aarya Vishwanath Hallikeri wanted to spread the message of protecting the environment and wanted to make sure that the public celebrated the festival as eco-friendly as possible.  He approached different people in his locality and encouraged them to use eco-friendly Ganesh idols in order to protect our planet.  In addition, he celebrated Ganesh Chaturthi with an eco-friendly Ganesh idol in three different areas in order to further promote his message.  Aarya's project reminds us that we can still embrace our ancient culture and traditions while maintaining a concern for arising problems in modern society.

My Story: Shruti Kamble (KLEIT, Hubli)

Shruti Kamble (KLEIT, Hubli)

 Before, I used to be a very shy and reserved person.  Outside of family and close friends, I struggled to communicate with people.   But in May of 2013, I anchored the entire LEAD Valedictory Hubli ceremony, in which I was required to speak publicly to an audience of 200 members.  Many of you might wonder how I was able to do this.  This transformation came about from the confidence that I gained after completing my LEAD project. 

I have strong English skills, and I recognized that knowing English in today’s globalized world is a necessity.  However, learning English can be challenging and expensive and poor children, especially those who live in slums, usually get left behind.  I wanted to help the children from slum areas learn English so that I could give them a better future.  My Co-LEADer Marcia and I coordinated with the Smart Kids Education Trust in Hubli and made arrangements to teach one-hour English and math sessions, three times a week, to 20 students between 1^st and 9^th Standard.  I am proud to say that three of the children that I taught have built up their English skills so much that they are now attending an English medium school.  For this project, I was awarded the “Best Project of Education Promotion” award at the LEAD Valedictory, Hubli ceremony in May of 2013. 

Working with these students really inspired me.  I became so dedicated to the project that I taught the students even while I had exams.  I also continued to teach them after I had completed the 18 sessions that I had initially planned, and I started spending two hours with them on Sundays as well.  My efforts towards improving these students may be considered a project, but I have personally not taken it as merely a project.  I want to keep going, and I want to continue helping these students until I get tired.

LEAD made me bold enough to speak in front of people.  After spending dozens of hours teaching with these students, I was able to enhance my communication and public speaking skills.  Not only can I easily communicate with strangers, but I can engage, advise, and mentor them as well.  Throughout my sessions, I was constantly having to make adjustments to my lesson plans and think of new ways to make my lessons more interactive so that the students would be more eager to learn. Now, I feel confident managing groups of people.

Aside from my personal development, LEAD has presented me with other opportunities.  LEAD Yuva Summit 2013 was a dream come true for me, as I was able to meet my role model, Sudha Murthy.  I also met and interacted with Dr. Raghunath Mashelkar and Ratan Tata.  These experiences are momentous events that I will remember throughout her whole life.

My Story: Sai Prakash (KLEIT, Hubli)

 Sai Prakash (KLEIT, Hubli)

“Convincing people is tough.  Even if they laugh or mock you, just keep persisting.”

I used to consider myself a very shy person. Until 10^th standard, I had never spoken to girl.  I wouldn’t even speak in my own house.

Nowadays, I spend most of his time speaking to large groups of people.  As an active member in the KLEIT LEAD cell, I have led two projects so far since joining.  My second project, Plastic Eradication, has been highly impactful throughout the city of Hubli.  

I became inspired to initiate Plastic Eradication after reading a newspaper article about how plastics had been banned in Karnataka.  However, plastic usage persisted. Sai says, There’s an Indian saying that says you have seven lives.  Even if we’re born seven times, the plastic will still be there…I thought, “Why can’t I do it?  I can influence the corporation people and make them realize their mistakes”. 

I gathered a team of my fellow KLEIT LEAD students set off into the colony of Rajedra Prasad, Indranagar, Hubli to educate the people and collect plastic from homes.  Initially, the public was skeptical.  My team and I were mocked and challenged on several occasions.   Despite these obstacles, though, we kept persisting. 

Our first visit to 20 homes in the colony resulted in the collection of nine gunny bags of plastic.  In our second visit to the same homes, only three gunny bags of plastic were collected.  We have visited the colony more than seven times now, and only one gunny bag of plastic is being collected.   Our team was successfully able to change the public’s mentality and behavior. 

Excited by the successes of our initiative, we have since conducted the project throughout  additional colonies in Hubli and Dharwad, and we don’t plan on stopping there. Our goal is to reach out to 18-22 colonies at first.  Then we’ll approach other colonies in Hubli.

Several stories about the Plastic Eradication Project have been featured in several Hubli newspapers.

Joining LEAD has helped me transform from a quiet student to a strong communicator and activist. Before, I never dared to speak to the public or large audiences.  Now, I can present publicly on the spot.  LEAD made me recognize my potential.  It made me realize what I am.  LEAD always pushes us to do whatever we want to do.  If not for LEAD, I would be a regular college student doing normal college things.

Apart from the accomplishments of my projects, I have become more involved in other aspects of LEAD.  As the LEAD Prayana coordinator for KLEIT, I helped 11 students from my college get selected for LEAD Prayana.  I also took an active role in organizing Yuva Summit 2013, where I was given the opportunity to personally interact with Sudha Murthy and Narayana Murthy.

Project: Voting Awareness Campaign in Navanagar

Aarya Hallikeri (KLEIT)

Aarya took initiative to increase the percentage of polling.  Aarya decided that in order for this to happen, people needed to become more knowledgeable about the voting process. To achieve this, Aarya and his team visited 200 houses in Navanagar and educated people about the voting process and its importance.  The people of Navanagar responded positively and appreciated Aarya and his team for their efforts. 

Plastic Eradication (Phase III)

Aarya Hallikeri (KLEIT)

Aarya's vision is to help the environment by making the world more plastic-free.  His LEAD project gave him the opportunity to realize his vision.  Aarya's overall objective for his project was to eradicate plastic use in one area of the city, and to then to expand the eradication of plastics throughout the rest of Hubli.  Aarya and his team began in Adhyapak Nagar, where they collected plastic from every household and encouraged them to reduce their plastic usage by switching to cloth or paper bags.  They even approached several shops in the area, and the shop owners agreed to support their cause. 

Project: Celebrating World Earth Day

Prabhudev Hallikeri (KLEIT)

World Earth Day is an annual holiday on which environmental protection is made aware and supported.  LEADer Prabhudev took initiative to celebrate World Earth Day on the local level. In honor of World Earth Day, Prabhudev and his team distributed plants and educated people about the importance of plants for the sustenance of all life on Earth.  The team also educated people in Navanagar about the harmful environmental effects of plastics.  

Project: Holi Celebration with Blind Students

Kushalbabu (KLEIT, Hubli)

In the past, Kushalbabu had always celebrated Holi with his friends.  This year, though, he decided to make Holi more meaningful by playing Holi with students from a blind school located in Navanagar.  The event began with a singing and instrumental recital by the blind students.  Musician Smt. Gayatri Deshpande also participated.  Next, Kushalbabu and his team taught the students about the importance of Holi.  Finally, Kushalbabu, his team, and the blind students all played Holi together.  After playing Holi, Kushalbabu and his team distributed sweets to all of the students.  

Project: Dignity for Domestic Maids

Pradnya V Padaki (KLEIT)

Pradnya observed that maids received little respect.  Pradnya wanted to do something for the maids to improve their work environments and life their spirits.  After obtaining permission from the principal, Pradnya organized gift-giving, fun contests, games, and singing for the maids at the end of the day, after classes.  Not only were these fun events enjoyable for the maids, but these events also showed appreciation for the maids and all of their hard work. 

Project : Replacement of Cement

Leader : Neelambika

College : KLEIT

“Once, talking to my father, he said that through industrial waste cement can be made. I’m learning civil engineering and even we learnt a bit about it. When I got to know about LEAD I thought of taking this as a project,” said Neelambika, a LEADer of KLEIT.

“Replacement of cement” : because of there is more usage of cement it produces more waste. Industries also produce more waste. Using all waste products green concrete is produced and it is also more durable than normal concrete.   

It helps in small amount in reduction of environment pollution and the cost of production.

Neelambika wanted to make some blocks and use them for sitting benches near the parking or canteen areas. In the process she learnt the effective usage of waste materials, and came to know the effort and pains of employees who build the buildings.  

Project: Sports For School Kids

LEADer: Vishwanath Mathad

Location: KLEIT

For this project, Vishwanath first went to government school principal explaining the benefits of his project. He was given permission to conduct sports for the schoolchildren. He then went to his old school and found an old p.e. teacher from his school days, whom he invited to the event to be the judge. At S. R. Bhomia Government High School, Vishwanath conducted sports and games for the students, including volleyball, throwball, kho-kho.

The students were the main beneficiaries of this project. Initially they were busy and bored by the heavy studies, but these games and sports refreshed their minds and bodies. The students got to know the value of Desi games, which are an important part of the culture. 

Project: Filling the Potholes of Hubli Roads

Winner of Best Project Award – Dharwad Region 2012

LEADers Suhail, Khalid, Sachin, Bhautik and team took an initiative of filling the road pits of Hubli City. They set a model for other students to follow by volunteering their services in solving the daily problem of bumpy roads. They did this project in three phases. First Suhail took initiative in Deshpande Nagar. Suail Sanadi, a 4th semester student of KLEIT, would pass through Deshpandenagar everyday, and was upset to see the conditions of road, which was full of huge potholes. Instead of waiting and expect HDMC will do the repair work, he decided to do something about it. They got proper guidelines and suggestions from LEAD for this action. They collected funds from each other, contacted mud contractor to bring mud of tractor trolley and began repair work. In three hours of work the complete road of 500 metres was pothole- free.
Suhail’s initiative was published in Times of India on 1st March, 2012 and the result of it was that the very next day workers of Hubli-Dharwad Municipal Corporation (HDMC) cleaned all the potholes and paved them with permanent tar and grits.
Inspired by this initiative the team did not stop themselves and they continued the project in Akshaya Park and Sirur Road areas. They got many appreciation and positive feedback from daily commuters and local residents for their work.

Project: Generation of Electricity from Cow Urine

LEADer: Prabhudev
Team Members: Shridhar Hallikeri, Raghvendra Divanji
Location: KLEIT

The team visited a nearby village to know how much urine was wasted and found that 200 litres of urine was wasted each day. They collected urine samples and brought two electrodes, dipping them in beakers containing urine. Connecting the electrodes to the multimeter the team members noted down the voltage reading. After three attempts they were successful in generating the power of about 0.4-0.6 volts, and the team hopes to produce a larger amount of voltage given a large quantity of urine.

The main objective of the project is to provide the rural area people with proper electricity facility, and also to bring the awareness about the proper utilization of the naturally available  urine in the rural area. The project has been done on the small scale and was able to generate 0.6 volts from a half litre urine. 

Prabhudev: "If considered on the large scale ...the day isn't far when we find no houses without electricity in the rural areas. Thanks to all my team members and my sir Dr.Nagaraj Shetti for his guidance."