They are called ‘the men of the library’ because they are dedicated voluntary workers of the library. They help in cataloguing books, exchanging or issuing new books and even dusting the shelves — the members of Bally Sadharan Granthagar Karmisangha are as good as library staff, only they do it not for a salary but out of love for their local library.
Formed in Bengal in 1940, the group comprised dedicated library workers, who would help the library staff in all activities. The Karmisangha was formed under the leadership of Ratanmoni Chattopadhyay and the first director was Pravat Kumar Mukhopadhyay.
Over the years, Karmisangha has increased in size and activities. In 1981, when Bally Sadharan Granthagar became a government sponsored town library, Karmisangha was also registered as an association of library workers. Most of the library’s activities depend on the members of Karmisangha. The children’s section is entirely managed by these voluntary workers.
At present there are 88 members of Bally Sadharan Granthagar Karmisangha and any new entrant has to prove his or her dedication towards the library in order to be a member of the association. “Members are inducted on the basis of their dedication. Those who are regular visitors to the library and show interest in library activities are later inducted as members,” said Sumit Mukherjee, a member of the Karmisangha since 1975
“In our schooldays, our fathers or uncles would drag us to the library and make us remove the books and clean the shelves and also help in stock taking. We still do that once a year and also help the librarians and staff in indexing new books. The library is huge and the amount of work that accumulates is difficult for the staff to complete on their own,” added Mukherjee.
The traditional practice of inducting members includes taking an oath on Janmastami. “Janmastami is the foundation day of Karmisangha and new members are inducted on this day. A sloka from the Geeta on Karma is read out after which the new members take the oath,” said Utpal Kumar Mukhopadhyay, the secretary of Karmisangha.
Karmisangha is celebrating its diamond jubilee this year with a variety of activities. A special screening of mountaineer trekker, Anindya Mukherjee’s cycling expedition from the Equator to the Tropic of Capricorn in Africa was done on one evening at the library seminar hall. The biggest event is the annual Soumen Charukala Utsav that continues for a month from November to December. A special workshop on masks will be held this year where school students will take part.
source: http://www.telegraphindia.com / The Telegraph, Calcutta / Front Page> Howrah> Story / by Dalia Mukherjee / Friday – December 12th, 2014
The Purney Subba limited edition tea was launched by the Goodricke Group today to mark Margaret’s Hope garden’s 150th year and the brew fetched a maximum of Rs 7,000 a kg.
The management had decided to name a special edition autumn tea after the garden’s oldest surviving worker, Purney Subba, 98.
Today, Purney launched the tea in the presence of P.J. Field, chairman, Goodricke Group (UK), M.C. Perkins, chairman, Camellia PLC, UK (parent body of Goodricke) and A.N.Singh, managing director, Goodricke Group. “I wish all the luck to the garden,” Purney said after the launch.
The special edition tea is called FTGFOP1 PS Special. All Darjeeling tea is sold as FTGFOP (Fine Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe. PS stands for Purney Subba.
The packet has a photograph of Purney Subba and his year of birth, 1916.
Purney Subba at the tea launch. (Suman Tamang)
Of the 60kg tea launched today, 40kg was sold. “Marcus Wulf of Schroeder and Mamann from Germany and Leafull Corporation Limited from Tokyo, Japan, bought 20kg each,” said Vinod Gurung, manager (marketing), Goodricke.
The German buyer wanted to buy 20kg at Rs 6,500 a kg and later the Japanese buyer bought another 20kg for Rs 7,000.
Autumn tea is usually sold for less than Rs 500 a kg.
Jeevan Pande, the garden manager, said: “This is a small effort to recognise the hard work put in by the workers to make our tea world famous.”
Singh said the proceeds from the sale would go to Purney’s family and the 20-bed garden hospital. “Twenty percent will be given to Purney Subba and the rest of the money will be used to buy a ventilator for the hospital. If it is not enough, the company will chip in for the ventilator.”
He said the ventilator will cost around Rs 10 lakh.
Today, the management distributed school bags among 600 students and commemorative wall clocks among the 1,500 workers and gave five laptops to Margaret’s Hope High School and Rs 1.5 lakh to buy furniture for the school. “We will construct 150 toilets in the garden,” said Singh.
Margaret’s Hope spread over 586 hectare was established in 1864. Purney had worked in the garden for 40 years. Of his five sons and three daughters, one son and a daughter are garden workers. Deoraj, who is a chowkidar at Margaret’s Hope, said: “I am happy that a tea has been named after my family. This is an honour for the work force. I do not want my children to work in gardens. With a daily wage of Rs 90, it is difficult to survive.”
source: http://www.telegraphindia.com / The Telegraph, Calcutta / Front Page> North Bengal & Sikkim> Story / by Vivek Chhetri / Friday – November 21st, 2014
Freedom to experiment has always been a strong point for IIT-Kharagpur. And now, this freedom will take budding innovators across the globe to realize their dreams. On Wednesday, two alumni of the institute, Arjun Malhotra and Srigopal Rajgarhia, came up with a generous ‘gift’ of Rs 16 crore for their alma mater.
While Malhotra, with his Rs 6 crore plus grant, is setting up the innovation centre inside the campus, Rajgarhia has donated Rs 10 crore to connect the Kharagpur campus with best-known institutes abroad. This is not just an “exchange” link in the form that we know it otherwise. Under this international programme, 30 best students of IIT-Kharagpur will be sent abroad to complete portions of their projects/credits there. This will be added to their degrees and the entire cost for their travel, stay and tuition will be borne by the institute from the endowment.
A part of Rajagarhia’s grant will be used to bring top-notch faculty from abroad for specific teaching hours.
For Malhotra, donating to IIT has become routine now. “I am aware of the talent in the boys here, which sometimes don’t come to the fore for lack of funds. The innovation-centre is a no-holds barred place where any one within the campus can soil his hands to bring alive any bright idea,” promised Malhotra.
“We need to build the confidence among students so that they inculcate the ability to start experimentations from the very beginning. The institute wants them to get exposure from the very first year. Innovation should not be limited only for a handful of students,” said alumni affairs and external relations dean Siddhartha Mukhopadhyay.
PP Chakraborty, director of the institute, was happy that finally IIT-Kharagpur has shed its conservatism in teaching-learning process and moving towards globalisation. “It is not enough to be just a premier tech school of the country. Our students do need foreign exposure. Each selected student’s curriculum will be framed in such a way that they are able to do a lot of reference work in the libraries and laboratories, attend lecture hours and also visit industrial houses abroad.”
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Kolkata / TNN / November 06th, 2014
Anoyara Khatun.— Photo: Sushanta Patronobish / The Hindu
As the world celebrates Pakistani teenager Malala Yousafzai winning the Nobel Peace Prize, Malala herself is celebrating the courage of a little known young girl from West Bengal’s Sandeshkhali area who has been quietly working against the trafficking of young girls from the region.
Anoyara Khatun, 18, from North 24 Parganas, has, with the support of other children and non-governmental organisations, built a strong network to resist trafficking of young girls and prevent child marriages in the region.
“Malala and the Malala Fund celebrate Anoyara’s exemplary courage and leadership. She has helped reunite more than 180 trafficked children with their families, prevented 35 child marriages, rescued 85 children from the clutches of child labour and registered 200 out-of-schools (drop-outs) into schools,” says a Facebook post by the Malalafund, an initiative by Malala.
The post made on October 13, International Day of the Girl, only a few days after Ms. Malala was awarded the Nobel Prize, has described Anoyara as “a true girl hero.”
When The Hindu met Anoyara at Sandeshkhali on Wednesday, she was aware of the Facebook post and could not stop talking about Malala. The first year student of a local college has also collected a number of vernacular newspapers that published news of Ms. Malala’s award and shared it with her friends.
“Though I have not met Malala, I did meet her father Ziauddin Yousafzai at Brussels in June 2012,” she said. She made the trip to Belgium when she was nominated for The International Children’s Peace Prize.
“Trafficking of young girls and child marriages were rampant in the villages here. Poverty and lack of awareness and education provided the ideal conditions for traffickers to operate here,” Ms. Anoyara said.
In 2008, Save the Children, an international non-governmental organisation working for child rights, helped establish a number of multi activity centres in the Sandeshkhali area. These centres help create awareness among the children of the region about the dangers of trafficking and similar crimes. Anoyara recalls stories of how she and others chased away traffickers who came offering jobs and marriage to young girls in the region.
Jatin Mondar, the State Programme Manager of Save the Children, West Bengal said that through these centres, the organisation had managed to put in place a “committee-based child protection model” in Sandeshkhali since 2004.
“Now, if someone approaches the villagers with the proposal to take a girl to Delhi or anywhere else for work, that person is sure to be handed over to the police by us,” Anoyara said.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home / by Shiv Sahay Singh / Sandeshkhali (North 24 Parganas) / October 16th, 2014
As people in the city started opening their sleepy eyes on Friday morning, many early train catchers halted for a while seeing a group of white sari-clad elderly women coming out of Howrah station chanting “Radhe, Radhe, Radhe, Radhe”.
About 70 widows reached Kolkata from various ashrams in Vrindavan on Friday to visit the city and witness the spirit of festivity here.
Kanaklata Devi (105), who left the city 70 years ago, pointed at an advertising hoarding with a Hema Malini photograph and shot a humorous comment: “Tumi to asechho amader sahore, amra gele dosh ki?” (You have come to our city, so what is our fault if we stay at Vrindavan?”
BJP’s Mathura MP Hema Malini’s recent comment on the presence of many widows from Bengal in Vrindavan created a furore among various people and activists. The actor-turned-MP later clarified that these widows should not be thrown out of their native state by their relatives after their husband’s death. They should rather be treated with care and affection by their own people in their own state.
Kanaklata had a point to counter Hema Malini. “I am coming to this city after 70 years. Because I did not want to miss the chance of attaining ‘moksha’ by not passing away in that divine land of Vrindavan. According to myth, a person attains ‘moksha’ if he dies in Vrindavan. But this year, I could not refuse Pathak babaji’s requests to visit my hometown.”
Sunitra Devi (79) was nostalgic as she got down from the bus in which they were brought to Raj Bhavan to meet the governor. The lady, who lost her husband at the age of 26, used to live at Maniktala. “After our marriage, he brought me here to show Raj Bhavan. But at that time, we could see Raj Bhavan only from a distance,” she said.
The widows of Vrindavan will be in the city for two more days, during which they plan to visit the artisan’s hub at Kumartuli, hop some Puja pandals and enjoy a tram ride. “Getting an opportunity to see their favourite spots in and around the city after so long, the elderly women were behaving like teenagers,” said Bindheswar Pathak, founder of Sulabh Foundation, which is looking after about 1000 widows in Vrindavan.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / Th Times of India / Home> City> Kolkata / by Kamalendu Bhadra, TNN / September 27th, 2014
Vinayak Lohani basks in the love of his 900-strong Parivaar comprising destitute children whom he feeds, clothes and educates in Thakurpukur. Picture by Sanjoy Chattopadhyaya
His sartorial style is a crisp, white kurta-pyjama teamed with thick, black-rimmed glasses. He idolises Sri Ramakrishna and Swami Vivekananda and quotes Sunil Gangopadhyay. He worships Satyajit Ray and Ritwik Ghatak and unwinds with Anjan Dutt’s songs. He loves eating fish and roaming the old lanes and bylanes of Calcutta at night.
If 37-year-old Vinayak Lohani is catholic in his tastes, he is single-minded when it comes to his cause: providing home, hearth and education to the poorest and most vulnerable of children through the largest free residential school in eastern India.
Vinayak receives a special certificate of honour on behalf of Parivaar in the ‘A School that Cares’ category of The Addlife Caring Minds Awards, along with a special honour from The Telegraph Education Foundation at The Telegraph School Awards for Excellence 2014, presented by Peerless in association with Parle-G and powered by Adamas University. The awards were given away at the Science City auditorium on Saturday
Vinayak, winner of The Telegraph Education Foundation’s certificate of honour at The Telegraph School Awards for Excellence 2014 on Saturday, was born in Bhopal but has made Bengal his home.
Vinayak had come to Bengal as a student, first to earn a degree in mining engineering from IIT Kharagpur and later an MBA from IIM Calcutta. It was while studying for his MBA that the then 20-something engineer sprang the first surprise of his career. He opted out of campus placements.
“I was the only one in IIM Calcutta’s history to do so!” he says with a laugh. “I wanted to do something in the social space. I wasn’t interested in a corporate career.”
By then, Vinayak had started skipping classes, writing journalistic pieces on social initiatives and volunteering with NGOs. He had worked with Infosys for a year in between his stints at IIT and IIM and realised that his calling lay elsewhere. Calcutta, with its “rich history of leaders and reformers”, fuelled his desire to be different.
“Being a good student from a middle-class family, engineering and MBA happened by default. But soon I found myself losing interest in a mainstream job and the corporate environment,” recalls Vinayak.
Vision & Vivekananda
For inspiration, Vinayak had Vivekananda. “I have always been inspired by the agents of change in society and the sense of sacrifice, service and devotion, especially Swami Vivekananda’s. I took diksha from the Ramakrishna Mission…spent time with monks. Mother Teresa’s influence was strong, as was the legacy of our freedom movement. I found no momentum to return to my hometown. All my thoughts became very Calcutta-centric.”
At 25, Vinayak became quite the non-conformist, determined to establish a reformatory institution of his own rather than be in the so-called rat race. “Doing what everybody else was doing didn’t excite me. My notion of success was different. I had been to the best of educational institutions, so I didn’t need to prove my abilities to anyone. I knew that if I put in my best I might be able to make it happen.”
Vinayak’s plans did irk his civil servant father, though. “My folks were worried whether I had the kind of maturity needed to carry out the responsibility of running an organisation, dealing with different domains and steering it safely and successfully.”
After moving out of IIM, he rented a small house in Sakherbazar in Behala. His plan was to start a free residential school for deprived children — the kind he had seen loitering on railway platforms and in red light areas. A few friends, researchers and professors from IIM were Vinayak’s “sounding board”.
Parivaar was born in 2003 but bringing up the child proved far from easy. “I prepared proposals, met people here and there, but all in vain because no one wanted to support something that was the wishful thinking of one individual,” says Vinayak.
With his efforts to raise funds leading nowhere, he rented a building near Thakurpukur with his earnings from lectures and tuitions to MBA aspirants. Vinayak started his mission with three kids, often not knowing where the next meal would come from. “It was a hand-to-mouth existence. I was spending whatever I was earning. My mother was my first donor,” he recounts.
In another six months, Vinayak had 55 children under his small roof, thanks to the support of “well-placed” IIM alumni who responded to his emailed appeal.
By the end of 2004, he had purchased a two-acre plot in Thakurpukur to build his dream brick by brick. Parivaar is currently spread across 20 acres. “Surely this is eastern India’s largest free residential institution for children today but not too many people know about it,” says Vinayak.
Vinayak presents The Shining Star Honour to Purna Chandra Rout, a non-teaching employee of La Martiniere for Girls for 37 years, at the Science City auditorium on Saturday. Pictures by Rashbehari Das
Parivaar path
Parivaar is today an institution that houses 672 boys and 298 girls whose lives have changed because of education and Vinayak’s encouragement. Some have gone on to get university degrees. “We have had a significant number of very inspired volunteers. They were mostly our donors who became our campaigners and spread the word actively,” says Vinayak.
Parivaar has two campuses that take in children between the ages of four and 10. The one for boys is called Parivaar Ashram. Located a few blocks away is the girls’ campus, called Parivaar Sarada Teertha. Each campus has dorm-like housing, a library, computer room, dining area, a soccer field and a volleyball court.
Parivaar also has its own co-educational school till Class X called Amar Bharat Vidyapeeth, located on the boys’ campus. “It’s not as if the kids’ stay is over once they are through with their education here. Would a parent ask a child to leave home? The older ones tutor the younger kids, earn pocket money and can move out of their own free will once they feel they are ready,” says Vinayak.
There are a few rules that set Vinayak’s initiative apart from others of its kind. “We don’t accept institutional support from any foreign agency. Ninety per cent of our donors are individuals of Indian origin, whether they are living in India or abroad. No government support. That’s how I could build it my own way because foreign or government agencies have their own parameters. I wanted to design my school my way, just like an artist would create his own piece of art,” he reveals.
Target 5,000
While his field teams are scouting for destitute children to bring home, Vinayak’s mind is preoccupied with the future challenges of the mission. “I hope to touch 1,200 by December. Since we have limited capacity at the moment, we admit children based on their neediness. Primarily orphans and the homeless are picked up from railway platforms and pavements, or those with one parent and incapable of taking care of the child.”
Apart from the city, Parivaar reaches out to rural areas, including the tribal belts of Midnapore, Bankura, Purulia and Jharkhand. The emphasis is on giving girls vulnerable to exploitation an opportunity to build their lives.
Vinayak’s IIT and IIM education hasn’t gone waste either. Parivaar is an example for institutions on how to “scale up” operations using entrepreneurial skills.
Unlike many social welfare organisations that are cagey talking about finances, Vinayak is upfront about money. “We raise around Rs 14 crore every year. I can raise Rs 100 crore over the next 10 years but I am not satisfied with that. For me, sky is the limit. I am taking Parivaar to 5,000 children in the next seven years. My aim is to convert Parivaar into the largest free residential school in the country.”
Model mission
The Parivaar model is already a case study at business schools. “A lot of people want to do things but don’t know how to get started. There’s a huge possibility of social enterprise and since I understand how it works, I want to help those who want to be agents of change — be it in education, health or livelihood,” says Vinayak.
His personal turning point was the decision to take the road less travelled, away from home and family. “When I took up the responsibility of these children I decided that I was not going to marry and raise a family. Otherwise, it wouldn’t have been possible for me to give myself completely, emotionally. I would have become nervous, I would have collapsed. So a strong focus was the emotional focus. I closed the door on any thoughts or feelings that might be distracting. And see what I have today, a family of 900!” he smiles.
Vinayak is now comfortable letting the institution run on “auto-pilot”. The faculty and his 179-strong office team take care of everything, his role being limited to “reviewing, mentoring and monitoring”. That is when he isn’t busy giving lectures at youth forums or in his new role as member of a special taskforce under the Union ministries of finance and women and child welfare. He also makes time for helping, mentoring and handholding young social entrepreneurs.
If there is one thing Vinayak is touchy about, it is about not being identified as “a Bengali”. His Bengali look, he says, has been “acquired through effort”. The dhuti was his choice of everyday attire until two years ago, when he switched to his trademark white kurta-pyjama.
“I would get offended when people wouldn’t take me as a Bengali. I have always identified with the Calcutta of the 1960s and ‘70s — the shilpis, buddhijibis and their simple-living-high-thinking philosophy that defined the city’s cultural aristocracy. Emotionally, I see myself as that and I have really tried to become one for all these years,” smiles Vinayak.
What message do you have for Vinayak Lohani? Tell ttmetro@abpmail.com
source: http://www.telegraphindia.com / The Telegraph, Calcutta / Front Page> Calcutta> Story / by Mohua Das / Monday – September 01st, 2014
Kajal and Anirban Banerjee at the Rotary Sadan programme on Sunday. / Picture by Arnab Mondal
An adoption agency had turned him away. “Are you blind?” an official had asked him as he entered the office with his wife. He was blind and was supported by his stick. “No child wants to have a blind father,” he was told. He left. He felt that though gifted with eyes, the officials couldn’t see.
Later, encouraged by a well-known social worker, he adopted a girl from another agency. Today he and his wife are very proud parents.
“It was the best decision of my life,” said the gentleman.
As it rained hard outside, Rotary Sadan on Sunday morning heard a number of heart-warming stories.
Adoptive parent Indrajyoti Sengupta read poems he had written on adoption. Kajal and Anirban Banerjee, who have an adopted daughter, regaled the audience with their stories. These parents were only happy that they had gone ahead, despite obstacles, inhibitions and apprehensions, and taken the step of adopting a child.
The occasion was “Lifeline”, an event organised by Rotary Club of Calcutta Renaissance, with Round Table India and Ladies Circle, two Rotary wings, to promote adoption. It was an open forum that brought together couples who have adopted children, couples who are contemplating adoption, representatives of adoption agencies and government organisations.
Round Table India national president Deepak Menda spoke about how the organisation in the last 17 years had built 1,700 schools in the country and helped with the education of 5.3 million children.
Lifeline is a recent initiative, he said, to advocate adoption, the need of the hour.
Adoption is a far better option than a long period of infertility treatment that can cause inconvenience and cost a lot of money, a Rotary official said.
The event also saw the launch of the website www.adoptionlifeline.in by the organisers.
Adoption can be a beautiful experience, but as many adoptive parents and prospective ones will attest, the process is not always easy. It is complex and there are inordinate delays.
The website, which people can access shortly, is meant to be an interface between prospective adoptive parents, adoption agencies and government agencies to facilitate more adoption, beside being a network for adoptive parents.
source: http://www.telegraphindia.com / The Telegraph, Calcutta / Front Page> Calcutta> Story / by Chandrima Bhattacharya / Monday – September 22nd, 2014
Students of Manovikas Kendra perform at a programme to mark 40 years of the organisation, at Science City auditorium on Thursday.
From tiny tots to students of vocational units, some of them on wheelchairs, everyone joined the celebration.
Sharada Fatehpuria, the founder- director of Manovikas Kendra, turned nostalgic as she remembered the first day of the institute. “It was January 28, 1974, and Saraswati Puja was being celebrated in the foyer of Gyan Manch at Abhinav Bharati High School.
The journey began with two children in one room and today Manovikas Kendra is spread over an acre and it is full of wonderful children who are studying and playing with 160 dedicated personnel,” she said.
Education minister (below) Partha Chatterjee was the chief guest on the occasion.
Pictures by Arnab Mondal
source: http://www.telegraphindia.com / The Telegraph, Calcutta / Front Page> Calcutta> Story / Friday – September 05th, 2014
What is common among Malala Yousafzai, Anne Frank, Hellen Keller and 16-year-old Rekha Kalindi from Purulia in West Bengal?
The braveheart from the State will feature along with Malala and Anne Frank in the book Children who changed the world to be released in November in Amsterdam marking the 25th anniversary of the UN Declaration of the Rights of the Child.
Rekha, now a student of Class X, resisted marriage when she was about 10 years old. Her resistance led to other girls in the area following in her footsteps. She, along with two other girls from the district, was conferred the National Bravery Award by then President Pratibha Devisingh Patil in 2010.
The book is written by Dutch Newspaper NRC Handelsblad’scorrespondents who live and work in the countries of the children featured in the book.
It profiles 20 children and the chapter on Rekha is written by journalist Aletta Andre.
Girls inspired
“Rekha’s story fits very well in this theme (the book’s theme), as she resisted a very common but not so great practice in her area, when she was about 10 years old and has with her act inspired other girls to do the same. It shows that very young children, even very young girls in a patriarchal society, have the power to make a difference,” she said in an email response.
Speaking to The Hindu, Rekha said she was very happy that the story about her is being published in other countries. Since the time she and other girls from Purulia had resisted child marriage, many girls came forward to oppose the practice, she said, adding that poverty and lack of education are still resulting in such marriages.
She also pointed out that a Class V textbook of the State Board has a chapter on child marriage where her and another girl’s names feature.
“Such stories (like Rekha’s) encourage adolescents to protest and raise their voice against child marriage,” Asadur Rahaman, chief of field office UNICEF in West Bengal, said. Pointing out that child marriage and trafficking of girls continue to be a concern in States like West Bengal, Mr. Rahaman said that a scheme like Kanyasree providing scholarship to school-going girls is a significant
initiative.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Kolkata / by Shiv Sahay Singh / Kolkata – August 28th, 2014
Vicky Roy came from a poor family, other than him, there were six other mouths of his three sisters and three brothers to feed. Getting beaten by his mother was normal, and he was not allowed to play with other children, and while his parents went in search of work, he was left with his grandparents.
Running away:
In 1999, when he was 11-years old, Roy decided to run away. With Rs. 900 in his pocket, which he had stolen from his uncle, he boarded a train at Purulia, West Bengal, and landed in Delhi. Some street children at the station spotted him crying, and took him to Salaam Balaak Trust (SBT), a home for young boys who have no place else to go that was formed from the proceeds of the Mira Nair movie ‘Salaam Bombay.’
But the place was always locked, this did not suit Roy’s free spirit, so one morning when the gates were opened for the milkman to come, he ran away for a second time. He met the same kids he had met at the railway station, and after narrating his tale, he joined them as a ragpicker. ” I collected water bottles and sold them for Rs. 5, the police beat us and the goons on the railway platform would steal all our money. I joined a restaurant near Ajmeri gate as a dishwasher, during winters the water was cold, and I had rashes that would bleed. This was when I met a volunteer from the same SBT who told me that I should be in school and that the trust had many centres and in some you could attend school and you are not locked up all the time,” says Roy. He rejoined one of the many centres the trust ran called Apna Ghar.
Back to SBT and meeting Dixie Benjamin:
Roy scored 48 per cent in his 10th standard board exams. Realizing that he was not bright academically he was told to join National Institute of Open Schooling where he could get training in computers or TV repair. His first brush with photography happened here, when he came across two kids who were undergoing a photography training, and had also gone to Indonesia and Sri Lanka.
Little did he know that his life was about to change forever.
He met Dixie Benjamin, a British filmmaker, who was making a documentary on SBT. Roy hit it off with Benjamin and became his assistant, and thus began his journey as a photographer. Benjamin couldn’t converse in Hindi, and Roy knew only a smattering of English, but he was still able to pick up most of what Benjamin taught him about concepts like aperture, lighting and so on. Before this Roy had used a plastic Kodak camera to take photos. Benjamin brought him upto speed with the use of an SLR.
A dream comes true:
Roy was soon to turn 18-years, and he was dreading it, this meant that he will have to leave SBT and set out on his own. SBT would provide with the basics like a gas cylinder, stove, matress and utensils: but he knew no other life other than what he had at SBT. However, becoming independent proved a blessing in disguise. Roy approached Anay Maan, the well-known portrait photographer to be his assistant. He agreed, but wanted Roy to stay with him for a minimum of three years, he did want him to leave after a few months having picked up some tricks of the trade.
Anay Maan turned out to be a good teacher and mentor. He used to teach Roy about photography by drawing a picture by hand and explaining concepts like lighting and depth of field. The assignments took Roy to many places, his life was now lived in luxurious hotels, and he was collecting flight boarding passes by the dozen. He also browsed a lot of books on photography, which told stories of different subjects. It occurred to him that he had a story to tell as well. He was already on possession of a Nikon F80 that he had bought taking a loan of Rs 28,000 from SBT, which he had repaid by giving back Rs 500 a month.
He shot street children who were 18 years or less, and had a goal to do something with their lives. “I had my first exhibition called ‘Street Dreams’ in 2007, this was sponsored by British Commission and DFID that was very successful. I also took the exhibition to London and South Africa and sold many copies of the book. I now started feeling like I had arrived as a photographer and started developing an attitude,” says Roy. Anay Maan called him and put things into perspective saying that before the exhibition he was simple, but now he was rude. This struck a chord in Roy, who promised to stay true to his roots and not forget his humble beginnings.
He continued working with his mentor on a part-time basis and mostly on the big assignments. There was a subtle change in their relationship, Ayaymaan treated him with a lot more respect, now as his equal, and friend.
Dreaming bigger:
Having a built a platform with ‘Street Dreams’ Roy was confident to take on more ambitious projects. In 2008, there was global competition organized by Maybach Foundation, the Ramchandra Nath Foundation nominated his work, and he was one among three photographers chosen for a six-month residency to be held in 2009 at the International Centre for Photography. This led him to be given access to the World Trade Centre (WTC) site, once a week, for two hours. “I finally felt I knew the reason why I had run away from home all those years back,” recalls Roy. His work was exhibited at WTC 7, and won the Duke of Edinburgh’s award, he was invited to lunch with Prince Edward at Buckingham Palace. This was the first time that he had heard of the palace. Roy’s work started to go places: like the Whitechapel Gallery and the Fotomusem Switzerland. He held his second solo exhibition – WTC: Now- at the American centre in Delhi, in 2009.
Going back to his Apna Ghar roots:
After tasting success globally, Roy decided to come back home to Apna Ghar and resumed work that he had started in 2007. The work was displayed at Vadera Art Gallery, and to coincide with 25 years of Apna Ghar’s existence, he teamed with editor Sanjiv Shaith to bring out a book that was debuted at the Delhi Photo Festival in 2011 called Home. Street. Home.
Giving back:
Even after all the success that Roy has under his belt in his relatively short career, he doesn’t feel like he has arrived as yet. But he’s giving back to his fraternity in small ways. Last year, along with photographer Chandan Gomes he started a photo library called Rang by donating over 500 books to Rang. Rang organizes photography workshops for children in schools and shelters and tries to infuse the spirit of photography in them. The high-quality books on photography can be accessed by anybody at Rang’s Open Library, which is currently located within the Ojas Art gallery in Mehrauli.
Realizing the invaluable role that mentors like Benjamin and Anaymaan played early on in his life he has taken on himself to mentor other upcoming new photographers. He has currently taken under his wing, a 20 year old called Anish to assist him with his shoots.
You can check out Roy’s work here.
Disclosure: The author was hosted by the organizers of the INK Conference, at Kochi, where he met Vicky Roy, an INK 2013 Fellow.
source: http://www.social.yourstory.com / Home> Social Story / by Nelson Vinod Moses / January 29th, 2014
