St. Mira's College For Girls, Pune

NSS Winter Camp – Kondhavale, Tal: Mulshi, Dist: Pune

Period - 06/12/2019 to 12/12/2019

Day 1 – 06/12/2019; Friday

On reaching the campsite at the Samaaj Mandir at Kondhavale, the NSS volunteers cleaned the hall and two rooms that were allotted for the camp and helped in setting up the kitchen for the camp.

Inaugural Session – At 10.00 am the inauguration of the camp took place. Following people were present for the inauguration: Sarpanch of Kondhavale village Shri Anant Kandhare, Upasarpanch Shri Yenpure, Gram Panchayat member Shri Ashok Jori of Kondhavale village; from St. Mira’s College for Girls’, the Vice-Principal – Dr. Shalini Iyer and Controller of Exams – Dr. Soniya Chavan. The programme started with the address of Sarpanch Anant Kandhare who welcomed the volunteers of the college to the village and explained the agenda of the 7-day camp. He discussed the agenda of the camp with the students and offered his full support to the students while they were there.

The Vice-Principal – Dr. Shalini Iyer addressed the students and motivated them for the mission of a ‘Green India, Clean India’. The Gram Panchayat member Shri Ashok Jori informed the students about the details of the village and their expectations from the students while they were there.

Post lunch, the NSS volunteers were divided into various teams. They were assigned the tasks to be undertaken during the camp and were given the details about the schedule of the Camp. In the evening, a walk was organised for the students through the village to acquaint themselves with the topography of the village and interact with the villagers.

Day 2 – 7/12/2019; Saturday

Our mornings in the camp started with prayer i.e. Sanctuary, followed by University Song, NSS Song, Pranayam and exercises.

Our mornings in the camp started with prayer i.e. Sanctuary, followed by University Song, NSS Song, Pranayam and exercises.

Our mornings in the camp started with prayer i.e. Sanctuary, followed by University Song, NSS Song, Pranayam and exercises.

Our mornings in the camp started with prayer i.e. Sanctuary, followed by University Song, NSS Song, Pranayam and exercises.

In the afternoon, the NSS volunteers undertook the cleaning of Kondhavale village. They were to make Kondhavale a plastic-free village. The groups of volunteers were assigned different parts of the village for cleaning. They undertook activities of sweeping and cleaning the garbage in the village. While the students were cleaning the village, a surprise visit by the College Registrar, Mrs. Suvarna and Senior Clerk, Mrs. Sulochana Bajaj motivated the students. The students were very happy to see them and an interaction that followed with the students cheered them on.

Day 3 – 8/12/2019; Sunday

A Morning Rally in the Village was conducted on ‘Swachcha Gaon Swachcha Bharat’

This was followed by a lecture on ‘Mindfulness through Communication Skills’ by Asst. Prof. Suhaile Azavedo of St. Mira’s College for Girls using practical demonstrations to help them understand teamwork. The take away of this lecture was for the students to realize how important it is ‘To Respond and Not React’. This proved to be very beneficial through the Camp tenure as these were testing times for the volunteers and they had to prove their mettle by responding to situations and people and not reacting. Other professors Dr. Snober Sataravala and Ms. Komal Tujare too interacted with the students and motivated and pepped them up by sharing their experiences of living away from families and friends and the importance of ‘Service’ and the satisfaction one derives from it.

Post Lunch Mr. Jori took the volunteers around to show them the medieval period Shankara temple and Veergalas which belonged to the Maratha period.

Post Lunch Mr. Jori took the volunteers around to show them the medieval period Shankara temple and Veergalas which belonged to the Maratha period.

This was followed by arranging for water provision for the trees planted near the medieval- period temple. The volunteers made pits in the village for the trees planted to survive and watered them as well. The Volunteers worked hard and made about 15 pits with the help of spades and hoes and cleared the area with the help of sickles.

Later the volunteers went to interact with the villagers and conducted a survey of village homes and facilities available with them. These students went from door to door and conducted a basic socio-economic survey of the village.

While conducting the survey they also helped them with their daily chores like washing vessels, filling up drinking water, cleaning and chopping vegetables, etc.

Day 4 – 9/12/2019; Monday

A Morning Rally in the Village was conducted on ‘Health and Nutrition’.

A Swachch Gaon Abhiyaan initiative was taken of a different part of the village i.e. the cleanliness of the Shankar temple of Chhatrapati Shivaji’s period and the temple premises. The volunteers weeded out the wild and dried grass from the premises.

NSS Programme Officer, Dr. Meenal Sumant conducted an interaction with the volunteers about the NSS objectives and Camp objectives. She made the students realise the favours we were drawing from the villagers, in terms of provision of stay and water, washroom facilities, garbage disposal, etc. This way we hoped that the volunteers would reduce the waste being created and work towards a better village environment.

The students too shared their own village experience and spoke of the luxuries they were getting from the village, made available especially for them.

They then arranged for a Fun Fair for the village women. It included applying Mehndi for them, organizing games including “duck the ball into the bucket”, draping saris in a minute – fastest- sari-first, taking ukhaanas, etc. The elderly women and the Sarpanch appreciated the activity as it brought a lot of joy and happiness to the women-folk. Since the women were busy with their daily cooking and filling of water, the girls helped them finish their chores fast so that they could come to enjoy the funfair.

Day 5 – 10/12/2019; Tuesday

A Morning Rally in the Village was conducted on ‘Beti Bachao’.

The morning began with a guest lecture on ‘Health and Nutrition’ by Dr. Arvind Sarsambi. He gave the students basic information on good health and nutrition and on how health was based on nutrition. He focused on body image- physical, mental and emotional; importance of carbohydrates, proteins and fats in the diet; how proteins increase muscle strength, carbohydrates are glucose and fat must be balanced; he also informed them that the same cooking oil was not to be used for a long time- keep changing cooking oils; liver is a storehouse of energy; junk food = fermented food; balanced diet includes water intake – 5 to 6 litres; after 6 to 7 hours of sleep drink minimum 1/2 to 1 litre of water before getting out of bed - in 3 months pimples will disappear and hair fall reduces leading to healthy hair; drink water when thirsty, even if during meals; don't overeat; “kab aur kaise khaana chahiye” - eat less than your hunger; eat maximum 4 times a day; nutrition has a great impact on your mental behaviour— a curry with vegetables, dry vegetables, rice, no repetition of rotis, sweets once in a day; minimum 30 minutes of exercise every day; mental exercises are also very important - speak your mind out if you’re disturbed, learn to say NO to all BAD Habits and say YES to all physical exercise. The student gave a Vote of thanks as well.

This was followed by an interaction of students with Ms. Veena Kenchi and Dr. Manisha Pimpalkhare, professors from St. Mira’s College for girls on values of NSS. Dr. Pimpalkhare also recited a self-written poem on ‘Service’ and the importance of service in one’s life.

A ‘colouring competition’ in the Zilla Parishad Primary School was conducted by the volunteers. Students were provided with the pictures and crayons. Volunteers guided the students and helped them to colour the pictures given. Volunteers interacted with the school children; sang poems and rhymes for them. Prizes for this were distributed on the last day of the camp. On this day, the volunteers had also prepared a special meal of ‘Pav Bhaji’ for 60 students of the school and 15 students of the Aanganwadi.

A ‘colouring competition’ in the Zilla Parishad Primary School was conducted by the volunteers. Students were provided with the pictures and crayons. Volunteers guided the students and helped them to colour the pictures given. Volunteers interacted with the school children; sang poems and rhymes for them. Prizes for this were distributed on the last day of the camp. On this day, the volunteers had also prepared a special meal of ‘Pav Bhaji’ for 60 students of the school and 15 students of the Aanganwadi.

Day 6 – 11/12/2019; Wednesday

A visit was organised to the nearby village, Chinchwad gaon for a Morning Rally on ‘Gender Equality’. The volunteers created awareness through their slogans on the need to educate girls and teach the boys to respect girls and contribute to the work at home.

Along with this, a cleanliness drive was also undertaken along the way to make the entire region clean and plastic-free.

A little farther away from Chinchwad gaon was a dam. The volunteers were taken to visit the Belavade Dam which was surrounded by lofty mountains and lush green valleys of the Sahyadri mountain range. The volunteers interacted with villagers passing by and helped an elderly lady carry the load of her freshly washed clothes back to her house. The Ajji was very touched and overwhelmed with this gesture of the girls. The volunteers felt happy to be able to get a smile on her face.

After the return from the dam, a lecture on ‘Reiki, Meditation and its Benefits’ by Ms. Manjita Kulkarni from St. Mira’s College for Girls was organised. In this lecture, Ms. Kulkarni spoke on the basic Chakras in the body, spoke of alertness, spiritual direction, sustainable happiness, motivation out of depression, concentration, 24 points of reiki meditation, etc. She also focused on how this practice helps in memory retention, reduce the effect of bad influences on your life, how healing can be given, vibrations can be cleared, and how you must believe in what you want, to reach what destiny has in store for you. She also informed the volunteers of the number of health benefits Reiki has and demonstrated the actual 24 points. The highlight of this session was a Group Reiki that was performed on students wherein 25 volunteers participated to experience the power of reiki to reenergize them after a tiring day to feel peaceful again from within. Post lunch the volunteers were given time for preparing for the cultural programme and for performing the street plays for the villagers.

Valedictory Programme: The Valedictory Function was organized in the evening. Mr. Mahadeo Anna Kondhare, President-Rashtrawadi Yuvak Congress, Mulshi Tahasil, Mr. Sunil Chandere, President, Bhor-Velha-Mulshi Constituency, Rashtrawadi Congress Party, Mr. Anant Kandhare, Sarpanch, Kondhawale Group Grampanchayat, Mr. Somnath Yenpure, Up-sarpanch, Kondhawale Group Grampanchayat and Mr. Ashok Jori were present for the event. Mr. Sunil Chandere was the guest speaker and Mr. Mahadeo Anna Kondhare was the president of the valedictory function. They interacted with the volunteers regarding their experience of the camp, interactions with the villagers, the needs of the students in rural areas like sound communication skills in English and how best the urban youngsters can contribute towards that.

This function was also attended by Mr. Shivaji Pacharne, District Co-ordinator, SPPU and Mr. Nana Shejwal, Area Co-ordinator of SPPU. They congratulated the volunteers on the successful completion of the camp and interacted with the students. They shared experiences of their college NSS camp initiatives and encourage the students to think on those lines in the future.

The Chief guests of the valedictory function and the SPPU representatives enjoyed the dinner made by the volunteers sponsored by the village authorities.

Post dinner and the valedictory function, a small cultural programme was put up by all the NSS volunteers for the villagers. The programme was hosted by Amruta Pawar. Street plays on the themes of male-female equality, Beti Bachao and cleanliness were put up by the students. Solo and group dance performances and patriotic songs were also performed for the villagers which they enjoyed.

Day 7 – 12/12/2019; Thursday

The morning started with prayer i.e. Sanctuary, followed by University Song, NSS Song, Pranayam and exercises.

All the NSS volunteers cleaned the premises of ZP Primary school toilet, premises of the Samaj Bhavan where they were staying; the big hall and the two small rooms were also cleaned to be handed over to the Sarpanch. The students were proud to hand over the rooms to them cleaner than what they had been received in.

The prize distribution of the Colouring Competition was at the hands of the student volunteers. The volunteers bid a tearful farewell to all the villagers and came back to Pune with fond memories in their hearts and learnings of simplicity, service and gratitude to remember forever.

Day 1 – 09/12/2018 Sunday

On 9^th December, the journey for NSS special camp began from St. Mira’s College for Girls, Pune at 8.30 in the morning and reached its destination village Parodi at 10 a.m. The students from Hujurpaga College reached at 10.30 a.m. to the destination. Upon reaching the campsite at Z.P. Primary School at Parodi, the NSS volunteers cleaned the classrooms that were allotted for the camp and helped in setting up kitchen for the camp.

Professors from St. Mira’s College – Dr. Snober Satarawala, Ms. Suhail Azawedo, Ms. Komal Tujare and Ms. Roma Dar visited the camp. They interacted with the students and congratulated them for being the part of the NSS camp. Ms. Roma delivered a lecture on Team Building and explained the importance and advantages of team work. Ms. Roma and Ms. Komal conducted team-building games for the volunteers.

Post lunch, the NSS volunteers were divided into various teams. They were assigned the tasks to be undertaken during the camp and were given the details about the schedule of the Camp.

In the evening, two women entrepreneurs interacted with the volunteers and guided them about self-empowerment. Ms. Soniya Sumant (Team Manager-Just Dial) demonstrated ‘Making of Perfumes, Scents and Deodrants’. Ms. Chaitrali Honap (an entrepreneur) demonstrated the artificial jewellery making and explained the importance of self-employment.

In pre-dinner session the volunteers of both the colleges were engaged in an interactive session of getting to know the fellow volunteers and their motivation for joining NSS.

Day 2 – 10/12/2018 Monday

Our mornings in the camp started with prayer i.e. Sanctuary, followed by University Song, NSS Song and exercises.

In the morning, NSS volunteers enjoyed a lecture on ‘First aid’ by Ms. Pooja Nimbore. She demonstrated and explained various techniques of first aid and post-accident critical care.

Inaugural Session – At 10.00 am the inauguration of the camp took place. The programme started with the address of Ms. Ushatai Wagh, Treasurer, Maharashtra Girls’ Education Society. Dr. Bairagi, the principal, Hujurpaga Commerce College, addressed the volunteers. The chief guest for the programme, Ms. Rekha Bandal (Member, ZP) interacted with the students. She briefly explained the social work done by her. She stressed on the role of women in Nation building. Ex-sarpanch of Parodi village, Mr. Vikas Shivale also addressed the audience. He stressed on the rural- urban divide in India and how the NSS camp experience can be used to contribute in bridging this divide. He further urged the volunteers to take this opportunity of learning from new environment and to find more innovative ways of developing villages through education, trade, commerce as well as social service. The Sarpanch, Mr. Ganesh Temgire welcomed the volunteers of both the colleges and explained the agenda of 7 days camp. He explained the concept of a group gram panchayat and discussed the agenda of the camp with the students. The Upsarpanch-Mr. Rahul Shivale, Mr. Sushant Temgire and other Gram Panchayat members from the village were present for the function.

St. Mira’s College for girls’, Vice-Principal – Mrs. Shalini Iyer, Professors-Dr. Manisha Pimpalkhare and Ms. Jyoti Chintan were also present during the function. Mrs. Iyer wished a good luck to both the colleges for the camp. In her speech she expressed her gratitude to the Gram Panchayat for allowing us to conduct the NSS Camp in their village. Post-inaugural Dr. Pimpalkhare and Ms. Chintan interacted with the students.

Post-lunch different groups discussed the topics for streetplays and volunteers of both the colleges practiced for the street play.

Day 3 – 11/12/2018 Tuesday

Our mornings in the camp started with prayer i.e. Sanctuary, followed by University Song, NSS Song and exercises.

A village rally on ‘Save Water’ was conducted by the volunteers of both the colleges.

NSS volunteers undertook the Cleaning of Parodi Village. The groups of volunteers were assigned different parts of the village for cleaning. Some groups were given the job of village surveys. These students went from door to door and conducted basic socio-economic survey of the village.

In the evening, Ms. Anushree Thakar, Founder, Trimiti, guided students and taught them the leadership skills. She also talked about the mentally challenged people and their financial rehabilitation.

Every evening, volunteers used to gather outside the vitthal mandir and accompany the villagers in singing ‘haripath’. Students actively participated in singing bhajans on the rhythm of tal and dholaki. NSS Volunteers also enjoyed playing fugadi after the bhajan.

In the pre-dinner session volunteers interacted with each other and practiced for street plays.

Day 4 – 12/12/2018 Wednesday

Our mornings in the camp started with prayer i.e. Sanctuary, followed by University Song, NSS Song and exercises.

NSS volunteers of both the colleges went to Satkarwadi Zilla Parishad Primary School. Volunteers interacted with the school children; sang poems and rhymes for them. They also conducted ‘Colouring Competition’ for all the classes in the school. We provided pictures and crayons to them. Volunteers guided the students and helped them to colour the picture.

After the competition, school students demonstrated their talents to our volunteers and all the volunteers were surprised to see these village scholars. The student (4th standard - Satkarwadi Zilla Parishad Primary School) wrote 12 digit numbers (70 thousand crores) very easily without any support from the teacher. They have developed a code language, with which they explain any difficult word to their fellow students. They also demonstrated their language skills.

Some of the volunteers made pits in the Parodi village for tree plantation. Volunteers really worked hard and made 15 pits with the help of spades and hoes.

Post lunch Free Breast Cancer Awareness Session was organized for the women in the parodi village. Dr. Dipali Chavan explained the causes, symptoms and diagnosis of the breast cancer. All the women in the village were checked for breast cancer too.

In the evening, volunteers practiced for street plays and cultural programme. In the evening some groups went to Peer Saheb Dargah for cleaning.

Day 5 – 13/12/2018 Thursday

Our mornings in the camp started with prayer i.e. Sanctuary, followed by University Song, NSS Song and exercises.

A village Rally on the theme ‘Save Girl Child’ was conducted by the volunteers.

A tree plantation at parodi village was undertaken by the NSS volunteers. All the saplings were donated by the NSS volunteers of St. Mira’s College and Hujurpaga College. Professors from St. Mira’s College – Ms. Hasina Shaikh, Ms. Manjita Kulkarni visited the camp. Ms. Kulkarni guided the students about the alternative healing technique – ‘Reiki’. She talked about the origin and history of Reiki. She explained the technique of Reiki and its advantages in detail.

More than hundred books were collected by the staff, students and NSS volunteers of St. Mira’s College. These books were donated to the Zilla Parishad Primary School, Parodi, at the hands of Ms. Hasina Shaikh, Ms. Manjita Kulkarni and NSS volunteers.

A ‘colouring competition’ in zilla parishad primary school was conducted jointly by the volunteers of both the colleges. Students were provided with the pictures and crayons. Volunteers guided the students and helped them to colour the picture. Volunteers interacted with the school children; sang poems and rhymes for them.

A Poetry recitation programme by a renowned Poet Mr. Bharat Daundkar called ‘Mata, Mati and Sanskriti’ was organized for the volunteers. Mr. Bharat Daundkar commented on love, parents and their love, and attacked on various taboos in our society through this programme.

The day was ended with an interactive session with Mr. Swamiraj Bhise, a well-known social activist. Initially he guided the students about the social service and putting up a street play. Then he put up a street play with the help of some of the volunteers. He demonstrated all the minute techniques and details of Street play to the students. Students enjoyed the session.

Day 6 – 14/12/2018 Friday

Our mornings in the camp started with prayer i.e. Sanctuary, followed by University Song, NSS Song and exercises.

A village rally on the theme ‘cleanliness’ was conducted by the volunteers.

A day was devoted to tree plantation. Students were divided into two groups. One group accompanied by Ms. Veena Kenchi went to the Satakarwadi for tree plantation and the other group with Ms. Meenal Sumant and Mr. Arde visited Shivtakrar Mhalungi for tree plantation. NSS volunteers enthusiastically made the pits, planted the trees and watered the plants at both the places. 20 and 15 trees were planted respectively. Prof. N. N. Shejwal visited NSS Camp and tree plantation at Shivtakrar Mhalungi was done at the hands of Prof. N. N. Shejwal. He interacted with the students and encouraged them to interact with the village people and understand their history, problems, etc.

Post lunch students practiced for street plays and cultural programmes.

In the evening, a small cultural programme was put up by all the NSS volunteers for the villagers of Parodi. Programme was hosted by Munira and Kartiki. Street plays on the themes male-female equality, farmers suicide, cleanliness were put up by the students. Solo and group dance performances were also enjoyed by the villagers. The main attraction of the programme was the Powada put up by one non-marathi student. This powada was actually written and presented by Munira Phaltanwala. Mr. Shivaji Pacharne, Department of NSS, SPPU, was also present for the cultural programme.

On the day of cultural programmes, a dinner was organized by all the villagers of parodi. NSS volunteers enjoyed a yummy dinner of Maaswadi and Bhakari.

Day 7 – 15/12/2018 Saturday

Our mornings in the camp started with prayer i.e. Sanctuary, followed by University Song, NSS Song and exercises.

All the NSS volunteers cleaned the premises of ZP Primary school and Gram Panchayat Office.

Valedictory Programme : Valedictory Function was organised in the morning. The Speaker of Panchayat Samiti. Mr. Vishwas Kohakade and Ms. Rekha Bandal , Member, Zila Parishad were the chief guests for the programme. Ex Sarpanch Mr. Vikas Shivale and the other senior members of the gram panchayat were also present for the event. They interacted with the volunteers regarding the experience of the camp, interactions with the villagers, needs of the students in rural areas like sound communication skills in English and how best the urban youngsters can contribute towards that.

Mr. Vishwas Kohakade and Ms. Rekha Bandal interacted with the students. Ms. Rekha Bandal invited all the students for the lunch and to visit her Haveli which was under construction. Prize distribution of the Colouring Competition was done at the hands of the Chief Guests.

After the valedictory programme, the school rooms and gram panchayat office were cleaned by the NSS volunteers and handed over to the village. On the way to Pune, NSS volunteers visited the Bandal Haveli and enjoyed Misal Pav arranged by Ms. Rekha Bandal. Mr. Vikas Shivale arranged for the visit to Vyankatesh Sugar Factory which was worth visiting. One of the finest factories which creates minimum waste was studied by the volunteers. Technological impact on factories and its impact on environment was discussed by Mr. Sonawane.