In ISM for a Day

During last week, I was back to my alma mater, ISM.I was unable to visit ISM during convocation, so it was long overdue. It was a nostalgic moment, starting with the train itself (GD), I was back in time to the days when I used to be a ISM student.

Moving on the rickshaw into the ISM campus, I could identify some familiar faces, a few teachers (though as usual I tried not to be recognised ), a couple of research assistants who helped me during practical exams(I wish to say thanx to them :), but just waved my hands ) and obviously quite a many juniors.

Though, it was a bit hectic , I enjoyed every bit of it. With familiar juniors around, hours were flowing by like seconds. On top of this, add the party on Sapphire roof top and I was truly reliving my student days.

Then, it was great to see FFI growing into such a robust organisation. Starting from a single room and a single computer, the organisation has came a long way. To mention a few of the achievements, we have caterred to more than 350 blood request in the last year, conuselling is underway for a massive 10,000 students of government schools, approximately 50 students have benefitted from the IT literacy project in this semester only. This number is supplemented by inmates of Dhanbad prison who have received IT education from FFI. The youngest of all FFI initiatives,Escape is doing a great service to kids by helping them with communication skills. I saw a few videos of Escape and was awestuck by the presentations of Escape students.However, the thing which makes FFI truly unique is besides benefitting the community, it exposes volunteers to a host of leadership and organisational challenges very early in their career, even before their formal career starts. Such volunteers can be an asset for any organization in the professional arena.


On interaction with volunteers, I realised how closely they are aware of the problems of the society, be it the blood bank situation in dhanbad or the issues they faced while interacting with the school kids. The credit of all the success must go to the ground volunteers who are putting in their extremely valuable time and efforts for the benefit of community. Some are working tirelessly infront of the computers trying to make their students understand MS-Office and Internet Explorer, some are braving the heat & dust to reach the students of government schools and help them take a informed decision about their career and some are saving the lives of poor patients by fecilitating easy blood supply to them free of cost. Infact its the dedication of volunteers which inspires me to keep working for FFI.

Overall, with 100 plus volunteer strength of FFI, the organisation is looking positively into the future. Now we are in the process of executing our expansion plans which include a new centre in Jamshedpur under the leadership of some equally dedicated individuals whom I met during ISM trip. The other cities where our expansion plans are in conceptual stage include Patna, Pune and Noida. With the experience and expertise of three years to back us, we are confident of our success in future endeavours.

FastForward India : 2 Years Hence(Part 2)

It was a new experience for me as all of us(me and 4 mentors)
were located at different places(continents rather.. 2 of themwere in USA,one in Canada and one in Bangalore with me in Dhanbad) and we used to exploit conference feature of yahoo messenger fully[:)].
Initials discussions focussed mainly on the social issues to start and work with,suggestions were asked from all and we recieved almost a dozen.(The full details can be had from the link http://ff-india.blogspot.com)After a lot of Brainstorming sessions we zeroed on to pursue 3 of themas pilot projects which meant that these were to be run as beta version and after a fixed time frame the projects were to be evaluated and their feasibility and sustainability analysed.This experience was to be used in implementation of the tested projects at National Level(we planned really well :)).
In the meantime ,FFI was growing in numbers at ISM thanx to the equally dedicated efforts of Mohit Ranjan.We used to brief volunteers about FFI ,its vision and plans,the initial response was very enthusiastic and it all seemed too easy to work with(I was wrong big time)

Winter Trip

Then someone came with the idea of a trip to various NGO's to give volunteers a first hand idea of how organisations function and see the society we were going to work with more closely.
After a lot of discussions and modifications in plan we finalised on three venues Kolkata,Jamshedpur and Bodhgaya.
About 15 volunteers with me and mohit set on to a journey to understand the better of Under-priviledged India. Be it one of the poorest regions in Nation,the 24 parganas in west bengal,the remotest jungles of Jharkhand or the selfless devotion of Monks of Bodhgaya ,it was an Inspirational Journey for me atleast.
During the course of trip,we met Deputy Commissioner of Jamshedpur Mr. Nitin kulkarni who was very kind in offering us to use his sumo for a tour of Jamshedpur(such a behaviour was highly appreciated by us specially in India where bureaucrats are know for their High-handedness). Another inspiring personna we met was Mr. kabir who was leading the famous Maitreya Foundation at Bodhgaya, born in London and an Oxford graduate,he decided to devote his life to the service of humanity and Budhism.

Though,I found the Trip immensely enriching but looking from a different angle as to the amount of Money spent on trip(Fully Sponsored by FFI) and the productivity Gained henceforth in terms of volunteers' motivation, I would wish for a better Value for My money.Probably there were many other factors playing their role which we realised later on.

The trip was refreshing and had prepared us in some way for the larger battle that lied ahead..the actual implementation of projects which was to start in the new semester commencing just after the trip...

(To Be Continued...)

FastForward India : 2 years hence..

The piece which I am going to type down below is a tale of
one of the most valued learning experiences of mine so far
in this short span of life.Infact one of the best things
to have happened to me in the four years of ISM life.
Yes,the title says it all..I'm talking about fastforward India.

The brainchild of some young ISM passouts based in USA/Canada,
FFI was still in thought process and evolving when I was called
to take on the lead,organise the volunteers and start the ground
operations of the organisation.

It was to be a philanthropic organisation aimed to make the
society a better place to be by analysing various social problems
and coming up with innovative solutions.Things I had in plenty
were funds(I thought so),inspiration and guidance from my mentors
(Namely Durga Prasad Pandey,Jitendra Mohan Jha,Shulabh Gupta and
Priyank Nandan).But it still was a herculean task,I was about to
move into pre-final years of my B.Tech degree and never had any
chance to see the working of such a fully functional Organisation.
Though one such initiative Kartavya was in full blooms at that time in
ISM,but I was not associated with it,not even remotely.
However, on top of all this ,I was eager to accept the
challenge,the reasons:-

(a) Before the starting of placement season,I was desperately
looking to add something 'special' to my resume which otherwise
looked so ordinary at that time with my Average GPA and usual
stuffs like projects,training and blah blah

(b) Deep Inside ,I always had it in me that I can be good team
player/leader and the oppurtunity gave me a chance to test my
skills and hone them.

Thus,the journey Began,a journey which was so enriching in
learning and satisfying to soul that now,when I have passed out
from ISM(where the organisation is functioning currently) I wish
to extend it to wherever I go..not for the abovementioned
reasons but for the sheer satisfaction that comes from within
when you feel that you are adding value to the society around
you,you are contributing your bit in the great Vision 2020 of our
former president A.P.J. Abdul Kalamand that you too can
proudly say,I am not just living for me or my family..I am
contributing to a larger cause....

(To Be Continued...)