Assist an IIT student trying to help poor in mumbai
myself 10k and chandru 5k we have given for the good cause. Request member to consider postiively
Details of bank account are as under ;
Account Name: Deelip Mhaske
Account number: 10725891363
Bank Name: State Bank Of India Powai
CIty: Mumbai
Swift No. - SBININBB519
Branch: IIT Powai Branch
Branch Code: 1109
:flame:
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Publication:Times Of India Mumbai;
[ http://paybacktosociety.blogspot.com/ ]
Date:Oct 15, 2006;
Section:Times City;
Page Number:2
Rich at heart, this IIT-ian serves poor
Sabrina Buckwalter TNN Mumbai: The Damunagur slums in Kandivili provide shelter to sweepers, maids, trash collectors, rickshaw drivers and a 28-year-old man with a Master’s degree from Tata Institute of Social Sciences and another from IIT in Powai. It’s a place Deelip Mhaske calls home three nights a week. He hops from hut to hut, sleeping on borrowed beds of families that he calls friends. It’s a deliberate decision for Mhaske, who could have been making Rs 90,000 a month as a researcher for the World Health Organisation, but he turned it down as moving to Geneva, Switzerland would have taken him far from the people that need his help most. Sleeping only a few hours a night, Mhaske crams his days full of social service to at least five slums serving upto 4.5 lakh people. Providing assistance to these people is his full-time career. His round-the-clock job comprises activities like organising medical camps, setting up slum schools, providing legal advice and career guidance, overseeing support groups for women, running a street theatre called “Theatres Without Borders’’ and assisting in the Indo-Hungarian Education Project, an initiative that’s seen the education of 12 Damunagar girls, completely sponsored all the way to college. Mhaske hasn’t strayed far from his roots, growing up without electricity or toilet. The son of a poor landless farmer, he was raised in the Bhatapuri village in the Jalna district that has seen upto a hundred farmer suicides. Despite the fact that lucrative jobs are within his reach today, he has not fallen to the temptation. Money, he says, “is better spent on helping those in the slums than on rent.’’ And time spent at a nine to five job in a cushy firm would deny him the intimate day-to-day slum interaction he cherishes—whether it’s bandaging a bloody cricket wound or clapping for the street theatre performance that he helped organise. With no employment income, he funds his ventures through a bank loan that he plans to replay through odd academic assignments. He uses that money to pay the teachers in the slums, purchase medical supplies used in the bi-monthly camps, subsidise the rental and electricity bills of the dimly lit rooms in the slums, and a bit on himself too. The doctors, do-gooders and other random people that show up to help in the various initiatives Mhaske has arranged, donate their time and services on a volunteer basis. Bono Abraham Benoit, who spent three hours dispensing medicines at the camp on Tuesday, says he does it because he believes in what Mhaske is doing. “When I met Deelip and saw for myself how he was helping all these people, it drew me in. I’d helped out other organisations but wasn’t inspired by their work,’’ he says. Mhaske is drawing admirers from every place he has set his foot in. “What I like about him is that he likes to take up challenges, even those that are controversial. He is a person with a position. Above all he is a very good organiser,’’ says Suryakant Waghmore, assistant professor at TISS. Though grants and charitable money are available, Mhaske points out that it’s not too easy to obtain them. He says that organisations are hesitant to give money to a oneman social force. “They’d rather give it to a more established organisation, one that has a business plan in place,’’ says Mhaske, without any grimace on his face. In fact, it was Mhaske’s idea to hold the medical camp specifically on Tuesday because it was how he wanted to spend his 28th birthday. The hard work seems to have taken its toll with crow’s feet and a receding hairline creeping prematurely into Mhaske’s simple looks. With only the clothes in his brandless backpack most days, he’s constantly on the move. He stores his real possessions at his sister’s home—a place he rarely visits. ALL FOR THE UNDERPRIVILEGED:
Deelip Mhaske with children from the Damunagur slums
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Twenty-seven-year-old Deelip Mhaske (a research scholar from IIT, Mumbai) an activist for the last 10 years, campaigning the rights of children of displaced slumdwellers, the HIV-affected and several other issues, has had a similar experience: “I get the best response and most enthusiasm from collegians to 35-year-olds. They can work day and night on a project if inspired. Even those who don’t have much time, make it a point to do something. That support means a lot.” Mhaske, who has a blog called paybacktosociety.blogspot.com, also observes that many more young people want to make a career in social work today than in earlier generations. “If Indian society changes its attitude and accepts that doing something for the larger good is as good as any other profession, there would be many more people making a difference,” he adds. And making a difference is what movies like Rang De Basanti succeeded in doing. Director Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra maintains: “The need of the hour is to participate, rather than sitting on the fence and pointing fingers. It’s a proactive attitude. It’s about looking inward and finding the inspiration to from all walks of life have done their share of soul-searching and are now prepared to fight crime and corruption. Says Kaul, “In the coming years, this public activism will result in a very big change overall in the Indian system. The fact is that the sleeping majority is waking up and that day isn’t far when we will see the real free India.”
(Inputs from Nona Walia) TIMES NEWS NETWORK
