neelu khannu

When Neelu Khannu left her corporate career with Singapore airlines to pursue her passion for working with children in underserved communities, she may not have imagined that one day she would be the managing trustee of an organization that makes a huge difference in the lives of over eight thousand young people. In this interview we learn a little about Neelu’s own childhood and about Aasra Trust, which has launched various initiatives including a shelter home for girls from rural and remote locations in India, Street Smart ( a program that provides educational, nutritional and medical support to hundreds of slum children in Dehradun) and a Girls’ Education Program, tiTAN KANYA+ ( a program providing academic support, life skills education and career guidance to over four thousand girls).

Welcome, Neelu! It’s such a pleasure to finally have this conversation with you after being connected via social media for so many years. I’d love for you to begin by telling us a little about your background, including the place in which you were born.

 I was born on a wet rainy day on July 23rd in the year 1957, in a small town named Bareilly, in the state of Uttar Pradesh, North India. Barielly lies at the foothills of the Kumaon Hills and the climate is cold in the winter and hot for 9 months of the year. Heavy monsoons offer little relief to the hea

My parents were married the previous year and my father, a soldier in the Indian Armed Forces, was posted to Bareilly at his regimental center.I have grown up in army cantonments all over India under the eagle eye of Irish nuns who ran the only schools that provided decent education at the time. My father, being in the Infantry, was transferred every 6-9 months to different locations and we moved to be near him. As a result I changed schools sixteen times!! My mother was so stressed that I shouldn’t be kept back in any class, she coached me herself, as a result of which I got double promotions and sat for my school board exams at age 15!

What are some of your favorite childhood memories? 

Well,  when I was two and a half years old we lived in a semi hill station called Dakshai – an army cantonment in North India. I vividly remember sitting in my father’s lap at night with a toy rifle in my hand waiting with him to scare away wild boars that would scavenge and ruin the vegetables painstakingly growing in our garden. Another special memory from my childhood comes from when I was five years old: I rode home on a guard’s bicycle, much before school gave over, as my father had returned home from Congo, where he had served as part of the UN Peacekeeping forces. I rode in to find our ancestral home converted to a magical world, with a toy train chugging away on its rails, a steamer sailing in the garden tub, two beautiful walkie talkie dolls walking towards me, soft toys, fine china toy crockery arranged on a table and many more goodies all for me!!

I first became aware of you through your beautiful photos of India, which I noticed on social media. You evoke some gentle feelings of mindfulness and gratitude in these images, which I really appreciate.

I received my first camera at the age of ten. It was a Kodak box camera, and it brings back such fond memories for me. I often take photos of my surroundings in the early morning. In fact, when I was thirteen, our family was holidaying in Darjeeling, East India. At the unearthly hour of 4 am, I was woken up by my father to see the most spectacular sunrise over Mount Kanchanjunga! My love for sunrises can be attributed to this.

It’s so interesting to think how special moments like that can have a lifelong impact, isn’t it? Now, you are helping to make an impact in the lives of thousands of children. Please tell us about the Aasraa Trust, the work you do, and the community you serve.

Aasraa Trust was set up by Shaila Brijnath in 2009. Shaila worked as an equity broker in London, returned to Dehradun to care for her parents and set up Aasraa to work with slum children living on a fetid river bed.

I have wanted to educate street children since I was 25. A qualified teacher and a qualified travel agent, nothing gave me as much satisfaction as being with children from underserved communities.  I volunteered in Kolkata with a community school and when we shifted to Dehradun I continued to volunteer with schools for the underserved. As my own children were getting ready to leave for college, I did a post graduate degree in counseling. I would meet begging children and talk to them about their dreams… Then I met Shaila in 2010 and we launched Street Smart under the Aasraa umbrella in January 2011.

Working on the pavements of our city for six months, we moved to our first centre with thirty five children and by word of mouth more children started to join us. An Education Trust, we at Aasraa believe education can never be in isolation. Nutrition, healthcare and computer literacy are integral to our work as is sheltering the abandoned, the unwanted and the special needs children.

We are a verified center of NIOS (National Institute of Open Schooling) where children can start education at any age and take up to five years to pass a grade; we work in partnership with the Education Department of Uttarakhand and help run 11 schools for the government; every bus has a dual function of transporting children and converts to a high tech classroom to initiate rag picking and begging children to education; we have spread our wings to 2 more districts of the State of Uttarakhand and have 4500 children we care for; we promote higher education for those academically inclined; in April 2023 we started a skill center to skill train children and make them ready for employment or to work as entrepreneurs.

Our combined synergies, persistence, passion and determination to make a difference in the life of the underprivileged, has today resulted in 9000 children under Aasraa – from streets to school to skills. Our children are first generation learners of daily wagers. Most of the parents are unskilled, unlettered but after 14 years with us now are beginning to understand the value of education leading to a life of dignity.

How can our online community support you in your work, Neelu?

Come and volunteer with us! Talk about us in your circles, make people aware of the scope of our work and help us to raise funds.  Without funding, our work would not be possible!

Can you recommend some favorite books from your childhood?

●      To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee                                 Publisher: HarperCollins

●      The Good Earth, by Pearl S Buck                                    Publisher: Simon & Schuster

●      The Old Man & the Sea, by Ernest Hemingway   Publisher: Charles Scribner’s Sons

●      The Citadel, by AJ Cronin                                                              Publisher: Picador                                

Thank you, Neelu Khannu, for taking time out of your very busy schedule to share some of your childhood memories with us, and to awaken us to the plight of so many children who depend on the support of others in order to reach their own true potential.

You can see more beautiful sunrise images by following Neelu on Instagram @ramaneelu

You can learn a great deal more about the life-changing programs offered by The Aasraa Trust by clicking here: https://aasraatrust.org