Most of us have an in-built desire to help others. It takes shape in many ways – trying to teach an underprivileged person is one of them. Ranjeet and Sanjeet are two brothers, enrolled with our NGO Setu for free tuition classes.

    Sons of a rickshaw puller, they would occasionally substitute for their father in the rickshaw queue at the Delhi metro station, waiting for new customers while their father would drink a quick cup of tea. Stopping this practice became our pre-condition to teaching them, and they agreed. In a place like India, where domestic servants are generally illiterate, in many households you will see the lady of the house trying to teach the basics of language and maths to the help in the house. I also grew up seeing my mother teaching our domestics.

   Our servants sitting next to her in the winter, peeling peas and reciting tables, was a common sight. Even the sabziwala would take out his notebook....