A ‘filling station’ called Unnati: A story of confidence and contentment

“Success based on anything but internal fulfillment is bound to be empty”, said a wise woman. 

Yaariswamy – 44th batch – Retail Vocation – 90662-38475

Yaariswamy hails from the Chitradurga district in Karnataka. His parents are both weavers. He has two younger sisters, one of whom is married while the other is learning Tailoring to be of help to her parents. Weaving being Yaariswamy’s  family primary occupation, they had to migrate from Chitradurga to the Anantapur District in Andhra Pradesh for want of better business. Even then, the family was making an average of Rs.8000 a month, which was not enough to feed 5 mouths and conduct a girl’s wedding.

Under such tight financial circumstances, Yaariswamy completed SSLC in Manakalmaru village in Chitradurga. He was unable to continue further education. Once his family moved to Anantapur, Yaariswamy joined a vocational course in Central Institute of Plastic Engineering Technology (CIPET) in Mysore. While he was completing that 3 month course, a friend mentioned Unnati to him. The friend had seen a program on Unnati in Chandana TV. Yaariswamy immediately liked the concept and wanted to join Unnati.

Yaariswamy joined the 44th batch at Unnati and specialized in the retail vocation. He recalls that the staff, faculty and fellow students at Unnati treated him as family, and he felt an instant sense of belonging! Yaariswamy’s top three likes at Unnati are very much in line with what many other students have told us:

Communication:

•   Yaariswamy knew English as a language, but was very hesitant to speak in English earlier. After the Spoken English course at Unnati, his confidence to communicate in English has grown multifold. Our entire conversation was in English.

Life Sciences:

• Yaariswamy tells us that he used to be a very aggressive, impatient young man. He would never listen to anybody, and hated it when people spoke to him. He says the life sciences lessons at Unnati have shaped him up and calmed him down. He mentions that this change in attitude is actually helping him a lot in his current professional life.

Punctuality:

• This is the most important habit that Yaariswamy has inculcated in him, after completing the course at Unnati.

Once he completed the course, Yaariswamy got a job at Westside, which offered him around Rs. 86000 annually. He took that offer and worked for a couple of weeks. Westside being a cloth store, and weaving being his family’s primary occupation, Yaariswamy found his calling in less than a month.

He says that he wanted to keep up with the family tradition. He feels that if he applies all his learning from Unnati to his business, he will be a successful weaver.

Instead of joining his father who has his own handloom, Yaariswamy took loans and setup his own loom. Once the initial setup was done, in around 3 months he is already seeing profits of Rs. 10000 per month, which is higher than his family’s combined monthly income. He is very confident that he will make lots more money in a year’s time.

When asked to sum-up with his thoughts on Unnati, Yaariswamy made this wonderful comment: “Unnati is not just a training centre. It is a “filling station”! I was confused and asked him what he meant. He immediately said, “Unnati fills every youth with courage, confidence and knowledge. Unnati teaches every youth how exactly to live in society and do business  truthfully. I am very thankful to all the faculty and staff at Unnati”.

We are also very happy to have sculpted such a student at Unnati! Wish you good luck Yaariswamy, and may your business thrive successfully!!

Contribution by Sukanya Kuppuswamy (volunteer)

Team Unnati