She had wanted to be a nun. But after she became a member of a convent in Bihar, she had a change of heart.

On leaving the convent, Mercy Mathew, who came from a well-to-do Catholic family in Kerala’s Pala, headed to Kolkata to work in a refugee camp. It was 1971 and Bangladeshi refugees were streaming into India due to the war. Her experience in the camp brought her closer to human suffering.

Later, she went on to work in a few NGOs and even acquired a master’s degree.

But she felt her vocation was in helping India’s tribal community. So she headed to Barul, a remote village in Chhindwara district of Madhya Pradesh.

She adopted their way of life, including their food and clothing. She began to fight against those exploiting the tribes and also educating the villagers on their rights.

The rural folk, seeing her devotion to their welfare, soon gave her the name Daya Bai. Daya means mercy and Bai is a respectful term used by the tribal people.

But life was not easy for her. She had to face the wrath of those exploiting the tribes.

Daya Bai, 76, was in Singapore recently and narrated an instance of how she was once beaten up by a police officer.

She said: “He twisted my arms, punched me and hit my face against the wall. That’s when I lost my teeth. He was going to push me into the cell. I clung to the wall.

“I was sure if he pushed me into the cell he would kick me with his huge boots and that would be the end of me and my work.

“So I used the one connection, my telephonic connection with Ooperwala (the one above, God) which I do in desperate times and as in all my previous experiences, the call was answered. People came rushing from nowhere, to help me out and I was saved in nick of time.

“I was being accused of proselytising. That complaint I have heard frequently but never have I done that,” Daya Bai told a group of Singapore residents who had gathered at a Race Course restaurant to hear her speak.

Said Daya Bai: “When I was a little girl, my father, who was involved in India’s freedom struggle, used to encourage me to visit the poor people around our place and sit with them and take part in their festivals and food. My compassion for them grew from then on.”

Daya Bai said though the Indian government had funds in place for the tribal communities, it never reached them.

Due to their illiteracy and ignorance, they were exploited. That was what led her to fight for their rights.

She was able to get the Forest Department to pay the tribal people their wages on time. Daya Bai has worked in several tribal areas, including 16 years with the Gond tribe of Tinsai village in Madhya Pradesh.

She is against receiving foreign funding as she feels the work of NGOs are more project-oriented than people-oriented.

She does organic farming, rainwater harvesting and lives a simple life with her dogs, ponies, hens and a cat.

Street theatre

Daya Bai uses street theatre to create awareness among the tribes on various social issues and takes it from village to village. She also writes poems and uses her songs as a tool to teach and create awareness.

A documentary on her named Ottayal (One Woman-Alone) by Shiny Jacob Benjamin won a National Award in 2010.

Pachaviral (green fingers), an autobiography by Daya Bai, gives insight into her fascination with farming and her advocacy of setting up small check dams, saturating arid lands and cultivating indigenous crops that will replenish the soil and be a source of nutrition round the year.

She feels disheartened every time she sees the excessive use of plastic.

“Soil is a living thing. By throwing waste we are killing the soil. We should take care of the soil like taking care of a child. We should keep it clean, prevent environmental pollution and avoid dumping plastic bags,” she said.

When the vice-chairman of IAEC Canberra CC Gangadharan Kunnon asked Daya Bai about the harassment she had recently faced in a public transport bus in Kerala, she replied: “I took the case up as I did not want the predicament and abuse I faced to happen to other hapless women. My dress and looks could have been the reason for their rude behaviour but the right to lead a decent life is not exclusive to the rich alone.”

She was full of praise for Singapore.

“Singapore looks beautiful. It is as if they have made space for everything. It gladdens my heart to see they have retained the greenery alongside the buildings.”

Daya Bai was here to receive an award for her work at the Pravasi Express Nite 2016.

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When you attain a certain status as a highly successful entrepreneur, you either continue up the corporate ladder. Or you pause and reflect, and ask yourself if this is what you want to continue doing.

Mr Prabhat Agarwal is a converted social impact investor-cum-hands-on mentor who has stepped into this comparatively smaller second category.

He was once a serial entrepreneur. He co-founded Parsec Technologies (an enterprise communications venture), Parsec Loans (a home mortgage marketing company) and Whowhere, Inc (a global people search portal). Prior to that, he worked with tech giant HCL, Feedback Ventures and RP Punj group.

Meeting him in his current simple, spartan, functional office in Gurgaon – a far cry from what he must have been used to – the 50-year-old businessman revealed how his priorities have changed over the years.

“When you work in an entrepreneurial or corporate world, you have your blinkers on. Your peer group speaks the same language, has similar aspirations and thinks that is where the world ends. Circumstances resulted in a few things happening, which made me realise this is not the real or only world.

“As I have been passionate about cycling since my childhood, I started cycling daily and got to see people around me, literally, on the street level – something I had missed seeing from an air-conditioned car. I became conscious of their problems and issues and of what was happening around me. I started doing yoga and that created self-awareness.

“In 2007 I took a year-long sabbatical, roamed the country and saw the world from a different perspective. It made me realise that I was not engaged with 90 per cent of the world around me. Neither was I contributing to solving any problems which would help those in need. That’s when I said: ‘By God’s Grace, I have enough. I need to change what I am doing.’ That’s when I realised I was also where I was, not because of my capabilities alone, but because of where I was born,” he recalled.

Mr Agarwal, a member of The Ennovent Circle (an exclusive community of impact investors, specialist service providers and mentors that collaborates to accelerate innovations for low-income markets), strongly believes education is one of the main requirements for the elevation of any society.

With this in mind, he set up Aravali Scholars in the lower-income Sikandarpur area of Gurgaon. Devoting eight to 10 hours a week, he mentors school-going children from classes 8 to 12. These students are referrals from other NGOs.

“These kids were as bright as my sons, and more hardworking. Yet they would perhaps never reach anywhere without a guiding hand. I help those with potential get into professional colleges and then their capabilities take them into the workforce.

“Initially I spent many hours there, but now the older kids who have since graduated and joined the workforce have formed a good network and help each other, especially their juniors. Those in good jobs have become inspirational role models for the younger ones… I am still constantly in touch with each ex-Aravali scholar and they call or meet me any time they need to,” he said.

Mr Agarwal proudly reveals that of the Mensa IQ tests conducted on 4,000 students from government and NGO schools, 102 made the mark, and of these, about 25 students are from Sikandarpur.

“We are now mentoring these Mensa kids.”

As I was being served aromatic masala chai, Mr Agarwal introduced Ms Mamta, who looks after the kitchen, and said: “Her daughter, 14-year old Varsha, has a Mensa IQ of 140+.”

And obviously, a better future awaits this Aravali scholar.

Mr Agarwal has many success stories to tell. One is about a boy from Literacy India, an NGO that he supports.

“This boy came to me at the end of his first year in college saying he wanted to take two years off to work and earn his college tuition fees. He would come and study with me regularly, even while working all day.

“Two years later, he got back into Delhi University and graduated. He has landed a job with asset management company BlackRock as a software engineer. His packet is about Rs8 lakhs per annum. Fantastic for a kid who couldn’t afford his Rs15,000 per quarter college fees.”

Mr Agarwal’s second pet project is JantaMeals.

While working in Sikandarpur, he realised there was a lacuna for reasonably priced, nutritious – and clean – meals for migrant workers.

“This idea was playing in my mind and meeting (JantaMeals founder-CEO) Jesse (van de Zand) was a blessing. He decided to take up the challenge. (The project) has snowballed into something very large, but there is still a long, long way to go,” he said.

Mr Agarwal also has a project for workers called SafeInIndia initiative.

“Daily, about 20 workers get injured, lose their hands or fingers in the Gurgaon-Manesar Automative belt. Over a year ago, a journalist friend wrote an article highlighting this issue.

“Along with two other batchmates from IIM Ahmedabad, we set up a facilitation centre to get them, especially migrant workers, better medical aid, insurance claims, social security benefits and rehabilitation.

“Safety issues are a big problem in supply chains and we need to ensure that the larger car manufacturers step in to take care of these issues. It’s like sitting on a time bomb waiting for large tragedy to happen,” he said.

Mr Agarwal, who got his Bachelor of Technology at IIT Delhi and his MBA from IIM Ahmedabad, was conferred the prestigious Significant Contribution to National Development Award by IIT Delhi Alumni Association.

Another of his initiatives is Bhagta Bharat. This is a very simple yet very scalable initiative started by a group of athletes in their 50s who were national champions.

No equipment or playing fields are required. Children from one of the most notorious parts of east Delhi were given motivation to run races. The initiative has had a positive impact on their lives and kept them off the streets and away from drugs.

Now the children are organising their own races, which gives them leadership qualities, and champions are being produced. There are about 10,000 children now involved in Bhagta Bharat. Of these, 50 are doing well at the national level.

Mr Agarwal said: “As I keep saying, if these kids weren’t organising races, they would be organising riots.”

Mr Agarwal also spoke about the other social causes he supports.

Beat of India, founded by his cousin Shefali Bhushan, goes into villages across India to preserve folk music and helps singers.

She gives them the royalties she earns from selling her research on them. Ms Bhushan has also written and directed Jugni, a travel musical film.

Captain Indraani Singh, who is Asia’s first woman commander of an Airbus-300 and is currently a pilot with Air India, is the secretary of Literacy India, which offers vocational training, education and employment to women.

“She was one of my inspirations for Aravali Scholars. I started with a chequebook involvement about 12 years ago, but now am involved as a mentor,” said Mr Agarwal.

“One of the things that came to mind was why can’t we create jobs in the villages themselves? The rural dwellers would be much happier in their own environment. We all see how these men and women migrate to cities to earn a living.

“How they sacrifice family and social life and even their meagre comforts. A friend started e-Gram Serve. There are six villages around him and kids learn e-publishing in a rural set-up,” he added.

Coming back full circle, Mr Agarwal revealed that he has closed some of his business ventures and sold others, yet still has few corporate involvements where he has made financial investments.

On a personal note, he counts his blessings: “My wife Ambika who in her first innings was in public relations, and now volunteers as a teacher trainer and teaches elementary and primary school kids in NGOs. “

Their two sons are at Doon School in Dehradun.

He said: “I want to focus on these three, four major projects and help them scale up. Hope my entrepreneurial instinct won’t nudge me to start something new yet!”

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