Girl students at Enhance learnt 'Sudoku' along with Martial Arts

Since the children were already burdened with unit tests, I thought of conducting some activity which would be new, fun and beneficial at the same time. I came up with “Sudoku”, which provides an overall exercise for the brain, helping in  keeping it active, focused and sharp.

The girls were very excited at the prospect of learning a new ‘game’. Smriti and I started with first explaining the various terms associated with the game, followed by the concept. Most of the girls, except 2-3 were quick to grasp it, and were able to solve a 4 X 4 grid within minutes.

Neha and Smriti teaching Sudoku at Project Enhance, Pune

Further when I asked them should I increase the difficulty level by giving a 6 X 6 grid to solve, ALL of them answered in the positive.  2 girls who were giggling and not paying attention, I called upon them to solve the grid on the blackboard, and contrary to what was told by Anand, I did not find them to be shy at all, since most of them were literally jumping and asking for a chance to come and solve on the board.

So basically, I found that if the girls have the knowledge, and when they know what to do and how to do, they become confident automatically.



And when around at quarter to four, I asked them if they would like to have a 9X9 grid to solve at their homes, in case they wanted a break from studying, there was a unanimous yes. On the downside, 3 girls told me that they were bored [its positive in the way that they could freely express what they actually felt].


Neha and Smriti
Team Pune

On-going Projects : Project Enhance and Project Iris

Colorss Foundation : Volunteer Opportunity

At the end of the day it's a smile that matters to all and of course to 'self'. We are looking forward for young enthusiastic volunteers who love to fill different colours of life making others feel complete. Do you love Children? Do you like to play with them, teach them and give them a smile. If yes, the Colorss Foundation is waiting for you.

On-going Projects : Project Enhance and Project Iris

Project Enhance : Martial Arts for Better Mental Health

Project Enhance to empower people with disabilities and make inclusion into mainstream life – with the help of karate training.

Mental health : Mental health is not just the absence of mental disorder. It is defined as a state of well-being in which every individual realizes his or her own potential, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to her or his community.

Mental Disorder : Mental disorders are health conditions that are characterized by alterations in thinking, mood, or behavior (or some combination thereof) associated with distress and/or impaired functioning. This notion of a continuum sees mental health on one end as 'successful mental functioning' compared to mental illness on the other end as 'impaired functioning.'

Disability : Disability as defined by the World Health Organization

• A disability (resulting from an impairment) is a restriction or
• Lack of ability to perform an activity in the manner or
• Within the range considered normal for a human being

The United Nations
Impairment : Any loss of abnormality of psychological, or anatomical structure or function.

It’s important to include people with disability into mainstream life. Project Enhance identify the skills. Try to develop them and henceforth organize vocational training for them. Because of stigma and discrimination we don’t want erosion and loss of innate skills.

Customized curriculum is designed in such a way that inclusion is possible and both the groups (able-bodied as well disabled) are able to understand each other.

Project Iris : CURRENCY DENOMINATOR Empowering the Visually Challenged Person

Developed and designed at Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati (IIT G)

Colorss Foundation is behind the national launch of the developed device to empower visually impaired people, better known as 'Project Iris'. Project Iris is a device - a currency denomination identifier - that will empower visually impaired to identify different Indian currency.

It's simple, easy, cheap and mechanical device that will help them identify Indian Currency

Developed and designed at Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati (IIT G) this device has won many awards;

• Best engineering project nationwide
• Awarded gold medal at Dec 2006 Intel IRIS competition – a national level event by Confederation of Indian Industries (CII).
• Among top 5 in IDEAZ IIT Bombay, Pan IIT Alumni Business Idea competition
• Owing to the simplicity and social impact of the product, the interview was aired in third week of October 2007 by NDTV India’s Premier news channel in the program The Next Big Thing

We want volunteers who can help us with these two projects. Do email us asking for specific volunteer roles that you would like to lead based on your expertise. We value your expertise, hard work and time given. Volunteers who have the expertise in web site and graphic designing are required. Please email me at anand.koti@gmail.com