Social service, waste mgmt: Bada Mangal bhandaras are learning opportunities for youth
LUCKNOW Rahul Saroj, 22, an MSc (physics) student of IIT-Patna, is in his home town Lucknow during his semester break and utilising time for an internship opportunity, honing skills in crowd and waste management, serving food and helping with Bada Mangal festivities. He is among other college/university students, who could have opted for corporate internship, but instead chose social service to upgrade themselves.
Youngsters are joining various NGOs, where they get hands-on training in social service and get a certificate in return. On Bada Mangal, interns make an effort to involve volunteers more actively and spread the message of cleanliness and environmental friendliness to the public through the bhandaras.
'This is the best way to utilise my break and learn skills, which I wouldn't learn in the corporate world. I participated in two bhandaras this year and helped serve food during peak hours and remove garbage. I wanted to learn how people come together and manage large-scale events. This is something books or office can't teach,' said Saroj.
Shubham Kumar Verma, 22, a Lucknow University M.Sc. (Maths) student, who has seen multiple community events in his family but never participated in them, said: 'In last two bhandaras, I have been to over 10 stalls with a group of 5-6 people where we served food and managed crowd. To learn these, I joined an internship where I understand the values of contact, dialogue, and service.'
Saurabh Verma, 19, a BA (English) student of Bappa Sri Narain Vocational PG College, said: 'Our group visits bhandaras across locations and sees if waste is being managed properly. We ensure that the crowd is well managed and the place is neat and clean after the bhandara is over.'
Swikriti Agrawal, 20, a B.Com final year student, chose the hybrid mode of Internship. 'Despite having a leg fracture, I was able to contribute from home by coordinating with volunteers.'
A city-based NGO 'Mangalman Abhiyan' is running an internship programme 'Mangalman Internship Programme' for the past few years engaging college and university students.
'Last year, over a 100 interns, aged between 18 and 28, participated from various colleges and universities across Lucknow. They received internship certificates upon completion,' said Ram Kumar Tiwari, convener of Mangalman Abhiyan. 'Big bhandaras are associated with us and they reach out to us for extra volunteers and coordination with LMC in waste management post the event. The interns oversee logistics, from planning to execution,' he added.
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