There’s a rhythm to Noida’s ambition, and sometimes its strongest pulse beats not in office towers or bustling malls, but in a tiny classroom set up on the edge of possibility. It’s where Dev Pratap Singh and Chandni Di have planted the flag for a different future—and they didn’t arrive with privilege or resources, but with stories of their own hardship and hope.
Dev and Chandni both grew up on the fringes: their childhoods—a daily hustle of finding classroom walls, holding onto disappearing dreams, and dodging some of the toughest circumstances Noida’s fast-paced economy doesn’t always see. But instead of letting their story end there, they rewrote the script. Over the years, they became determined not just to survive the city’s rough patches, but to flip the narrative for the next generation.
Voice of Slum, their brainchild, isn’t merely an NGO. It’s a living, breathing showcase of potential. Imagine walking into their centre: the walls carry not the weight of statistics, but the energy of small wins—children’s laughter, art, and questions as vivid as the street outside. Dev and Chandni are educators, confidants, and sometimes the only family anchor some children know. Their model isn’t just textbook learning; it’s mentoring, defending, and amplifying every small dream until it’s too big to ignore.
Every week, Voice of Slum brings together dozens of children—some from shanties near city flyovers, some who haven’t had a full meal in days—and gives them not just lessons in math or Hindi, but the vocabulary for possibility. The team secures scholarships, guides kids past bureaucratic hurdles, and unlocks a sense of pride: “If you belong to Noida, then future belongs to you.”
But the pulse of their achievement is even broader. Dev and Chandni have rallied volunteers, won support from different corners of the city, and—crucially—built bridges between Noida’s most privileged residents and those born with little but their will. It’s optimism grounded in real struggle: for every success story shared on Instagram, there’s a backstory of effort, setbacks, and return.
Pulse of Noida celebrates them not as distant heroes, but as living proof that city progress is about who rises as much as what gets built. Their journey is a blueprint for what Noida can be when its heart and its hustle work together. In every Voice of Slum classroom, the next chapter is being written—one child, one day, one change at a time.
Image: Credit @voiceofslum (Instagram) for permission to use photographs or video clips.
