TARAhaat - Success Stories
Miles to Go: Neetu Sharma
 For her diminutive frame Neetu Sharma packs in a lot of enthusiasm and energy. The first girl to enroll in the computer course run by TARAhaat at TARAgram in 2003, Neetu is now a coordinator at the Orcha TARAkendra in Madhya Pradesh. The daughter of a retired military man, she has lived in many different parts of the country and has had the good fortune of having parents who have encouraged her to study and avail of the opportunities coming her way.
After becoming a part of TARA, my personality has developed. I get the opportunity to meet and interact with a variety of people and showcase my ability.
-- Neetu Sharma, Madhya Pradesh
A post-graduate in English, Neetu used to teach in a private school and earn a salary of Rs 500 apart from giving tuitions before doing her computer course. After doing a one-year diploma in computers from TARAgram she started teaching and her salary became Rs 1000.
Today as a TKC she is earning Rs 2,500 and is in a position to pay the college fees of her siblings. After her expenses, she saves about Rs 500 per month.
She feels she has grown a lot as a person after becoming a part of TARA. "My personality has developed. I get the opportunity to meet and interact with a variety of people and showcase my ability. I used to hesitate in talking and would feel very shy, but I have got over all that. My body language has changed."
To demonstrate how much she has changed she says, "During my initial days I refused to go for a training in Delhi. The next time my father accompanied me, but now I have become confident and I travel on my own. As a school teacher the scope of growth was limited, but here I get more opportunities, I have a wider identity."
The biggest challenge in her work according to Neetu is running the center, where both boys and girls come, smoothly, in an orthodox and traditional setting. Being a local person, she is identified with the center and parents feel confident in sending their daughters there.
What difference would marriage make in her life? She says, "I have told my mother that when she is looking for a match for me she must make it clear that I like to continue working even after marriage." Neetu aspires to be able to get a good job like her friend who did the course along with her and also worked in TARAhaat and after marriage is working in Delhi. About her future, she says she has not thought much but would definitely get a job where she can earn around Rs 10,000 or may be start a center of her own!
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