A Visit to The Missionaries Of Charity

A Visit to The Missionaries Of Charity

“Joy” is a feeling that has been taken for granted by us in this era. We feel joy in the smallest of things. We feel overjoyed when we buy a phone or a tablet, when we get good marks in exam or when we get good gifts. We engross ourselves so much in this feeling that we forget the purity of this feeling. We forget what true joy actually feels like. Does it fill our hearts with immense pleasure? Does it send chills down our spine? Or is it just a combination of both?

So when we, the students of MISB Bocconi set out to spend our valentine’s day with the children at Missionaries of Charity, we had no idea it would end up being such a life altering experience for us. On reaching the place, we gave the sisters the grocery items and chocolates that we had brought for the children. Then, we were led to the nursery where all the children were staying. There were about fifteen children aged 2-5 years in the nursery. We were then advised to handle the children with care since they were specially abled. Some were sleeping others were playing around in their cradle. While we were playing with the children, we felt that pang of joy within ourselves. They just wanted us to hold them up! The little elder ones were asking our names, some playing with our shiny purses and others just wanting us to carry them around. It is impossible for us to fathom our lives without parents and the very thought of them having to lead this life filled our hearts with so much pain. As I was saying “JOY” is not just feeling immense pleasure but this also sent chills down our spine. Another thing that gave us great delight was seeing some people visiting the missionary to adopt these kids. It was really satisfying to believe that at least some of these children will be leading great lives with their foster parents.

Since, we had visited the place late afternoon we could not get much time to spend with the children that left us wanting for more. It was really heartbreaking to say goodbye to them because we just wanted to continue playing with them. But all good things come to an end and this did too. But not before we promised ourselves that we all would be coming back at to spend some more time with them.

In addition to introducing us to the true joy of life, this experience also opened up our eyes to the different and innocent lives in our society. They being differently abled does not give us the right to treat them differently but it should motivate us to treat them specially and with greater care. Because children will be children and a life is a life.

 “Keep your face to the sunshine and you cannot see a shadow.”-Helen Keller

This article has been written by Neeti Nayanika Patnaik, a member of our club. 

We encourage everyone to pen down their comments :)

EMPOWERING THE FUTURE

“Education is the most powerful weapon which one can use to change the world”- Nelson Mandela

What can be a better way to start your New Year than distributing knowledge and inspiring the upcoming youth- ‘The Awaaz’ of India, says Ankush, who is an active member of the Social Club, Misb Bocconi.

Tarang Life Care Foundation is one such NGO which spreads the idea of education. Fortunately we, as a part of the social club, had an opportunity to meet the kids, motivate them and guide them. What an overwhelming experience it was!

Here is a brief about out drive -

Early in the morning, we packed all the pens and books which had to be distributed to the kids. We reached the place around 10 AM in the morning and were welcomed with wide smiles. All the kids were well-dressed, disciplined and listened to their teacher enthusiastically. Their energy was infectious, their knowledge was humbling and their interest in knowing minute details was admirable. We spent some quality time them. The group of kids were strategically divided into two sub-groups based on the academic performances: one comprised of scholars and the other of average and younger kids. The scholars were inspired and were given responsibility to teach and take care of the children in the other group. Also, the scholars were awarded with some stationary items to encourage and boost their enthusiasm to achieve better results. Everything was well-organised and well-contributed by each and every person there. Apart from the academics, the kids were also encouraged to nourish their talent.

Following the distribution came the most interesting part - watching kids dance to one of SRK’s song with full energy as if no one was there to see them. They had no boundaries to their freedom and joy unlike the adult of today who is trapped inside four walls which constitute his boundaries.

I seriously hope everyone should take responsibility of providing education to the needy. There is no better way of spreading goodness than educating a child, says Deepthi Bathula, a core committee member of the club.

At the end, the kids were given their homework and allocated responsibilities for the ‘Dabba Party’ organised for the coming Sunday.

Though the time spent was not more than 2 hours, I’ve got memories for life, says Deepthi.

There is something incredibly beautiful about the peace that one finds with the kids.

We thank the Social club for organizing such drives and we hope to continue the same in upcoming weeks.

MISB Students join RHA for a friendly football match

While Our peers at MISB Bocconi are always up for Social activities, here is a volunteer experience of a football match conducted by Robin Hood Army where students from MISB Bocconi made their presence :)

"Diwali is supposed to be about sharing joy and happiness; this Diwali I tried to do exactly the same. I tried sharing my joy and happiness by participating in a sports event organised by the Robin Hood Army for the nearby unprivileged kids. I thought I was doing something for them, but it is while playing I realised that actually they were the ones doing something for me- they helped me learn a great life lesson.

The thing about childhood is that we may forget our childhood, but our childhood doesn’t forget us. I could not help but get repeated flashbacks in my head while playing with those kids. The most vivid memories of my early years are associated with my summer vacations. I would go out in the fields to play with my friends and come back all dirty with mud stains all over my clothes and bruises all over my body.

I realise that probably my childhood was different than theirs in some ways, but it is also true that my childhood was exactly the same like theirs in many ways. It is the society who segregates us. The way Rizwan’s face lit up when he scored a goal was the same as to my face when I won a badminton game 15 years ago. But it is also true that Rizwan need my, your, and all of our support to become the next Messi. It was an important lesson for me, indeed a powerful takeaway that- equality is not in regarding different things similarly, it is in regarding different things differently."

This article has been written by Piusha Debnath, a member of Social Club, MISB Bocconi. 

We encourage everyone to pen down their comments :)

Eco - Diwali !

As the festival of lights is upon us, we, The Social Club of MISB Bocconi, would like to start off by wishing everyone an enjoyable and safe Diwali. We all know that the lighting of Diyas on the moonless Diwali night is to celebrate the triumph of inner light over spiritual darkness, of knowledge over ignorance and right over wrong. But, now it is time to enlighten ourselves towards the hazards that the boisterous celebrations of Diwali poses to our environment.

The first step towards celebrating an environmental friendly Diwali would be to switch from the plastic lights that we use in our homes to earthenware and diyas. When we can help the poor artisans earn money by purchasing locally made items instead of imported ones, why not do so? Plus, in my opinion Diyas look way more beautiful and soothing to the eyes!!

The increase in environmental as well as noise pollution is a matter of concern for everyone these days. The bursting of crackers, even on this one day contributes an immense amount to the rising pollution levels. In addition to this, birds and animals suffer due to the high level of generated noise.

Another indirect but equally significant impact of Diwali on nature is due to increased consumption. Diwali is the time when people go out with their family and friends for shopping. Attractive promotions and discounts entice people to buy more and more. Some of us are still thinking, but how is all of this affecting nature? The answer is simple. Plastic materials, papers and even clothes come directly from nature and some of these items are non-renewable like fossil fuels and plastics. A day will come when we are going to run out of these raw materials. Depletion of non-renewable natural resources is one of the most significant impacts of consumerism.

The festival of lights puts a great deal of load on our already overloaded electrical energy sources. The use of electric lights to adorn our homes, business places, roads, monuments requires a large amount of electricity. Switching to our older tradition of using oil lamps would help solve this pronlem to a great extent. Even though the lamps use oil, the duration of oil lamps is shorter.

So, with this article we hope to influence at least some minds towards celebrating a much safer and eco-friendly Diwali.   
This article has been written by Neeti Nayanika Patnaik, a member of our club.
We encourage everyone to pen down their experiences :)

                                                THE POOR MAN’S ARMY

“I have a white collar 9-5 job which is satisfying, but I was struggling to find a meaning to life,” was what Mr. Ashish Ranjan, a consultant with KPMG told me when I asked him what the driving force behind him joining the Robin Hood Army was. I firmly believe the reasons might invariably be similar with other professionals who were there with him.

The Robin Hood Army is a volunteer based organisation founded by Mr. Neel Ghose & Mr. Anand Sinha couple of years back , with a mission to “Serve the hungry citizen.” They have 2300+ volunteers spread across 19 cities serving more than 350,000 people, by getting surplus food from restaurants & giving them to the lesser fortunate sections of the society.

Our drive with the Army started off with a visit to a shanty area nearby JVLR (Jogeshwari Vikhroli Link Road). There were about 50 kids who were eagerly awaiting their arrival. The way the Robins went about the distribution of food was a lesson in organization by itself. The plight of the children in those areas is appalling. It was not just food that they were being deprived of. They were missing out on a lot more than that. Almost all of the basic needs that a child requires, like education, sanitation etc., are never catered to in such areas. Fortunately, the Robin Hood army was also taking care of factors other than food.  Ashish says “Food is just a medium for us to connect with these people. After a couple of drives they bond with us & start opening up, and then the other larger issues at hand can be properly addressed by us.” They walk the talk, as was seen from the fact that they were giving wonderful clothes, books to work on, and enlightening them about the need for the same. But the biggest service I felt was the amount of confidence they imparted onto the children and making them feel special & wanted. It requires a little effort to execute it but once you touch a life, it will impact you forever. The smile that you receive from them is the most valuable currency there is on the planet.

It’s such a humbling experience to watch executives of the highest positions taking time off from their Sundays, being with the deprived and lending them a helping hand. In fact, it motivates one to take a leaf out of one's book and emulate them. As the drive got over, one question kept on reverberating inside my head “If they can do it, Why can't I?

This article has been written by Sooraj, a member of our club. We encourage everyone to pen down their experiences.

Hosts! 

MISB Bocconi was delighted to host Mr Vishwa Nath Jha , CEO& Co-founder at GamutData Consulting on 18th of July. We had an excellent interactive session for our students on Business Analytics.
Mr. Jha has worked with Mu Sigma, Fractal Analytics, Intelligence NODE and Germin8 in the past. He provides training on tools and skills which are relevant to Analytics/Data Science industry. His teams are either working with organisations like Facebook, Google, Amazon, Microsoft, etc or have worked in the past. He trains students from premiere colleges of India as well as the experienced professionals who are trying to make an exciting career in Analytics/Data Science industry.

This session is especially for those interested in working in Analytics, Consulting, Marketing and most important to learn tips and tricks in EXCEL.


The following topics were briefed during his lecture:

1. The Speaker explained on various career options available in business analytics career adding his own experience.
2. The speaker spoke on various tools that were used by analysts. Tools like R, SQL, Excel etc were explained.
3. Speaking on Important and Quick tools in Excel, students were briefed on various functional tools available in the Excel and how it is actually utilized in the corporate world outside.
4. The students were also briefed on Analytics Consultant role and different work parameters they experience as an Analyst.

This article is written by Ravi who is one of the three heads who run this club presently.
Support his initiative and contact him on rvteja50@gmail.com

Your true friend 

Smile, would you?
Care for me, will you?
Die for me? Can you?
I love you :

Who do you think is your true friend? The boy sitting next to you during your lectures or a girl with whom you wish to spend your life? Difference of opinion?

I visited my hometown Chandigarh after a gap. There was a white colored dog who used to roam around the streets and would always have glitters in its eyes when that lovely creature used to see me. Mark the word - Always (I am straight). Reason is pretty simple. You feed them and they would ensure their friendship throughout their life, the dog gang. No, it is not a give and take relationship. I came to Mumbai and lived a new life. I am sure HE must have been provided with HIS daily bread and milk while i am here. Wondering why i am suddenly stressing on HE and HIS? He's a part of a brotherhood now.

The very first day i visited Chandigarh and turned to my lane, he ran as fast as he could and started licking my shoes. His excitement levels were higher than mine during the last minute of a Chelsea vs Manchester United game. He accompanied me to my home and as usual, i gave him his daily milk and bread. He would not eat it. Why? because there was no butter on the bread. These creatures have their own tantrums( Ha Ha!)

Jokes aside. Think again. Who actually is your true friend? Can you really imagine someone who would be as excited as that dog to see you after a month even when you lost all the contact with the person? Do not bring your father or your mother into it. Mark the question again - Your true friend. People usually argue that their best friends are their mothers and fathers. Fair enough, but we are not talking about that here. The level of thinking required here is beyond family relations. Nature comes into action here. One must feel the love and emotion that our surroundings show for us, be it animals, flowers, air, water or the sunshine.

I still ask you, who actually is your true friend? Think again.

If you have an answer, you can mail me at arshchd@gmail.com. I would love to read your replies and interact with a bunch of truthful souls.

Signing off.
Arsh