I have jotted down the report in two distinct sections - first one is the description of the events and conversations with Mr Kishor and others. Second is my readings and inferences from them. I've separated these two so that I want you to get a first hand perspective without my infereces, which could be subjective.

I reached Osmanabad by 10:00 am. I had earlier called Mr. Kishor from Solapur and told that I'll be reaching by 10:00. He had come to Osmanabad bus stand and we met there. He came in an Indica car and it was driven by somebody else. He said the car belongs to one of his friends and he has taken it for that day. This village - Kasabe Tadawle is around half an hour from Osmanabad.    

On the way he described the previous interactions with Asha. He showed the acknowledgement of the application for FCRA. It was dated a few months back - March or April this year. He said he has applied 3-4 times and earlier the applications were turned down, since he was not ready to give money. I asked what were the reasons the govt gave for denying clearance - he said once they wanted him to apply online; on another instance they said the bank account he had mentioned was not an exclusive accout for recieving funds etc. I asked for the acknowledgements for earlier applications, as I could not find them in the file he had - he said he'll give me. Later, I forgot to ask for them. He said he is not going to give money for getting FCRA clearance - he said "If I don;t get the clearance, so be it, I've managed for the last eight yrs and will somehow manage going forward as well". He said he does not have the money to give them and if at all he has to give them, he'll have to recover from the money he get from Asha, which he does not want to do.

Once a bit away from Osmanabad, the area is not at all populated - except for a small industrial area, I did not see any buildings. There are some plantations, which has been recently started and the rest of it is almost barren land. I asked him about other schools in this village. He said the govt schools are managed very badly - political influences in the management and teachers are not bothered in anything apart from getting salary. And since these kids are from extremely poor backgourd, unless they are given proper support, they end up dropping out of school. Mr Kishor said he is planning to go to Mumbai shortly - there is a charity who collects dresses and uniform for students. He then collects it from them. 

When we were about to reach the village he showed me a small building (the walls & roof has been made of tin sheets) and said that is private school. It was in the middle of a field and didn't seem to have anything apart from 4-5 small classrooms. No playground etc.

We reached the school around 10:30. The whole school compound is in a land .75 acres. He said the land is rented - he pays Rs. 5000 pm towards the land. He built the buildings on this rented land. He said the owners have agreed to give him that land for free in the near future. The rooms are small - 10ft * 10ft or 10ft * 20ft - mostly, except two big halls. In the headmaster's office he showed the records of 10th standard results of last yr. Out of 11 students appeared, 10 passed. Then he showed the attendance list of existing classes. He said the inspections from education department happens regularly. 

Then we went to see the other rooms - there is a storage room next to office for storing food grains, kerosene etc. Next to it are two rooms for girls. There are two female care-takers, who does the cooking as well. They stay there itself. The classrooms does not have any furniture - students sit on the floor. They have kept their belongings in the classroom cupbourd itself. There are separate toilets for girls & boys. There is small ground around which the rooms have been built, and there is a small Sai idol in one corner of this ground. He said the children are encouraged to pray and given moral/spiritual guidance.

Once back in the office, he asked me to distribute the books to students. I spoke the students about their family, schools teachers, how they are taken care, what do they study and what they want to do after studies. Most of them are families, but from extremely poor background. A few are from neighbouring villages (around 50 km away) and some were from as far away as Pune and Mumbai. For most of the students, he had to translate my Hindi to Marathi. One girl, when asked what her father does, said he drinks alcohol. All said teachers are good, they are being tought and taken care properly. Some of them said they want to become techers, some said they want to get into ITI jobs, one or two said they want to be able to take care of their families and one said want to become a doctor.

Then I asked about whether it is possible for the children to study in govt school and make arrangements for their stay & support rather than running a school. He stated the reasons mentioned earlier - mismanagement, poor quality and political influences - which will not serve the purpose at all. 

Then I asked about students who pass out - what do they do? He said the ones from earlier batches have got into ITIs and after that some of them are working in Mumbai etc. Curently there are three students studying in ITIs in Osmanabad. He takes care of their accommodation and expenses. Obviously, this is becoming of too much of an expense and what he plans as an alternative is to get approval for some computer education in the school and start these courses. He said two of the teacers are computer literate and he plans to get somebody else, if required. 

I asked about the teachers - he said they are BA/BSc/ MSc & BEd. Some of them are from the same village - they stay at their own house. For others he has made arrangements for accommodation. All have food in the school. I spoke to the teachers - it was not a one-one talk, but a group conversation. I asked them whether they are happy with facilities, if not, what do they think is required to be done, their opinion about the students & the school.  One lady teacher was quick to respond saying they are not happy, as they are not paid and pay was the only concern they expressed. I asked them why they are not going to other schools if they are not getting paid. They said they are hpoing that the govt grant will be approved and they'll get paid and this hope keeps them going. They mentioned their education as BSC/BA/MSc BEd. 

Again back in the office, I asked Mr Kishor about the budgets and plans. He said paying salary is the primary concern. Then he wanted to construct a separate hostel, so that the students can sleep in the rooms rathen than in the class. He said it can be built in the same plot and that there is sufficient land. The next thing was borewell, since there is issue with water. Another requirement was that of a fourwheeler - he said if any children fall sick, the doctor is 5-6 km away and getting kids there is a problem. However, he said Asha has mentioned for what purpose the funds are to be used and he'll go by that.  

He mentioned about the agricultural land. He said the daal for this yr was cultivated there - He said since it was raining, it would be difficult to go there, otherwise could have seen that as well. 

He asked me, if FCRA is getting delayed and having problems, can Asha provide funds through its indian organisation? 

When asked about longer-term plans, he said he would like get to a stage of economic autonomy - his idea is to go the Self Help Group way - if he can manage some funding for that, use the funds to provide microfinance and run the school using the returns. He mentioned at the moment he is completely drawn into getting day-to-day funding, and this kind of solution will give him time to dedicate to school. He wishes to expand the school and start other higher-education courses so that the students can continue their studies beyond 10th.

I asked about the interaction with local community - whether anybody from local village study there. He said as per the govt. regulations, the local children are not supposed to study there. Initially there were a few local kids, but then their relatives started questioning their parents why their children are studying along with the orphans and took them away. 

I asked about newspaper and TV - he said the Marathi newspaper is there in the school and there is a TV as well. They are shown movies on the TV during weekends. Also, he said he take them out to nearby places once in a while.

He said he is equiring the possibility of getting some land in Osmanabad for a hostel for kids continuing studies there. A couple of his friends may give him land. 

We started back by around 1:00 Pm. On the way back, I enquired about his family He stays in a rented house in Osmanabad with his wife and 3 kids. Eldest son is doing MBA. He said his family is happy about his social work and supports him. He is from a different place and has come to Osmanabad related to work. He is around 40 yrs. He works in a Self Help Group and arranges microfinance from banks 
and get around 10k as salary. We had lunch in hotel - he did not allow me to pay. He said he is a vegetarian and never eats out. He said it will not be appreciated by the society, since he is in social service. I tried to pay towards car charges, but he insisted. Finally, I tried to make some donation and told him he can use it for the pressing needs of the children - he said he does not take cash and I can send cheques later on in the name of the organisation. He left me at Osmanabad around 2:30 pm.

Now the remaining part is my inferences - these could be subjective and I don't want you to draw conclusion on them - you can as well ignore them. I have been thinking about whether I was able to achieve the objectives of the visit - To be honest, not much, given most of the info has been gathered through the discussion with Mr Kishor. This is not all because of any lapse from his side, but the constraint was my ability to speak marathi & fluent hindi. 
 
I must say I'm convinced about the school and children staying there. I must also say that I found a few kids quite smart and ambitious as well. Now, coming to whether Mr. Kishor is able to achieve his goals of a separate school rather than allowing & supporting these kids to study in govt. school, I'm not sure. I think they are getting the discipline of a residential school and probably better attention from teachers compared to govt school. I think so, based on his description of the govt. school environment. However, I'm not convinced the teachers are any better skilled or capable comapred to govt. school teachers. Now, I am saying this without actually seeing or talking to any teachers in govt. schools, so I could be wrong. Now, if you ask whether its possible to get better skilled teachers in that kind of an area, not sure...

Coming to the financials, Mr. Kishor himself said the books have been made up. Books show salaries of teachers, but he said they are not paid. He said it is shown in order to obtain grant from govt. He said the rest of the expenses are true. I don't have the skills to look at the books of an institution, but there are some items that caught my eyes - the newspaper expense for 2008 is Rs.1,020. However, the same for 2006 is Rs 10,310. Salary paid by the trust (different from school is Rs 27,000 in 2007. In 2006 and 2008, its respectively 1,37,600 and 2,50,000. The rent for the land is shown as 60k per annum. There is another rent of more than 5 lac in all the statements. It could be my ignorance, but accounts need to be reviewed by a proffessional with local knowledge.

Now coming to long-term plans, I find it difficult with Mr. Kishor's plans for setting up other courses - I agree with your earlier argument that setting up a parallel infrastructure is not the solution. There may be no alternatives for primary and secondary education, but definitely, that is not the way for higher education. 

Now, coming to the proposal for lumpsum funding and SHG, I do not know about the view of Asha; but that kind of an option would require extremely high amount of trust in the management and strict monitoring.