Greetings from Parivaar.

We beg your acceptance and perusal of this Newsletter, embodying a short statement of our humble efforts towards our mission of changing destinies of homeless/family-less children.

To view the pictures of Parivaar Utsav please click on http://www.parivaar.org/parivaarutsav.shtml

On 10th July, Parivaar Utsav was celebrated at Parivaar Ashram, Barkalikapur. The occasion was the inauguration of various buildings – 3 Bal- Sadans, Annapurna Bhavan and Prathana Sanskriti Bhavan. More than 200 guests, 40 Parivaar workers and 125 children took the Prasadam at the Annapurna Bhavan. The occasion was graced by Revered Swami Sarvapriyanandji Maharaj of the Ramakrishna Math & Mission, Shri Debaditya Chakraborty (Principal Secretary, School Education, West Bengal), Shri Ravindra Chamaria, Chairman, Infinity IT Parks, Shri Aditya Kashyap of Mobar Group, Shri Ramesh Kacholia and Shri Deepak Ahuja who came to attend the Utsav from Mumbai and New Delhi respectively.

The Utsav started by offering floral tributes to the portrait of Swami Vivekananda by Rev. Swamiji. Shri Chakraborty lighted the ‘Deepam’. Invocation Song was performed by children and the Parivaar Sevaks. Vinayakda introduced the guests and briefly spoke on Parivaar’s journey from 3 children in a small rented house to the 100,000 sq. ft. Parivaar Ashram having a capacity of 500 children. The President of Parivaar’s Governing Body, Prof. Sougata Ray, spoke in Bengali about Parivaar’s spirit & mission. Swami Sarvapriyanandji spoke on how Parivaar was endeavouring in the direction of Swami Vivekananda’s exhortation of ‘Jeeva Seva, Shiva Seva ‘ or ‘Worship of God through service of Man’.

Children performed a 90 minute Cultural Program which was enjoyed by all. Two highly meritorious children Ritu Das and Santosh Das were given prizes. For superlative service and dedication ‘Swami Vivekananda Karmayoga Prashasti’ awards were given to the following Parivaar Sevaks :

1. Shri Ashok Kumar Saha
2. Shri Nimai Chandra Saha
3. Shri Pulak Banerjee
4. Shila Devi
5. Sandhya Devi
6. Sakhibala Devi

Parivaar’s growth has been possible because of selfless support by a number of well wishers and volunteers. Five of them were presented with ‘Swami Vivekananda Seva Prashasti' awards. They are:

1. Shri B.C. Mitra, 80 year old gentleman and a renowned Civil Works Consultant in Kolkata who devoted all his weekends in the last 9 months guiding and supervising the construction at Parivaar Ashram.
2. Shri Biswanath Roy Choudhary, Senior Manager (Projects & Infrastructure), Infinity I.T. Parks Kolkata who ably assisted Shri B.C. Mitra in steering and executing the construction and development at Parivaar Ashram.
3. Smt. Suma Varma, General Manager, Reserve Bank of India, has been an ardent well-wisher of Parivaar and has brought many more friends and sympathizers for Parivaar’s work.
4. Shri G.M. Kapur has been one of the earliest friends of Parivaar and through his circles has supported Parivaar’s work very valuably, particularly in the initial stages.
5. Shri M.K. Satish, Researcher in the Fellowship Program at IIM Calcutta had designed the architectural plans of the various buildings at Parivaar Ashram and devoted his valuable time and efforts to Parivaar’s mission.

Construction and development at the Parivaar Ashram site started on 4th February,’05. In the last eight months the following has been completed:

1. Three Bal Sadans (each 1030 sq. ft. in area ) having a Living Hall, Study Hall, Caretaker’s room, store, bathrooms and toilets.

   Cost incurred 3.75 Lacs x 3 = Rs. 11.25 Lacs.

2. Annapurna Bhavan ( 1825 sq. ft. in area ). It is composed of spacious dinning arena for more than 200 diners, Kitchen arena, and Kitchen & accessories store.

   Cost incurred = Rs. 6.5 Lacs.

3. Prathana O Sanksriti Bhavan [ 1650 sq. ft. in area ]

   Cost incurred = 5.7 Lacs.

4. Sevak Sadan : Single rooms for resident gent workers.

   Cost incurred = 4 Lacs.

5. Arogya Bhavan: [900 sq. ft. in area]. This has a sickbay for housing sick patients, a doctor’s inspection chamber and medicine section where all medical files for each children and resident Sevaks are kept.

1. The construction for 6,400 sq. ft. Bal Sadan is commencing from 1st October. Its total costs (civil work, electrification, plumbing, and carpentry) will be about Rs. 24 Lacs. It will house about 100 boys and will be divided into 4 sections.
2. Two–Storeyed Balika Sadan: (2000 sq. ft in area ). The construction of this Sadan has already started from September 1st and is expected to finish by December 31st. ’05. It will house 30 girls.

It is a notable point that right from its formation Parivaar is completely conscious of its nature of being a ‘Seva Sanstha’, a humanitarian service organization driven by the ideals of spiritual humanism as taught and demonstrated in lives of Sri Ramakrishna and Swami Vivekananda and given at different times by great souls like Lord Buddha, Jesus, and other great ones who are salt of the earth. There is no outgoing fundraising done by any workers of Parivaar and the organization does not have any ‘Fund-Raising budget’. Most of the donors/well- wishers of Parivaar come to know of its work and mission through existing donors, friends and well wishers. In Mumbai, Parivaar’s work has attracted many new friends/well-wishers through the extraordinary efforts of Shri Ramesh Kacholia, a 68 year old gentleman and a long-time associate of Baba Amte. Overseas Parivaar is fortunate to have many highly dedicated campaigners. In the United States, Shri Lalit Kumar, Shri Rahul Ganjiwale and others have worked hard to get many new persons to contribute to Parivaar’s work.

In Singapore, a group of people is silently but very dedicatedly contributing towards Parivaar’s work.

Parivaar is therefore marching ahead in its mission as a result of tireless efforts of its workers, support and wishes of its numerous friends & well-wishers, and of course the Almighty’s Grace that is the motive power of all.

Yours sincerely in service,

Parivaar Team