The 22nd April Workshop was attended by a plethora of committees and subcommittees of VSM and several topics and concepts were discussed among them. The workshop embarked with breakfast followed by registration. I reached at the venue by 9.20. I was running late!
I rambled around, near the gate of A.P. Shah College looking for any familiar face, but found none. I queried the guard sitting in a small room at the corner about VSM Workshop. I started striding to the first floor and saw people standing in groups munching on their meals. I entered into the crowd looking for Radha Kaku, Radhika Ma’am, Geeta Ma’am or Bharat. And there was Geeta Ma’am! In a white saree (Cotton I think!), her hair loosely clutched with a small clip. She was busy greeting people and attending the members. I waited for a while giving space to the squad of ladies heading towards to entrance.
“Hello Ma’am,” I said being skeptic about her remembrance, *shall I introduce myself to her*, I thought.
“Hello, Akshada! Welcome to VSM Workshop” she said while shaking hands giving me affirmation that I’m a part of VSM.
I headed towards the seminar hall for registration and saw a group of 4-5 ladies sitting on a chair with all id-cards and neck straps. As I told my name to one of the ladies, she asked me to tell it again as to confirm it. She glanced me and told another lady on the opposite side, “This is Akshada” pointing her hand towards me. As I followed her gaze, the other said”Hey! So you are Akshada! Wait for a while, Varsha Ma’am wants to meet you”. I nodded and stood in a corner watching other members talking and welcoming each other. Some of the members were putting up banners and adjusting the mike functioning while some were busy choosing chairs. I discovered some familiar faces from the monthly meeting I had attended; all of them were busy attending the members. I was looking for Radhika Ma’am but found her nowhere. My search was interrupted by a generous lady I had met at the monthly meeting, “You are Akshada, Right?” She had a bright smile! I tried to recall her name but failed.
“I am Swati! It’s Okay, it’s difficult to remember so many names at once” she said tenderly and was called by someone regarding the arrangements.
I was relieved and started fidgeting with my Id-card and found Radha Kaku talking to some ladies. I faltered to her thinking about will she remember me! She gave me a friendly wave and gestured to follow her for the front seats. Radha Kaka loves to talk and that helped me a lot to know more about VSM. After a few minutes, the session started with Varsha Ma’am doing some announcements followed by reports from various branches regarding their wards. I was touched by the stories of Dhondiram, Parasram and the girl who faced failure and was afraid to tell that to her KP. The way her KP narrated the story was overwhelming, one-by-one all the stories brought tears in my eyes followed by a proud feeling of being a member of VSM. The story of Dhondiram’s courage made me realize how much lucky we are. Then two students talked about the “”BE FRANK” initiative for the students and by the students. Then it was Pune’s turn to present themselves with their reports, they had prepared role-plays regarding various concepts like “Shikwa, Kamwa” and “”Zero Suspense Account”. They gave us a brief explanation of how wards are helped financially. I only knew Aditi Ma’am from Pune as she was one of the group members of the focused group discussion. The tea and coffee sessions were on and I saw some youngsters serving all the members patiently with a polite smile. Then the reports were presented from Borivali and Shahpur teams. The Shahpur team narrated their difficulties in a courteous manner asking Thane Team to help them to eradicate those hurdles.
Then Mr.Subodh took the hold introducing us to Mr. Deepak who had a JBIMS degree which was enough for me to hear and jump off my chair as JBIMS is the college every MBA aspirant day-dream about. The topic of his presentation was “Why I am at VSM” through which he explained his thought of KP (Karyakarta Palak) in a unique manner.
It was lunchtime and Varsha Ma’am announced the break asking all the members to return by 30 minutes. (I must say the lunch was simple and delicious at the same time. The boiled potato veggie was flavorsome. Thank you!)
The workshop was supposed to be resumed by a group photo session followed by focused group discussion. Small chits were pinned to the walls of the hall mentioning the group number and the group name. I got to meet the members of the group to whom I had introduced myself through Whatsapp. I met Maya Kaku, Aditi Kaku, Iyengar Kaka, Velankar Kaka, Mr. Joshi, and others. I hoped that I’ll be meeting Radhika Ma’am but again, found her nowhere. I thought she must be busy handling the management and tried to initiate the conversation with others. The timer for 20 minutes had started and we had a healthy discussion on how effectively we can use social media for VSM’s growth, we discussed on various parameters and every group member had their unique ideas such as trending #VSM on twitter and posting an introductory video on VSM’s functioning on the website as well as on Facebook page. As Radhika Ma’am had assigned me the work of TL I started noting down the important points and wrote the crux on the sheet given by the in-charges. The TL’s of each group had to come on the stage summarizing the discussion mentioning the important concepts being discussed. One-by-one every group’s topic was discussed which gave a much better perception of VSM and its ideology. I was sitting near the podium after I talked for my group and Bharat told me about Saurabh who has been handling the work of VSM’s website and was also preparing for management exams. His witty and humorous presentation made the audience giggle and forget about their fatigue. I saw Geeta Ma’am laughing wholeheartedly for the first time right from the day I met her. She was beautiful in her own way. The workshop was concluded by Geeta Ma’am’s speech followed by the prayer I used to sing in my childhood days “Tu Buddhi De”(Bless us with Wisdom). I got goosebumps while listening to the song and was overwhelmed by the fact of how this bunch of wonderful people was dedicated to their wards.
I had searched many NGO’s and read about them helping people who are suffering from the financial crisis or any disability. But by helping students to become independent not just by helping them financially but by giving them the care and love as a parent, counseling them, affirming them that they’re there for their respective wards is immense. Not only academically but making them grow as a good and genuine human being is an exceptional thing.
A helping hand caring unconditionally, every child needs this the most. VSM is changing lives for the better and I’m a proud member of this family. Thank you!