Vipin Gupta, Message of Friendship and Peace

Orkut.com gave me lots of new friends and I learned many things from many people I talked with, the biggest help was “orkut’s hall of fame” the community which I own where i act as an interviewer and talked many young personalities who are different from the majority people, there ambitions, goals and positive attitude towards life make them stand strong. Vipin gupta is one more name added to my list of interviews which I completed recently, I can say that talking toVipin and knowing about his life, goals and aims made the interview one of the best till now though it was the shortest interview too.

Vipin gupta who is studying in IIT Kharagpur one of the prestigious institute of India is an active member of IPFC(India Pakistan Friendship Club) the community on orkut which has growing number of members day by day has reached more than 100,000 mark, Vipin who joined it as an member soon got the post of moderator of IPFC community.

I thought to write the summary of our conversation which completed on Sunday april 6 2008 on orkut.com but it will be not enough because I can miss out something and the aim of spreading Vipin’s message to others can be left unfulfilled so I am publishing the actual interview of Vipin gupta on orkut heroes.

Interview of Vipin Gupta

Zazo: Vipin Gupta who moderates one of the biggest communities on orkut "India Pakistan Friendship Club" with flooded 104,294 members is with us on "orkut's hall of fame" to have a talk with us, there work as a mod, aim of the community and something about his own life.
Welcome Vipin! its nice to have you here..hope we will have good time

Vipin: Thanks for such a warm welcome and the opportunity for an interaction. It will be my pleasure to talk about the IPFC, its activities ,goals and endeavors and about my personal experiences if they could be of any help to anyone.

Zazo: How it all started vipin? im talking about IPFC, your contribution to the community is really remarkable..is there is any story behind it, pls throw some light on this.

Vipin: I was in Canberra in May - July 2007, for my summer internship, and made a couple of Pakistani friends there. Though I had only a few interactions with them, it made me feel like that Indians and Pakistanis are a close knit unit in Australia. I was in general curious about the way India and Indians are perceived there and throughout the world,and that made me want to interact with people of various countries through social forums like orkut. I discovered the IPFC, and its proceedings interested me a lot. Therefore I became an active participant in the discussions of IPFC.
As, time progressed I made many friends from across the border and began to get a grasp of their lifestyle and issues facing them, and came face to face with Pakistani viewpoints on many matters of mutual importance. As efforts to take the IPFC beyond orkut and into the real world gained momentum, I was able to give my bit to it. It won't be an exaggeration to say that IPFC is a passion for me.

Zazo: How you became a moderator of IPFC? what was your experience while moderating such a big community, did you faced problems with some existing members?

Vipin: IPFC is a semi-democratic setup where most of the moderators are chosen by an election. Members of IPFC laid faith in me and my abilities, and granted me the responsibility of moderating the community.
A community containing Indians and Pakistanis as the centerpiece , is by its very nature inflammable. Left to itself, it can easily break into fighting and unhealthy mud slinging among members, especially newcomers who are not aware of the other side of the story.
Moderating the community is definitely a very healthy and challenging experience, that helped me learn a lot , both related to dynamics between Indians and Pakistanis, as well as on the personal front. It entails keeping a balance free speech and universal right to opinion on one hand, and limiting the various factors that are not in the spirit of the community, or those that have the potential to offend a section of the members. The job requires skills in conflict management, being able to convince the members and take them into confidence on the decisions regarding the community, debating wherever necessary, taking a constant feedback from members regarding avenues for improvement .Such a job definitely involves agreeing or disagreeing with members on various fronts, and the way forward is by convincing them of your stand and also taking their points into account.
Besides moderating the community, I have been able to contribute to launching the first edition of the IPFC Magazine . We have been able to let the general public know about IPFC through a couple of national newspapers. IPFC has also established real life chapters in most major cities of the subcontinent, as well as in US and UK, under which people meet whenever necessary.

Zazo: What are other activities in IPFC? Do you organize meetings of IPFC Community members in real?

Vipin: IPFC organizes quite a few activities, and we have even greater plans for the future.
IPFC meets have been organized in Bangalore, Karachi, Delhi ,Pune , Mumbai and Chicago. Meets in other locations will also be scheduled whenever necessary.

IPFC has its own websites , viz : www.ipfc.info, www.common-india.org and www.indo-pak.org If you visit the sites you shall find articles and poetry been contributed by quite a lot of people ,including journalists ,celebrities, and people who have travelled to the other side of the border. New activities and innovations are on in all of these websites, and several new initiatives are being launched such as the IPFC Connections, where you can find a life partner for yourself across the border (or in your own country).Many TV channels and radio stations from both sides of the border can also be accessed at indo-pak.org

IPFC launched its first magazine on new year in 2008. It is available on the website. We also mail a free e-copy to anyone interested. As of now the magazine is a 6 monthly issue, but shall become more frequent as it gets popular. The next issue is scheduled to feature interviews and articles of several celebrities, and personalities who have contributed or have potential to contribute to the betterment of india pakistan relations. Free e -copies of it shall be available. Hard copies shall be available in all major libraries throughout the subcontinent, and even abroad.
IPFC has already been featured in two renowned indian national newspapers since the beginning of this year, and is scheduled to feature in more in the future.
Hindustan Times
Times of India
We are planning to reach out to the masses with an IPFC NGO in the near future.

Zazo: What is your profession vipin? Besides other things how you manage to give your time and contribution to IPFC?

Vipin: I am a 4th year(pre final) student at IIT Kharagpur in Biotechnology and Biochem. Engg.
Though that makes me an engineer by profession, my passion lies in entrepreneurship.
Managing time is a very intricate job, but I manage to find a couple of hours for IPFC every day along with other things, because IPFC is one of my passions, and I have an extremely optimistic vision for it.

Zazo: What are your political views? any comments on present relation between India and Pakistan? how much positive you are in this?

Vipin: My political views are moderate , tolerant and centrist. My support to different political groups may vary from time to time depending upon their current stand on various issues, and potential to implement things.
I am very optimistic about the future of india pakistan relations. We have already spent 60 years fighting , and both countries recognize the fruitlessness of the exercise. Our relations can only improve in the times to come. Integration is the buzzword globally (EU , ASEAN ), and it is only a matter of time it catches up with south asia.
We are also trying to do our bit by mobilizing the people, in order to catalyze the process and make it faster.

Zazo: Vipin what are your interests and hobbies? likes & dislikes?

Vipin: My interests on the professional front lie, mainly in entrepreneurship , technology development and marketing (or more specifically e- marketing) - ETD. I am working on innovations in my college research project (in biotechnology), as well as constantly looking to gel out new ideas in other fields, and finally try to put them through my ETD chain.
I am fond of hindi and english rock music ,watching sports ,wwe, and reading through on print media. I make it a point to catch up on a couple of new movies every week. I consciously try to observe and learn from other.
I spend my free time playing badminton and internet surfing. I am also very passionate about debating.

Zazo: At last, would you like to convey any messages to the readers of this interview?

Vipin: I would only ask for support and active participation from the members , in the initiatives of IPFC.
When it comes to human relations and cooperation, I believe that 2 + 2 > 4.
Lets all work hard to excel in our fields, and create a developed and happy world.
If anyone wants to contact me, they are welcome to do so.

It was nice interacting with you.

Zazo: Thank you Vipin for giving your precious time and co-operation, I enjoyed every bit of your talks and i hope that it will really help others in many ways, all the best for IPFC and all the best for your future.
Thanks again,
with regards,
zazo.

Vipin: Thanks a lot Zazo. It was great talking to you.

Vipin Gupta is among some people present in this world who have the potential to change anything from bad to good, negative to positive and from terrorism to peace, the work of Vipin made me proud for being an Indian. Salute to Vipin Gupta!