CHENNAI: Young and old, all have a desire to leave their mark on the world. Everyone dreams of making a change, but few rarely go out and do something to foster that change. On Sunday, a group of enterprising people came together to showcase their models to improve the quality of life in the city.Organised as part of the self-expression and leadership programme conducted by Landmark Education, people from all walks of life participated. Picking issues they are passionate about, they came up with what they feel is the best way to tackle them.Thinking of Chennai’s current problem of bad roads, Indira, a manager at an MNC, suggests that corporate houses take over one stretch of road and maintain it as part of their CSR. “This might shame the Corporation and Government into doing what is rightfully their job,” she says. She also suggests rainwater-harvesting facilities built into the median, so that water will flow away and not stagnate on the roads.AVS Rau, who runs a construction business, wants to eradicate illiteracy. Explaining the concept of his project, called Vidhya Dhan, he says, “It is based on the premise of each one teach one. If every literate person can educate one child or adult, and find one more person to do the same, and so on, the chain reaction will result in a fully educated India.”The third gender are ostracised right from their younger age, when their true selves begin to show. Meera, an IT industry employee, hopes to change this by providing education and employment to them. R Gunavathy, a mother of three, is working on bringing yoga to the visually challenged. “We have been planning this with the Little Flower School, and it will begin in January 2012,” she said. C Harini proposed changes in lifestyle for the horizontally challenged and diabetic community. Other projects included combating hunger, saving trees and the planet. One project on recycling paper suggested that boxes be placed in every classroom of schools, in which students could discard their waste paper alone. This source segregation would help in easier recycling, rather than just indiscriminate dumping.This is the first time such ideas have been put forth in a detailed manner, by the general public of Chennai, said Swarna, programme leader of Landmark Education. “We want to give them a curriculum for living. By expressing their passion and making a difference, they get the distinction of going beyond in the world,” she said.
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