Ketan Prakash Zagade - Baramati, Maharashtra

 

I am Ketan Prakash Zagade, a BBA student and a social worker. I am from Baramati. In the year 2011, I was told about  Let's Make A Difference by Zainab Hasnain and Randhir Jachak.

The first camp that I had attended in my life was The BYC (Baramati Youth Conference) in 2011. This conference that had changed me and my thoughts completely. The P- Purity, H-Honesty, U-Unselfishness and L-Love, the four values just changed my life.

The realization about the conditional love towards my parents and friends and the acts of dishonesty done by me to avoid problems came to me in the sessions of quiet time. Let's Make A Difference was a path which taught me to listen to my inner voice. There were many voices around me, somewhere I had lost the path of listening to my inner voice and my thoughts. The negative thoughts which came into my mind were separating me from who I am and making me think differently. Let's Make A Difference made me think positively and made me listen to my inner voice and implement the thoughts in a positive way.

During my quite time I realized that there were many things which made me feel low, but many times I used to ignore them. During my quite time, at first I didn’t know what to think about and write down; later on I felt guilty about many things that I had done and I also thought about the people with whom I had maintained a distance from in spite of them always being there for me. I realized somewhere that I was selfish. “No one is perfect; we have to make things perfect, by changing oneself” is finally what I told myself.

Of all the sessions, I liked the quiet time and sharing sessions. I felt very good when I was able to talk with people around me about the wrong things that I had done and I was able to ask them for the suggestions. I never have had so much confidence in myself while talking openly in public, I was happy as I had realized my mistakes and I had started changing myself step by step towards a better version of myself.

After the camp, a few months passed and I felt the need to do quiet time daily and check my progress based on my writings in the notebook. As time progressed I started a small mobile business along with my social work. I always spoke positively by following the PHUL standards.

In August 2012, I was elected to be the Secretary of Lions Club of Baramati. While working for a social cause, I had negative waves coming from the people around me, however I never fell back as I felt confident and knew what I was doing was good and that I should carry on. Somewhere I lacked confidence, but today I can confidently do my work in a better way.

Today I am the smallest social worker in my town, also I have my own small business in cell phones/handsets, I am also a student, an event manager and I hope to launch my own Hotel soon.

Thank you,
Ketan Prakash Zagade, Baramati, India