THE DAKSHANA COMMUNITY

Since 2010, Monsoon has made frequent field trips to Dakshana Scholar homes and various JNVs running Dakshana’s program for impoverished students in India studying to gain admission into the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT). She has traveled extensively to remote areas of Rajasthan, Karnataka, Telangana, Puducherry, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Uttarakhand and Kerala.

Sharmila’s previous employment was as Head–Operations, Sara Beattie Group, India, in the education arm. Prior to that, she was editor of the Super Junior Times, India’s only exclusive monthly newspaper for children and spent 15 years in the field of advertising, communications, and publishing.

Pai enjoys herself among scholars and alumni alike and is fully committed to her work at Dakshana. Besides work, she enjoys travelling, reading and music. Sharmila believes that being humane is the greatest virtue that can dispel any darkness in the world.

Cdr. Mishra has a distinguished Naval service of twenty-two years. During his Naval career, he has served as instructor at the Naval College of Engineering, Production Manager at Naval Dockyard, Marine Engineer Officer of frontline warships, and Staff Engineer Officer at Naval Headquarter. Commander Mishra has been awarded with commendation from Chief of Naval staff and Commander-in- Chief (Eastern Command).

He started his own business after hanging up the uniform. After a successful stint of nearly six years, due to a personal tragedy, he decided to close the business. He has since been trying to contribute towards the education of bright but needy students. Dakshana was the natural follow-through after meeting Mohnish Pabrai in April 2009.