Hold your breath. I am about to take you on a journey to the most unique in-turn-ship.
What if I tell you that I used to play games, sing songs and dance together with my colleagues during my internship? Shocked, right? My journey as a Smile intern started in the middle of the Covid crisis. My college life was going pretty smooth, and my second year had almost come to an end.
One fine day, I was sitting scrolling through my phone when I received a text from one of my several groups on WhatsApp. It was about the application forms of the Smile in-turn-ship. To be honest, I had actually been waiting for it since the Music For Harmony festival of Pravah had ended.
If I had to describe my Smile In-turn-ship journey in one word, I would say, ‘introspection’. Right from filling up of the application form to the interview round and then till the end of the journey, I was able to understand myself more. It was such a unique and enriching journey throughout.
I worked with the organisation Manzil, which works to educate the underprivileged and provide them with various opportunities for their future. The initiative Manzil Kotla School (Greater Kailash) is responsible for teaching young kids with a wonderful collaboration of teachers, students and parents. My responsibility in the organisation was to write and edit articles in English and Hindi, and prepare a concept note for the Hello Zindagi course, an initiative by Manzil for young students to discover their interest and follow their passion.
It was indeed a great learning experience for me. Apart from these tasks, we used to have weekly sessions with Pravah, where a Self To Society task was given to us in order to understand our relationship with our society, and see how our words and actions influence our surroundings.
We used to have knowledgeable and enriching discussions with our facilitators and fellow interns. We had our mentors and buddies supporting us throughout this journey and of course, a weekly Mehfil session would be organised where we all used to gather, sing songs, dance together and play games.
Looking back, I can see how much I have grown in terms of my understanding of society and myself. I could really get into the nitty-gritty of how an NGO functions. It was an enriching learning experience that helped me unlearn the preconceptions I had been carrying. It was truly a wonderful journey of Self To Society where I learnt how change begins from within. I would like to conclude the article with a saying by Rumi that I read somewhere and says, ‘Yesterday I was so clever, I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise , so I am changing myself.’