☮️ Howard Gardening Story #43 Girish: The backpack that carried his calling

 

In my younger days, most parents in India expected their children to graduate quickly and start earning.

But Girish wanted a different path. He convinced his parents to let him see the world before settling into work.

To the horror of the relatives, the parents agreed. With a backpack on his shoulders, Girish set off for Europe. He eventually landed in France and began teaching English.

Somewhere along the way, computers caught his imagination. He immersed himself in coding, multimedia, and computer graphics — even creating an interactive guide to spread awareness about Indian music.

Girish then transitioned from teaching to running the technology department of French Chamber of Commerce training organisation.

His curiosity drove him to take a sabbatical for a Master’s in Communication in Boston, and research with the Visual Computing Group at MIT.

When he returned to France, he proposed setting up a multimedia department to prepare students and businesses for emerging technologies. The Chamber of Commerce trusted his vision.

Girish then discovered pictograms as autonomy tools for intellectually challenged persons. He also created a method to teach illiterate adults to read by associating color-coded sounds with pictograms — two powerful ways to promote social inclusion. 

Today, as an associate researcher in a design lab, Girish’s focus is on a care and support model for the social inclusion of persons with intellectual disabilities and developing the use of pictograms as a visual language, with the aim of serving communities in need.

🌱 Dear HR Leaders: Don’t you think we need an “HR stethoscope” — a way to listen to the heartbeats of our people? When we truly hear their aspirations, we can support those who dream of changing the world, just as the French Chamber of Commerce did for Girish.