Four years back, Vinayak Lohani – an alumnus of prestigious IIT – Kharagpur was working with Infosys. He then joined another prestigious educational institution, IIM – Kolkatta. He was on the threshold of a great career in the corporate sector when he simply gave up that to take up the path, which many dare to tread. After walking through the slums & the red-light areas of Kolkatta, he formed Parivaar – a shelter for the homeless and abandoned children. I feel that it really takes a lot to go that way and do something remarkable.
In a short period of time since its inception, Parivaar has won the trust of lot of people who generously contribute. Almost 95% of the resources of Parivaar come through individuals. They are looking forward to admit about 50 more children into Parivaar in the next 3 months and are looking out for donors who could support them through their Support A Child (SAC) Scheme, whose details are available at this URL www.parivaar.org/come.shtml. Do check out to see whether you can give your hand. Or spread the word at least.
Excerpt from an IIM-C newsletter featuring Vinayak Lohani.
Parivaar helps rehabilitate orphans, street children and children of sex workers in Kolkata. Ask Vinayak why he chose Parivaar over career after IIM Calcutta, he retorts, “Are all of us sure why we want to do a particular thing and not anything else? I wonder if it really is. Societal norms set your path and give you limited choices. Like others, I too was following what was the norm — first engineering, a one-year stint at Infosys and then management. But now, looking back, I do consider myself a misfit in the IIM environment.”
It was not an easy decision. “I was discouraged by friends and well-wishers from pursuing this idea. Some did not take me seriously. But honestly speaking, there was something in me that was impelling me to do what I wanted to do,” recalls Vinayak. And so started Parivaar.
Hats off to you, Vinayak.
thz for the info.will go thru this webpage.God job Vinayak and chakra for highlighting it in your blog.
hm.. i am right now chatting with the person who is associated with parivaar. i just hopped into yr site and there u go….
chakra,
this is what i hate about indians. ivanga naala panna mudiyadhunaalum summa irukkka mataanga. they ridicule people who do.
i agree people who really want to do, do it anyway. but fear of being isolated is very powerful.
Namma naattula innum mazhai paiyudhu kelvi patten..
Thanks for the waether report chakra
Chakra
Great to know about Parivar. Everyone knows about Calcutta and its problems with trafficking.
Will you be surprised if you hear that there is a lot of trafficking in Varnasi, check out guria.org for some exceptional work by Ajit Singh in those areas
In recent times, I have seen many coroporate people involving in NGO activities. These NGO’s are also succeeding in getting funds from VC’s. “Venture Philonthropy” is hugely popular with some of the larger VC funds. Would you know if Parivaar is funded by any VC’s?
More and more high profile people are doing like this.
I read about Ramesh Ramanthan who was a big shot in Citibank and currently runs an NGO called Janaagraha in Bangalore
thats a really nice gesture. Its takes immense courage to do something like that! Glad to read this post!
Anjali – u r welcome.
Prabu Karthik – you are right.. our society has some pre-conceived notions… ppl who do things differently are looked upon differently and eventually isolated. it needs lot of will power to get thru’ that phase.
Subha – thanks very much.
ioiio –
Sudarshan – thanks for the link.. will defnly check that out.
talking abt Calcutta & trafficking, I was surprised to know that it is known even in UK.
Venky – I don’t think Parivaar is funded by any VC. As far as I know, since Vinayak is an IIMC alumni, he was able to reach out to his peers who are in good positions… as the site says, abt 150 alumni from IIM-C are regular donors of Parivaar.
Kaps – I read abt Janaagraha as well..
Knowing well that its a very tough road ahead and still willing to tread the path and that too for others shows one’s quality. What say you?
Gayathri – Glad u liked it.
Great information. Me and my husband shall adopt a child right away through that organisation. Thank you so much Chakra, for pointing out this site to us.
Through the comments here, I have also come to know the other charities that operate in India.
It would be great it there were a website ennumerating all the charities, so that it would be within easy reach for those who wish to contribute.
Brindha – Thats indeed very noble of you. Thanks a lot!
I feel proud that this post served some purpose.
its really nice to know abt ppl like this..
http://www.teakada.com/archives/the_loganathan_effect.html
very inspiring…
CM – thanks for the link… thats indeed inspiring.
It takes courage to do what one believes. Such people are out of the ordinary and inspire others. Not every one is like Vinayak Lohani. I salute him for doing what he believes in. The world is better of even with a miniscule percentage of doers like Vinayak.
Hat’s off to you vinayak…you have done what we always dreams but were never able to imlpement.
I was looking for info on Parivaar and Google mad search easy…
Couldn’t resist adding my 2c as I read a few lines of Janaagraha, may be out of turn and stale as this thread was from June. But I think they are worth adding. It’s one NGO that I was quite impressed when I read about them and made it a point to visit while I was in BLR recently is probably you and most in BLR know about by now, Janaagraha. This Swaminathan couple is doing awesome work, momentum and organization they have built is just amazing. When I was in BLR last time, I made it a point to visit Janaagraha (honestly speaking that was THE reason for BLR visit
I am 200% impressed with their approach in quick 2-meetings and wished I was working/planning to be in BLR. I had attended a weekly overview meeting and both Ramesh and Swati happened to be there and their energy and goal is very appreciable check-out http://www.Janaagraha.org but that’s just a small part of their strength. Their organization and leaders have worked smartly to build network, manpower, support, energy, patience to do lot of things.
If you are interested and looking for a creative break from routine yet socially productive activity (changing names of cities is NOT one of them, but …), below is good option to know about how your taxes are getting spent and possibly get involved in supporting NGO organization(s) who strive to make positive difference.
Vinayak was my batchmate at IIT-kgp and we were lab buddies in most of the classes. I can vouch for Vinayak Lohani and he is one of the most selfless people I have seen. To add to his accompishments of his studies at IIM and IIT, he also has one of the top scores in GRE in our batch(which many of you might not be aware). With his high score he could have got full scholarship at any of the top US universities. He is truly an inspiration to see people like him do such great things. I am proud to have known him personally.
DeeptiChand Parvataneni,
Systems Developer,
Dallas,Texas (Batch of 2000)
PURBACHAL ANANDA FOUNDATION
2/32 Purbachal , Durgapur 713201, Dist. Burdwan, West Bengal, India,
Phone-91 343 6451916, 91 9233303875, http://www.pafngo.org
(Registered Under Societies Registration Act West Bengal XXVI of 1961 S/1L/32097)
AN OASIS OF LOVE FOR CHILDREN & AGED PERSONS
An Appeal
Purbachal Ananda Foundation (PAF) has come into being out of an earnest commitment and desire of a group of young social workers to accomplish a mission of their own, for the cause of those children and aged persons who are not loved and cared for by the society at large. These young persons who had some experiences in working for such people either in their own individual capacities or as volunteers in some NGOs involved in similar activities. But, through such exposures and experiences came a realization that one’s own mission as also vision can be accomplished if only such activities could be undertaken independently. Thus was ‘born’ PAF.
We, in PAF, believe in the saying that ‘work is our sole identity’. In all our activities, honesty and transparency are our commitments. It is our vow to create a ‘PAF Family’ where true love would be the common bond for each and every one of our children and elderly persons who have been marginalized in the society because of their destitution and abject poverty.
PAF is in its infancy now. It has started its activities with 19 children in the age- group 3-8 years (10 are children of sex-workers and 9 are street children) and 2 aged persons at a remote village called Purokonda in Bankura district of West Bengal. A dwelling unit has been constructed on the land donated by the local Gouria Math and a tube-well has been sunk along with arrangements for minimum toilet/sanitary facilities. Plans are afoot to construct another dwelling unit so that more inmates can be accommodated. PAF has also decided to undertake a program to provide formal education to children of nearby ‘dom’ community (who were hitherto untouchables) by making them admitted to local school and bearing the expenses for their education. Other plans under active consideration include ‘After-school assistance program for poor and less meritorious students of the near-by villages’ and ‘Running abridged course for drop-out children of the locality’.
Till now, PAF is carrying on its activities entirely with donations from well-wishing individuals, and, as expectedly, this would have to continue for the near future as well. While we are making sincere efforts towards receiving some kind of institutional funding, we also appeal to all sympathetic individuals and/or organizations for financial help. We sincerely hope that you will be kind enough to extend a helping hand to our activities by sponsoring one or more of the following activities of PAF.
All Donation are exempted U/S 80G of Income Tax Act.
(i) Educational sponsorship for one school-going child for one year Rs. 2000 or US $ 50
(ii) Sponsoring one child for one year Rs. 12,000 or US $ 300
(iii) Sponsoring an aged person for one year Rs. 12,000 or US $ 300
(iv) Sponsoring a pre-primary educational centre Rs. 6,000 or US $ 150
(v) Sponsoring book -bank for school books Rs. 3,000 or US $ 75
(vi) Sponsoring an after-school assistance program /abridged course for drop-outs Rs. 2,000 or US $ 50
(vii) Sponsoring a vocational training program for a group of 20 women Rs. 2,000 or US $ 50
CONTRACT FORM FOR SPONSORSHIP
I would like to sponsor one or more of the PAF activities (please tick the appropriate one(s) above) viz., item no(s). (State whether full or part payment), and the amount thereof (Rs. and Rupees (in words) is being paid in cash by a/c cheque ( in favour of Purbachal Ananda Foundation) by dd by wired transfer(A/C No-213010100081290,U T I bank LTD,Durgapur Branch, Durgapur ( West Bengal ),
Name (Mr./Ms./ Dr.)
Address
Phone no.
E-mail address
Date Signature