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Photo: OTV
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No job is small and when you make it a point to help others selflessly, any job can become nobler.
The book lovers, who have visited the ongoing book fair in Bhubaneswar, must have come across a young girl selling sumptuous Dahibara and other snacks at a food stall. That would be Ashyukta Panda, an MBA graduate from the prestigious Xavier Institute of Management Bhubaneswar (XIMB).
Her other educational qualifications include schooling from Loyola, Intermediate from OUAT and a BTech degree in Mechanical engineering from IGIT Sarang. While her father is an Associate Professor in a government college, her mother runs a public school in Bhubaneswar. Her grandfather was an IAS officer too. Ashyukta herself is working with a PSU, IFFCO and has been drawing a handsome salary. So, why is she selling snacks at a fair?
Charity will be the answer to that question. Ashyukta has a soft corner for orphans and she is a regular visitor to t the orphanages in the Smart City. As public funding fills a major share of the orphanage coffers, she tries her level best to arrange donations for it.
While orphanages in Bhubaneswar don’t face any acute shortage of funds, because, well it is the capital city, some others in remote parts of Odisha struggle to keep ends meet.
There is an orphanage on the outskirts of Dhenkanal frequented by Ashyukta. Overcrowded by orphans, the orphanage finds it difficult to provide two square meals to its inmate. That’s when Ashyukta chipped in. She decided to help it and rolled her sleeves to sell homemade Odia snacks at the book fair in Bhubaneswar.
Not only to orphanages, but her charity also extends to helping out cancer patients as well.
When OTV asked her about the reason, she said, “I am doing this for an orphanage and also for the breast cancer initiative by a private hospital.
The orphanage in Dhenkanal gets hidden due to its remoteness and never receives enough funding. So I have decided to help them by any means.”
She says, all the money gained from the food stall will go to the orphanage and for the treatment of breast cancer patients.
The food items, from Pakoras to Dahibara, ghuguni and papdi chat, everything is prepared at home by her mother and other domestic helps.
Sanjukta Panda, Ashyukta’s mother said, “She has been helping out the orphanages from her childhood days. She did freelance content writing in college. And whatever she earned, she donated to the orphanages as charity. I am really happy for her social work.”
At a time when being self-sufficient and self-reliant makes you independent, Ashyukta has gone even further by not only doing a job but by doing charity as well.
(Reported By Niranjan Reddy, OTV)
