Twenty-one-year-old Savitri Bobde had every comfort life had to offer. Hailing from a family of legal luminaries, (her grandfather was the Advocate General of Maharashtra and her father is a High Court judge) Savitri grew up in a palatial home in upscale Nagpur. She graduated from the prestigious St Xavier's College, Mumbai and was keen on taking up fashion designing.
   But four months ago, Savitri got involved in a project that fundamentally changed the way she perceived life. She was visiting Yavatmal district for a research on rural life. "However, I realised that a few days in a rural area was not enough to understand rural life and its problems and I ended up working with MS Swaminathan Research Foundation, which is committed to the empowerment of rural communities through information and communication technology," says the chirpy Savitri.
   "When I went to Yavatmal, I knew it would be a huge cultural shock. But, to my surprise, I took to it like a fish to water. In fact, I intend staying on for a year or two," she reveals.
   Enjoying her rural stint, Savitri is working hard to empower village women via technology and communication.That's not all! She also arranges trainers for women who want to set up small-scale industries. Besides this, Savitri also helps the villagers develop kitchen gardens and advises them how to cultivate nutritious vegetables that would take care of their food requirements. The foundation plans to start a novel project called e-medicine, wherein hospitals will be connected to the centre,to make it easier for the centre to get in touch with the doctor in case of an emergency. "I am deriving immense satisfaction from my stint here. I think this is the best decision of my life," Savitri says, with contentment.