"She learned the hard way but her contribution to society's helpless is huge"
Born in Rangoon, Burma, Diana
experienced a cultural uprooting early in life. From the land of the
Golden Pagoda to the shores of Madras.
"I still remember the day we landed, my mother was scanning the crowd to see if there was one familiar face.", says
Diana. It was a time of struggle and strife that lasted well over a
decade, and it was this very experience that prepared her for just the
kind of work she does today.
"Those were hard days when being able to eat one square meal was a joyous and thankful experience.", Diana declares. Today, she is the dynamic force behind the drive to collect clothes, books, toys and food for those in need.
Through all of this, there was
one lesson to be learnt. 'Never give up, look ahead and bounce back
each time there is a set back'
Diana - professional
Starting at the very bottom rung
of the ladder with just a basic school diploma, Diana worked her way up
and simultaneously educated herself. Today, she is a corporate trainer
in the areas of Personal Etiquette, Personal Development,
Communications, Time Management, Secretarial Efficiency and a host of
other soft skills.
After a training stint at the
Davars College of Commerce, Madras, her phenomenal success during the
training prompted the management to appoint her as a lecturer. She went
on to open their branch in Bangalore at the age of 21 and proceeded to
become the Assistant Director of Studies in a period of 5 years.
Ambitious by nature, she ventured
out on her own and started one of the earliest computer training
institutions in Bangalore. She was directly responsible for pioneering
and promoting computer education in schools.
Her adventurous spirit took her
to Nepal where she helped set up several leading training institutions
in Management and Secretarial Studies. Her work led her to travel all
over Nepal training personnel in the Commercial Sectors, with
Non-Governmental Organisations and International Agencies. She was
directly responsible for introducing video educaton in the classrooms
in the country.
During her many trips outside the
city, she often trained faculty posted in the remoter hilly areas of
the country. Her exposure to this segment of the society unconsciously
instilled in her a desire to reach out to those who were socially and
economically deprived.
Diana - founder
Her return to India in 1995 found her wanting to do something expressly
for the deprived. She started the Snehalaya Welfare Society which
caters to education and development programmes. Her training programmes
are with a difference. They cater to needy young girls and boys who
have fortunately been able to acquire free education, but are unable to
pursue a professional career for lack of funds. She picks them up from
the nearby slums and puts them through a course which includes
everything from personal etiquette to business communications. These
children who would otherwise end up as domestics, coolies or suffer a
worse fate acquire jobs as clerks, receptionists and junior
secretaries.
An integral part of the
curriculum includes social consciousness for every student, so Diana
embarked on a journey that provided moments of happiness to
organizations and orphanages that harbored the socially, economically
and physically deprived children. She and her students would organize
talent and sports competitions for the children, raise funds for the
institutions through exhibitions and sales, create awareness for these
children and their causes through network programmes
Until the Christmas of 1998, at a
Christmas party organized by the Ashoka Hotel for 300 children,a simple
question from a physically challenged child changed her life. The
question was "Aunty, can you get me a job?".
Today, her energies are focused
on helping not one, but hundreds of physically and mentally challenged
children to change their lives, to develop confidence, to be an
integral part of today's world. She drives at establishing
understanding between individuals coming from different levels of
abilities through her theatre - Chrysallis - a theatre of dreams and
miracles for the challenged.
"To know is to understand. To understand is to accept. To accept is to love." The precepts of all the original plays written by her over the years for the specially challenged. Someone asked her one day: "What can one person do?" She replied: "Everything if she has the heart and if God is on her side because God looks into your heart and He makes all things possible."
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