Painting a bright future

Datta Pashankar feels that imparting knowledge to poor students is a way of serving society. “Nanasaheb Pashankar,my father,began his career prior to independence with cycle painting on pavements. Later,with the money he saved up,he opened a tiny cycle and motor-bike painting shop. He ran errands in the morning to make ends meet.” In 1947,the garage was registered with the number ‘1’,being the first of it’s kind in Pune. The garage even painted cars of personalities like Lata Mangeshkar,Asha Bhosale,Pandit Bhimsen Joshi and Sharad Pawar. “Rajesh Khanna used the car painted by us for his film Hathi Mere Sathi ,” says Suraj.

Datta Pashankar pitched the idea for the workshops to the Rotary Club of Pune South,of which he is a director now. They joined hands to provide certificates to participants who graduated from the Pashankar Service Centre. “Rotary Club gave us the boost we needed,” says Datta Pashankar who,along with his nephew,is a multi-tasker in the Service Centre. “We teach,send quotations,talk to suitable employers and learn along with our students.”

With a student count of 120 every year,two such workshops are conducted along with certificate workshops “for school-going boys during vacations. They randomly come to us and if it interests them then we never think twice about teaching them,” says Datta Pashankar,who has been involved in several drives like providing financial aid to students of Saraswati School,Sadashivpeth,and tree-plantations.

The course outline includes car painting,spray painting,signboard painting and brushing,as well as prospective employment placements. And it is all for free! “We provide the students with breakfast and make them market-ready,as most of them lack basic literacy and numerical skills.” The students are also given a monthly stipend and trained to face interviews,” says Suraj. “It feels good when our students are placed with companies like Tata and Maruti.” He looks after the placement cell for the graduating students. “Our recommendations and the letters we provide help the employer in hiring.” Datta Pashankar is now looking forward to starting a similar kind of workshop for girls.

Datta Pashankar has all his students’ letters neatly photocopied and kept in a file. Kishore Nair,an ex-student of Pashankar Service Centre,is a proud teacher at the Shardabai Pawar Auyogik Prashiksan Kendra. His letter reads,“My relationship with the garage dates back to the 1990s. I started painting signboards after finishing school. Later Datta ji gave me the responsibility of painting all the sign boards in the garage. I am glad and grateful to him for having had faith in me.” Hunal Jhonde who works at the Maruti Service Station in Wakdewadi,writes “I am lucky to have been a part of the workshop. It is because of Datta ji that I can feed my family today and not worry about the future anymore.”