Samvedana, Give your compassion a name..

Quarter of century ago during those heady days of college, one interacted and intersected with so many exciting and interesting people. Being small town Ahmedabad then, most of our families knew each other but here in college we were beginning new acquaintances and relationships culminating in meetings around the corridors and the canteen. This was St Xaviers in the early 80s in whose hallowed corridors, I met this girl Janki Vyas. The corridor later branched and she took the path towards Economics and I followed the literary mews.

Fast forward to the present with spreading awareness about global warming and climate change to children through a series of interactive events; I met Janki Vyas again. Time had not etched her much and I remembered the face except that marriage had brought about a change in name. And time had lent her a sense of purpose! She in now the better half of Hiten Vasant, scion of the Vasant Group, an active working trustee of the Calorex Foundation and a support base to Samvedana. So now I was meeting Janki Vasant the founder and the principal energizer of Samvedana, an Ahmedabad based NGO working with underprivileged children. Samvedana means compassion and that I believe Janki Vasant has oodles of . In her own words, the vision for Samvedana could translate as “Supporting the social growth of the less privileged slum children by providing good educational opportunities and to uplift their whole environment by various welfare programmes, outdoors exposures and event celebrations. “

Samvedana works out of Vadaj, in a Municipal school next to the water tank. They reach out to almost a 1000 young individuals, Janki is very passionate about the works she does. And one can see that in not only her relationship with the school children but also in the sense of purpose she instils in her volunteers. She established Samvedana six years back and since then has been diligently working to bring about change. Samvedana is a proper school for economically challenged children, providing them with a quality education at par or better than any other school for privileged children. It follows a proper school structure with prayer to start the day, three lectures of 45 minutes each and mass P.T. to end the day. All the academic subjects, as well as creative craft, drawing, games, value education and yoga are evenly distributed throughout the week. The children from class 3 onwards are introduced to computers. Recognising the importance of nutrition in growing children, fruits are provided to the children on a daily basis. More than anything else the emphasis is on the importance of self-discipline and the value of time and self.
Like any selfless institutions Samvedana too survives on grants and aid. To serve this end Hiten Vasant formulated ‘Corporate Cricket for a Cause’. As Hiten the other day while proudly gesturing towards his wife said “a lot of people would like to do something for a cause but either do not have the means or the time to do it in; therefore the idea of a cricket tournament where companies participate leaving aside their mutual business differences. Hence Samvedana becomes a common platform for Corporates to comes together and share in the noble cause along with volunteers and well wishers.”

This year’s night cricket program was held at the Rajpath Club in the month of February. Various companies participated and the winner of the tournament was IDEA. It is interesting to note here that IDEA was roped into the tournament by the COO, Balesh Sharma of Vodafone who happens to be an ardent supporter of Samvedana. While the tournament was on the spirit of cricket took over and bonded team players to perform better and work together. Here they were coming together and playing for a good cause and the sense of competitiveness was more towards the game.

On the 9th of March, Sunday while Samvedana was celebrating its Annual sports day with the kids who were all looking forward to the evenings award celebrations, Ahmedabad was paid a not so quite visit by actor- director Mr Naseeruddin Shah. He took time out from a busy schedule to offer his support and be a part of Samvedanas celebration. He gave away the cricketing awards, interacted with volunteers and whole heartedly encouraged the children. In his address to the guests he completely supported Samvedanas activities and wished he could personally do more. He urged people to participate at whatever level and be of help in any small measure to such an activity which helps in building up the citizens of the future. While Naseer was waxing eloquent about Samvedana I noticed that Janki’s eyes had welled up with tears but I think she deserves all the praise she received on that day and I genuinely wish that she continues to bring about change and hope in the lives of so many more children in the future.
Published:Ahmedabad Mirror