NSS Camp

Merry Christmas! Let Christmas bring peace and happiness to every soul, in every nook and corner of the world. This post is about something that happened a month back. It had been a busy December. If time permits, shall come back with other experiences of this month.

It was a great experience to be at the NSS camp during Nov. 26, 2008 to Dec. 03, 2008 in a village surrounding 6 km from IITkgp campus. Approximately, 140 first year students and few faculty members like us were engaged in discovering India that remains largely unseen to urban privileged class and in turn it was a journey to discover ourselves.

The following are some of the excerpts I had with volunteers after the camp following the group mail I posted. (Pls. overlook grammatical errors as I didn't wish to edit anything and post as the students saw and expressed)

One cannot but be reassured to see future India emerging out of the youth of India. Also the role of programs like NSS (specially in institutes like IITs where leader of the futures are made) need to be emphasized that trains young mind, acts as interface and enabler between the capacity building (which IIT does) and right use of that capacity.

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Dear NSS Volunteers,

Hope you have all reached home safely or on your way.

It was wonderful to spend those eight days with you in the NSS camp 2008 and share each others dreams as related to nation building.

Let us all try our best to become a better human-being and work for the betterment of our society.

We have experienced how team work can be a fun, how satisfactory it is to work for the poor and needy. Let us continue with the good work.

Please send your feedback on how we can improve. Also suggest some actionable items for the future.

Please don't negelect study, career. A better career gives a larger foot-print, more capacity to serve others.

Please keep in touch. Let us all work together for a better, stronger India.

Sincerely yours

G.....

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Sir, i am a first year student (08arXXXX) who really enjoyed the discussions we had together. we definitely have to think for the society and for the country as a whole. It felt good collecting clothes for the poor and the needy ones and it also makes us realise how far we are still from total development. I and my friends discuss about this matters regarding the political situations, the corruption and the inefficiency of our system whaich goes on to become a heated debate.i feel strange that iitians have contributed very little to the society,where are all those iitians who pass out every year? Even I may become one of them.but this camp like NSS makes us realize our duty towards india.i have only shared a few things which goes in my mind. ....

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Dear sir and fellow NSS volunteers,

This is Sh....., here to express my views and suggestions for the betterment of NSS.
From my experiences at the camp, I learnt many things, most important of those values being the values of sharing and selflessness. Helping the poor and others in need, is a very good way to reach out to the less privileged of the Indians.

These 8 days in the camp have been very useful, helping us learn how we can spend our free time helping others, instead of sitting idle and entertaining ourselves only. Had we all gone back home after the end-sems we would have done just that. But I thank the NSS officials for giving us this wonderful opportunity.

Joyful experiences amongst the company of my friends apart, this visit to a rural area was very helpful in increaing my outlook. First of all, I had been to a village a long time ago. This visit revived some of my memories, and I am very thankful for that. I also made many new friends, which helped in my personality development.

The collection of clothes for the poor from the campus was a very notable exercise in many ways. First it helped all in actively participating in the camp. Second, we got to interact with many persons living in the camp unknow to us. Also. their feedback was valuable, and the amount in which they donated was notable. ......

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Dear Sir,

We too enjoyed those 8 days.

I have reached home safely. It was a nice experience to work & play in the lap of mother nature which many of us have not done before.

Thanks Sir . You & your collegues have guided in an extremely friendly manner.

In my view the camp was a great success.

I have enjoyed the kichhuri the most.

I cannot forget the early winter morning cycling experience through the soft village road.

The camp days are now sweet dreams to me......

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Sir,
Thank you for taking such a personal interest and inofrming us of your views. But more than that sir, thank you for making the camp such a wonderful experience for all of us.I have already given my views during the group interaction on the final day. If ever NSS requires the help from any volunteers, kindly let us know.

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Sir ,

      I being a student,who took part in NSS camp I really enjoyed it.I am a student in your weekly classes also .I didn't find this much spirit to work for NSS  in those classes.Its better to continue like those (performed in camp) in our weekly classes also.Its better to prepare our schedule in that  way so that we must be able to accomplish a work like coleecting clothes or keeping surroundings clean.

     I think that every student will enjoy like that thing.

     I felt happy that you are asking for students suggetions about this NSS work ...