Eso Kichhu Kori

Last year's medical topper of the state was the son of a cha-wala (Tea stall owner). There have been numerous examples of such bright students from poor families.Once in a while news of meritorious students finding it hard to keep going in higher academic pursuits due to pressing poverty comes out in papers. And sometimes follow-up news would report how some angel of a person called up the newspaper office to take up the cost of the student's further studies.

It's not a difficult guess that such students known to us are just the tip of the iceberg. The rest goes unnoticed and drop out from studies down the way.

What would happen if some sensitive people got together and raise funds to ensure such poor but meritorious students don't find lack of money to come between them and higher studies? With such an idea a forum was floated on Orkut by Madhumita Dutta, a leading Kolkata-based journalist. The overwhelming response lead to forming Eso Kichhu Kori (Means 'Lets do something')- a social organisation to champion the above cause. Among those who came were Dr. Asim Gupta, retired Chief Engineer, Abira Ghosh,social worker, Tilak Gupta, Tirthankar Ghosh (Software professionals), Sreya Sen, lecturer, Biplab Sarkar, journalist, Subhrangshu Chakraborty, Chartered Accountant, Rituparna Sen, management executive, apart from Madhumita. They form the current governing body of Eso Kichhu Kori (Lets call it EKK as it is popularly known). The USP of EKK is it aims total sponsorship of the students identified for support on a merit-cum-need basis, unlike a one-time institutional support of a few thousands.

After a few meetings it was finally registered as a body on 15th February 2007. Meanwhile the community of the same name, which had set the ball rolling in Orkut, has flourished and like-minded people from various parts of world has assured to chip in with regular donations. EKK will shortly get into action to the next steps i.e. raising funds and identifying students.

Watch this space for more actions in EKK. Meanwhile anybody interested to get in touch with them can send a mail to esokichhukori@gmail.com.