Walking that extra mile from Self to Society: Tejal, GM '12

“Learn to link your inner voice with what you do on the outside.” 

Carrying this philosophy forward, Tejal Rajyagor joined the Youth Alliance family in 2012 as a participant of Gramya Manthan . A highly sensitive and perceptive person, she then went on to start a project Aashiyana, a government granted NGO which runs Children's Home,a closed Institution for run-away, missing, abandoned kids.

Aashiyana was born out of the realization that the current nature of the institutions does not fulfil the purpose of rescuing children from streets, railway stations and places of work as it fails to instill positivity and belief in them during their stay even though the intention is positive.

Aashiyana works from the premise of changing a child's experience of being in a closed institution and constantly integrates its activities in such a way that every child who leaves the institution goes with certain set of values which she/he can build upon.

About her experience with Gramya Manthan and her association with Youth Alliance Tejal says, "Gramya Manthan created a space for me where I met people with whom I could share my fears and challenges.  Having interacted with some wonderful people helped me greatly in gaining self confidence and belief to go ahead with what I believe in. The beauty is that the transformative experiences were not limited only to the GM 1 but they continued even post that and I feel grateful for that! "

Her long term vision is to make Umerkhadi Children’s Home a child-friendly place. “We envision Umerkhadi Children’s Home as a happy, loving and warm place where every child gets to live his/her childhood to the fullest” she says.

 On that note, we wish Tejal all the luck in her current and future endeavors.