~ By Ankit, Goswami
Today is end of 1st week of Mod 2. It is difficult to believe that Mod 1 ended so quickly. Now when I look back and think about all the events and activities that I got involved with my classmates, one that absolutely stands out, is Day of Caring. It was a social activity organized by our Philanthropy Committee. The theme of this event was to participate in rendering help in form of serving domestic needs of physically challenged people. We were fast approaching our Final exams for Mod 1. So, I thought that this activity will bring in some much needed breath of fresh air in our hectic and busy schedule.
So, on this wonderful sunny day, around 16 of us from MBA program went to a house not much far from our school. The agenda for the day was to renovate the backyard, trim the bushes and paint the walls. All of us, especially the 1st years, were very excited as this was the first such activity where we were participating since joining Smeal. So, we all were looking forward to it. We interacted with a sweet lady, who was the caretaker of the house. We got our hardware and tools, divided the task among the groups and got started. I started off with my group digging at the backyard. We were suppose to dig 3 inch deep across a wide area, take out the mud and fill it with pebbles and stones. I doubt anyone had ever used these garden tools for such laborious work, but the feeling of working together for such a noble cause kept us fully energized throughout the day. Some of us were analyzing how the process should proceed, some of us began digging and remaining were dumping the mud to the other end. It was a very fun environment. We kept cracking jokes and taking pictures which kept our mood upbeat. We found many old stuff while we were digging, which soon began a great chatting topic. Some of the friends were trimming the bushes as well as painting the outside wall of the house. It was refreshing looking at all of my friends in this new role and new environment, so different from usual MBA class. After we took out the mud from the given area in the backyard, we had to fill in it with pebbles and round stones. Now, this was unloaded on the front side of the house. So as you might have correctly guessed, it provided another task for all of us to work on and yet have more fun. The most interesting part of this whole activity was that we came to know that even though there was a lot of work, it became much easier when we worked together in sync. It was like experiencing the principles taught to us in class.
Finally, after hours of team work, we had a beautiful backyard to show to the caretaker. The sweet lady came out to see our work. She was so happy to see the newly transformed backyard. As a token of appreciation, she had ordered pizza for all of us. Frankly, we all were very happy as all of were feeling hungry. All of us sat down on grass under the warm sun, eating pizza and talking to this lady. We were also joined by another women, who was in charge of an organization which organizes such activities. It was very informative knowing about how their organization works and how they try to help and support so many people with disabilities.
Soon it was time for us to leave. We conveyed our love and regards to the caretaker. We also showed immense interest to the lady responsible for this event for more such activities in future. All of us had final photo session before heading back.
Indeed it was an enriching experience. The personal satisfaction which I and my colleagues derived can better be experienced than explained. Needless to say, it also made friendship among us classmates much deeper as now we were tied with this new precious thread of social service in form of Day of Caring.
