Very few kids aspire to serve the nation, one such brave heart is Manjunatha. He is in standard 8 from GHPS and his eyes are glimmering with high hopes, Manjunatha is a child of great valour. Kabbadi being his favourite sport, he aspires to join army in future.

However, hardship and the pang of losing his mother is one such incident that has tried to eclipse his life with skepticism. However, the future army officer, didn’t let it deter his spirit. It is true that children hailing from tough and challenged background often ends up being coy and fearful about life. But once you break a conversation with them, you will know how much they crave to share with you.

Manjunatha said, “The Akshaya Patra’s food is a source of encouragement for me. I love the rice and sambar the most.” He aslo claimed that this helps him focus in his studies. Coming from a family of 4, he has two siblings who are studying in the same school and are beneficiaries of Akshaya Patra. According to him, “we are happy to get a proper meal and we look forward to it.”

Just like any other children Manjunatha too has dreams that he seeks to achieve with lots of determinations. And believes that education and healthy meal will help him sail through the tough times and will encourage his siblings too.

While having a conversation with him, we realized that till now many more children out there are in need of our support. The children might not realise the value of nutrition but we as adults are pretty aware of its benefits. As the new session is about to begin, it is time to help over 1.7 million with healthy meals so that they can pursue education in the long-run. It is a prevalent notion that the parents send children to school knowing that they will at least have one proper meal a day, which is really blessing for them. His father is a driver whose average family earning is below ten thousand, he thinks that the mid-day meal initiative is a great and gives him a peace of mind that his children are fed well on every school day.