Holi Celebrations 2011 by Paritraan Team

When Engineers decided to engineer Doctors for the future...

When I started Paritraan – A social service organization, I was alone. Today, Paritraan has over 50 members spread across India, who teach thousands of underprivileged children, the disabled and the old. 

When I talked about Social service, most of my friends thought that this was all a waste of time. But Robert Schuller’s, ‘Success is never ending and failure is never final’ told me something else. It inspired me to dream and inspire others' dreams.

One day I asked the school children to tell me what they wanted to be. They told me they wanted to be Doctors. It was Friday. I thought about it, how could I help them in their dream? How can I inspire them? I am an engineer… What should I do?

I prayed to God for guidance. And he answered. I called my friends, told them I wanted to organize a trip to RIMS – the Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences. Everyone resented. Filled with self-doubt and negativity, they gave me various reasons for not going.

One said, “What if you meet an accident?”

Another said, “You need permission from RIMS…”, the third said, “We can’t manage this…may be some other time…”

But words of Robert Schuller, Swami Vivekananda, the Holy Bible, The Holy Quran and the Holy Geeta keep echoing in me. They told me that God wants me to carry on with this task. “Help will be provided to those how seek, for those with a noble cause.”

I declared, “I am going ahead with the plan, you are free to join me!”

Sunday was declared to be the destined day. Akhil decided to join me. I met 10 children at one place, Akhil met with 15 others. We booked two tempos to travel from the BIT Mesra campus to the main road. There, I saw a bus. My heart told me, this bus is never here. It’s God’s help. Go ask for it. I thought Akhil is better at dealing about financial matters, so I sent him instead. The driver decided not only to carry us to RIMS, but also expressed that he would bring us back.

We played Antakshari during the journey. Then we reached RIMS. We came to know that on Sunday, the college is closed, but medical students had exams. Akhil said, “That’s why I asked you to take permission. It does not work like this. Now you see, there was no point in coming here. Its all a waste!”

I asked him to wait, and went straight to the Director's Office. I told him who we were and what we wanted. He was so happy he asked me sit down, then appreciated our efforts, asked me to keep it going and ensured he will provide all the help necessary for any future tours. He assigned two Guards, who took us around the campus and showed different departments. 

 

The doctors were also glad to have those children in their campus. They patiently answered children's questions. And to my surprise, these children really asked interesting questions. They asked about procedures of donating blood as they wanted to donate blood. Even the nurses and other support staff contributed with their own knowledge.

The children really enjoyed the trip. Not only that, those who did not join us, asked us to organize trips from them again & again. There was another school nearby, we used to teach children there as well, the news reached them and then they started demanding a trip.

 

That, gave me the ultimate satisfaction, and proved my theory of Goodwill – If you are working for a noble cause, God’s help will arrive. I don’t know if any of those children will become doctors, for they are very poor, but then even if one of them becomes a doctor, wouldn’t it make a difference?

Magical Methods Training Pvt Ltd re-kindled the fire and passion within me to take sessions on Vedic Maths.

Taking sessions for under-privileged children and students of engineering and technology is nothing new for me. For those of you who do not know about me, here’s a brief introduction:
1. I am the founder and Chief-coordinator of Paritraan – a social initiative started by me and supported by friends, faculty and juniors not only from BIT Mesra but from other colleges in India.

2. I am the Chairman of Microsoft Software and Technology Club, India, a club that gives free sessions on Microsoft technologies to students, faculty ad professionals across India. We also organize, from time to time, several national and international events to promote programming and software development. DreamSpark Professional Programming contests conducted in 2010 and 2011 are such examples.

3. I have trained more than 1000 students, faculty and professionals on various technologies & subjects like:

• Microsoft technologies like .NET, SilverLight, Windows 7,   Windows Phone 7, Visual Studio, SQL Server 2008
• Personality development skills
• Computer/Digital Literacy
• Vedic Mathematics

Infact, Paritraan began with my first session in Vedic Maths. However, after joining Samsung Software Engineering Lab as a Software Engineer in June 2011 I was unable to carry out my sessions because of office timings. But then a few days ago, I came across a Facebook Page by the name Magical Methods Training Pvt. Ltd. in which I saw a committed Mr Pradeep Kumar carrying out the task of creating awareness of Vedic Mathematics and  I saw pics of him teaching Vedic Maths and it re-kindled the fire in me to take sessions on Vedic Maths.



In the time of writing this blog-post, I am in Nagpur, in the house of my eldest maternal aunt. She is a lecturer in a junior college and also teaches in a Coaching Institute. I offered her to teach Vedic Maths to her students and she agreed and I began taking sessions on Vedic Maths. Its been 2 days already and tomorrow will the third day. Its a mix batch of students from class 7-12.

I would like to point our the syllabus of Maharashtra board is not at all up to the mark and the children even in class 11 are unable to do simple 2 digit multiplication or 3 digit addition/subtraction mentally. They need to be spoon-fed! Most of them are either afraid of Maths or hate it! Imagine hating such a beautiful subject…



So in the last two days I took 2 sessions of 2.5 hours each and now they have gained confidence and some of them have started liking Maths, I get the same feeling as I get when I convert a Naasthik (Atheist) into an Aasthik (Theist)!




The movie Spiderman had a really nice message – “With great power comes great responsibility!” And I believe being an Engineer its my responsibility to engineer a better society, a better India – A Better Future.

Magical Methods Training Pvt. Ltd. details:
Website: www.magicalmethods.com/
Blog Link1: http://vmfortrainer.blogspot.com/
Blog Link2: http://magicalmethods.wordpress.com/
FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Magical-Methods-Training-Pvt-Ltd/161663113891616

A hundred rupees seems too much to give to the beggar, but too less to order a lunch in a restaurant.

Most of the days in TOT Mall near my residence, here at Sector-62 in Noida, I see a different beggar without food. I happily give them 10/- or 20/- rupees. Some people may think I am stupid. But now since I earn my own money I have every right to do so. I don’t think I am wasting my money in alcohol or cigarettes, am I?  Moreover, out of my salary if I can give 500/- per month its not a big deal, is it?

People will say – feeding the hungry, teaching a child, doing this for one day - what difference would it make? Let me tell you one of the many incidences which will answer that question. I was at the juice shop at the Tot Mall when a kid hardly 2-2.5 years came up to me, wearing a dirty dress and a lovely smile. 

He could not even talk! He just gestured to me that he was hungry and wanted the juice I was drinking. I would have given it, had I not started drinking from it. So I ordered a fresh glass for him. The shopkeeper did not know that I ordered for him. He started scolding the boy  and asked him to leave. When I told the shopkeeper that the juice I had ordered was for the boy, he was surprised.

Finally he gave the juice to the boy. The glass was big. I thought I should have ordered a small glass, the boy would not be able to drink it. I then left the scene to buy some other stuff. On my way back I saw the boy. He was so hungry, he finished all the juice in the glass. Suddenly a lady made way to the small kid, saw him, saw the empty glass, lifted it up like a ‘World Cup’, smiled, thanked God, and the unknown person who fed his child. I could see emotions on her face. It had lit up. It had brought her peace and me a feeling that goodness had not died yet. I was moved by that scene.

The juice had hardly cost Rs. 20/- and I had visited a moment of a lifetime. This was not the first time I had experienced such an emotion and I know for sure, it wasn’t the last either. The real happiness - an everlasting one - comes from a life of giving.

This reminds of my friend  Akhil Ranjan. Whenever we traveled together, he used to buy stuff to eat often. He really liked those ‘Thela Wala’ items. But, most of times, some begger or some poor woman carrying a baby would be there. And since he used to get limited pocket-money he could not buy a new plate of fruits/food-items, so every single time, he used to give his own plates. 

  

“A hundred rupees seems too much to give to a beggar, but too less to order a lunch in a restaurant.”  

Think about it, will ya?

Why should you join PARITRAAN?

DON'T JOIN PARITRAAN; JOIN THE SPIRIT OF PARITRAAN. We don't want you to register with us, all we want you to do is take 2-3 hours per week from your busy schedule and visit a Government or any School with underpriviledged children. Just spend time with them. Make them feel they are cared for.

We at Paritraan believe that - "Even an Animal finds its food, sleeps, drinks and lives life for itself; if there is one thing that distinguishes them from us is the ability for live for others."

Humans are social beings and we will improve when society will improve and the master technique to improve the society in modern context is Education. Education not only improves the living status of a person but also helps them making a human resource that is necessary for country to be developed. It also removes crime and unemployment from the society.

So, we the Paritraan team would like to hear from you if you have any idea that can be incorporated in our mission to improve it or you can participate in this holy mission too. If you want to really contribute something for the society, please contact us and join us in taking this mission to a newer and higher dimension where it will prove to be a factor affecting life of many people and will be a concrete step towards the development of civilised and educated society.

You can send your feedback, appreciation, comments and criticisms at our Official Facebook Page - Paritraan.

Paritraan: Our Intentions and How we plan to do it.

This Sunday, on 3rd April 2011, I visited St. Micheal’s School for the Blind, near Bahu Bazaar(Ranchi), with a few of my friends.

I am posting this blog for those people who are interested to join Paritraan, to inform them about the main ideas which lie behind our activities. In short this is a blog about the how and the how not. If you are interested in the why and why not please visit Vishal Gupta’s blog-post.

Paritraan was started by Vishal Gupta, a final year student of Information Technology during his 2nd year Engineering. Back then, he used to teach underprivileged children in his native village. In January 2011, under the guidance of Asst. Prof. Anup Kumar Keshri, of Department of IT from BIT Mesra, Paritraan began to grow in BIT Mesra. Using MSTC's resources, Paritraan got its web-presence. The growth of Paritraan was impossible without the contribution of Akhil Ranjan, 4th Year BioTech and Amritesh Kumar, 4th Year IT (2K7 Batch).

The main purpose of the group is to carry out the works of Social Services in and around Ranchi and spread it across as far as possible. Right now there are about 40 students from various streams and batches working for Paritraan by utilizing their Sundays, Holidays and Half-Days to help those who are not as fortunate as we are.

Apart from Blind Schools visits, Paritraan teams also visit various Government and Municipal schools in nearby villages to provide them proper education. Educational Trips and Digital Literacy Sessions are also organized for underprivileged children.

The main principles behind the successful outings of Paritraan are:

1. It is voluntary. There is no concept of joining. You can accompany us in our trips.
2. Since studies are of paramount importance, we generally skip trips nearer to exams. We are only planning to utilize the Sundays and holidays we usually waste lazing around in the hostel. However, a few enthusiasts still carry out the noble work even during exam times.
3. This is not a club, this is a movement, a social initiative and a Social Revolution. There are no posts like treasurer, president etc. to offer. There is no chain of command per se.However, we do encourage to take advice from Asst Prof Keshri and Senior Members of Paritraan Team.
4. Though there is no concept of donation in the form of money, a few still donate so that we can give something to the blind children. We prefer to donate 2-3 hours of time a week to help. The best example is an incident that happened in front of me. The students of the school wanted books/magazines with paper of better quality for them to write in Braille. A senior suggested to buy the books for them. Keshri sir prompted and said that it would be better if we collected books from the common room than put in money from our pockets.
5. We try not interfere in the management of the schools/institutions we visit. The main logic here is that we have no basis to criticize the work of people who work in these institutions or to tell them what to do. We do not work for these institutions but we work on our own with their permission. At the same time we ensure all the benefits of our labour and contributions go to the people who actually need it.
6. The type of work we do isn't just limited to teaching. We try our best to provide Engineering like solutions to the problems faced by people who are usually neglected by the society. For example we also plan to guide the students of the school about the career options they have after they pass out of the school. 
7. We listen to the problems they are facing and try to solve them with things we can do in our free time. Some students in the school wanted to know how to apply for the position of radio jockey in radio stations or as announcers in railway stations. Our seniors were fast to google out some information on the availability of positions for the physically handicapped in some government organizations.

These are just some of the main ideas behind Paritraan that I have come to understand. As I see, the main goal will always  be to strive to help those who need help and to contribute in such a way that our hard work is beneficial for them.

Paritraan in Sanskrit means "To bring relief from the cause of distress".