Svadhinam Foundation

Svadhinam Foundation is based in the Pimple Nilakh area of Pune. We’ve got two shops, numbers 1 and 2, in the Lotus & Lily building, located at Survey Number 43/1/16 and 43/1/3. It’s near Jagtap Dairy, which is how most people give directions around here. Having a shop-front makes it easy for people to just walk in when they have questions. It’s not like those big offices in the IT parks; it’s much more grounded. We keep the shutters up during the day, and you can hear the traffic and the cows and everything else that goes on in a busy Indian suburb. Inside, we’ve got some basic furniture and a lot of files. A lot of our time goes into talking with people about how to get things done on their own. We don't have a boss in a suit telling us what to do. It’s just a small group of us who live nearby and wanted to do something useful with our time. Some days are slow and we just sit and drink coffee, and other days we have a line of people waiting outside. The floor is a bit uneven in the corner, and the light flickers sometimes, but it’s a good place to work. We like the connection to the street and the people who live here. It feels real and honest, and that’s what matters to us in the end.