Featured Student - Kishore

Kishore was informed by a friend about a talk delivered by Dr. Ali Khwaja at the IIWC. He attended the talk and found it very interesting, from then onwards he attended many talks by Dr. Ali whenever he could find time. Eventually he became aware of the course on Diploma for Counseling skills and was interested to do the course. But since he was involved in a business he could not find time to attend the classes. Hence he was given a special permission by Mr. Raja to attend only the weekend classes at R.V.Road.

Kishore said "I took up the counseling course because I wanted to know more about myself and it was a good platform for self awareness." At the same time he was always interested in human behaviour and wanted to discover more in this area. The talks and lectures given by Dr. Ali Khwaja was another reason why Kishore enrolled into the course.

Kishore says, "The knowledge and the benefits derived by me from the counseling course was abundant, I learnt a lot about self awareness". . Kishore said that before joining the course he was a very judgmental person, he would always form an opinion about a person when he met them. He also said that he would always offer a solution to a problem immediately and was not patient enough to hear them out. He said that he did not believe in the traditional method of counseling where the counselor had a series of sessions held with the counsellee and then give them the solutions in a methodical manner. But after joining the course his views changed, it became a continuous process of self awareness where he understood and accepted the views of other people by being non judgmental, he also discovered that help can be offered in various ways. One need not go only to the hospitals as a volunteer to offer help, Kishore mentioned that for him the entire world seemed to be a hospital where there are many people who required a helping hand and he was more willing to find out who these people are and help them.

"I am still in the process of realizing an important aspect i.e., about people's capacities to cope with situations. Before taking up the counseling course I was of the opinion that every person had the same capacity to cope with problems or had the same view on life. I would expect people to think in the same angle that I am thinking and I would also expect people to reach targets in the same speed that I could do". Kishore explanied. But the course had changed his point of view, he has understood that different people have different capacities to analyze a situation and have developed them for various reasons and is also the out come of various circumstances in their lives. He said that he is in the process of accepting the same.

Kishore also mentioned about another aspect of the course that interested him, "The course is not very rigid, it always gave a lot of room for discussions and interactions. Hence all the students were able to give there views and also understand the views of others. Through the interactions I was enlightened with a lot of information which helped me change his views". He also mentioned that the interactions was a highlight of the course and the specialty of the course. He also mentioned that it was very astonishing that how these interactions had helped a lot of people to open up to complete strangers and pour out their inner most thoughts.

Sharing his experiences Kishore said that at one particular Helping Hand meeting he had formed an opinion about one of the volunteers' depending upon the manner in which he interacted and the answered the questions that were posed to him.  Kishore later learnt about that person and the difficult situations faced by him, this completely changes his point of view about that person, he also realised that how situations can change a person.

Kishore said that he has learnt to give a lot to life than to business. He also mentioned that he has learnt to tackle situations without reacting emotionally. He also said that the interpersonal skills that he has learnt in the course has helped him a lot in his business, he said that due to this he has acquired the ability to identify the right people for a job. He also said, "I have also learnt to handle children which used to be very difficult for me before taking up the course".

Kishore said that the association with Banjara Academy will go for a long time. He said that he saw himself "as a candle which can light up another candle which in turn can light up many more candles and hence spread the message that had been given to me by the Banjara Academy". He also mentioned that the classes were very interactive and hence he had made friends for life. He said that every person who possesses the capacity to listen to other people's problems and be optimistic can do the course, and whoever has done the course should first try and help people around them who "can in turn reach out to many others".