Chandigarh, Harsh Thard : University Business School (UBS), organised an event for the culmination of the Diamond Jubilee Celebrations. The event was an initiative of UBS towards sensitising the students towards the other aspects of human existence. The management students took up the opportunity to interact with the inmates of old age homes, blind school, arya samaj and Sahayata trust. The theme of the entire ceremony that extended from 9am till 2 pm was lucidly given by Swami ji from Ramakrishna Mission in his lecture titled -“The social dimension of human existence” and gave cited various learnings for the young students of management.
Gandhi said “Be the change you want to see in the world”. This was the driving force behind the students of UBS who visited various places as mentioned earlier.
The day started with various groups of around 10 students each visiting old age homes, blind school, arya samaj and sahayata trust. There was great enthusiasm in everyone which was complimented by the feeling of eagerness to go out there and do something beyond the usual monotony of textbooks. One generally tends to believe that business schools train their students only to succeed in the corporate world, which may be true to certain extent and this trend needs to change because life is not just about achieving success in terms of earning more money. So to bring about a pleasant change UBS took the initiative to do things in a different fashion. The main motive behind these visits was to interact with the senior citizens of old age homes, children who were visually impaired, patients suffering from cancer and to experience how they live their lives unconventionally. The students planned out a detailed schedule of what all activities they would undertake to make their visits more fruitful. They took along fruits and chocolates as a token of love and appreciation. Apart from excitement there was also a feeling of uncertainty as to how the people would receive them. And the feeling was justified as most of the students had never ever visited an old age home or a blind school before. So with big bright smiles on their faces, they embarked upon a journey indeed filled with learning, joy, sadness, sharing, fun, amazement, appreciation and above all realization.
Once they reached their respective destinations, they were more than glad to know that no matter which place they were visiting, they were greeted with open arms and loads of love. There were interesting sessions of antakshri, songs and jokes. At blind school the students learnt how the visually impaired are taught and the amount of intelligence, talent and creativity they possessed. The cancer patients taught us to face life with a brave face. The senior citizens taught us patience and to respect humanity. It’s amazing how we all in the comforts of our lives tend to ignore the misery around us. And as the day passed by, it became more evident that so many people around us are in need of love, care and support. The stories exchanged were overwhelming and changed the whole perspective about life. The students came back with a strong feeling that each one of us needs to give back to the society in whatever little ways we can. The experience taught them to value human emotions and that to be content with whatever god had graced us with even though we might feel it’s not enough.
Towards the evening there was a seminar which was attended by people from the industry and academia and students of University Business School. The seminar provided an interesting contrast between the current society and how an ideal society should be like. The seminar was very well received by one and all.
The guests, faculty members and the students then proceeded to interact over a sumptuous buffet lunch.