{"id":62174,"date":"2025-11-24T12:15:13","date_gmt":"2025-11-24T06:45:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mint-money.in\/index.php\/2025\/11\/24\/educationists-autobiography-blends-faith-leadership-and-youth-empowerment\/"},"modified":"2025-11-24T12:15:13","modified_gmt":"2025-11-24T06:45:13","slug":"educationists-autobiography-blends-faith-leadership-and-youth-empowerment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mint-money.in\/index.php\/2025\/11\/24\/educationists-autobiography-blends-faith-leadership-and-youth-empowerment\/","title":{"rendered":"Educationist\u2019s Autobiography blends faith, leadership, and youth empowerment"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<div class=\"col-12 col-lg-12 col-xl-12 \">\n<div class=\"row\">\n<div class=\"col-12 col-sm-7 col-lg-7\" style=\"text-align: center;\"><em><label class=\"label-view\">Fr V M Thomas at the launch of his autobiography \u201cBuilding Dreams \u2013 Shaping Lives\u201d in Guwahati.<\/label><\/em><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"col-12 col-lg-12 col-xl-12 \">\n<div class=\"row\">\n<div class=\"col-12 col-sm-3 col-lg-3 text-dot-right pr-sm-0\">\n<p><strong>Guwahati (Assam) [India], November 24: <\/strong>Don Bosco Institute (DBI), Kharghuli, celebrated its Silver Jubilee with a solemn thanksgiving ceremony and the launch of <strong><em>Building Dreams \u2013 Shaping Lives<\/em>,<\/strong>\u00a0the autobiography of its educationist founder Father V M Thomas.<\/p>\n<p>Hon\u2019ble Justice Ujjal Bhuyan, Chief Guest at the celebration, released the volume in the presence of Guest of Honour, Devajit Saikia, Advocate General of Assam and Secretary of the BCCI. The event drew a distinguished gathering of judges, government officials, clergy, religious, alumni, and friends of Don Bosco.<\/p>\n<p>More than a chronicle of achievements laid out in 598 pages, the autobiography is a testimony of grace and a narrative of how one man\u2019s vision became \u2013 a collective mission for the youth of Northeast India. Former Chancellor of Assam Don Bosco University, Fr Thomas, recalls his first walk up Kharghuli hill in 1993, when the site was nothing but wild grass and rocks. In that silence, he heard a whisper: \u201cBuild here a Lighthouse for the youth of the North East.\u201d That whisper became the guiding vision of his life.<\/p>\n<p>The book traces the journey from land acquisition struggles and water scarcity to milestones such as the foundation stone laid by Chief Minister, Prafulla K Mahanta, in 2000, the inauguration by Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh in 2004, and the dedication by Fr Pascual Ch\u00e1vez, Rector Major of the Salesians. For Fr. Thomas, these were not mere ceremonies but signs of a vision taking shape\u2014an institution of learning and a sanctuary of hope.<\/p>\n<p>Though trained at Harvard in Educational Administration, Planning and Social Policy, former principal of Don Bosco School Guwahati, Fr Thomas insists that true leadership was learned on the banks of the Brahmaputra: teamwork, service, and love in action. \u201cTrue leadership is not power. It is teamwork and service. It is love in action.\u201d He salutes the pioneers, staff, and benefactors who stood shoulder to shoulder with him, describing them not as colleagues but as co\u2011founders in spirit.<\/p>\n<p>One of the book\u2019s strengths is its portrayal of DBI alumni as \u201cliving fruits\u201d of the mission. Judges, senior officers, entrepreneurs, teachers, and social leaders are presented as the harvest of hope, proof that dreams can become destiny. His pride in past pupils such as Justice Ujjal Bhuyan and Devajit Saikia is framed as thanksgiving rather than self\u2011congratulation.<\/p>\n<p>Beyond institutional achievements, the autobiography highlights initiatives like YouthBuild, YouthLead, Skill Missions for the underprivileged, and Child Friendly Guwahati. The latter, close to his heart, is described as \u201cthe lamp that glows in the streets below,\u201d a mission for street children who sleep under bridges and yearn for dignity.<\/p>\n<p>Stylistically, the book blends devotional reflection with narrative detail. \u201cMy autobiography is not a book of achievements. It is a story of grace.\u201d That humility makes the book resonate beyond DBI alumni or Salesian circles. It speaks to anyone who believes that institutions can be instruments of hope, and that faith can turn rocks into foundations.<\/p>\n<p>In the end,\u00a0<em>Building Dreams \u2013 Shaping Lives<\/em>\u00a0is more than the life story of Fr V M Thomas, the IAS and IPS trainer at Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration, Mussoorie. It is a mirror held up to the Northeast itself\u2014its struggles, its resilience, and its promise.<\/p>\n<p><em>If you have any objection to this press release content, kindly contact pr.error.rectification@gmail.com to notify us. We will respond and rectify the situation in the next 24 hours.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Fr V M Thomas at the launch of his autobiography \u201cBuilding Dreams \u2013 Shaping Lives\u201d in Guwahati. Guwahati (Assam) [India], November 24: Don Bosco Institute [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":62175,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[105],"tags":[237],"class_list":["post-62174","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-education","tag-education"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mint-money.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62174","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mint-money.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mint-money.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mint-money.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mint-money.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=62174"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mint-money.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62174\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mint-money.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/62175"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mint-money.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62174"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mint-money.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62174"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mint-money.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62174"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}