Posts Tagged core team
Chilling Out With Core Chennai!
Posted by Aruna in Volunteer Files... on February 26th, 2010
Mercury rising!
Yet another sweltering summer morning stretches lazily across the city, peppering the pavements with impressively balanced tender-coconut and watermelon pyramids. Perspiration seems to be Chennai’s most-popular pastime and resigned sighs are heard almost everywhere even as the day boots up – almost being the operational word here, for we do have some significant exceptions… 
In a children’s home tucked away in the city, volunteers are accosted by a bevy of energetic kids all clamouring for their attention, eagerness brimming over in their smiles. Voila, the typical welcome that precedes class at any of the several MAD centres in Chennai! For these children and their volunteer Akkas and Annas, soaring temperatures are easily forgotten in the shared energy that English class brings.
This refreshing experience of finding joy in learning through MAD is orchestrated in Chennai by a core team that not only believes the glass is half full, but also orders some chocolate cake to go with the yummy milkshake that’s no doubt in the glass. Now it looks like the team’s invaded this blog to say hullo and to offer you a slice of not the cake – alas! – but their lives. 
Come on, let’s go talk to them! *beckons readers over*
Here’s Vaishnavi Srinivasan. She’s the president of the Chennai team.
Hey Prez! *waves*
Don’t call me President! It reminds me of Prathiba Patil, and I hope I’m nothing like her! she exclaims.
So we’ll obligingly call her Vaish, hm? *whispers* Her friends prefer to call her Teacher Amma, though, referring to her tough work ethic! 
)Oh look, there’s the perennially busy Anantha Padmanabhan, Ananth or Anzee to his friends. He’s in charge of Operations.
Wassup, Ananth! Tell us a bit about yourself before you hurry away on MAD work, will ya?
Well, what do I say?, he wonders aloud. I’m someone who wants to live life to the fullest. Never say die and be the change and all that, yeah, that’s me!
), music, reading and writingAruna joins in when we’re chatting with Ananth. She’s the spunky girl in charge of HR. She loves her nickname Arunskie and woe to the person who calls her Arun by mistake!
Aruna is the most-consistent revenue provider for CCD with her frequent coffee cravings, and I have a feeling she’s on her way there right now! Let’s ask her! Getting coffee, Aruna?
Oh no, she says and tries to speed away on her candy-pink Scooty. We ask her to introduce herself before she goes and this is what we get: I’m stubborn, talkative and extremely mischievous.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Some Aruna funda~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Education: The fear of killing innocent lives made her overlook her love for Biology and choose engineering (@ Salem College of Engineering) over medicine!
Work: Been employed with Mahindra Satyam for so long that she’s now virtually a part of the office furniture!
Special skills/interests: She’s a novelaholic, and can spend hours in the company of books
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Come on now, let’s go meet Abdul Hameed, our Corporate Relations Officer and Ravi Kumar, the most Resource-ful member of the team.
Abdul, the outgoing, happy-go-lucky, and down-to-earth maddie, appreciates and loves the fact that he learns a lot from his children. Don’t let his (inexplicable) pose in the photo fool you! This man knows how to balance fun and professionalism with perfect poise.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Some Abdul funda~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Education: MBBS from Madras Medical College
Work: Clinical Resource Consultant *wonders what on Earth that is!*
Special skills/interests: Movies, music, long drives, experimenting with new cuisines (this possessor of a mouthful of sweet teeth loves Pastries with a capital P!)
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Ah, now I introduce you to one of MAD Chennai’s oldest volunteers (not in terms of service, but age )! Ravi believes that he is too complex to be defined in a few words. You’ll find a bit of everything in me, he avers. Maybe we should call him Avial Ravi, then! Through MAD I’ve understood that life’s more than work and money, he says. Hear, hear!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Some Ravi funda~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Education: Engineering from Utkal University, Orissa (Don’t ask more about this, he says)
Work: At Wipro Technologies (B-o-r-i-n-g, he yawns)
Special skills/interests: Movies, reading, cooking (his yum brinjal-and-sambar combo is legendary – as in we’ve heard a lot about it but nobody has proof of its existence ), and assembling *destroying?* computers.
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Trailing behind them all in a rather scatterbrained way is Meenakshi Nandhini, the trainer-person in our team. Nobody believes her claim that she’s an introvert and her extreme verbosity and her weird sense of humour make us all wonder how her kids sit through her classes!
A look into your life, please, Nandu!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Some Nandu funda~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Education: Eight schools and no colleges, she declares with a satisfied grin. As an afterthought she adds: I’m doing my MA Eng. Lit. by correspondence, though, the same way I did my BA. Does that count?
Work: Freelancer at times, but unemployed would be a better label, she muses.
Special skills/interests: She’s curious about everything and has a looooooong list of interests that would obviously bore the eyeballs off you, so we’ll stop here!
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So there! I’ve run out of people to introduce! And typing out this blog post I’ve realised that we’ve quite a few (alleged) good cooks in the team. This certainly calls for a potluck, folks, for the proof of the pudding lies in the eating! We’ll arrange for one soon, I hope. *smacks lips in anticipation*
So ciao for now, co-madsters! Make sure that the next time you visit Chennai you call us early to reserve your tables! Tipping the cooks with candy bars is of course highly recommended!
- Ms. A. N. Ony Mous, MAD Chennai team member
The MAD National Conference 2010.
Posted by Jithin C Nedumala in Official on February 25th, 2010
Today’s global youth population is at a historical high of over 1.5 billion. With 89 % in developing countries, youth unemployment has assumed alarming proportions. The youth today are on average three times as likely to be unemployed as adults. In the last ten years, the world’s youth population grew by 10.5 percent while youth employment only grew by 0.2 percent. The International Labour Organization has estimated that another 1 billion young people will enter the world’s labor market within the next ten years. Many leading thinkers of our generation has indeed labeled this the “Silent Crisis”
We are all members of this Youth population and we have a stake in this Silent Crisis.
MAD is a growing community of committed youngsters who are investing their time and energy to positively impact the communities they live in. As MAD grows we need strong leaders who can ensure our programs and policies achieve greater impact, sustainability, and scale. We see value in developing youth leaders.
The MAD national conference is a platform for our core team members from across the country to develop their leadership & management skills. It is an open-minded exchange of diverse perspectives on challenges they face on the ground and a concerted effort to find solutions that are both practical and beneficial to all stakeholders.
The MAD national Conference 2010 will be held in Bangalore on 5th,6th and 7th of March and will be attended by 70 MAD core team members from 10 cities, covering 3 days of intense training sessions and discussions that focus on developing leadership skills and better understanding of the functional systems of Make a Difference.
Our focus is on action. We will have two breakout sessions where the city core teams come out with their final plan of action for the coming year. The highlight of this year is the election of the National Core Team during the Functional Break out session on Day 2.
The National Conference is an avenue to meet likeminded people and learn and share from each other’s experiences. This is an ideal platform to forge relationships that will last a lifetime.
We would like to thank Manipal County for providing us with this great venue and ensuring our team has a stress free and rejuvenating experience.
The following will be the agenda for the Conference
Friday, March, 5th, 2010HRNew Policies:
Plan of Action
Future Plans
Leadership Development Programs OperationsNew Policies
Plan of Action
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Placements
New Policies
- Centre Centric Approach
- Partnership with the Orphanage Head
- Incentive System
Plan of Action
- “Out of Center” Placements Program
- Camps
- Mentorship
- Usage of MADapp Events section
Future Plans
- Career Guidance
Saturday, March 6, 2010
Training
New Policies
- The Celta Model
- The New Syllabus
Plan of Action
- Roles and Responsibilities of a Mentor
- Choosing Mentors and assigning Mentees
- Identifying Training space
- Use of MADapp to manage training
- Student Progress
Future Plans
- MAD Revenue Generation program
- Accreditation for the training program
Finance
1. Overview of Finance Policy of MAD
2. Statutory requirements
3. Ensuring Financial integrity
Resources
- What is the MAD library Project
- How to start a library Project in your city
- How to coordinate the library Project
- Use of Basecamp to coordinate the library Project
FOM
New Policies
- City Incentives
- Online FOM
- National fundraising Employee
Plan of Action
- New City Level targets
- How to find an FOM POC
- How to run an FOM Campaign
- How to make an FOM presentation
- How to do FOM follow ups
- Other fundraising Avenues
Future Plans
- National level Fundraising Support
PR
New Policies
- National Employee
- National Brand Building
Plan of Action
- MAD Blog
- MAD Pings
- MAD Magazines
- Media Management
- Merchandising & Designing
Future Plans
National PR support for local PR Activities
Break Out Session # 1: Function Wise
- Elect the National Core team Members
- Deciding on the national Review Meetings
- Targets for the Coming year
Sunday, March, 7th, 2010
Computer Project
- What is the MAD computer Project
- How to start a Computer Project in your city
- How to coordinate the Computer Project
- Use of MAD to coordinate the Computer project
Break Out Session # 2:City Wise
- Finalizing the Plan of Action for the coming year
- Setting targets
- Deciding on Time lines
Apart from the above Functional Modules, there will be sessions on leadership development that inculcates a spirit of team play and leadership through a series of discussions, workshops and group practice sessions. Essential skills for leadership like effective listening and communication, presentation, team building, assertiveness and problem solving are developed. The team gets to learn the technical skills, emotional intelligence and cognitive abilities required to be leader.
Yes, it is going to be hectic with the conference starting at 9 am and stretching up to 12 am but we believe these 3 days are going to be an experience of a life time for all of us. I thank all the delegates for sharing the financial commitment for the conference and hence re-emphasizing your commitment to our values.
On a personal note, we have been working towards this year’s National Conference for over 3 months now and I am sure it will add value to every mad volunteer who attends, and hence, motivate more youngsters to GO MAD
Attention Delegates: All further information and discussions regarding the conference would happen in our base camp account. Do log in to get the latest updates on the conference. If you do not have your Basecamp account details yet, email Dhiya@makeadiff.in for your log in credentials.
Introducing… Mangalore’s SuperMAD team!
Posted by Trishma in Volunteer Files... on June 3rd, 2009
Mangalore has always been known as that quaint little city on the beautiful coast of Dakshina Karnataka, where the wind sways the slender coconut trees to sleep and the quiet aura of the city brings calm to your soul. The birds chirped with the evening breeze, the sun smiled its sunshine down, and all was tranquil and serene.
And then… THUNDER strikes!
Rakesh Haridas aka THUNDER, like the superhero from the clouds, crashed onto Mangalore’s precious soul… and the city has never been the same ever since. He and his team of SuperMAD people are all set to cause a stir in the city and bring it some madness. Here’s the team:
Rakesh Haridas/President
Disguise: Engineer
Quoted: “Do as I command you, or watch the muscle power in action.”
Kirti Mohan/VP-HR
Disguise: Law Student
Quoted: “Oh I am a very resourceful person… in terms of all the naughty things I do! And I guess this is what makes me the VP – Human Resources!”
Trishma Pinto/VP-PR
Disguise: BCom Student
Quoted: “MADness is contagious! Spread the virus!”
Sajid Rahim/VP-Training
Disguise: Law Student
Quoted: “Words are my weapon, and training is my sword. Allow me to arm you in some MAD wisdom.”
Greeshma Rai/VP- Finance
Disguise: Law Student
Quoted: “Accounts and finances are a tough thing to manage, and owing to the fact that I’m a tough li’l girl (pun intended), I’m sure I can do a great job. Kids are such cutteee li’l angels, can’t wait any longer to start teaching them.”
Anand Radhakrishnan/VP- Fund Raising
Disguise: Engineer
Quoted: ”Am I MAD? No wonder I am. If MADness were an empire, then I’d be the Jester who dares call the Bald King so!”
Ann Alexander/Book keeper
Disguise: Law Student
Quoted: “I like kids, I love kids actually and wouldn’t mind keeping books for them, isn’t that exactly what I have to do? MAD is giving me an option to be with one of the greatest loves of my life – KIDS!! And I’d be happier than ever to keep their books, which is my second love by the way!”
We are all so pleased to meet you. Watch this space for more adventures of Mangalore’s Thunder Man & team!
PS – the REAL heroes in this adventure series are the kids… wait till you meet them in the coming blog entries!!
The MAD Conference !
Posted by Parul in Volunteer Files... on April 13th, 2009
Day 1:
When I landed in Cochin I was somewhat uncomfortable… With all the apprehensions disintegrating me from within… After i reached the hotel and was redirected to the fifth floor….
I was blankly standing outside the lift…. Not sure where the conference was….
Meanwhile I heard a loud voice of (must admit) an impressive speaker… I could hear a huge round of applause after every few sentences….
The voice was almost echoing in the corridor and it took me some time to find the actual source….
Iopened the door and to my surprise found a giant addressing a herd of blacks…
Oops!!!! I was the only one in white…..But it did not take the devouring black wave long to paint me black….
Sanjana with her infectious smile surely affected many including me…. The day had a lot to offer, with inputs flowing in from all the sides; ideas, experiences and plans were discussed…. in FULL….. with a few digressions….
By the end of the first day of the conference everyone was nauseated by the heavy overdose of ideas….
Until we had dinner the hunger pangs almost made us feel as if the heart had found a new home… coz the stomach was making more noise than the heart…
And the hangover of the entire week was making it all the more difficult to keep the eyes open…. We all seemed skeptical whether we would be able to survive for another two days….
The intoxicating sea breeze and the sound of the crashing waves detoxified and mesmerized us…. And then we all retired to our respective rooms, too tired after the day’s work….
Day 2:
B’fast at Aamara
Breakfast!!!! so called only because we had it in the morning otherwise the amount that we had easily qualifies that mouthwatering treat to be promoted as dinner ….
A lot of delicacies were served…. oops!!!! i don’t remember the names…. but the taste still continues to tickle my taste buds…yummy… mouth-watering….
I’m sure after visiting Amaara many people had almost wished that they owned a place like that or at least a few sections of that traditional heritage property must have left their marks on the road less traveled and carved a niche for themselves in the dream houses of many…..
Second day brought a lot more clarity and the future course of action was formalized..
By now the boundaries between the various cities had completely resigned to the world of oblivion…. A perfect manifestation of national integration…
Smiles were freely exchanged from one corner of the room to another…. Smiles that made the need of audible conversation dispensable… Sarcasms, jokes, appreciations, admiration, agreements and disagreements were secretly shared by employing the diverse mechanisms….
The end of the discussion was gratifying and all the girls in Sanjana’s car were warming themselves up for a magnificent peek into the history of Kochi Fort; not many knew that very soon all of us were gonna be led through the winding streets of Cochin that were once frequented by the royal families and invaders from various countries…
Many structures there till date continue to boast about their noble birth….
Our lovely guide was religiously relaying all that those structures were whispering into the ears of the thin air to us (We who were both old and new to Cochin….)
The visit to one of the homes served as the cherry on the cake…
We witnessed one of the finest court proceedings….
The relationship that the kids and the volunteers there share is exemplary….
After bidding them good bye we dispersed and hibernated for a few hours….
Yes… We were to meet the next day…. The last day….
Day 3:
the beginning of an end….
Wow!!!! lovely morning….
Everyone was tired but still managed to be ready after very little sleep…
The very idea of wasting the time sleeping that we otherwise could spend together made us all feel guilty….
Adrenaline rush was driving us all….
The long ride to Allepy was memorable….
With we all racing with each other….
And personally speaking serving as a navigator in Sanjana’s car was fun…. I openly showcased my tendency to act foolish at times (most of the times)….
Allepy house boat ride was heavenly… The weather was pleasant…. The sky being overcast….
We played a lot of games and sang a lot of songs….
We surely made the people traveling in all the other boats envious….
Thanks to Paul, there was no dearth of “laugh till you drop” moments….
Every passing moment just made us keep wishing for more….
By late afternoon almost everyone was overcome by the sad realization that the closure of the conference that we had all looked forward to attending was now drawing close…. And that the end was inevitable was all the more difficult to accept…
May be the tears were not visible…. but they surely poured….
And finally we parted with a promise that we would meet again.. next year…
Before the Conference we wanted to do a few things for the welfare of the society and for bringing to life the dream of an Equal India… After the conference, we have many more things to do for making our dream of securing a bright future for the underprivileged kids come true…. We also have one more reason to do all that we wish to…. and that reason is that we have each other…
We have MAD and all the MADness that is so much a part of us… All.
MAD Conference Day 1
Posted by Jr. in Volunteer Files... on April 11th, 2009
The First Ever National Mad Conference kicked off in Cochin yesterday…
Day 1 was all about ‘Dreaming’…Volunteers from across the country presented ideas on how to take the organization forward..
Day 2 is all about deciding which dreams to follow.. Keep watching..
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