It started with this guy. Bhagirath Gop and his colleague Dr Vikram Gupta, both Program Officers at the Sir Ratan Tata Trust,  came to visit us in August to check out the work of the Foundation and, in particular, the functioning of the Early Intervention Centre.

We think they liked what they saw, but they also thought we could do even more, even better. So they asked us to undertake a review – to look at the EIC project objectively, see what was working, what wasn’t, and to make whatever changes we felt were necessary.

They suggested that we invite an outsider to help us do it – the person we chose doesn’t qulify as that, but she’s tough and strict and she knows what we are capable of. She’s Tara, our guiding star.

We also persuaded Aarti to come back for two days for the discussions and we all cleared our calendars.

I think for all of us it was an opportunity to look at ourselves honestly and critically, to analyze our approach and our achievements without trying to make excuses or offer explanations. For this meeting, we were committed to trying to figure out what was working and what was not.

The answers were sometimes startling, sometimes disturbing, and always provocative. We are engaged in analysis- there is something so exciting about asking questions and being willing to confront the truth about what we are doing. The truth is seldom easy and always involves reconsideration and restructuring of reality. The programs we are so attached to may have to be given up. The ways we do things may need to change. What matters is being open to new ideas and possibilities.