Dream Weavers

WITH INTERNATIONALWOMEN’S DAY AROUND THE CORNER, SIMPLY DELHI TRACKS THE JOURNEY OF SOME WOMEN WHO ARE LIVING THEIR DREAMS.

SIMPLY DELHI tracks the journey of some women who are living their dreams.

I worked as an investment banker for two years but I had an urge to do something meaningful for the society.

TOUCHING LIVES| GAURI GOPAL AGRAWAL, 27

Until a year back, no one really knew that a beautiful lake with clear blue water existed around Delhi- NCR. And if someone needs to be credited for putting village Sirohi and its lake on the map, it is Gauri Gopal Agrawal, Director and Founder, Skilled Samaritan Foundation. A finance graduate, Agrawal tells us, “I worked as an investment banker at Deutche Bank for two years until I decided to do something meaningful for the society. I began research for setting up an organisation that would focus on employment generation in the economically weaker parts of the country.” She got in touch with some students of the National Power Training Institute, Faridabad and together they reached Sirohi. This little village on the outskirts of the city has no agrarian land, no industry or offices, only one primary school and a population of over 30,000. “We were stunned by its beauty and shocked that something like this existed,” she says. That was when they came up with a structure for eco- tourism and decided to organise monthly walks there. The locals were trained to conduct the walks that were followed by a homecooked meal. During one of her visits, Agrawal noticed the colourful charpoys here, which were made from recycled toffee wrappers and cartons. The creativity was put to use and the charpoys began selling like hot cakes. However, the most recent achievement of the group has been installing solar lights. “The locals complained of the power failures so we contacted an organisation called Engineers Without Borders, who helped us,” says Agrawal. The Samaritans plan to create sustainable development in other such villages.