Mukti Talented Student Sponsorship (TSS) team conducted a virtual sponsor-student meeting between the sponsor Mr. Atish Mandal and Suman Parua, a newly-selected student of the 2022-23batch, on 1st April 2023. This was the first time that they interacted with each other.
Mr. Atish Mandal is associated with Mukti from 2022-23. Mr. Mandal is an engineer by profession and has a Mechanical Engineering degree from Jadavpur University, Kolkata. He is an alumnus of the Indian Institute of Management – Ahmedabad and is currently associated with Hindalco Industries Limited (an Aditya Birla Group company) as Vice President of Engineering & Maintenance in the Manufacturing Center of Excellence Department. Mr. Mandal is passionate about yoga and fitness. He likes participating in marathons and also likes reading novels in his leisure time. Mr. Mandal is highly focused on management studies. He has pursued training programs from the Schools of Management at Bombay IIT, NUS Singapore, and Trondheim University – Norway.
Suman is pursuing B.Sc with Chemistry honors from Ramakrishna Mission Vivekananda Centenary College. He resides with his parents and elder brother at Chandranagar village in the 24 Paraganas district of West Bengal. His father is a daily laborer and his mother is a homemaker. His father cultivates vegetables in monsoons and winters and sells newspapers the rest of the year. His father is the only bread earner in their family and the unstable income makes it difficult for his father to manage the education and household expenses for the family. Suman’s hopes for a brighter future were given a chance when Mr. Mandal selected him for sponsorship.
During their conversation, Mr. Mandal inquired where Suman is staying for his studies, as his college is far from his home. He also expressed his interest in knowing Suman’s initial schooling, family background and hobbies or interests and his goals.
In response to Mr. Mandal’s questions, Suman said that he is staying at the boarding of Ramakrishna Mission Calcutta Student’s Home, Belghoria. Upon learning this, Mr. Mandal said that he himself was also a boarder in the same place for two years as a student. Suman said he passed Madhyamik with a score of 87.57% in 2020, and Higher Secondary with a score of 96.4% in 2022, both from Rajnagar Biswambhar High School.
After completing Chemistry honors, Suman wants to sit for the Joint Admission test for Master (JAM) then other entrance examinations like the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) and The English Language Skills Assessment (ELSA). If he doesn’t succeed in these examinations, then he will pursue MSc and higher research-oriented studies. Mr. Mandal asked him if he had any interest in technical education like M Tech or B Tech, to which Suman replied he wants to continue with chemistry honors and its subsidiary subjects.
Mr. Mandal advised Suman that if he wished to pursue other options besides the teaching profession, then he can look into other peripheral streams of Chemistry such as medicine, and chemical engineering. Mr. Mandal asked which part of chemistry Suman likes the most – organic, inorganic, or physical chemistry. Suman said he liked inorganic and physical chemistry the most.
Mr. Mandal informed Suman that organic chemistry has more potential at the current time. But before going for any other subjects in the future, the core subjects should be covered thoroughly.
Suman shared that he likes to play football and cricket and that he is learning juggling from a senior student.
Mr. Mandal advised Suman to learn to control stress levels by engaging in physical exercise and to learn to give back to society through social engagements. Mr. Mandal expressed his interest in visiting the Mukti city office when in Kolkata.
Mukti expresses sincere thanks to Mr. Mandal. Mukti cannot succeed in fulfilling the dreams of the deprived yet meritorious students without the generosity of supporters like him.