Categories
People

[Intro Entrepreneurs] Rajesh Soni – Gallery One

“I was 14 years old when I earned my first penny, 30 Bucks for a sketch. For me it was a moment of pride and motivation to continue my work.” says Rajesh Soni as he opens up about his life and career as an artist.

It was a warm evening when I first met Rajesh ji at his gallery “Gallery One” located near Chandpole. Featuring a beautiful waterfront with petals floating in it and his latest works displayed behind the glass wall, the first look of gallery was quite captivating. Even though it might not be as big as other art galleries “Gallery One” has a subtle aura to it that’ll attract you towards it. And adding to this aura with his charisma and friendly personality he welcomed me into his gallery.

Gallery One - Rajesh Soni

 

As we walked into the gallery I began scouring it when my eyes stopped on a canvas covering an entire wall of the gallery, wondering what it was for?

Rajesh Soni - Gallery One
You can see the blank canvas on the wall

As I scoured further; his alluring and amazingly detailed sketches, paintings and other art works got my attention. A work table, a vintage camera, a floor lamp and other artefacts added creativeness to the Gallery One.

This was the time when a question began to tickle in my head.

 

Why did you choose to be an artist?

“Before me, my family already had an artistic background. My Grandfather was the photographer and artist of Maharana Bhopal Singh of Mewar and my father also pursued the same profession. Because of this I also started taking interest in painting and sketching at an early age.”

 

Who was your first mentor?

“When I started practicing initially I used to see my father work and then I began to do things by seeing him work. Whenever I stumble upon something I could not do my father used to help me out.”

 

You must have had a deep connection with your father since early years. Did your entire family supported your career choice?

“Yes! My parents played an important role for my dreams. They supported me and guided me in the right direction and were there to pick me up whenever I fell. They didn’t forced me to take any other profession despite knowing this field can be highly unstable.”

You are a very lucky person to get support from your family especially in a society where so many dreams are crushed by family only.

When you started it must have been a bumpy ride learning to do things, building audience, choosing what to sketch.

 

How were your early years?

“When I entered this field I was learning art and I thought I cannot demand any price for something I am still learning. So in the starting I started talking to tourists who used to come here and gradually improved my English speaking skills with their help. Along with this I used to work as a guide and show them city’s monuments and heritage.”

“Then I started showcasing my art skills by working in public places such as Fatehsagar, Gangaur Ghat, Café Coffe Day. During that time people used to come and watch me working, creating a sketch from nothing but only a blank paper and pencil. Then they started commenting on my work. I still remember, I was 14 years old when I earned my first penny, 30 Bucks for a sketch. For me it was a moment of pride and motivation to continue my work.”

 

What was the best comment you ever received?

“It was from my father. He said to me that you continue working with your heart and keep practicing until you achieve your target.”

“After my public hours gained me some exposure, people started to call me for private works. So along with my art interests I also started working on commission works to support myself. I used to draw sketches of houses, people etc.”

“Then after earning enough recognition and gathering funds to work on my creativity, I started to work on buildings especially heritage buildings followed by street art and then photography plus sketching.”

“During these years I learned a lot and started keeping myself updated. I began to change painting styles, ideas every few months. This gave me both uniqueness and has been helping in keeping my works fresh and creative.”

You are world famous for your hand painting skills and I can clearly see that your talent cannot be caged into just one style. It is wild, free and always ready to explore new dimension.

 

What was the first idea that you stumbled upon?

“When I started my work the first idea that came to my mind was to protect heritage of our city. To realize this dream I started to promote heritage buildings and their beautiful architecture through my work.”

“Along with this I started learning photography to expand my abilities. In 2007 I met an American photographer Waswo X. Waswo during one of his exhibitions. This is when I told him about my hand colouring skills. Luckily he showed keen interest in it. Hand colouring was a lost art form when we began to work together on it. He used to compose the shots and photograph them and after that I would hand colour those developed photographs. The same thing my grandfather used to do for Maharaja.”

 

Did you had any idea then that this little adventure of yours is going to make you world famous?

“No. I guess it was a sheer coincidence that this thing took off.”

“Since then it has been eight years we are working together.”

 

Where could we see your hand coloured photos?

“We’ve printed a book titled “Men of Rajasthan” in which these photos are elegantly displayed.”

Apart from the “Men of Rajasthan” you can also see his hand coloured photos and other artworks at Madri Haveli.

Starting as a person with passion for art you have climbed up a long road. During all these years you must have had your own ups and downs. It is really wonderful to see that 14 year old boy in you still alive.

Which one painting of yours you love the most?

“Ummm…I remember there was this painting of Buddha. I made with my imagination in which I made Buddha using lotus.”

Painting of Buddha in which Buddha is made using petals
Painting of Buddha in which Buddha is made using petals

 

How did you manage to stay motivated and focused all these years? What is your secret?

“The only secret behind this is that when I first drew something it was because I loved doing it.”

“I love art be it sketching, hand colouring, painting. It makes me happy. And that is my secret.”

I would steal this para to say to everyone reading this to do what makes you happy. The journey might be bumpy but being happy with what you are doing would make it easy and an incredible journey.

Signor there is so much more to you than just hand colouring which made me knock on your door. The things you are doing are really mind blowing but It is also true that you are just a petal in this flower of art. There are so many amazing artist around the world even in our little city.

 

How do you manage to stay creative and unique in your field with so much competition?

“First of all I am not competing anyone. I love what I am doing and I am not a fond of “bhed chal”. Copying what someone has already created and is profitable is not me. Its true everyone needs money to survive and when going gets tough creativity also suffers. This is might be the reason why so many artists having really good skills copy others instead of creating something of their own.”

“But that’s not me. Even if I have to work on commission I keep finding ways to keep my work unique and creative.”

“I keep experimenting new styles, ideas and that is why you’ll always see me doing new things every few months.”

 

So what have you been working on lately?

“Recently I am working on portraying day to day life via my art. To do this I ride around the city clicking photographs of things or activities I find worth telling. Then I come back to my studio and study the photos selecting which parts I want to keep in my sketch.”

“Then I sketch the version of the photo. Usually all my art works have a message hidden in them.”

autowala painting

“Like look at this sketch of an autowala. You might think this is only a man fixing his auto. But if you give it a thought.”

“This autowala is telling us to never stop in life. No matter how big the hurdle is. Even if it breaks us down. We should use whatever we have to start fixing our life and keep moving instead of waiting for right time or tools.”

Wow! That was inspiring. Despite being educated till 10th you have wisdom than a college graduate.

 

Would you suggest young artist to take professional degree?

“This is everyone’s personal choice. But with my experience: No, I don’t think they should go for professional degrees if they are really interested in art because in our education system art is taught and when they graduate most of them had lost their creative insights. When I started learning I was only 12 and at present I am 32 and still learning. I gained a lot of experience in these 20 years with my creativity still alive.”

“I focused all my energy into the thing I love to do the most and the only thing I was taught were skills.”

 

How you first used your skills?

“When I began learning I needed something for practice so I bought a poster of Lord Ram. I still remember what I loved most about it was details. Then I started sketching it.”

“Whenever I used to get low I used to remember my father’s comment. “

“Continue working with your heart and keep practicing until you achieve your target.”

The glimpse of the same genes can be seen in his younger brother’s work too. While he is still a young fellow his talents did leave us amazed. He currently works with paper modelling and have created a wonderful and detailed model of a bike.

Paper Bike made by Rajesh ji’s brother.
Paper Bike made by Rajesh ji’s brother.

With this we left his studio and went on a little road trip to see his currently displayed works where we continued the interview.

At O’zen

While my eyes were still stuck over the biggest sketch I have ever seen in my life displayed on an entire wall of the restaurant I involuntarily asked

How long did it take complete this?

“8 months” he replied with a smile.

This sketch of Jagdish Mandir (displayed at O'zen) took 8 months to complete
This sketch of Jagdish Mandir (displayed at O’zen) took 8 months to complete

Seeing his talent on such a big canvas I could not help but ask

What was your most challenging work till date?

“Not this.”

“As I recall my toughest work was to redraw a photograph. It was a commission work and the reference photograph I received was smaller than a square of 2.5cm. The photo was taken from a very old camera and commissioner wanted me to draw a larger sketch of it.”

“It was a tough job. I had to invent a new technique to do it.”

You do both kinds of work commissioned and free will.

 

What do you have to say about your clients?

“Since I have worked with both Indian and foreign clients I can say that they both have different requirements. Indian clients are usually harder to please. They appreciate details and clarity in work. Western client mostly prefer ideas over details in work.”

You say Indian clients. If we talk about Udaipurites

 

 

What would say about their support?

“Well…foreign tourist are undoubtedly major supporter of art here but if we see local support it is very less. It would be really nice to see more support of local governments and people.”

“I have visited many countries especially in Europe where it was commendable to see the amount of support artists receive from their government.”

Then we went over to Madri Haveli where his hand coloured artworks were displayed.

Rajesh Soni and Waswo X. Waswo's hand color painting (displayed at Madri Haveli)
Rajesh Soni and Waswo X. Waswo’s hand color painting (displayed at Madri Haveli)

City of Lakes is undoubtedly blessed with world class beauty and world class talents to capture it. Before we met Rajesh ji the only thing we knew was that he is a brilliant hand colourist but now we are captured by his amazing talents that would leave you too amazed.

Rajesh Soni - Gallery One Rajesh Soni - Gallery One Rajesh Soni - Gallery One Rajesh Soni - Gallery One Rajesh Soni - Gallery One Rajesh Soni - Gallery One Rajesh Soni - Gallery One Rajesh Soni - Gallery One Rajesh Soni - Gallery One

Wishing him best of luck for the future. We bid him adieu!

 

Contact:

E-mail: rajeshsoni18@hotmail.com

Website: http://www.rajesh-soni.com

Mobile: +91-9828247052

or simply visit him at

 

Gallery One

Inside Chandpole, 36, Udaipur, 313001 (Raj.) India

Categories
Food People

[Intro Entrepreneurs] The Triplets Cafe – Café Brewmen

In our culture formerly accustomed to having the day punctuated at regular intervals by steaming cups of “chai,” urban trends took to the coffee shop culture with great gusto. The plush couches, casual setting, pop music and free Internet have lured many audiences who prefer their newer, snazzy counterparts – and are willing to pay the premium.

cafe brewmen

Café Brewmen, The Coffee Lounge situated in Hitawala Complex, New Fatehpura, Panchwati, Udaipur is owned and managed by three young professional entrepreneurs having experience in world class 5 star hotels. They offer the best blend of Coffee, choice of teas, burgers, sandwiches, pizzas, delicious pastries and a medley of cold beverages, with premium service standards and hospitality, thus carving a niche in Udaipur.

About:

Abhiraj Singh Rathore:

Mr. Abhiraj Singh Rathore is a versatile, adventurous and fanatical young entrepreneur with a sound understanding of all aspects of hospitality and demonstrated ability of success.  Basically he is from Jodhpur and studied in Nainital. He did his hotel management course from Ram Institute of Hotel Management and Catering Technology, Dehradun. He worked as Supervisor at The Oberoi Hotels and Resort, Jaipur for 2 years. Then after this worked in The Leela Kempinski, Mumbai as an Executive. He was supposed to join JW Marriott hotel in Delhi as an assistant manager but then he decided to start up with his own business and left his job.

Amit Jangara:

Mr. Amit Jangara, a young and proficient entrepreneur. He is from Haryana and he did his schooling from Chandigarh.  He worked in Jet Airways for a month then he joined Best Western International as Assistant. Then he worked in The Oberoi Hotels and Resort, Jaipur. Then he decided that he will not do job anymore and start with his own business.

Sagar Miglani:

Sagar Miglani, a dynamic personality whose hometown as well study town Dehradun.  He did his hotel management course from Blue Mountains College of hotel management and is skilled in Guest Service Management. He worked as guest service associate at Oberoi Hotels & Resorts, Jaipur. Then he left his job to start up with own business.

 cafe brewman udaipur rajasthan

Q) So how did you plan to start such a café and that too in Udaipur? 

A. As we worked in a resort and we had to work rigorously for 12 to 13 hours, it was so stressful so all three on us met and decided to open our own ‘café’. But Udaipur was not there in our ambit at that time we had five cities in our vision viz. Dehradun, Delhi, Jaipur, Chandigarh and Masuri and we projected them. We had a small surveys in all these cities but the results were not satisfactory. Last year when I (Abhiraj Singh Rathore) came to Udaipur I had a survey I used to ask everyone that “What would you feel if there is a café in this city?” People gave positive response and even I thought that it will work out here. For a month I searched for a perfect place and fortunately I came to know about this place (Hitawala Complex, New Fatehpura, Panchwati) with open surroundings, good parking place and engrossing Saheliyon-Ki-Bari nearby.

 

Q) Who is your inspiration?

A. My(Abhiraj Singh Rathore) inspiration is my mother, she always motivated me. I always wanted to open my own café but it was very difficult for me to leave my job and start with a business but my mother inspired me a lot. She had a strong belief on me that I can overcome all the hardships and will achieve success.

 

Q) What is the quality of service you provide?

A. We are committed to provide highest quality services of product to our customers at a local level. We balance between What We Do and Who We Serve. We serve fresh food with quality product, quality service and quality atmosphere at affordable prices.

 

Q) As you said you know What We Do and Who We Serve. When did you developed this habit?

A. Actually it comes with experience, I (Abhiraj Singh Rathore) have been to a lot places in this country and outside this country which helped me to develop sense of customers taste, preferences and level of their satisfaction which they desire.

I want to give this credit to my parents who were in tourism and made me understand about hotels and hospitality.

 

Q) What is the customer satisfaction you hope to create?

A. We envisage providing the kind of ancillary products and services that conveys a unique message and encourages our existing customers to bring their family members along and invite their friends as well.

 

Q) Tell us about your experience.

A. My father was in tourism so from childhood I (Abhiraj Singh Rathore) know about the hotels star ranking and about various kind of people in various cities and also about their various taste. I worked in both City and resort environment, so it becomes very easy to judge people and their taste.

cafe brewmen udaipur

Q) What are the challenges you faced to open a café?

A. We think that there are no big challenges in this world. According to us to set up café culture in Udaipur was a challenge, It took time to make people understand the difference between different flavours of coffee.

 

Q) How did you find your partners and tell us about your relationship.

A. Three of us were colleagues in The Oberoi Hotels and Resort, Jaipur. There we met and became friends and then decided to leave the job to start with a café.

We have a very good mutual understanding among us and our ideas never conflicted. Before taking any decision we meet, give our opinion and pick the best of it. We respect each other a lot.

 

Q) What do you enjoy the most about your business?

A. It’s always great to hear first-hand from guests how enjoyable their experience was, whether it’s a review, a feedback or their constructive criticism, but it helps us to improve. People come here, meet new people, host a meeting or simply relax and enjoy their time within their community. This makes us happy.

 

Q) Who manages the day-to-day operations in the cafe?

A. All three of us manages everything with consistency. In case one is not present the other one administers everything and in this way we have developed a good understanding amongst us.

 

Q) If you were a customer in your own cafe, what would you order from the menu?

A. I (Abhiraj Singh Rathore) love to eat chicken tikka pizza in non-veg, healthy sandwich in veg, I love crunchy lover pizza, chocolate and brownie shakes, and ice mokka is my favourite and it is recently added in menu.

 

Q) Do you change your menu according to the season?

A. Yes, we keep on revising our menu in every 2-3 months. We add new items and flavours, we have summer menu, winter menu, spring menu etc. As this is summer season, we added a lot of citric and refreshing flavours. We keep a note of new dishes and introduce them and monitor how the patrons are liking this.

 

Q) What do you feel sets you apart from the others?

A. We never competed as we know what we are providing, what customer needs and about the market demand. We got our way to impress customers by providing a diverse clean café with fresh food and attractive menu.

 

Q) As you people are from different parts of India, what do you feel about Udaipur?

A. Udaipur is amongst the most beautiful cities of India with good climatic conditions. It has dual quality, quality of nature and quality of men. We love people of Udaipur the most as they are so gentle and generous. We would like to settle here only.

 

Q) We have heard that you are about to open your branches in other cities also. What is the status?

A. Yes, we are about to open shortly in Chandigarh, Pune and Jaipur.

 

inside cafe brewman cafe brewman

 

Address:

Café Brewmen

Hitawala Complex, New Fatehpura, Panchwati,

Opp. Saheliyon ki Badi, Udaipur 

Phone : + 91 (0) 294 2421571

Email: cafe.brewmen@outlook.com

Click Here to Read More about such Awesome Entrepreneurs in Udaipur

Categories
People Social

The Story of: Raven Charitable Trust

There is a bad world out there making us lose faith in good. But in that dusky graveyard of greed ridden souls when a child walks laying flowers on every grave, he unknowingly lays a new path for good proving that humanity and hope can still thrive in the darkest corners of the world. Raven Charitable Trust is one such infant organization which has made it its only goal to provide better and economical healthcare to people.

As like any other interview, we thought it to be, we packed our stuff and rolled. Although the destination and organisation of interest were changed, we had a hope of coming back with an amazing story to tell about the founding of the organisation. And Raven Charitable Trust didn’t disappoint us.

raven charitable trust logo

Where the usual stories of establishments may have heart touching beginnings, the story of this organisation has a surprising one.

In the year 2008 Mrs. Charlotte Raven visited India with her beloved husband. Mrs Raven who had lived in Kashmir earlier was more than eager to visit this country once again. But unfortunately during her visit, her husband fell sick and needed medical care. It was during this time of need that she was introduced to Dr Deepak Babel. Over the course of the treatment none of them knew that their casual conversations would lead to the beginning of something that would change not only their but also many other peoples’ lives too.

Mrs Raven and Dr Deepak Babel Dr C.S. Babel (with the Prince), Dr Deepak Babel and Dr Meetu Mehta

 

I know it is hard to believe that the seeds for Raven Charitable were sown somewhere in between those casual and friendly talks but it’s the truth and none of us know which next great organisation is hidden among our casual talks.  As it is wisely said “Chances are always there, it takes a wise mind to spot them.”

Since its beginning in 2009, and a year after, the Raven Charitable Trust has been sailing its two ships “DISHA” and “PEHAL” successfully under the captain-ship of Dr. Deepak Babel.

Well that was indeed the beginning for a healthcare organisation but the important part of the beginning that we discovered later were the two initiatives “DISHA” and “PEHAL”. They might not be the reason for beginning, but they are the reasons the organisation is known for.

DISHA PIC - Raven Charitable

“DISHA” was the first initiative of the RCT. It is basically a day care centre situated in Bari Village of Udaipur, Rajasthan. “DISHA” focuses on providing free healthcare for poor people. It has a well-built infrastructure which has been serving for greater good on the following purposes for rural population:

  •   General healthcare and hygiene
  •   Nutrition
  •   Women’s healthcare (Gynaecology/Obstetrics)
  •   Children’s healthcare (Paediatrics)
  •   Healthcare education

Now before we start talking about “PEHAL”, I would like to prepare you a bit. Thalassemia is an autosomal recessive blood disorder, functions by weakening and destroying Red Blood Cells.

Didn’t get it?

Don’t worry. We too didn’t get it until Dr Babel explained it to us after our first study of it on Wikipedia. So in simple words, Thalassemia is a genetically caused blood disorder which results in destruction of Red Blood Cells. For those of you who don’t know, Red Blood Cells are responsible for carrying Oxygen in blood.

So once they are destroyed there will be no way to transport oxygen, which is vital for human body, resulting in death of the person.

A bloody murderer it is.

      “Thalassemia”

The scary part of this story is that you, I, our friends, parents, cousins or any person we know could be a carrier of this disease. Thalassemia is diagnosed usually in babies. But this doesn’t mean we cannot be carrying it.  In medical terms we might be a carrier.

A carrier doesn’t shows signs of the disease but when two carriers mate and by chance two disease carrying genes are transferred to the new born, then the new born will be suffering from thalassemia or any other genetically transmitted disease. Therefore it is very important to get tested for genetic diseases before mating or planning to have a child.

Now that you know the basics about Thalassemia, we will go back to “PEHAL”. The whole purpose of “PEHAL” is to provide medical & financial care and attention to children suffering from Thalassemia. As its literal meaning, to initiate, “PEHAL” has initiated a revolution to educate people, cure Thalassemia and is helping families get back on track.

Since Thalassemia is usually fatal by the age of 2 to 3 years, the family of the child is affected both emotionally and financially. A part of “PEHAL” is working by connecting families of children together to make them strong and supportive. These families together help each other overcome fears which in turn help in better treatment for their children.

Children who are diagnosed with this disease have to undergo a life-long treatment which includes regular blood transfusion. The regular blood transfusion is also responsible for the biggest side effect of the treatment i.e. increased level of iron in the body.

Too much iron can result in damage to the heart, liver and endocrine system, which includes glands that produce hormones that regulate processes throughout the body. The damage is characterized by excessive deposits of iron. Without adequate iron chelation therapy, almost all patients with beta-thalassemia are likely to accumulate potentially fatal iron levels.

“PEHAL” helps families in understanding the purpose and importance of chelation therapy for a thalassemia patient. Other important aspect of this knowledge is that thalassemia patients should not be given extra iron.

A thalassemia patient is required to undergo blood transfusion so that the defective bone marrow remains suppressed and does not produce defective red blood cells. A normal transfusion costs around Rupees 8000 to 9000. “PEHAL” is helping in reducing this cost by 70%.

Alternative to transfusion is Bone Marrow Transplant which is quite a permanent cure. The cost of this treatment is estimated to be around Rupees 20 lakhs. “PEHAL” with the help of Apollo Group’s partnership has been able to provide bone marrow transplant at a reduced amount of 10 lakh rupees.

It will be quite harsh to say this, but it is an upsetting truth that thalassemia can destroy a family financially and its emotional implications are countless. And we are not talking about only the child suffering from it.

Usually Thalassemia is detected when the baby is of 8 to 9 months. The first symptoms are blood loss.  But before this a test can be done while the baby is still in the womb. This test can tell us if the baby has thalassemia or not. If it has thalassemia than parents should get the baby aborted. Abortion in such cases are legal.

Another test could be done which detects whether the parents are carriers of the disease or not. If found as carriers they should consult a doctor as soon as possible.

“PEHAL” is working round the clock to educate and help people to fight this disease. Presently they are catering 140 patients. All 140 patients are children of age between 2 to 10 years. With proper treatment in these modern times a thalassemia suffering patient’s life expectancy can be increased to a minimum of 30 years.

The captain of the ships “PEHAL” and “DISHA”- Dr Deepak Babel has been doing his job commendably well. The projects now have a dedicated team of experts, better and more knowledgeable families in terms of the disease(s) and a wide social reach. With the help of modern technologies they are connected to people via Facebook, blog etc. to spread awareness.

Dr Deepak Babel is unlike other doctor we have ever met. He is the first person to tell us that he not only suggests but also recommends alternative treatments such as homeopathy, reiki, Ayurveda etc. as long as they are helping in curing the problem. With the captainship of such a broad minded man we ask you to join and support him in driving these ships around the country to cure and save lives.

Wishing everyone associated with Raven Charitable Trust and its projects and their captain:

 todo lo mejor

 

You can contact RCT and Dr Babel at:

The Raven Charitable trust.
C/o Dr. Deepak Babel
Lakecity Hosiptal, 21 Fatehpura Bedla Road
Udaipur (Raj.), India
Mobile No. : +91-9828142100
Phone No. : +91-294-2451621
Fax :+91-294-2451865
E-mail: info@theravencharitabletrust.org

Blog: http://theravenfoundation.blogspot.in/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Raven-Foundation/88835809182

Categories
People Social

The Story of: Saral Blood Bank

Started in 2008, Saral Blood Bank has put itself on the map of health services quite boldly. Operated by Smt. Sarla Singhvi Charitable Society, Saral Blood Bank is a state of the art facility with high end infrastructure and services to collect, store, process and supply blood.

The blood bank attained its license in February 2008 after meritorious efforts made by Mr. Shyam Singhvi, its founder. Chartered Accountant (CA) by profession, Mr. Singhvi has been efficiently managing the blood bank since 2008.

mr shyam singhvi, saral blood bank

Wondering why a Chartered Accountant would go through all the troubles to set up a blood bank?

That’s the exact question which we were thinking before interviewing him.

The story behind the foundation of the Blood Bank goes before 2005. As Mr. Singhvi remembers, it was in the year 2003 when his wife Smt. Sarla Singhvi was diagnosed with cancer. Before leaving the world, Mrs. Sarla Singhvi asked her husband to setup a blood bank so that the people of their city did not have to face troubles. After her passing it was jotted down in Mr. Singhvi’s memory with an iron pen to make her last wishes come true.

His journey began on 25th August, 2005 and seemed as if it was decided in heaven that he won’t stop till he completes the journey of establishing a blood bank. A candidate of his stature had to personally travel more than 40 times to Jaipur and more than 10 times to Delhi in order to just get the license for the blood bank. Where corruption guards the way, Mr. Singhvi chose to take another way round.

In Februrary 2008 his efforts finally paid off. The then health minister, Mr. Digambar Singh Choudhary gave him the NOC. The cherry on the top was that Mr. Singhvi’s efforts got the blood bank both component and whole blood license too. Till then there was no license for components in Southern Rajasthan and General Hospital had only whole blood license.

saral blood bank

The Blood Bank works under Smt. Sarla Devi Charitable Society. Located at: 30, Near Math, Bhupalpura, Udaipur-313001, Rajasthan, India.

The blood bank was inaugurated by Dr. Digamber Singh, the then health minister, along with Dr. VN Shrikhande on 23rd April 2008.

As Mr. Singhvi says, ‘Since then the blood bank is running continuously and has never been shut down for even an hour’. The blood bank has been designed by REMI. The building has a sterile environment and is centrally air conditioned with latest equipments for testing, storing and collecting blood.

Another amazing fact that Mr. Singhvi recalls is that when the ‘Saral’ was founded, with every blood bag, they asked people for replacement when they were capable of doing so. At the beginning almost 33% blood was collected from volunteering donors and rest was collected by requesting to people. After almost 6 years of its foundation the scenario has changed. As the smile on Mr. Singhvi’s face widens and his eyes glow with happiness he is proud to say that now 70% of blood is collected by volunteering donors.

As noble as the idea behind its foundation, Saral Blood Bank shares a noble mission too. The blood bank charges as per the rates fixed by the Government of India. The patients of severe diseases such as thalassemia are give blood free of cost. People who are below poverty line are also given blood free of cost once their BPL certification is verified. Two doctors are always posted (on duty) at the Blood Bank.

The bank now uses automated testing machines by ELISA Technologies. It has also started using gel technology for grouping and cross matching. The bank has a capacity of storing 600 to 800 units of blood at a time and blood is stored in a ‘triple bag’. A triple bag is a blood bag which is used to store components of the blood. Once blood is collected from a person, it is centrifuged and the components: Packed Red Cells, Plasma and Platelets are stored separately. In this way one unit of blood can save three different lives.

Saral Blood Bank has now become a component of ‘Saral Society’, which is dedicatedly providing Mobile Hospitals, Educational & Health Services for the poor and needy in rural areas, Purified Water Services at Government Hospital in Udaipur, 24*7 Ambulance Services and the like.

Once started as a dream, the Saral Blood Bank is now proudly serving the society and can be credited for saving hundreds of lives each day. Recall last time you saved one. Dreams indeed sound crazy, impossible and meaningless, until someone takes the bold step to make them come true. None of us could understand the impression a 450ml blood bag leaves on a person’s life, whether it be a donor or a receiver.

We have all developed the habit of laughing things out. All we need to do is laugh out at people who don’t donate because they find it useless. Except when one is not suitable for donation, each of us should donate blood at least once in life.

My job may have finished at writing this article, but yours has just begun. The contact details of the Blood Bank are given below. Make sure to do your bit. It can save a life.

Address: 30, Near Math, Bhupalpura, Udaipur – 313001, Rajasthan

Phone: 0294-2416285, 09166614802

 

Photo Credits : Kashish Chandrayan

“You can now suggest us to cover the Story of any Organization that you like or would love to know about, just email us on info@udaipurblog.com and we will try our Best to get you the insights.”

Categories
People

[Intro Entrepreneurs] Nimisha Soni – Awesome Contemporary Clothing

In 2014 UdaipurBlog introduces a new notion to the entrepreneurship eco-system of Udaipur – “Envisioning Lakecity as a Business Hub

This is an initiative in which entrepreneurs of the city get the chance to be known by the local community.

Successful entrepreneurs offer a lot of benefits not just to the economy but the society as a whole. With the ever increasing number of successful entrepreneurs, they are inspiring other people to push for their goals too.

They are liberators of our economy. UB instigates the aim to bring forward these high achievers and benefactors of society in presence of our readers.

To begin with ‘Power of Women’ is paramount affair prevailing worldwide. Therefore we commence this section – called “Intro Entrepreneurs” – interviewing the very young, talented, and trendy and at the same time devoted to her roots – Nimisha Soni the owner of ‘Awesome Contemporary Clothing’.

 —-

Awesome Contemporary Clothing is a boutique in Udaipur, which needs no introduction. They have been into this business from last 7 years.

As I enter the store, I notice the readymade section filled with bright striking outfits. When I move further, I see Mrs. Padma Soni and her daughter Nimisha handling their clients with utmost patience and smiles on their faces..!

nimisha soni and padma soni udaipur

Details related to the venture –

‘Awesome’ was a small initiative taken by Mrs. Padma Soni and her daughter Nimisha Soni, 7 years back, with a very basic intention of staying busy. They had absolutely no divination about the future of the business. But their hard work and creativity paid off and today we see ‘Awesome’ emerging as one of the boutique providing customized clothing in Udaipur.

Something about Mrs. Padma Soni –

Mrs. Padma Soni is a very simple woman with a strong determination and passion for her business. She started this venture with 21 designer pieces in her drawing room. In spite being into this business for all these years, she has never compromised with her family life or social responsibilities and has maintained a very good balance between the two. She is a down to earth woman who is much attached to her traditions and moral values while, on the other hand she is equally efficient in taking business decisions and handling finance affairs.  When I ask her about ‘Awesome’, she says, “The main motive was to stay occupied in something creative all day long. Slowly and gradually word of mouth publicity played a positive role in bringing our boutique into limelight and people started to come to know about ‘Awesome’.”

Something about Nimisha Soni –

Nimisha Soni was a 19 year old B.Com aspirant when she accompanied her mother in this venture. For 3 years she struggled together with her mother in establishing the boutique and prepared for higher studies simultaneously. Later she got selected for Masters of Fashion Management (MFM) by National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT). Her project for ‘Visual Merchandising at Ratans, Jaipur’ was highly appreciated and she topped with an eminent 10 percentile. Nimisha also got an opportunity to work with the designer duo Shyamal and Bhumika. After the course, she was placed at Bhartiya International, Delhi, but she chose to come back to Udaipur instead and joined her mother to expand the business, which she has done with maximal sincerity and dedication. She is also a very good dancer and has won many prizes in inter school and inter college competitions at national level. Every year, she is invited by NIFT, Gandhinagar to address and enlighten the freshers about the opportunities of being an entrepreneur post their MFM course.

When I ask about ‘Awesome’, she says, “Many people opposed my decision of coming back to Udaipur and not joining a prominent establishment in a metro city, after graduation. They tried to convince me against my decision that it might affect my career graph in the long run. But looking back at my decision, I do not regret it at all. In fact, I feel more confident as a person with a lot of patience and capability to handle high level of workload and stress at the very same time.

Struggles –

If you are creative, you can surmise a design, but you need thoroughly trained workers to properly execute your imagination drawn on a sheet of paper. The main struggle at the time was to search for efficient workers and to source the raw materials. Even today we remember the day when we started the business without having a single worker. But slowly and gradually we got a better staff and because of them we were able to deliver better products each day.  Even today, the search for skilled workers is still on. Now, after 7 years, the main challenge is to complete the orders in time because we are totally dependent on our workers for each and every task from production to delivery.

Sometimes you have to overlook your personal life, fun, interests and all such affairs to be able to fulfil your professional demands and yes, we do get tired by the end of the day, but a single call or a message of appreciation from your happy and satisfied client can make your day worth it…!! 

Strengths –

Our clients are our main strength who have always supported us and cooperated with us. We respect the level of their trust and faith in our work. And not to forget another major strength of ours – that is our team of workers who work day and night with utmost dedication to complete the orders for us.

awesome boutique udaipur

What have you learnt from the business apart from business..?

The first thing required when we start any business is patience and here I mean a lot of patience to handle the workers and also the clients. There is a huge difference before and after the business because here we have to deal with people of all interests daily. Each individual has his or her own nature, behaviour and ways to tackle things. It’s important to understand their demands and respond in the appropriate manner required.

 

Who motivated you the most..?

The people who said that we can’t do this motivated us the most. Because proving them wrong was fun.

 

What differentiates you from other boutiques in Udaipur..?

Our customized concept under which we make the dresses as per our client’s budget, taste, occasion and demand. In spite of just sourcing the ready-mades from a wholesaler and selling, we design each and every piece of clothing on our own from the very basic level.

We learn something new each day and try to improve daily. Long way to go.  🙂

 

Address of Awesome Boutique : 

“Awesome” 90-A Saheli Nagar, Opp. Saheliyon ki Badi, Udaipur 313002

Contact : 0294-2418840, 9571902353 

Categories
People

Interview with the Famous Chef: Vimal Dhar

chef vimal dhar

Vimal Dhar is a renowned Chef. A Kashmiri Pandit who was born and brought up in Ranchi, Bihar. He did his Schooling from some remote areas of UP. His entry into hotel management was purely incidental. He started his career as a chef at the age of 21 and worked as for 15 years and since two and a half years he is working as an Entrepreneur. Excerpts from an exclusive interview with Mr. Vimal Dhar by Deepankshi Chittora and Siddharth Nagar from UdaipurBlog.com

UB: What eagerness brought you to this field? Did you have any other career options before you opt for this profession?

A. Well actually, I did have an option to go for the Architectural Engineering. But my inclination was more in Arts and the creativity it involves. I used to help my mother in the household job especially in kitchen which fascinated me a lot. This drove me to join Hotel Management course.

UB: Please tell us about your achievements so far.

A. The biggest achievement, I think, is that I am a happy man. I never thought that I would be pursuing my passion. And since I am doing my work, this is my biggest achievement.

UB: How have been your experiences as a Chef?

A. I have been an average person throughout the life. So, I realized that mehnat to karni padegi [the only option I had is to work hard] which I did do. I achieved a level beyond which there was nothing to achieve. So my experience was like being so high on the 7th heaven.

UB: What is the source of inspiration behind your success?

A. It’s me only. You have to work hard to get to a level where you achieve something. It’s the individual who has to decide and it’s the blessings of the almighty that do the rest.

Vimal Dhar Udaipur

UB: As you just said that you realized that mehnat to karni padegi. At what point of time did you realize so?

A. Well, Once I had to repeat my class 11th. This event shocked my conscience. But I have no regrets as I took this positively. It provided me an opportunity to work hard and I did work very hard and performed even better than my normal.

UB: We have heard that you worked with Taj Lake palace. So can you share with us some of your experiences at Lake palace?

A. Yes, I started with Lake Palace. I was actually the lucky chap in my college to get 1st campus placement at Taj Lake Palace. So, I was very happy. I joined there as a trainee and got promoted. I worked there with the greatest chefs and got brilliant exposure.

Chef Vimal Dhar

UB: What is you motto of life ahead?

A. We have to grow the brand now. Udaipuri has to come in different cities of Rajasthan atleast. And Kabab Mistri’s next level is to reach cities like Delhi, Gurgaon, etc.

UB: How you found Udaipur as far as culture and taste is concerned?

A. Udaipur is nice and versatile. The people accept everyone. Initially he had a mixed experience and being a small city everyone will approach Udaipuri but those who remain with us for the next 2 years they are the actual customers.

UB: As a chef which is the best restaurant you have ever been and why?

A. There are so many actually and not just one. In India Maurya Sheraton & Bukhara of Delhi are quite authentic with their non vegetarian stuff. Another is Diva (an Italian restaurant) again in Delhi. La Piazza at Hyatt, Delhi, which is again serving some good Italian stuff.

UB: Which one do you feel is the best – Indian Food or of any other country?

A. Well, as a chef I have respect for all the food. All that matters is the originality must not be lost. It has to be natural and one should not fiddle with the taste by mixing colours etc.

UB: In the contemporary world the junk foods are buckling down the traditional foods. What is your take on this?

A. I don’t see anything like this. No food is buckling the other. They both have their respective clienteles in their own respective spheres.

UB: Do you think Udaipur is growing?

A. Yes, it is but not at a satisfactory pace. I find people here are reluctant towards spending money unlike people in metro cities like Delhi, Mumbai etc who spends liberally which is good for people like us [Laughs].

UB: What is your perspective about UdaipurBlog.com?

A. It is good. You people are doing a great job. I get positive vibes and the best part is that youngsters are doing this, so, that energy is visible. I wish you all good luck in your Endeavor.

Categories
People

An insight into the Life of R. S. Vyas, Director TINJRIT

Q1. Tell us something about you?

My roots are in Udaipur. My grandfather migrated from our ancestral village Mandalgarh near Bhilwara and settled in Panchwati in udaipur. My father was a law graduate and served as a judicial officer and retired as a judge from Rajasthan High court. My mother was a homemaker. We were three siblings – two brothers and one sister. Though being from Udaipur I never studied or lived here and did my schooling from various towns where my father was posted. I did my secondary and higher secondary schooling at Happy School, Alwar affiliated to Rajasthan board. My critical years were all in Alwar.

My contact with Udaipur was 2 months of summer holidays every year with my grandparents where all my cousins would join me and we would be a group of ten kids. It was like a student camp – highly enjoyable. We used to spend time at Saheliyon ki bari, Fatehsagar, and Mohta park at Chetak which had a small library.

 

Q2. We would like to know about your college life?

I joined BITS Pilani in 1971. My school life was spent in a protected environment of huge government houses. Pilani was my first exposure to competing on my own in the outside world. At BITS Pilani all of us came as toppers of our schools but soon we realized that we were competing against students as good as or better than us. So in such an environment you get to benchmark yourself against the best. The best thing I liked about BITS Pilani was that from day one you get a single occupancy room at hostel. So you have your privacy and you get a lot of time to yourself. In college most of us who were from Rajasthan Board faced the problem of spoken English.

(On being asked: How did you cope up with this problem?)

BITS had a very good system to deal with this problem. As soon as you joined, you had to appear for an English exam and those found weak were put in the ‘Make up English’ course. This prepared us to be more confident with English Language. Also we started reading Times of India everyday.

At Techno NJR I see many students using Hindi medium schooling as an excuse for not doing well in their Engineering courses. Having gone through this problem myself; I know that it just needs some efforts to overcome this problem. Subscribing to English newspaper, reading out portions of it, making a small group of students with similar problems and communicating with each other in English; all it needs is to make efforts. Many students can write good English but lack good verbal or communication skills. What I personally believe is that if you can write well in English it means you can think in English and if you can think in English you can definitely speak it with some practice.

(Soft skills are overshadowing the technical skills as well as academic skills?)

No it is not true. You do need communication skills to express your technical skills. Stress on soft skill has come in focus because it has been found that Indian students, mostly Hindi speaking north Indian students lack these skills though they may be good in technical knowledge. This certainly is a major issue with Udaipur students. Techno NJR therefore lays a lot of stress on soft skills- spoken English, aptitude, personality development, group discussion etc.

After graduating as a mechanical engineer from BITS, I joined University Business School at Chandigarh which was fast coming up as a good business school. I was selected by Voltas, a TATA Group company as a management trainee and placed at Mumbai. That is where my professional life began. It was my first and last job and I worked there for ten years mostly in their international business division and travelled to many countries.

 

Q3. Your enterprising nature is one of the several attributes of your multi-faceted personality. So we would like to know something about your business ventures.

It took me 5-8 years to know what business was all about and by then I had decided to be an entrepreneur. I left my job in 1987 and moved to Delhi to set up my company Lifestyle Exports. I realized that there was lot of scope in the upcoming electronics sector and there were many small units manufacturing electronic items in and around Delhi. We manufactured electronic products like radios, B/W and color TV, PA system etc in Delhi and exported them to Africa. Subsequently in 1992 I set up a joint venture in Kampala, Uganda for assembly of consumer electronics items for African market.

My mentor and guide in business was Sheikh Abdul Fatah Marafie, Chairman of powerful Marafie group of Kuwait, who supported me in my initial years of business. He gave me the opportunity to supply many items to his companies in Kuwait and the major breakthrough came when I got a significantly large order for supply of marble from Udaipur for renovation of his hotels which were destroyed by Iraq in 1992 invasion of Kuwait.

In 1995, I tried my hand at TV serials and promotional films also. Only notable promotional film I made was a promotional film for Indira Gandhi Hockey tournament with Shahrukh Khan, Anil Kapoor, Saif Ali Khan and others.

For the last five years I have moved myself away from businesses and I am currently focusing all my energy on Techno India NJR.

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Q4. Being a part of the corporate world what inspired you to enter the Education Industry?

It was not planned. I was focused on my business but a series of unfortunate events took place in 2001-2003 which completely changed me and my life. In these two years I lost a close friend Jitendra Ranawat and his son Navdeep.

Jitendra Ranawat, known as Makku in our friends’ circle was a livewire business executive. He was a very close friend of mine. He worked for Aditya Birla group in Indonesia and then partnered up with some Malaysian Indians to set up a factory in Kuala Lumpur. We shared our zest for life and our favorite pastime was to play at premier golf courses around the world.  For me he was more than a brother and a great friend. His death made me realize that we do not control our destiny and it changed my focus from earning money to do something for the society.

On 12th June 2003 (7th day of Makku’s death), Meera (Makku’s wife) and I set up Navdeep Jitendra Ranawat Charitable Foundation with an intention to set up an Engineering college in their memory at their hometown Udaipur. It took us five years to organize enough funds for the project and finally Techno NJR was established in 2008. Our dream has been to create an institution on the lines of BITS where quality education is provided at reasonable cost.

 (Journey: Techno India NJR)

Techno India NJR is a non-profit organization in real sense. People were puzzled when we declared at its inception in 2008 that we will not accept any donations for admissions against management seats. In last five years every single admission against the management seat has been on merit and without any donation.  Both Mrs. Meera Ranawat and I, we do not draw any salary or profit from Techno NJR. Every single rupee earned by the college is spent on its faculty, student welfare or setting up international quality labs.

All of us at techno NJR family which includes management, faculty and students are focused on raising the standard of this institute so as to be counted amongst one of the finest institute in the country.  It is also an institute where girls can stand shoulder to shoulder with boys and build a career in engineering in a safe and disciplined environment

It is necessary for any institute to have certain minimum number of fees paying students to remain self sustaining and financially viable. But at the same time accepting unsuitable and unserious students can compromise the quality of the institute in long term and therefore Techno NJR has kept away from race amongst colleges for filling seats through whatever means.

 

Q5. Do you relate yourself to the students in today’s engineering colleges?

Well at BITS, we have gone through a highly competitive environment, whereas in today’s private engineering colleges this fierce sense of competition is missing. As number of engineering colleges and seats has grown manifold, there has been resultant fall in the quality of students joining Private engineering colleges.

I am generally blamed for putting tremendous pressure on students at Techno NJR. Many senior faculty members at Techno NJR also share my view that we need to create pressure on students for making them perform better as they need to compete with the best in the country when they pass out. We like to benchmark them against students from good colleges in Banglore, Pune and Mumbai.

There is no doubt that these students are bright and smart but they have to learn the value of discipline and hard work: both required for success in life. Four years that they spend at college should mold them to become a professional later in life. We can not take an easy view that college years are meant to be fun only.

 

With other trustees of Techno NJR - Mr. Arvind Mayaram and Mrs. Meera Ranawat
With other trustees of Techno NJR – Mr. Arvind Mayaram and Mrs. Meera Ranawat

Q6. Every student who joins an institute expects 2 things out of the institute: Quality Education and Best Placements? Has your institute been able to provide what the students are looking for?

Providing quality education is the mission for Techno NJR. Good placement is always a product of good education. Students are recruited based on their skill and knowledge and organizations start believing in certain colleges more if their students are found to be performing well in the organization. This is a slow process. At Techno NJR we make students go through grilling academic process, train them for soft skills, and prepare them to be industry ready by equipping them with required skill sets. This has resulted in most Techno NJR students being placed with companies like TCS, Ericsson, IBM, Zensar, Tata Chemicals, Sears holding, Secure Meters, Ambuja Cements and also companies in Udaipur like Pyrotech, E-connect, Siddhi Webs etc.

At Techno NJR we are aware of our role of preparing students to face highly competitive job market. Today only 25% of engineering graduates find a good job due to high supply of fresh graduates from various private engineering colleges every year. At Techno we have never allowed fake placements and campus selections which many colleges resort to for publicity to fill their seats. It is very easy to understand why a small company from Noida & Vijaywada, will come to recruit students from Udaipur – they just come to make money from unsuspecting students /management.  Fooling students through such fake campus selections can destroy the career of these students.

Techno NJR has tied up to industry leaders like  SAP, Oracle, CISCO, CDAC, e-Infochip, Rockwell etc to provide industry oriented trainings and certification  to students so that they carry  with them industry required skill sets when they pass out.

Students of Udaipur engineering college have to understand that finding a good job is becoming difficult for all students including those from IIT/NIT/Govt. colleges. India’s GDP has been around 6% for the last 2 years and it will need life-size positive change in the economic growth to create more productive jobs for fresh graduates. Most companies are not in a position to increase its bench strength, it is therefore important for students to work hard on their trainings and skills to become productive from day one for the organization they join. Most organizations have moved away from training fresh graduates and are looking for well trained ready for the job graduates.

Q7. Sir we would like to know you views about RTU?

There is no doubt that RTU has improved in the last 2-3 years in terms of administration of examination and results declaration. Exams are conducted on time and results are announced in a reasonable time frame.  However it needs to update its syllabus and curriculum more frequently keeping in mind current industry requirements. They also need to add more courses which are currently in demand like Mechatronics, Petroleum engineering, Nanotechnology etc. RTU curriculum has lot of theory but not much application. Industry looks for engineers who can apply their knowledge to the problems. This is one big gap.

I was told that world renowned Carnegie Mellon University (Techno NJR conducts their iCarnegie courses for students) has developed a four year B.Tech curriculum in consultation with industry bigwigs like Microsoft, Yahoo, IBM, Cisco and Apple. I believe it to be a dream curriculum for any computer engineering graduate which will create an engineer any company in the world would love to employ.

(Why not apply the curriculum designed by Carnegie Mellon University at techno NJR?)

We are affiliated to RTU and have to follow their system till we become an autonomous college or university and create our own syllabus. It does not mean that we can not pick up few things from such dream curriculum and implement in our college in parts. One of the reasons we have tied up with Cisco, Oracle, iCarnegie, CDAC is to introduce their industry oriented courses. We have also tied up with IEEE to offer international certification like SWEBOK, CSDA and CSDP to Techno NJR students.

I have an advantage that I am not a pure academician. I have been exposed to academic processes in last 5 years but I have also worked in the industry for many years and understand what they seek in any employee they hire. It is this dual experience I use to create systems at Techno NJR where students imbibe academic excellence along with skill sets required by the industry.

 

Q8. What do you think is the future of engineering if students are more diverted towards the management side after graduation? 

It is natural for students to follow educational degrees which can enhance their earning potential. Mangement degree like MBA is one such degree. Mangers need to have an analytical mind and an engineering education makes you more analytical than any other course. Therefore more and more engineering graduates are enrolling for management education. You will find that more than 50 % students at premier institutes like IIM’s and ISB’s have engineering degree as graduation background.

 (What is the future of engineering?) 

No country can afford to neglect engineering education as it is the driving wheel of progress of any country. World’s progress depends on new innovations and new technologies and engineers create these changes. They are the creators of things, drivers of production systems.  Students have to understand that engineering is becoming cross functional. Every product and process involves inputs from various engineering streams. For example a car needs input from many branches of engineering- Design, Mechanical, Electrical, Electronics, Rubber Technology and others. Engineering education will have to incorporate this cross functional requirement of Industry by exposing students to courses outside their branches and also by creating cross functional projects where students of many branches can work together.

Q9. Being a businessman and an Education Campaigner what according to you is the role of engineering education in development of industries and vice versa what is the role of industries in inspiring students to become good engineers?

There needs to be extensive interaction between academics and industry. If they work together it will create a win-win situation for both. Rather than lamenting at universities for not producing graduates who are fit for their industry, they need to take a step forward and work jointly with universities to bring in changes in curriculum and trainings to enable universities/colleges produce engineering graduates suitable for them. After all, industries also cannot grow unless they get steady supply of suitable manpower from universities.

Worldwide big corporations work together with universities in many ways: joint research, internships, and projects. Regular interactions between these two result in industry friendly curriculum and students with some basic industry trainings.  Some companies like Oracle, SAP, Microsoft, Agilent, Texas Instruments etc have launched university alliance initiatives in India. Similarly companies like IBM, Infosys, and Wipro are setting up centers of excellence in various engineering institutions.

Industry bodies like NASSCOM, CII, FICCI and local chambers of commerce need to create suitable platforms where educational institutions and industry leaders can meet, interact and understand each other.

 

With President Musevani of Uganda.
With President Musevani of Uganda.

Q10. What according to you is biggest difference between engineering education then and now?

In our time there were limited engineering colleges in Rajasthan – BITS, MNIT (Then MREC) and MBM. Admissions were tough as there were limited seats. Only best students could get admission. Now admissions are very easy and that somehow gives an impression to students that engineering education is easy. This is not true. Admissions may become easier but engineering education still is very demanding and needs a lot of hard work by students. A good engineering degree needs a lot of hard work, high quality project work and intensive industry training. Engineering students of today are not able to stand up to these requirements.

We encourage students to spend 7-8 hours in college every day to attend classes, perform practicals, projects and interact with teachers and other students. Students learn the best from each other. In addition we have created a city centre equipped with industry level equipments for research work in electronics, computer lab with internet connection, library, reading rooms and the like where students are expected to spend time in the evening hours or till late at night. These students have to join industry and are expected to work till long hours in their working life so they need to take hold of this habit at college level only.

 

Q11. What is your take on studying abroad? Is it beneficial?

Many children in my family and my colleagues’ families have studied abroad. Most of them settle down there after studies. Some of them come back. There is a huge difference between education process in India and Universities in Europe/USA. In India we stress a lot on theory whereas in abroad stress is more on projects and practical aspects. Students there learn to be more independent and are more easily absorbed by the industry.

I have a started a new group at Techno NJR which will guide students interested in studying abroad after their graduation. This group includes Techno NJR professors who have studied abroad like Pankaj Porwal who spent few years at Cornell University and Piyush Javeria who studied at Uuniversity college of London. They will guide students to prepare for their GRE, IELTS/TOEFL, and selection in suitable universities, application processes and scholarships. Admissions at International Universities are lengthy processes and have to be initiated when students complete their third year itself. Education abroad is not as expensive as it looks. Student scholarship, loans and assistantship are easy to get these days and ones you start earning you can repay everything in 2-3 years.

We have already made a start in this area. One student Dhananjay Rathore went to Southampton University, UK last year. Another student Ajay Porwal is likely to join New York State University (NYU) this year. I expect at least 15-20 students of Techno going to US/UK universities every year in near future. We are already talking to some well known universities in US for a tie up for admissions of Techno NJR students. I visited US few months back for this purpose and would visit again this year to take this process further.

At Google Headquarter at Mountain view, California.
At Google Headquarter at Mountain view, California.

Q12. Sir, what has been the biggest influence in your life that made you achieve so much?

I have had many influences in life. Education at BITS, work experience at Tata group, my father – an upright judge, people who supported me in initial years, Meera Ranawat who has absorbed her personal pain to do good work for the society, students and faculty of Techno NJR, and my daughter Nonika who has mastered the art of molding me the way she wants.

 

Q13.What message would you like to give to the youth of Udaipur?

Dream big and create capabilities to live up to those dreams. There is no replacement to hard work and sincerity. India’s biggest advantage is its young population, but if the country is to progress this colossal majority of youth will have to be converted into educated and employable young population.

 

Q14. How is Udaipur growing in your opinion in every aspect and how can we contribute to the development of Udaipur?

We need to honestly introspect as a city that how cities like Jodhpur or Kota have moved ahead of Udaipur in last few years. We have to create more industries and more employment opportunities for the city to progress. We can not progress solely on the basis of wealth that nature has gifted to us – tourism, marble and minerals. There has been a lot of progress in the direction of education but we have to create trained and skilled manpower pool so that big industries feel confident to set up big projects here.

We can not progress by being just a retired man’s dream destination for settling down.  I do see many new initiatives in software industries by youngsters. We also hear about big investments by Pharmaceutical companies.

 

Q15. Sir, your word for UdaipurBlog and to its readers?

Blogging is the best way for any youngster to spend his creative energy and share his views with others and contribute to the society. Countries and societies grow only by exchange of ideas.

My congratulations to the young team of ‘UdaipurBlog.com’ that has created this excellent and vibrant platform for Udaipurites. I would like them to organize a meet of Udaipur bloggers to find ways to popularize blogging and make Udaipurblog the true voice of Udaipurites.

 

 

Categories
People

Kicking It Up With Rajputana Football Club

People in India are crazy about ‘CRICKET‘. They play with their remote and flicker numerous sports channels but their search halts where cricket is smashing fours and sixes. Despite billions of cricket fans there exist a literally tiny community which is dedicated to sports other than cricket. They admit that they have fewer fans that can be counted on their fingers, but their passion does not let them sleep and they always think of their sport. Amongst such sport groups, a name sprawls into the horizon and that is Rajputana Football Club of Udaipur. Our team spoke to them and took a closer look on their activities. They shared with us each and every detail about their club and the same is being shared with you.

Rajputana Football Club 

RFC Futta

How was this club formed?

The answer really stunned everyone at first as they revealed that it was not at all planned. There wasn’t any objective to form a club. There were only 5 or 6 members, although all were having some background related to sports, they used to play football at BN College just for fun and it was their regular routine. Gradually their numbers and supporters rouse and simple practicing shaped up into agile revolution which led the birth of Rajputana Football Club.

How RFC is different from other sports club?

There are a numbers of factors which keeps us apart from other sports clubs. For instance;

  • We are an open community. Anyone can come and join our club.
  • There is no coach or trainer in the club. We watch matches, learn from them and practice the same at ground.
  • You need not to be a football player. Irrespective of sport you have played in past does not matter for us. Here we gather to play football.
  • There is no requirement to be a member of any eminent club, not at all. At RFC we respect every individual and do not encourage discriminations. For us everyone is equal.
  • The strongest thing about our club is that people of every age, gender, caste and even nationality is the part of our regiment. Girls enjoy playing football with us and they feel themselves safe and protected, which matters a lot to us.
  • Foreigners working at various NGOs join us in the evening and enjoy the game.
  • It is a fact that a nominal fee has been decided which each members has to pay every month but still it is not a bounded rule for young kids. There are examples of many school children who play with us and learning the tactics of the game.
  • Football is in our blood and we could go to any level to promote it.

 

RFC During Training

What was the strength of the club at inception and today?

The club was formed hardly by 5 or 6 members and today we are a strong team of more than 150 members.

Can you sum up some of your major achievements?

Yeah, since we practiced regularly and gradually our playing techniques improved significantly. People noticed us and some of them offered us to play tournaments on behalf of their team. We also played various matches under the banner of RFC and at times we played for the other teams too. We played matches in 2011 in Futta Tournament and grabbed 2nd and 3rd position. We won the Krishna Tournament in 2012. We are regularly playing with army troops and they accept that they are learning a lot from RFC. Kids in RFC from various schools, playing from their school teams are also scoring good results.

Rajputana Football Club

How do you consider the status of Football in India?

Cricket is everywhere. Even parents have not seen any other game apart from cricket. So they wish their kids to learn cricket. There is lack of awareness in the society. People are more excited and thrilled towards pace as we can see how 20-20 matches have gained popularity over the years. Truly speaking football has much pace than cricket. We need medium which can spread awareness among the mass about the benefit of sports other than cricket.

What are your future plans?

At times we also face lack of infrastructure to promote the game. Sometime we do not have ground when the Field Club is hosting other activities. For playing tournaments we need to have professional sports kits. There are lots of such hurdles we face every day, but we try to find out solutions out of the problems. We are keenly looking for a good sponsor which could help us to saturate our infra related issues. What may come, our objective is to keep football alive in our blood and we are working very hard for it. We are planning to come up with our own sports academy. This is what we can say at the moment for the future to come.

Categories
People

An Interview with IT Head @ HRH Group : Mr. Vijay Choudhary

Vijay Choudhary HRH

1. Can you put some light, how HRH Group proved its Excellency and succeeded in grabbing the award.

HRH Group of Hotels with its dedicated team of I.T. worked hard and develops solution in-house for various verticals of industry. The innovation is based on need of industry and a driving force towards creating better presence in respective markets to serve. With the vision of our Chairman Shiriji Arvind Singh ji Mewar , we always focused on understanding critical aspect of Businesses and its pain area then should fix it using technology solutions as a key drivers.

CIO Asia 100 is a very big platform where more than 15 countries compete to be listed in 100’s index. We submitted our case study of integrated solution of eCRM (Customer Relationship Management), CRS (Central Reservation System) and Revenue Information System. It found innovative and having sense of strategic value to the jury especially in hospitality industry cope up with Global standard work flow practices.

 

2. Sir, what was your first reaction after hearing about the award?

When I got email from the editor announcing the news and inviting us for the award ceremony I was excited … ‘Yes it’s done what is next now!!’.

 

3. How companies and institutions of Udaipur got the nomination for this award. How many other companies also nominated from Udaipur?

I don’t have information of other Organizations nominated from Udaipur however in winner list there were 5 more winners from India including big brands like L&T Infotech, ICICI Securities, HDFC Bank.

 

4. What would be the after effect of grabbing this award to Udaipur IT Sector?

Udaipur becoming the hub of education producing talented people in profession like engineering, management and medical. The award creates a space at Global platforms and breaks the myth that small cities (other than metros) cannot do something noticeable and unique at Global platforms. It would be a big motivation and encouragement to I.T. professionals in and around Udaipur.

 

5. One main big reason which put the award in HRH’s lap.

Focused industry specific approach where the Business and leadership ‘think less I.T. think more Business’ with a zeal for IT and business alignment. We believe in 1+1 = 11 the synergy among the team members.

 

6. What are your further plans after receiving this recognition?

We have a plan to diversify our foray into software services to outside world specially to serve Hospitality, Leisure, Travel, Tourism & education industries for their different need of process automation and achieving greater agility to the businesses. The various domains may cover HMS (Hotel Management System), eCRS (Central Reservations system), eCRM & SalesForce automation, HRIS (Human Resources Information Sys), MMS (Material Management System)  & SMS (School Management System). Industry really needs high quality and domain specific agile solutions which should support business and align technology with business objective as the Global economy opens up doors for many more market to serve.

cio 100 Vijay Choudhary HRH

7. Could you elaborate some threats and challenges for successfully establishing and running the IT department of HRH?

Challenges are there as far as visibility to global markets are concerned towards competing for the opportunities available. Moreover the challenges are lack of Infrastructure facilities to the cities like ours, penetrations/access to new technology, training and retaining quality man power.

8. Any message for the youth of Udaipur for becoming a successful IT Professional.

Think out of the box. Your first innovation should encourage you for next it’s a continue process don’t stop yourself anywhere. Udaipur being a small city as compare to metro you have more time to devote for quality work since less time required for commuting. Take advantage of good environment which is less polluted, make likeminded groups, participate in bigger forums at least once in a year, speak, write and let world listen to you. Consider that you can and have approach to Global platforms. Dream for it, strive for it and make it happen.

Best wishes !!

Jai Mewar !!
Categories
People

Miti Godawat – Flying With The Clouds

Miti Godawat another feather to udaipur’s cap, shares her experience and success mantra with UdaipurBlog.

In Conversation With Miti Godawat

UB : As everybody is aware of your schooling from The Study,udaipur. Our readers are eager to know that after 12th what was your next step ?

Miti : After my 12th  I gave few competitive exams just to know and gain experience on how things are like, I even got through IIT but I knew my aim and was totally different. I started looking  for flying schools in abroad. I had many options like Australia,USA, New Zealand but I opted for Canada because of the quality and effective  training it offers and also the exposure one gets there. There you have value of life. I even had to do two medicals in India namely class 2 and class 1 which I did in Mumbai and Delhi respectively. Meanwhile I chose Canada and applied for it. After completing all the government and personal  formalities I flew for  Canada on 19 July, 2009 as soon as I turned 17.

 

UB : What inspired you to take up this field?

Miti : Becoming a pilot was my dad’s dream, this was the first thing that came up into his mind when he saw me playing with planes rather than Barbie dolls. As a child I was always fascinated by planes, whenever I use to travel, cockpit was the first place I use to hit, I loved the technology and the glorious uniform they put on with due respect. I even tried for air force but my height issue caught me back.

 

UB : What changes you find in your personality?

Miti : The ‘Miti’ which I was before has totally been reformed after being  there for almost 2 and a half years. My confidence has boosted up by leaps and bounds, I am totally independent and carefree now. My perspective for a lot of things has totally changed in a positive manner.

 

UB : Any challenge you can say the most dangerous one when you felt ‘cold feet’?

Miti : I had quiet few challenges but trust me I never felt cold feet till date because of the confidence and faith in blessings and prayers.There have been many incidences – Once I had to make an emergency landing, once was stuck up in bad weather and had to divert to another airport. Once I was approaching towards the land  and another aircraft took off before me it was totally unnoticed and there was hardly any vertical separation between us. All these incidences made me more confident. I never had fear of crashing because I trusted my skills, if it is not for any airport I will surely make a hard landing in a field because we are trained the same way to handle the worst case scenarios.

 

UB: How was your stay in Canada?

Miti : My stay in Canada was great, the things I got to learn there I doubt I would have ever got anywhere else. The fast life out there made me faster.  I enjoyed the cuisines,  Canadian culture and the festivals.

 

UB : What are your plans for the near future? How are you planning to carry on your professional life?

Miti : As of now I am working on the conversion of Canadian to Indian license. My plan is to get more experiences on different type of air arts and go ahead for a job .

 

UB: Who is your idol ? What effect did he/she has on your life?

Miti: My idols are my parents, grand mom and my best friend as they all in some or other way share same qualities of inspiring people, they believe in giving rather than taking, they believe in hard work, their honesty and dedication towards their work made me praise them. The positive attitude they carry for life is worth a big salute.

 

UB : You made ‘Udaipur’ proud, you made your Parents and your friends proud. But which was the moment that made YOU feel proud?

Miti : The best moment was when I heard  ” Congratulations Captain You Did it” and second best was giving this surprise to my dear ones as none of them knew I had my exam. These small  yet priceless moments were beyond imagination.

 

UB : Any message you would  like to convey to Udaipurites, especially girls?

Miti : Don’t walk in Crowd, make your own identity, you are born to lead your life, it’s not on rent have courage to face situations, never give up and you’ll achieve success and subside those who think girls are born to stay at home.

 

UB : If ‘Miti’ was not a pilot, what would she be ?

Miti : If I wouldn’t have been a pilot I would have opted for aircraft interior designing or something creative as I love to be creative and enjoy being ‘artisty’.

 

UB : Being a girl you chose this field, a field that would even frighten up men, what do you have to say about it?

Miti : Yes I chose and I came up. Being a girl things are different but I would say it’s our own mentality which makes us feel low. I would say don’t think you are a girl or boy just focus on your work and automatically things will work out and if you faith and confidence in yourself nothing can stop you .

 

UB : Your Views on UdaipurBlog.com

Miti : You guys came up with an excellent idea, being there using all technology. I used to think even udaipur should have some website in which all the information can be found in seconds and on one page and then I saw this blog. Great job! All information, news and updates are so helpful. This makes me feel home away from home and keeps me updated.

miti godawat

 

Article By : Smriti Goyal