MAN ON A MISSION

Member of international institute of education New York, Executive member of Indian Red- cross, executive member of AICTE, Commission member of UGC India, Member of forest right act committee Govt .of India, Chairman of advisory committee of padmashree Dr D.Y Patil University , youngest chancellor of any university in India (limca bok of records 2007), ‘glory of India’ award 2007 by Indian International friendship society London  & last but not the least, founder of KIIT; one of the best universities of India& founder of KISS; the paradise for 12000 tribal students....

 

Believe me; I have typed only a fraction of his achievements...He is the great Dr Achyuta Samant.  I watched one of his interviews yesterday in a news channel & I just can’t stop myself to write about him even though I have only 11 days for 3^rd prof MBBS exam. It doesn’t matter how much I write about him because at end of the day the quantity will be compared to amount of dresses that a porn star wears. But I’ll try my best at least to provide a salwar!!!

He was born in 1965 in a very poor family in Orissa & later dragged into extreme corner of poverty after death of his father. At that point of time he was only 4 years old accompanied 6 other family members. He didn’t have any significant paternal property as his father was a worker in a steel plant. His family used to sell seasonal vegetables in the backyard of their semi-thatched house. But the poverty couldn’t chop his desire for his education. Intense desire & extreme poverty paved his way towards a rosy career, though the road was not really rosy. He used to walk 30 km per day to complete his high schooling & his sheer brilliance impressed many of his school teachers. After that he entered a college in Puri for higher education & later did his Msc in Chemistry from the glorious Utkal University(UU) in Bhubaneswar. During the college days he used to tuition school children as the amount of money he used to receive from his poor family was negligible for higher studies. He joined a college in Bhubaneswar as a chemistry lecturer after he passé out from UU & the rest was history. The amount of his sufferings from poverty I’ve mentioned here is not at all proportionate to his original ones, so don’t misjudge & tell that it is a traditional Indian story of poverty.

The great entrepreneur under his skin never satisfied him during his job as a lecturer. So he decided to start a ITI(named as KIIT; Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology) in Bhubaneswar & that too with a capital of $100only!! Gradually he groomed his institution into one of the best engineering colleges of Orissa. Later he added more wings in the form of KIIT law school, KIMS (Kalinga Instituite of Medical Sciences), KIIT international school, KIIT school of Business to the bird known as KIIT. Later it got the deemed university status. Now it is Ranked-16 in the top Indian university list!! But the small bird was transformed into ostrich when he established KISS (Kalinga Institute of Social science). I think KISS needs some special introduction, so let’s move to the next paragraph!!

KISS, the brainchild of Dr Samant is the largest free Residential Institute exclusively for Tribal Children in Asia. Here 12000 tribal students are provided with education from kindergarten to post graduation ( K.G to P.G). Food, accommodation, healthcare and all the basic amenities of life are absolutely free, besides a job on completion of study and provision for higher studies. 20 more branches in as many districts and 5 branches in as many states are in the pipeline. Currently he is receiving more than 50000 applications per annum only for KISS!!  In his interview he said that he selects students on the degree of poverty. He never chooses meritorious students, rather he creates!! Truth reflects from his words as the passing rate of KISS students in state board examinations is 100%( the state passing rate is 54% only). While the former President Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam who visited KISS twice described it as a wonder, Noble Winner Prof. Richard Ernst lauded Samanta as his role model. Padmavibhusan Magsaysay award winner and social activist Mahasweta Devi has gone on records to describe KISS as ‘Bapu’s dream realized’, a ‘Second Santiniketan’ and ‘Bharat Tirtha’, envisioned by Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore. As Prof. Yaspal rightly remarks, ‘Samanta perhaps represents the most convincing argument that India will make it as India and not as a so-called developed country of someone else’s concept’. KISS has now added many feathers to its cap. It has been selected to receive the Micro Scholarship programme by the US Government and enlisted by UNFPA as a life skill centre. The world bodies like ‘Give India’, ‘UNICEF’ have reposed faith on KISS and its founder Samanta. Is it not a strange coincidence that Samanta was short-listed for the India Business Award – 2009 for his Social Responsibility along with the company where, his father once worked as a small time worker? Samanta has also been short listed for the coveted Qatar Foundation Prize for his innovation called KISS. Limca Book of Records has entered KISS in its pages. 

After reading this you must be thinking that Dr Samant is a very rich man. But believe me; he stays in a rented house, he doesn’t have his own bank account & you won’t find nothing more than 10 chairs in his rented house. When he was asked in the interview that why he is still a bachelor, he told that, who’ll give their daughter to a poor man like me? He says that he has only one dream in life now & that is all about the development KISS & the eradication of poverty.

Dr Samant, we the people of Orissa salute you from the core of our heart.you are really one of the greatest sons orissa has ever produced. You have been a tremendous source of inspiration for all the Indians. We pray for the success of your extra-ordinary target. May KISS kiss all the success.

ON LIBRARY IN LIBRARY

Knock....... ‘Abhi.....come on buddy...get up.it is time for library....abhi....kutte...get up’’.......I opened my stressful eyes after being banged by the above sweet(!?) words  from anuraag, my batch-mate..As a normal guy, I always hate the feeling when someone forcefully gets me out of the bed, especially from a morning REM sleep. I felt like a dog as I slept @3am last nightL. After giving some stress to my optic nerve in my dark room, I found out that it was 8.30 am. OMG... I scratched my head in tension because our library opens @9amL. Suddenly I felt as if I am amalgamated with the soul of Usain Bolt. Then I attended the sweet call from nature in a hurry & stepped towards the medico’s morning destination; the LIBRARY.

I know, some of you are wondering about the fact why I sacrificed my much needed sleep. Is it just for a tag of punctuality in my neck??? NO...actually having(capturing) a seat in the library of my college during summer is similar to Ravindra Jadeja bowling a maiden over in a T-20 match!! Sometimes I feel that one has to reserve a seat since the stage of zygote!!Nobody prefers a hot hostel over an air-conditioned library .on the other hand, sitting in library ensures me an extended period of study. That is why I am flying in love with our library. If you have never been to a library of a medical college, then you are reading the right article.

All the hard-core library-philiacs reach the library gate before 8.55am during summer & wait for the officials to open it. Some students are very possessive about their fixed seats so they always sparkle in the queue. The boyfriends always hold 6-7 books (including their GF’s). It is really pathetic to watch some of the underweight boyfriends holding the 4 volumes of Harrison/2sets of bailey-love/2 sets of robbins.....anything for you ma’am!!!. They are definitely good prospects in weight-lifting for India in Olympics.

Some nocturnal animals like me, hit the library at 9.30 am. Even at this time, it takes a lot of effort to get a seat. At 9.30, although 90% of the seats are reserved, you’ll find only 50-60 students in the library having a capacity 500 students!! This is just because of the old Indian disgusting tradition of reserving seats for friends & so-called lovers by keeping a book on the table. Some students keep their book & leave away to have some Tiffin in our inglorious canteen. Some other go to the table-tennis room & return after 6pm!!!

So at around 10 am, all the brains align themselves in a common phase; STUDY. You’ll find 3 different category of students (1) Voracious readers (2) Lovers & (3) Students unable to concentrate. I don’t want to transform my article into a boring one by mentioning about the 1^st category. So let me skip those purely dedicated souls..!!

So here comes the second category; LOVERS.  They always sit next to each other unlike at restaurants where they sit in front of each other. Do you know why?? Actually in the restaurant, the BF wants to check how much his lover is eating, but in the library there is no threat to the wallet!! 99.9% of the lovers are accompanied by a bottle in front of them (rest 0.01% are kangaroo rats!!). The boyfriends bring water in every 30-40 min. I wonder how they become thirsty so frequently at 18 degree centigrade. It won’t be a bad idea to start a project on the topic ‘effect of love on serum vasopressin/aldosterone ’!!  Some undergraduate couples prefer to sit in the P.G section, even if seats are available for them!! I am still searching for the exact reason. Is it for dignity/privacy?! In my opinion, this category is the most efficient one, because they study for 1 hour intensely followed by 10-15 min of romance in canteen which filters out all the stress. Ultimately students from this category come out in flying colours in all the exams. BEHIND EVERY SUCCESSFUL LOVER, THERE IS A LIBRARY!!

Now, let’s shift to our category i.e students unable to concentrate for a long time. It wears the tag of majority. Students of this category study intensely for 20-25 min followed by gossiping in the toilet/stairs/canteen for 15 min.  Their earphones always kiss their external auditory canal. Studying SPM/microbiology in the background music of chiggy wiggy/zoobi doobi is amazing!! The sweeper’s duty becomes difficult because of the huge no of chocolate wrappers & chewing gums below the table of this category. Some of the eyes intermittently search (unsuccessfully) for rare angelic faces sitting in front of them. Externs from Manipal/Mumbai have always been the sources of attraction for this category. 3/4^th of cerebral cortex is for studying & 1/4^th for eyeing on others activities!!

Students from this category do everything. They stare at girls, they stare at difficult charts explaining acid-base balance, gossip about exams, gossip about movies/cricket/affairs etc &
&
&
&. Some of them waste their time by writing articles on LIBRARY .......

siren.........................OMG its 11.00pm.its library closing time...this is enough...i'll start studying from tomorrow !!

[I hope this article hasn’t hurt anybody’s emotions. If it has, then I m not sorry because in my opinion there is nothing in it that is cardio-toxic ] !!

MESS IN A MESS

‘Do you have any other work other than writing against girls in your articles?’ This was the comment fired by one of my juniors ,Ms X. Undoubtedly it was a cardio-toxic comment for a sensitive guy like me, because this comment was pointing finger (middle one) towards my versatility in writing. Well, now my grey matters are accepting this comment with alacrity with the hope that it’ll inspire me to write something beyond my comfort zone (girls, romance, affairs etc.).So thanks to Ms X (no hard feelings for you dear).But what should I do Ms X??You’ll find the tag of error in each & every organism of this universe. Thank u for exposing my errors. So being a part of the psychiatric defence mechanism DISPLACEMENT I m going to expose one of the serious errors in the society.

I can’t understand what the govt of India is doing?? Why it can’t be prevented??Is poverty the only force which drags them into this profession??Some of the concerned officials frequently raid some low-profile hotels, Bars & other commercial establishments, which prevents their activity for a negligible period & the sad saga continues!!! Can you guess what I am talking about? Hey, dirty minds!!! I am not talking about PROSTITUTION. I am focusing on CHILD LABOR. Well, in some way these two are similar because of life-ruining properties of these deadly professions. The major difference is that, in the former, freshers are treated as angels. So  my first wish(1) there should be no child labourer in our society (2) if 1^st wish doesn’t  get fulfilled,  they should be treated as angels as their counterparts in prostitution. OK, now give some stress to your optic nerve & have a look at the following data.

	Children of Age Group (5-14 years)
Activities	Number of Children (%)			Number of Children (in 100's)
	Boys	Girls	Total	Boys	Girls	Total
Children engaged in "economic activities"	4.18	3.86	4.02	52967	45618	98392
Attended domestic duties only	0.30	3.15	1.67	3770	37208	40788
Attended domestic duties plus free collection of goods, tailoring, weaving for HH only	0.25	1.92	1.06	3178	22693	25897
Children at Work	4.73	8.93	6.75	59915	105519	165077
Attending schools	72.98	61.45	67.44	925350	725964	1651186
Children neither at work nor at school	17.26	20.42	18.80	218889	241255	460205

So, only 67.44% of the children within the age group 5-14 years attend the schools!! But according to the govt. of India formal education is compulsory & free of cost!! So what the hell is going on??There was a dialogue in the movie JANNAT -‘jab garibi darwaje se andar ati hai to pyaar khidki se bahar chala jata hai’’. Now you can replace the word ‘pyaar’ by EDUCATION-‘ Jab garibi darwaje se andar ati hai to EDUCATION khidki se bahar jata hai.’ According to me, poverty is a major factor that germinates child labour.

According to the Indian census of 1991, there are 11.28 million working children under the age of fourteen years in India.

o    Over 85% of this child labour is in the country's rural areas, working in agricultural activities such as fanning, livestock rearing, forestry and fisheries

o    The world’s highest number of working children is in India. ILO estimates that 218 million children were involved in child labour in 2004, of which 126 million were engaged in hazardous work.

o    Estimates from 2000 study suggest that 5.7 million were in forced or bonded labour, 1.8 million in prostitution and pornography and 1.2 million were victims of trafficking. In India, 1104 lakh children are working as labourers.

o    The Hindi belt, including Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, account for 1.27 crore working children in the country, engaged in both hazardous and non-hazardous occupations and processes.

o    Over 19 lakh child labourers in the 5-14 age group are in Uttar Pradesh. Rajasthan accounts for over 12.6 lakh workers followed by Bihar with over 11 lakh and Madhya Pradesh with 10.6 lakh.

o    However, according to the 2001 census, in state-wise distribution of working children in the 5-14 age group, Andhra Pradesh with 13.6 lakh child labour stands second in the national list after UP.

Dipuna, Jitu, Siba, Jeevan,kalia etc!!!!!???  These are some of the familiar names in my hostel. They are neither gold medallists nor extremely bad students!!!! Then who are they???All of them are aged below 14 years, all of them are illiterate & all of them don’t enjoy any dream in their REM sleep. They are simple workers in our hostel mess who wash the used utensils & the dining tables. We really don’t care for them during lunch/dinner. We just shout at them to clean the tables, serve the food etc as if they were born only to serve us. Giving them 20-30 rupees during diwali/dussera never puts a full-stop to our job. I admit that, sometimes the quality of food in hostel is so irritating (rakhi sawant standard) that we forget to offer them a smile. They are doing so much for us from such small ages. Have you ever tried to read their brain?? Sometimes I feel that somewhere in their heart they must be thinking to be students like us! , to have better life-style like that of students....but...when the ridiculous foods make me their victim I develop mild amnesia.

They don’t expect anything from us, because they know that we are useless in the field of social service. That is the bitter truth as we write articles about them during our free hours & do nothing after that. Even they don’t that the govt. has banned the use of children under14 years of age in any work. I know that we are not in a stage to help them...but we can definitely give them 1 thing that is ‘Good behaviour  & a sweet smile’.....these hostel workers are just like bricks in a large wall....so I request all my friends to behave sweetly with these unfortunates, so that they can blossom some smiles on their tired looking face...............

LAWS OF CHILD LABOUR IN INDIA

·         The Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act 1986 prohibits employment of children below the age of 14 years in any factory or any hazardous employment

·         Any person who employs child he is liable for punishment with imprisonment for 3 month which can be extended to 1 year or 20,000Rs fine

·         It Provides free and compulsory education for all children until they complete the age of 14 years

·         Many beggar childrens and other similar forms of forced labour are prohibited and violation of this provision shall be

an offence punishable in accordance with law.

LET’S EXPOSE THE BASTERDS WHO ARE USING CHILDREN UNDER 14....WE HAVE THE LAW,WE JUST NEED TO USE IT.

BED NO -16

24^th April 2010, 9.30 AM: Cricket god Sachin was celebrating his 37^th birthday, Sania Mirza was busy impressing her in-laws in Pakistan, Lalit Modi, the father of IPL was planning to remove all the stains of corruption from his professional life &unfortunately we were having our 8^th semester paediatric clinical examination. Although it is my favourite subject, I have used the word ‘unfortunately’ because if you don’t hate exams as a student, then you are simply ‘ABNORMAL’. 

In order to show some respect to my favourite subject, I spent a lot of time in library on the day before exam &  you know, ‘the more you work, the more you expect’(sorry for going against Buddhism). Hence, since morning I was praying for a simple & uncomplicated case. Luckily I got a simple but difficult case. Due to shortage of patients, a single case was given to two students. So I was there with Rakesh (my next roll no). It does not matter what exam you are appearing, you are bound to feel the nerves & we’re not the lucky exceptions. With the adrenaline rush & the mercury kissing the 40 degree mark, we started our clinical history taking.

Bed no -16. Oh my god, there were 3 babies, but it was not difficult to identify the patient. He was a 2 year old boy fighting against Mr Death. Ooh, how can I explain the boy’s condition? It is easy to write a medical case in an exam than to type it in the MS words. In fact there was nothing good to explain. He was severely malnourished, all the ribs were visible to the naked eye, all the hairs were depigmented enough to snatch your attention, all the skin infections would’ve forced anybody to tell ‘oh my god !!’. His body was all about infected skin & bones .Please don’t ask about muscles!!!! Even the amount of dresses of a porn-star can outnumber his muscle layers. He was the 4^th child of her mother; his father had expired 1 year ago, both of his elder sisters were playing on the bed, his only brother was a rickshaw puller. All of them were illiterate; her mother was a daily laborer & the only earning member of the family!! It was really a herculean task for us to carry out the clinical examinations because of his skin conditions. It was/is really painful to see a baby being admitted to hospital just because he doesn’t have enough to eat, just because he is poor, just because his father passed away after just throwing his sperms for reproduction of 4 babies!!!?? It was really hard to concentrate after watching the poor baby. I expressed all my feelings to Rakesh & then he put his hand around my shoulder & told that ‘medical profession is all about maintaining your cool in irritating atmospheres’...I was really surprised to hear such a matured comment from him & it was similar to Kasab getting a clean-chit from government of India. Being reminded by Rakesh about our profession, we completed our clinical exam & waited our turn for the bed-side viva-voce.

Usually we get a lot of time & scope to refer books during any clinical exam. So we didn’t waste any time & started to study a-z about our case ‘MARASMUS’. My brain was playing hide & seek with GHAI uncle(Dr O.P Ghai is the author of the ped.book), but my heart was there with the poor family. Only two questions were striking my grey matter-1) what are the clinical features & management of a case of MARASMUS ?? & 2) How can the baby get some help??? Nobody was giving proper attention to bed no-16 (just because they were poor & illiterate !!?). The PGs were behaving rudely!! Then came a person at around 12 noon with some medicines & a mat & asked me & Rakesh about our patient’s condition. We explained him the current status of the baby. I don’t know why I didn’t enquire about the person, but after a minute of silence he told that ‘I don’t have any relation with the patient’s family, but I am helping them just because of the innocent baby, I am doing it for the sinless face, for a family which has nothing to lose.’ That was a heart-touching moment for me. It was really refreshing to have such kind of persons in one of the poorest states of India. Both of us were highly impressed by that black skinned person with the glow of sympathy on his face. After that I asked myself ‘Can you do that in future?’ &&&&&………………………………….

Before I could answer myself, the examiner came to us started the legal form of academic ragging….

Its evening & I had already tried so many things to entertain myself. But that bed no-16 was not allowing my mind, body & soul to escape.  That is why I started writing about this case. This case is just like a drop from an ocean. It is really pathetic to see people not having one of the basic needs ‘FOOD’. All of us are aiming for a good PG seat (a good company job in case you are a B-tech student), an expensive car, a beautiful wife/husband, salary good enough to choke a bullock etc. Have you ever thought about these people who are facing death due to protein-energy malnutrition?? If not, please start to think. Please make your own plans to help these people in future. All of us will be successful in life. But if we can share our success with these children with the token of HELP, then only we can say that ‘Yes, now we have achieved something’. So please keep some space in your dreams to help these people. Pleaseeeeeeeeeeeeee.