Two Sundays

I’ll talk about two great Sundays I had in recent times, activities just outside the campus. Before that an update on the activities inside the campus.

Yesterday afternoon some NSS volunteers gathered in my office where we discussed about (i) improvement of our NSS team website http://teamvivek.50webs.com - publication of monthly report, upgrading happenings section, uploading teaching modules developed etc. and (ii) purchases required for the current educational program for the underprivileged kids. Four of us (myself, NKR, Sujo.. and Abhiji..) then went to market – bought toffees, pencils, eraser and three beautiful five-in-one books, one each for the groups who have placed the requirement. We all liked the books (published by Rainbow) having five different features like Hindi alphabets, English alphabets, Numbers etc. printed on a good quality paper, multi-coloured. We believe the kids will like it and it will enhance their education experience.

On 18th Jan., 2009 attended a one day meet, organized by Sarada Kalyan Bhandar, a charity run entirely by women. They are doing great work as can be found from their website www.skbcharity.com The occasion was celebration of Swami Vivekananda’s birthday, the 12th of Januray which is declared ‘National Youth Day’ by Government of India. A youth convention was arranged where approximately 400 young men and women gathered. I was one of the panelists in a panel discussion but I preferred to listen more from others specially the younger people and reverend Swami Sunisthanandaji of Midnapore Ramakrishna Mission. Seldom one finds a person like Swami Sunisthanandaji with such clarity of thoughts, such a blend of Head and Heart. It appeared he has overcome all confusions of life and reached The Truth. Sitting on the stage, in front of a large audience, I couldn’t help being in my student self – taking running notes. May be on another post I’ll share them.

On 1st Feb., 2009, another Sunday, attended one more one day meet, organized by Kharagpur Vivekananda Yuva Mahamandal(KVYM) at a Madrasa named Azizia School at Kharagpur. This meet was meant for school students from Class V to Class IX. Approximately, 80 students attended it. After flag hoisting, vedic chant – “Sanga Chhaddhang …” and reading out of famous ‘Swadesh Mantra’ of Swami Vivekananda, everybody assembled in the auditorium. A discourse on how to improve ‘Mental Concentration’, the practical steps for practicing it, was delivered which is important for everyone one of us, specially the school-goers. Then there was physical exercise, followed by discussions on ‘Character Building’ – why and how. In the second half, there was Q&A session where the students asked many beautiful questions. A short description of Swamiji’s life was presented. The valedictory session was graced by – yes, Swami Sunisthanandaji and everybody (students and their guardians) were charmed by his address which lasted over an hour. The camp ended by a flag down ceremony. KVYM is the Kharagpur unit of a pan-India organization named Akhil Bharat Vivekananda Yuva Mahamandal who works among the youths through more than 500 centres in spreading ‘Man Making and Character Building’ideals of Swami Vivekananda. Every year around this time, they organize a one-day meet like this.