About us

Artboard 1

Why we exist

There are children from backward communities that are devoid of simple basics. We thrive to give them an opportunity towards a better life through holistic education.

We work in the remote areas of Alwar district of Rajasthan on Educational, Social and Cultural issues. We work with communities belonging to diverse cultural identities with a  vision of peaceful coexistence. We work for ‘Child Rights and Advocacy’ and also for preservation of Historical, Natural and Cultural heritage.

Our Purpose

Primary Education

Providing Basic Primary Education so that the children have a tool to explore alternatives in life other than the trade of sex.

Engaging the community

Engaging the community particularly sex-workers to form a ‘School Development Committee’ to support the Community Based Schools run by the foundation.

Curriculum Development

Establish a ‘Curriculum Development and Research Wing’ and to create an Activity based Curriculum with a holistic approach.

World peace and harmony

Design events for World Peace and Harmony to engage Men, women and children.

Community Service and Mindfulness

Introduce Community Service and Mindfulness in the curriculum to give a different approach to life.

Skill Development

Establish Skill Development Centers for women to provide a skill and an alternative so that they can earn a living in a respectable way.

Community interaction

Creating space for the Nat and Rajnat community to interact with the mainstream community by organizing events, workshops and seminars.

Positive encouragement

Publishing and exhibiting their stories and artwork in children’s magazines to incur in them self respect and a sense of dignity.

Our Founder

Nirvana Bodhisattva is the founder and director of the Nirvanavan Foundation. He has been working hands-on in the affected areas since more than 20 years. He is also the director of Childline , Alwar.

“We are a small charity but we know that what we do is important. Thank you for your support.” –

                          —- Nirvana Bodhisattva

Our Advisory Committee

Ganesh Khadekar
Ganesh Khadekar

Ganesh Khedkar is Vice President at Tata Technologies Ltd, a global organization in Engineering Service sector, serving a number of global OEMs and Tier1’s in Automotive, Aerospace and other engineering verticals. Earlier he was heading the Manufacturing Vertical Globally at Tata Technologies’. A Graduate in Mechanical Engineering with 30+ years of experience, Ganesh comes with a strong manufacturing background through his 10+ years of working experience on the shop-floor. He has been working with various automotive manufacturing related projects right from his graduation in 1982.

Vice President, Tata Technologies Ltd.

Priya Mann
Priya Mann

Priya Mann is an undergrad (Geography Honors-1997) from Miranda House, University of Delhi and a PG Diploma holder in Human Resources from FORE School of Management, Delhi. She worked for 5-6 years as a human resources professional with a few corporates before she took a sabbatical and completed her Teachers' Training in Yoga from Sivananda Yoga School. She has taught yoga and conducted yogic food workshops in New York City. Happy for the new found way of life, she was incidentally introduced to an experiential learning primary school in Kalimpong Distt. The School and some other simultaneous life experiences inspired her work at Awake and Shine School where she volunteers on a regular basis.

Educationist

Ketaki Pimpalkhare
Ketaki Pimpalkhare

Received Master of Art. (Painting), S.N.D.T. Women’s University, Pune. She has been a recipient of the State Award for Printmaking, ‘Violence’, Abhinav Kala, Pune in 1992 and State Award for Photography, Fergusson College, Pune, 1994, Amongst her important shows include Art Basel Miami, U.S.A (2017), Kosovo Art Colony, Prishtina, Kosovo (2017), Le Hivernage Art Gallery, Marrakech, Morocco (2015), ‘Bi’Atolye, Kadakôy, Istanbul, Turkey (2014), Kartal Belediyesi, Istanbul, Turkey (2014), Surreal/Fantastic’ paintings, Bach Modern Project, Salzburg, Austria (2010), The Contemporary Art Gallery,  Prince of Wales Museum,  Mumbai (2010), The Bricklane Gallery, London (2008), Bashimi Art House, Salzburg, Austria (2008), The Gallery Beyond, Mumbai (2008),  Tao Art Gallery, Mumbai (2007). She received the Woman Achievers Award in the Field of Art in (2017), from Naaz Foundation Delhi and the Times Power Woman Award in the Field of Art (2017).

Artist

Surbhi Dayal
Dr. Surbhi Dayal

Dr. Surbhi Dayal is Professor at Humanities and Social Sciences at Indian Institute of Management Indore, India. Prior to this she worked in h Department of College Education, Government of Rajasthan as Faculty.Dr. Surbhi Dayal is a dynamic ethnographer and her research interests involve study of marginalised communities, sex-workers, dance bar girls and denotified tribes. She is trained in a range of research methods from various prestigious institutes from India and United Kingdom. She was awarded with the Commonwealth Academic Fellowship by Commonwealth Scholarship Commission, United Kingdom at King’s College, London. There she worked on creativity in primary education and explored the primary education system of UK. She utilised her research experience for the development of schools for denotified tribes running by Nirvanavan foundation. She was also awarded a doctorate by the Jawaharlal Nehru University, India for her multi-sited ethnography on the traditional entertainers community of Kanjars.

Vice President, Tata Technologies Ltd.

Rajinder Sharma
Rajinder Sharma

Mr Rajinder Sharma, Retired General Counsel and a Corporate Affairs professional,  and now an aspiring Academician(Co-Founder and MentorSOL@Shoolini) was last General Counsel and Board Director at Flipkart, the leading E Commerce Company in India, having 35+ years total experience with companies likePunjab Tractors, Tata Steel, IBM, Reliance Industries, Escorts, Bharti, Coca-Cola, DuPont, JSW and Samsung. Amongst all above he has set up legal(and corporate affairs) Depts, and was the First GC in IBM India in 1992, Reliance Industries in 1994, in Lucent Technologies in 1999, in Bharti Airtel in 2000, JSW group in 2009 and for DuPont in 2011. Rajinder features in the list of 100 Legal Luminaries of India and is also 2nd in the list of Top GC Power list of India.

Co-Founder &  MentorSOL@Shoolini

Dr. Meena Singh Roy
Dr. Meena Singh Roy

Dr. Meena Singh Roy is a Research Fellow and heads the West Asia Centre at the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA). Her areas of specialisation are Central Asia and West Asia. Prior to joining IDSA, she was a senior research scholar in the Department of African Studies, Delhi University. She was associated with the Institute of Commonwealth Studies, School of Oriental and African Studies and London School of Economics for her research work. In 2014, she was a visiting Research Fellow with the German Institute of Global and Area Studies’ (GIGA) Institute of Asian Studies.

Research Fellow, IDSA