We had a record attendance of 12 members for our meeting. We welcome our new members :
Mrs Neeta Das
Mrs Abhira Roychowdhury
Chief Engineer Arunabh Pal
Chief Engineer Arun Kumar Roy – The CE’s daughter, Sriranjani Roy, will be joining Parivaar shortly.

Our meeting began with maintaining 2 minutes silence in memory of those who lost their lives in the Fire at Stephen Court on Park Street. May their souls rest in peace, and God grant strength to the bereaved families.

1. Members were requested to blog regularly on our site aesmparivaar.com and to check often on the latest updates and thus be in touch with what was happening in Parivaar.

2. Visit to All Bengal Womens’ Union (Old Age Home) on Eliott Road on 10th April 2010 at 10 a.m. Members and friends please assemble at the AESM office at 10 am from where we will proceed to the Home to visit the Senior ladies. We have decided at our meeting to give each inmate the following items:
– A hand towel, A cake of soap, Talcum powder, Coconut oil and a comb which will be packed in a zip seal bag. A box of sweets for the inmates from ‘Mithai’ will also be given to them. This visit and the time spent with the inmates with be a befitting gift to them on the eve of Bengali New Year which falls on the 15th of April 2010. Shopping for this visit will be done by Mrs Dasgupta and Mrs Mendonca.

3. Mrs Mendonca spoke to Shikha Di who is in-charge of this Home about a medical check up for the old ladies – she says that presently there is no need for this, but if required she will inform us.
The repairs on the beds and lockers will also begin on the 29th March and should be completed before our visit on the 10th April.

4. Sarsuna School Visit – This was tentatively planned for May/June depending on the school holidays for summer. This would be for the girls of Classes 9-12.
The school has also given us an estimate for repairs of the room given to Parivaar for use in displaying charts and notes on Saving our environment. The estimate is quite steep at Rs.1,36,774/-. The large room is in a dilapidated state with the terrace leaking and the ceiling and walls very damp. Parivaar has decided to keep this project on hold till we can garner sufficient funds to undertake these repairs.

5. Visit to New Juniors Janakalyan Society, 143, Collin Street, Kolkata 700 016 – This is a Bustee school where quality education is given to the poorest of poor children from KG – Class II. After this the students are helped with admission in a senior English Medium school. Mrs De and Mrs Mendonca visited this school early this month and a request was made by the teachers if Parivaar could help them out with Exercise books for the children for the new term April 2010-March 2010. We had a look at the copies of the children and all the work they are doing in class and it was amazing to see how well these poor children who only speak Hindi and Bengali at home are writing and learning English so well with a natural flair and love for their studies. Our meeting decided to extend the help requested for and exercise books for Maths, English, Hindi and Environment studies totalling 860 copies (cost Rs.4300/-) will be handed over to the children in their school in the first week of April when they start their new Session in school. Parivaar members will visit this school to hand over the exercise books and meet the children and their teachers at 10 am on 19th April 2010, when the new term begins and will hand over the Exercise books.
Supporting Education is one way of making our future generation self supporting and an asset for our country.

6. Mrs Mousumi Acharya informed us that she was visitng the Nirmal Hriday institution of Mother Teresa in Kolkata – this home is for the orphan children and has a large number of children with special needs. The Sisters of Charity would like people to volunteer to spend time with these children and take care of them for a few hours every day. Parivaar will keep this in mind and do our best to reach out to these children.

7. Last but not the least we are proud to inform all that Parivaar will complete 1 Year of service to the less fortunate in June 2010. A Year has gone by and we are in the process of being registered. Our site aesmparivaar.com is active and would welcome inputs from all seafarers in India and abroad and also from their families. It would be a great moment when more Parivaars are formed in other cities also. Parivaar Kolkata is willing to extend all help and guidance in making this happen.

In carrying this forward Parivaar is planning to have a function to celebrate this 1st Anniversary and in doing so garner funds and help to reach out to many more Institutions, Homes, Orphanages and the poorest of the poor in a bigger and more positive way. A brochure is being designed and more frequent meetings will be held to plan and organize this Function which should be held in the 3rd quarter of 2010. We shall welcome suggestions, ideas, advice and any kind of help to make this programme a super success. Parivaar children, family members, friends, well-wishes and all AESM Officers and families are welcome to join us in celebrating this one year of sharing and caring with our poor brethren. Children from the homes, schools and the Ladies of the Old age homes will also be invited to be a part of our celebrations.

We are thankful to Chief Engineer Arun Kumar Roy and Chief Engineer Arunabh Pal for their generous donation of Rs.1000/- each to Parivaar. All members present also made a contribution of Rs.500/- each and AESM Kolkata made a donation of Rs.5000/-. This will take care of our expenses for our visit to the Old Age home on 10th April and also for the Exercise books for the Bustee school in Collin Lane.