Teaching Story - Rich At Heart

by Marvin Phillips

It is a deliberate decision for Dileep Mhaske, who could have been making Rs 90,000 a month as researcher for WHO. Sleeping only a few hours at night, he crams his day with social service to the five slums serving 4.5 lakh people. The son of a landless farmer, he was raised in the Jalna district of Maharashtra. He organises medical camps, sets up slum schools, provides legal assistance and career guidance, oversees a support group for women and assists in the Indo-Hungarian Education Project that has seen the education of 12 girls all the way up to college. With no income, he funds his ventures through a bank loan that he plans to repay through odd academic assignments. He says that organisations are reluctant to fund a one-man social force. However, Mhaske is drawing admiration from every place where he has set foot. He is a very good organiser, says Suryakant Waghmore, Assistant Professor, TISS, Mumbai. Truly, Dileep is an inspiration for all of us who want to make the world a better place, in some way.