Ms. Balika Baskey
Customer Care Executive, Rural Housing, Panchayati Raj Department, Government of Odisha
“The motto of life should be ‘to become a good human being.’”
A positive-minded and spirited young woman, Ms. Balika Baskey, from East Singhbhum of Jharkhand, has made a mark in life as an Executive. Born on 29 November, 1997, to poor Santal parents – the father being a B Ed. degree holder, offering private tuition, and the mother a daily-wage earner – she saw them both struggling to support a family of five. Agriculture, though a source of income, was not enough. Crippling poverty and hardship notwithstanding, the parents wanted Balika to be adequately educated, moderately educated as they themselves were. Having completed her schooling and intermediate education, Balika enrolled as an undergraduate student of KISS and obtained a Postgraduate Diploma in Community Development. Adept in sporting skills, she had won the 3rd prize at State level Volleyball (school level), and bagged the Best Personality Award, the ‘Adirani Kalinga Tribal Queen, 2018’. She shares her story thus:
During my childhood at a very initial point, when I had just started my schooling, my dream was to be teacher. As my father use to offer tuitions, watching him teach I felt that I too would become a teacher. But when I grew up and entered into high school, my dream changed on a certain day. It was the day when my father had taken me to a bank along with him to withdraw some money. For the first time I was visiting a bank that day. While we were standing in a queue my father said, “See that lady at the counter? I want to see you in that place in future.” So, that was the moment I decided my dream should be to become a bank employee.
KISS did help me to make my dream come true. During my intermediate studies my father became very sick and was bed-ridden. He wasn’t able to do any work. As he was the sole breadwinner in my family, we had to go through very tough time, not just emotionally but financially too. Had I not got the chance to pursue my higher studies at KISS, then the only option my family, I would have been married off to someone. That would have at least helped in lessening the burden on my family. But I was fortunate enough that I got admission into KISS and got a golden chance to be a part of the KISS family. I completed my B.Com. as well as PG in Community Development from KIIT. So, I would like to mention that KISS gave me a new birth.
The very first day I entered into KISS, I started missing my family members very badly. Homesickness lasted for a month. Poor financial condition of my family prodded me to study hard and secure good marks, so that I could get a job and support my family as soon as I completed my higher studies. After a month, the social surrounding of KISS felt very friendly. Whenever I felt homesick my friends and teachers helped me. Everyone was so supportive that I started feeling very comfortable as though I were at my home. So, eventually I was very happy to be part of KISS family.
Initially, I did miss my friends and the traditional games we used to play back there in my village. But coming to KISS was more interesting than that. All my classmates were so friendly that with a short period of time I made many new friends. I still remember when after the hostel admission we girls of B.Com. batch were allotted a room. As I was a non-Odia, I was very scared because I was not able to understand the Odia language, and things seemed to be getting difficult for me to figure out. But there were a few girls who knew Hindi, and they started interacting with me in Hindi to make me feel very comfortable. I was so happy to find such lovely friends. Many of them didn’t know good Hindi, but still they were always ready to help. The support I got from them was beyond my expectation. At the beginning, I was unable to understand the Odia language, but my new friends in KISS helped me learn it. In two months I was able to understand the basics and I was confident enough to start the conversation in Odia. I loved all the teachers and staff who selflessly helped me whenever I faced any problems.
In studies, I don’t think, I faced any difficulties. All the teachers interacted with us in three languages i.e. Odia, Hindi and English. So, it was not hard for me to catch up with my studies. All teachers were concerned about the students, especially who were from outside of the state. If I talk about challenges, the only one I faced was that I was not able to interact with all my classmates at the beginning because quite a few of them didn’t know Hindi language, although everyone was polite to me. When I learned Odia there was no one left with whom I couldn’t interact.
To overcome the language barrier I started working on it. I started listening to friends, teachers and staff. I tried to speak some words that my friends used to tell me. I also wrote them down in my copy for the basic conversation which was mostly used. I started memorizing them and I started speaking. I used to make mistakes when I tried to speak but my friends always rectified me. Teachers in my class also made me speak and they too rectified my mistakes. I was so interested to learn the Odia language that in one and half month I started speaking it with a little mistakes. But slowly I developed fluency, and eventually my speaking skills improved. I got so much of appreciation from all friends and teachers and staffs that I felt very happy that I
I feel so privileged and thankful that I got opportunity to come to KISS University and pursue my higher studies. It is my honour to thank Dr. Achyuta Samanta Sir. Coming to KISS was like getting a rebirth. It helped me in making my dream come true. The academic support provided to me, made me fell so comfortable that I got the confidence to face the people around me. It was not just the study but my personality also changed. After admiring our Founder sir, I have learnt that the motto of life should be “to become a good human being”. I will always be thankful to all academic members who always supported me and provided me a bright guidance during my studies. I really appreciate this institute where more than 30 thousand students are studying. To look after such a large number of gatherings under one roof is indeed very challenging. But KISS has admirably maintained the balance of teaching and mentoring all the students. All the teachers were experienced and excellent in teaching. They made everything understandable in a very simple manner. Even the topics that were difficult to understand were explained by the teacher until everyone understood. Their dedication to teaching and mentoring was remarkable. They made us feel comfortable by developing bonding with all the students. I would like to give full ratings to them regarding this.
KISS helps the poorest of the poor and marginalized masses to be productive, self-dependent and socially useful. This is a tremendous work done by this institute, and for this work it always deserves commendation. In fact I’m one such example among many, whose lives KISS has changed. In this institute there are many children who are so poor that they have little food at home, and also they barely get the opportunity of formal learning. But KISSm, under the leadership of our Founder Sir, has changed the lives of all those poor children by providing them free education as well as residency. Students are not even charged a single penny; everything – be it lodge and board, or education, or medical services – is provided free of coast to KISS students. This is always beyond imagination that such a great work is done by KISS.
I am from the Santal tribe, and I’m a proud Santal girl at that. I feel very happy that at KISS there are students from many different tribes. KISS also provides us the opportunity to stay connected with our tribes. Students are given the opportunity to learn their mother tongue as a subject. We also conduct cultural programmes and participate in them. As I belong to the Santal tribe I was also engaged in the cultural programmes. We performed the tribal dance which was really amazing, and it was the way to stay connected with our culture. Till now, I have not contributed much to my community regarding the development. But I have some plans which I would execute if I ever get the chance. At my individual level I have tried to create awareness among people of the importance of education, especially the importance of education for a girl child in my village. I want to become successful enough to be a role model to the youth of my community.
To my mind, the most important thing that a society needs is education. In my personal experience education has changed my life and also that of my family. So I will always wish to give importance to education and give it first priority for each and every family. I hope the positive change in my life is just the beginning to happen, and more good changes are likely to come about in the future. I wish to be an influencer to my community for giving importance to education – and not only education, but also to become self-sufficient.
My message for the KISS students who are currently studying will be that they should make the most of the opportunity that they have been provided, because they all are lucky to get education and stay in a wonderful academic family of this institution. They ought to acquire knowledge as much as they can to become successful persons and make our KISS feel proud. Wherever they go, they should never forget the value of education and, least of all, our Founder Sir, who gave us the opportunity for education.
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