THE DAKSHANA COMMUNITY

Ajay Antony

In 1998, he began his career in education as a teacher with TIME Coaching, a well-known institute for competitive exam preparation. Over time, he progressed within the organization and eventually held the position of National Vice President. Later, he served as the CEO of the School Training Division. He has achieved recognition on a global scale, being a Guinness World Record holder. He was honoured as the Founder and Quiz Master for Aqua Regia, an Inter-School Science Quiz that set a record for being the largest quiz ever conducted. The quiz spanned 36 cities and attracted the participation of over 20 lakh (2 million) students since its inception.

Additionally, he founded The Physics Chamber, an educational institution dedicated to training students for competitive exams like JEE (Joint Entrance Examination) and NEET (National Eligibility cum Entrance Test), which are entrance exams for engineering and medical courses in India, respectively. Ajay is a Physics Major at the Graduation Level. He also holds a Master’s Degree in Management.

Since 2008, Ajay has been associated with Dakshana. He has also served as a Trustee of the organization, contributing to its mission of empowering students through education. In June 2023, he joined Dakshana as its Chief Executive Officer, taking on a leadership role in guiding the organization and furthering its educational initiatives.

Colonel Ram K. Sharma

He started his own business after hanging up the uniform. After a successful stint of nearly six years, due to a personal tragedy, he decided to close the business. He has since been trying to contribute towards the education of bright but needy students. Dakshana was the natural follow-through after meeting Mohnish Pabrai in April 2009.

Annu Kumar Malik

Annu has delivered many projects for Dakshana since 2014. Annu’s work includes building CTM Hall that accommodates 360 scholars at Dakshana CoE at JNV Bengaluru Urban. He has also built the Taraben J Mehta Girls Hostel, the boys’ hostel,  the R. G. Manudhane Excellence Hall at Dakshana Valley and a comprehensive master plan for Dakshana Valley capacity expansion. He is an alumnus of Dakshana from the very first batch at JNV Bundi. He is a civil engineering graduate from NIT Kurukshetra, Haryana. Annu has an explicit interest in financial planning and investing focused on Indian markets (inspired by Dakshana founder – Mohnish Pabrai). Playing badminton is one of his hobbies. He also loves to participate in discussions over global macroeconomic events.

Ravi Ranjan Pandey

Ravi started his career with Dakshana as a Program Co-ordinator at JNV Pune. He was promoted as Dakshana Fellow in April 2015 to monitor Academics at CoEs from Dakshana HQ, Pune.  His role involved visiting all the CoEs and conducting motivation sessions for the scholars.

In 2016, Ravi was transferred to the CTM Hall at JNV Bangalore Urban to manage Dakshana’s largest batch in the 2-year program. This batch of 299 scholars produced an excellent result, not only at JEE Mains & Advanced but at many other competitions like NDA, NEST, ISI and other state engineering entrance examinations.

Ravi is the Chief Academics Officer and looks after the Academics program at Dakshana. Ravi enjoys Yoga and spiritual reading. He has also delivered lectures on Scientific Spirituality at DSVV, Haridwar.

Monsoon Pabrai

Monsoon graduated with a B.A. in Political Science from the University of California at Berkeley, with a concentration in International Relations.

Since 2010, Monsoon has made frequent field trips to Dakshana Scholar homes and various JNVs running Dakshana’s program for impoverished students in India studying to gain admission into the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT). She has traveled extensively to remote areas of Rajasthan, Karnataka, Telangana, Puducherry, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Uttarakhand, and Kerala.

Colonel V K Haryal

Colonel Haryal has been involved in many difficult operations during his service. He has a Master’s degree in Management. With a vast and rich experience of all facets of life, Colonel Haryal has always kept honesty, integrity, uprightness to the commitment with discipline on top of his life’s agenda. During his earlier stint with Dakshana, his contribution was greatly appreciable. At Dakshana, Colonel Haryal heads the administration of the Dakshana Campus at Kadus Village, Pune. Under his leadership and tight control, the campus administration works with the utmost discipline and efficiency.

Nishikant Kadam

Nishikant brings with him an illustrious experience that includes working with MNCs such as Bridgestone, Cummins, GEP and two valuable years with Dakshana before pursuing his MBA. His previous roles include product development, sector and business analysis, CSR & Alumni Engagement. Nishikant has been active, since his college days, in Dakshana activities through the Dakshana Alumni Network (DAAN). Nishikant now handles Outreach and Partnerships at Dakshana.
Nishikant loves to read books of numerous genres such as business, psychology, economy, investing, novels etc. He also enjoys trekking and travelling.

Ruturaj Patil

This young lad hails from Karad, Maharashtra and is a Computer Science engineer from Shivaji University, Maharashtra. He also holds an MBA in I.T. from Pune University.
Ruturaj spent a year in Sales & Marketing at HDFC Bank before joining Dakshana. He enjoys reading and is an avid trekker.