Rashmi Rekha Das
A woman of grace, dignity, calm and poise, Sucharita exudes warmth, which draws one to her instantly. She carries an aura of inner strength and unconditional love for all
Live to give with love to all” is the maxim by which Sucharita Kar lives her life and leads others to follow. Sucharita imparts handicraft-making, painting, singing and dancing lessons to about 246 children and orphans drawn from slums at All India PTC Cultural School, an institution she runs in Bhubaneswar. She is imparting skills among the children to help them earn a livelihood and become self-reliant.
To all who know Sucharita and her work for the past eight years, she is ‘Bou’, mother in Oriya, who encourages the children in her charge to think differently and prepares them to face the challenges of life.
Seeing poor, illiterate children begging and choosing odd jobs for survival, victims of child labour and child abuse gave her the idea of establishing an institution that would provide free training in art, dance and singing to such underprivileged children in Bhubaneswar, Sakhigopal and Balugaon.
“If you help them with money, it will last for a day, a week or even for a month, but if you help them with education, it will be with them forever, and will transform their lives as well as those of future generations,” she says but is quick to add that “every good cause has its own limitations and opening a school is no different”.
But her passion and resolve to transform the destinies of orphans and children from slums has been remarkable. “I am touched by the simplicity and warmth of parentless and slum kids those who are running from pillar to post to lead a quality life. My aim is to discover hidden talent in such children and to give them exposure and a reason to lead life with dignity,” she says.
All India PTC Cultural School has seven teachers, including her. While she handles the art classes, the others give dancing and singing lessons. Besides operating the school which is part of her house, Sucharita visits an orphanage in Sakhigopal to give art classes to the 46 inmates there. She also visits Hatabaradiha school at Balugaon to give free art lessons to 180 students.
Of her pupils, she has a very insightful perspective to offer: “They are talented, imaginative, creative and eager to learn new things and yet there is no one to motivate them to develop their potential and no platform to showcase their talent. With their artistic and analytical capabilities, they have the potential to become great artists and designers.”
Given the right opportunity, Sucharita believes these children will be able to excel in any field. “I usually send the paintings these children produce to state, national and international level exhibitions. I also send select paintings to the annual exhibition at Dhauli College of Art,” she says.
The paintings have also not gone unnoticed. “You will be surprised that their paintings not only earn appreciation but also get awards. Guddu Das was one of the gifted children. He was a brilliant painter and his works were much appreciated. He was even felicitated by the Governor and the Chief Minister for his work. But Das died last year after he came down with fever. It was really painful,” ‘bou’, who is also a poetess, says.
Supported ably by her husband, ECoR senior section engineer Prasanna Kumar Kar, she strongly believes in following her heart and giving back to the society. “Mothers are the backbone of society. They should inculcate good qualities in their children, which will help the society to improve. It will also help spread Oriya culture. Besides, every human being is blessed with some good quality. We should try to share these with others to create a healthy society,” she concludes.