{"id":2001,"date":"2017-07-07T15:15:26","date_gmt":"2017-07-07T09:45:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.doorstepschool.org\/pune\/?p=2001"},"modified":"2017-07-13T09:58:35","modified_gmt":"2017-07-13T04:28:35","slug":"a-journey-of-10-years-in-her-own-words","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.doorstepschool.org\/pune\/a-journey-of-10-years-in-her-own-words\/","title":{"rendered":"A journey of 10 years….in her own words."},"content":{"rendered":"
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I\u2019m Mehraz Mullani.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

While my father worked as a mason, we lived in a small room on a construction site. Our parents would be at work, and we used to idle the day away playing in sand and roaming around the site. One fine day, a small four-walled school called Door Step School (DSS) started on our site, and that was it. As soon as I heard school, I rushed into my house and curled up into a ball hoping that nobody will find me. I was terrified by the thought of going to school, but somehow \u2013 by tempting me with different toys and using a lot of other techniques \u2013 Chhaya Ma\u2019am and Sunita Bhosale Ma\u2019am would get me ready and take me to the school.<\/div>\n
\nFor a long time, I would sit in the school waiting for their eyes to wander, and as soon as I realized I wasn\u2019t being watched I\u2019d leg it and find a new place to hide. Without complaining even once, they would patiently find me and bring me back to school. This routine had become a part of our everyday life.<\/div>\n
\nAfter a few weeks, I turned six \u2013 and that is when school really started to get fun. Our teachers at DSS started getting us involved in fun games, teaching us to draw, paint, and dance and organized a bunch of other fun activities along with distributing sweets and snacks. We would now be present in the classroom even before school began!\u00a0 Our teachers would hold our tiny hands and teach us Hindi alphabet. I remember I was so fascinated with writing that I took permission to carry a slate and a pencil home and learned the entire alphabet.<\/div>\n
\nThen one day, Bhosale Ma\u2019am \u2013 along with a few other teachers \u2013 took my father\u2019s permission and enrolled me in Nehru Education Society\u2019s primary school in the first grade. I was seven years old then. The one prominent memory I have is of scoring 98% in the first grade and before telling anyone, I rushed to Bhosale Ma\u2019am to give her the news. I can recall as if it were yesterday the way her eyes moistened and her face lit up as she saw the progress I was making.<\/div>\n
\nThen life took an unfortunate turn. For certain reasons, my father took our entire family back to our village and decided to settle there. I turned my nights into days trying to establish some communication with Bhosale Ma\u2019am, but to no avail. I cannot begin to describe my surprise when I found out that Door Step School had traced me down and my teachers were trying to convince my father to come back and enroll me in the school again. After heavy persuasion, my father agreed \u2013 it was one of the happiest days of my life.<\/div>\n
\nI now went to school from 7 to 12 in the morning, and spent my afternoon from 2 to 5 at the Door Step School center. This place was a safe haven \u2013 all the things that I hadn\u2019t understood in school or wanted explained again were explained to me here.\u00a0 It was the best of times \u2013 my curiosity and ambition were being kindled and I was finding happiness.<\/div>\n
\nWhen I joined 5th<\/sup>\u00a0grade, I realized that the curriculum had started getting difficult and I wasn\u2019t able to do well. Math had started giving me nightmares. As soon as I shared this with my teacher, she arranged for me to join Door Step School\u2019s \u2018Sandarbha Classes\u2019 (Reference classes) and assigned a teacher who helped me\u00a0 with math. I was a good talker, so Door Step School handed me the opportunity to anchor in one of their annual programs. They were kind enough to appreciate me for having done a good job by giving me small gifts.<\/div>\n
\nAfter some time, I had to leave my primary school and enroll myself into a secondary school so I joined Shivajinagar in the 8th<\/sup>\u00a0grade. Right from a very small age I had been interested in drawing and art, so I participated in the elementary exam for drawing and passed with flying colors. Later in 9th<\/sup>\u00a0grade I also participated in the intermediate art exam and excelled. For this very reason, my photo was printed in the local Pune city newspaper \u201cSakal\u201d. It was a moment of pride.<\/div>\n
\nBecause we used to go on quests in our childhood, I was not affected by a fear of facing people and sharing my experiences. Hence, throughout secondary school I always bagged the first prize for narration and anchoring. \u00a0We sang so many songs in Door Step School that I had developed a liking for singing. Hence, I was always the first to participate in all my school\u2019s singing performances and competitions. I had a talent for dance, and won numerous trophies and awards in dance competitions in and around my school. I was also a good Hindi speaker, and participated in the national \u2018Hindi Rashtrabhasha\u2019 examination. Not only did I win the competition, but I was also felicitated with a gift and the certificate in front of everyone. Everything I learned while performing many science experiments with my Teachers at Door Step School helped me bag the first prize in the Science Experiment Competition held in my school when I was in the 9th<\/sup>\u00a0grade.<\/div>\n
\nToday I have completed my 10th<\/sup>\u00a0grade and scored 72.40%. I stood third in my whole school. Although I\u2019m 17 years old now, I am still the same student that I was when I was 6. Everything that I have been fortunate enough to accomplish I owe to Door Step School and their continued inexhaustible support.<\/div>\n
\nFor me, Door Step School was that first step on the ladder to success and achievement that lead to a land of limitless possibilities. It has been more than 11 years since Door Step School took that tiny little girl\u2019s hand and taught her the Hindi alphabet, and I have never once looked back from there. Today, my eyes moisten and my heart jumps with elation when my teachers here at Door Step School call me their \u2018All-rounder Queen\u2019. I cannot thank them enough for providing me such wonderful opportunities and holding my hand whenever the road got rocky.<\/div>\n
\nNow, I always tell all the small children in my area to go to the Door Step School center here, because I strongly feel like they should also make the most of the opportunities provided here.<\/div>\n
I am eternally grateful to Door Step School for everything they have done for me.<\/p>\n

Written by Mehraaz. Translated by our volunteer – Kshitij Kothari.<\/em><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019m Mehraz Mullani. While my father worked as a mason, we lived in a small room on a construction site. Our parents would be at work, and we used to idle the day away playing in sand and roaming around the site. One fine day, a small four-walled school called Door Step School (DSS) started […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,13,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2001","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-events","category-bright-stars","category-success-stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.doorstepschool.org\/pune\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2001","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.doorstepschool.org\/pune\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.doorstepschool.org\/pune\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.doorstepschool.org\/pune\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.doorstepschool.org\/pune\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2001"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.doorstepschool.org\/pune\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2001\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2003,"href":"https:\/\/www.doorstepschool.org\/pune\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2001\/revisions\/2003"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.doorstepschool.org\/pune\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2001"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.doorstepschool.org\/pune\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2001"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.doorstepschool.org\/pune\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2001"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}