There is no austerity equal to a balanced mind, and there is no happiness equal to contentment, there is no disease like covetousness, and no virtue like mercy ………Chanakya
Everyone talks about how the mind of the youth has to be channelized into doing something great for the Nation and for himself/herself and Society. In today’s Bharat where there is huge talk about many Educational institutions encouraging only Leftist ideologies, the Canclave 2018 (it was a I ‘Can’clave) of Vision India Foundation stood out as one which actually motivated the youngsters to think of Society before Self. Speakers from Snehalaya, Make a Difference Foundation and Paradigm of Life Foundation – all spoke about how just one person can touch the life of thousands of people and spread hope among them.
The words of Girish Kulkarni, Founder of Snehalaya rings in my mind continuously:
“Main NahiTohKaun
AajNahiTohKab”
Such a simple but powerful message through this thought, to goad the youngsters to immerse themselves into helping the downtrodden. Snehalaya rescues and rehabilitates victims of sexual exploitation and they have tasted the success of 140 convictions in cases lodged against traffickers. Their biggest success has been that 2nd generation prostitution has been stopped in their district Ahmednagar. When he said, “DaanDharmkeapne din hoteyhai” (There are specific days for doing charity), one could see through the veil of hypocrisy of those who claim that they do charity. He quoted Dr. Ambedkar who said, “As long as there is exploitation, there will be violence” to educate the youngsters that if they wanted a better, crime free world, they should work towards alleviation of poverty and illiteracy.
Can you imagine 36 railway stations beautified in Mumbai in a week’s time? This seemingly impossible task was made possible by a teacher, Shri Haresh Shah with his band of students. Making a Difference Foundation aims to reach out to 20,000 students in one year itself. As per Hareshji, “Challenge is maintaining Change and Progress”. He knows what he is talking about – he converted a 300 sqft school-cum-boarding for 150 students into one which is state-of-the-art school. The project includes a National Skill Development Centre and a Science and Technology Hub. Work is also going on for a new Hostel. All this about 120 kms from Mumbai, at Vikramgad. Hareshji is touching the lives of more students than an average teacher, in more ways than one – teaching, motivating youngsters to grow, motivating youngsters to help others – such a fabulous Vision!
HemaGopinathanSah’s take on the story of Narsimha had a very intriguing take to it – as per her, it spoke of the Wisdom of understanding and using the In-Between spaces. She says, “Stories heal and are expressions of our legacy”.
Another teacher with a unique approach to teaching value education to children, is Chintan Parekh of Paradigm of Life. He came up with the idea of teaching children about responsibility, patience and the impact of ownership and legacy, through planting, naming and nurturing a Sapling. His team of youngsters reach out to school students and motivate them via songs, dances & teamwork. They have touched the life of specially abled children too & made them a part of the growth process of another, via a sapling. Chintanji has a vision for creating value based leaders for the Nation. Wow!
Shefali Vaidya, owned the audience with her interesting take on the weaves of Bharat. Did you know that there are 43 lakh weavers in India out of which 70% are women? She told the very interesting tale of her discovery of the weaving process in Tamil Nadu where she witnessed a husband and wife weaving a cloth (Sari) together with complete focus and mind-body concentration even as they were doing other household tasks. It reminded me of Bharat’s favourite weaver – SantKabir. Getting youngsters interested in our heritage of weaves and that too in Saris, is not an easy thing – but she did it effortlessly.
Pin drop silence was observed when VivekAgnihotri started speaking. Every youngster was able to relate to his tale of wanting to belong to the “A” crowd, and how in the process of imitating them, one loses one’s individuality and becomes them. His encounter with lynching at Jadhavpur University, where he was lynched, was shocking to hear. He insisted that there was a different Bharat than what was shown in the Mainstream Media. For me the best moment in the Canclavewas when he asked the students to rate how much percentage of caste discrimination still exists as against what existed when we got Independence. Frankly I expected the students to go by Media narratives and say that it had increased (I actually said that sarcastically) but No! The students in one voice felt that caste discrimination had gone down drastically to less than 15% of what it was before. My happiness knew no bounds! It showed that our youngsters were not going to be swayed by the false stories spread by the MSM and they were going to be Agents of Change and Progress.
The last speaker, Amish Tripathi, rued on the fact that we are repeatedly taught that we are a Nation of Losers and are not taught about our achievements and victories, though this is the only Ancient civilization which still survives and thrives too. His comparison of the finding of 30,000 Manuscripts in Greek versus more than 28,00,000 manuscripts in Sanskrit, made everyone realize instantly about the body of work our ancients had left behind.
Truly our country needs more such sessions to educate and motivate our Youth, who are the future of our Nation. Vision India Foundation is a think-tank founded by alumni and faculty members of various IITs in 2014. They conduct leadership training to enable young people to go out and lead. By investing in young individuals, VIF focuses on systemic, long-term reforms by working on public policy, governance and institutional framework of the Nation.
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