Age is just a number even at 78

Age is just a number even at 78

This has been proved by Mrs Nirmala Srinivasan. We the team of SatysSparks (www.satyssparks.com) planned a Strengths-Based Development workshop for the 11 UNNATI (www.unnatiblr.org) Volunteers and Permanent Teachers; and 5 members of another NGO ThreadIndia (www.threadindia.org). Mrs Nirmala heard about this new programme and she volunteered to take this programme. It was a group coaching basically for two teams.

A brief introduction about her: she is 78 years of age. She is a mathematics teacher. Years ago, she retired as Principal from a prestigious school of Bangalore. Now she is teaching English at UNNATI as a Volunteer.

UNNATI is an NGO having 50 centres all over India. They empower youth to become self-assured and an earning member of the family. Their motto is LEARN! EARN! STAND TALL. Details can be found in their website. www.unnatiblr.org

I met her in the UNNATI Premises where she comes for her classes. That day she was 30 minutes early to get briefing from me. It was a very absorbing and “asking questions session”. The next day she took the Clifton StrengthsFinder Assessment and commenced asking questions about each of signature themes. It was real pleasure for me to interact with her initially on telephones, later face to face and finally during the group coaching. Out of 16 participants she was the only one with “Context” theme and she narrated as to how did she leverage this theme for the education of children and to motivate them. She also highlighted her “Positivity” theme and recalled this theme of her which saved the life of a class X student who was about to commit suicide. Now he is 29 year of man and doing very well in life. Her wealth of knowledge and long experiences in the field of education were of great learning for all participants.

For testimonial, we invited a family of three who had gone through this programme: Cdr Rajeshwar SM, Mrs Meenakshi SM and their daughter, Sunidhi. They gave out their experiences and changes after undergoing Strengths-Based Development coaching. Mrs Nirmala Srinivas very inquisitively asked questions to Mrs Meenakshi as to how the awareness of her strengths has affected her family as a Home Maker. 

Finally, Mrs Nirmala Srinivasan graded our programme as 5 out of 5 and wrote:

“It was lively and most interesting. The two facilitators were so down to earth and explained the various concepts very clearly. I’m sure I will be able to use what I’ve learnt today. Getting the Guest Family of three tell us about their experience was a very good idea. The presentation was terrific”