“I am a recent BTech pass-out, and although I always had had sympathy for the underprivileged, I had not thought of becoming a full-time social worker. When I was at a railway station during the winters to receive some guests for a college camp, I saw a mother sleeping on the road with her child, without any blanket or bedsheet. That very sight opened my eyes and I realized that money and fame would be of no use, if we cannot do any good to people like these.
Keeping this in mind, I slowly got into social work, and that in turn made me move out of engineering. I then started volunteering at National Service Scheme (NSS), and I became a coordinator there, and I organized various camps for helping the underprivileged. One time, I was out for a camp, and did not eat for 3 days, which made me severely ill, and I had to be admitted to a hospital.
In 2020, I received the NSS State Award, and during the pandemic, I’ve coordinated the work done by my NSS team in all the 30 districts of Odisha. I’ve also worked with NGOs to provide food to people in flooded areas.
I decided not to sit for placements in my college, and I stood firm with my decision, and soon, I'll be pursuing my Master’s degree in Social Work. Many people criticized me for giving up on my original career path, and said that I would not be able to do social work if I do not have a stable income source. My reply was that social work isn’t possible with materialism only, but even making a person smile is a form of social work. I might not have a lot of money, but I know that in the end, I will have that inexplicable inner peace, that not many people have these days.” – Pratik Dash.
Keep going buddy🥳
ReplyDeleteCongratulations