18th OCTOBER 2009….. Diwali Celebrations at “Lead-Airoli”
Well After weeks of online deliberations and discussion around Diwali with or without Crackers…… the d-day was here……. Sunday, the 18th… volunteers were asked to be present by 2.30 PM…… there was work allocation which had happened the previous day with specific responsibilities being assigned to respective volunteers…..
Kailash was leading the diwali festivities…. With Kartaa Aunty along with her husband & daughter Anupama leading the charge on the decoration front……. The place was being setup to match the glitter in the eyes of the kids who were waiting in anticipation of the celebrations to start……
Anupama, Shefali & even Kailash’s little princess Manisha did a nice big rangoli outside the “LEAD HOUSE” (Oh! Btw I forgot to mention that the kids had learnt to do rangoli the previous day and that morning…..)Special Thanks to our wonderful volunteers Shruti, Nikita & Prachi. The class was further decked up with two rows of small lanterns – one row supported the ready made ones & the other row included the ones completely made by our children under the guidance of Archana teacher, Deepali & Shefali.
While the decorations was on….till upto 3.30… our “Teacher” kept the kids busy with some “drawing activities”….
http://picasaweb.google.co.in/lead.airoli/Diwali09Celebration#
3.30-4.00 PM… the decorations were almost done and by then our MASTERJI (aka.. Rupesh) was here…. As soon as he entered… our kids Vinod, Maruti, Raja, Sunita, Reshma, Sita thronged him with the beautiful hand made diwali greeting cards(do check the snaps) that each of had made for him…… The smile on the kids face was priceless as they handed over the greeting card to our MASTERJI…..Vinod even gifted him with a pen !!!
Well, in many ways that marked the beginning of the diwali festivities…… this was followed by the rangoli competition…. Everybody (boys and girls alike) participated in the competitition…. Making nice decorative and designer “DIYAS” as rangoli…… I could see that the guys enjoyed making it more than the girls…. ;-) (Sign of times to come and how the next generation will be……..)….
Our Judges….Kailash, Kartha Madam and Damayanti teacher were entrusted the task to judge the best rangoli…. They were assisted by some other volunteers….. it was a difficult one for the judges…. While the judges were going about doing their jobs… the next event of the day for the kids had already started….. That was a 15-20 minute Cartoon Movie on…. Naaaa not the projector but on the laptop! (we promise to make it on projector next time, kids)
While it was chaotic in the beginning getting the kids to sit in a way that the screen is visible to everyone… finally every one settled and the movie began…. As the time passed…. And the movie neared the end…. MASTERJI had got the photographs of the previous events…. Which were played out for the kids…. Kids enjoyed watching their photographs more than the cartoon series… well as this activity came to a close…..
Our “Sumi” teacher was ready with games for the kids… the games were played….Games like --- one of the kids from a pair decorating the other with maximum number of clips in 1 minute, then the clips replaced by the funnier stuff- Bindis, & finally the entire group played the game that tested their presence of mind (touching their eyes, nose, ears, mouth very rapidly as per the instructions) --- And this was followed by a song and dance…… With boys coming in the front and getting off…. On a bollywood number…. The second group of boys came in with some random steps (fullon masti) enjoying the every moment of the song dancing amongst themselves not even bothered to look at the audience (the other kids and us volunteers who were playing audience while they were dancing)… the show stopper of the event was the dance by Sunita, Reshma and Sita. The dance was impeccable especially Sunita who was brilliant. I was amazed by the precision of the steps and the movements through out the song…. (it gets me to think about the individual talent that each of them has inspite of the living environment they are in)… this was followed by a one more dance item by our little volunteer Manisha on her favourite number “Pappu cant dance Saallaa!!”. Again she was amazing! Sumi had even got some beautiful gifts for our children like towels for the winners & crayons for everyone.So after exhausting themselves with the dance and cheering for each other… it was time for some pet pooja for the kids…. Our volunteers… kamlesh, babu, sanjeev… had made sure that the snacks and fruit juice were ready by the time kids were ready to eat!
Beena, & some college volunteers Pallavi, Sushant & Jenson went about preparing the plates for the kids and passing it on to volunteers who were distributing it…… KIDs enjoyed the sumptuous SAMOSA and Wafers and the Mithai…… this was followed by Frooti……..Patil Sir from Rupesh’s college made a guest apperanace with lot fo Mithais & some pencil packets …. Even Shruti’s & Nikita’s mothers had packed & sent the home-made Diwali snacks in packets …..Thank you so much Aunty for these & more importantly your love & affection for our children
The logical next thing after this was bursting crackers….. so that then was the next activity (rather the penultimate activity of the day)… kids were taken to the maidan with each of them having FULJADIS, ANAR and Pencil RASSI….. (Crackers with least noise pollution :-) Sincere apologies to our environment conscious friends, we had to give higher priority to the smiles …. Well as each of them started… it became unmanageable… one of the kid… Musoba did get his foot burnt by the burnt sparkle and he had to be given some minor medical treatment and more of mental strength to get him up and back in the maidan to continue the celebrations…. Kids were having a ball of a time…. And here I was with my BP going up and down worried that some of them will injure themselves in the process of bursting it….. it was indeed fun to watch them though enjoying… I had stopped bursting crackers at the age of 15… it was after that many years that I was “celebrating” with crackers and was happy about it…..
So as the kids were almost done and away with bursting of the crackers….It was time to head back home for the kids…. And for remaining volunteers (Ashish, Sanjeev, Kailash, Ramesh, Arun) to the LEAD HOUSE….. yes.. the clean up of the place was waiting for them…… and no this wasn’t the last activity I was referring to…. This was followed up with going to the Sector 3 GAON and Sector 17 to check out the KILLA(forts)(Do check the snaps of all the 3 forts) that was made by the kids… without exaggeration the KILLAs made by both the groups was amazing…. With the limited resources that they had… it was a mind blowing effort… our attempt to capture this in mobile camera was futile with lot of darkness around…. We left both the places with the promise that they will keep the killa till about tomo morning and our MASTERJI will visit in day light and capture those marvels……
And that’s how the celebrations came to close….. personally for me who felt and saw diwali as just another day and could not understand the hype around it …. This was probably the Diwali when I was contended to having CELEBRATED it….. it really felt nice… being with the kids…….
THANK YOU KIDS FOR BEING WITH THE LEAD VOLUNTEERS IN THEIR DIWALI CELEBRATIONS AND MAKING OUR DIWALI SPECIAL!
Ashish
LEAD
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Monday, October 5, 2009
Gandhi Jayanti celebrations
On the eve of today i.e. 2nd October i.e. GANDHI JAYANTI. Children’s learned about MAHATMA GANDHI & also some values & the principles practised by him throughout his life. They felt the change & that thrust to come to LEAD when all the volunteers were there for the support & care for them, who were actively involved in all the activities organised for the children’s in-order to make them understand the importance of this day.
All the co-ordination started yesterday when we SIESCOMites & few other volunteers (Deepali, Prachi) decided the activities that we are supposed to conduct today (as already mentioned in the previous report). We intimated the same to the students of morning batch to come at 2pm on 2nd & also the things they have to come prepared with. (Drawing materials, poetry for the competition)
RUPESH intimated about it to all the volunteers by SMS & e-mails. It was also said to all the volunteers of the afternoon & evening batch to inform about it to their respective batches so that they can come prepared with. Also KAILASH is supposed to arrange the TV for the movie.
http://picasaweb.google.co.in/lead.airoli/GandhiJayantiProgramme#
Today the day started at 10am, when we SIESCOMites left for the CLASS to prepare for the day activities & also to continue with the creativity on the walls.
Prepared the sequence of the events, chart of “GANDHI-JAYANTI”, did some wall-painting, tried to decide gifts (though, muddled).
Ooopphhh, the kids, our eyes widened when MALLESH made the entry, we assumed that something is going to happen wrong. Some kids comment on our painting saying “CHHATRI” to the “FLOWER” that we were making on the wall. With that comment, we understand that we are not making anything great. We really felt the absence of RUPESH that time, only he can handle these kids. We closed the shutter & made ourselves isolated to work peacefully (obviously, it was of no use again).
Clock clicked 1:30pm, no volunteers. We called Kailash who was supposed to bring the TV (important part of the day), said “reaching in few minutes”; called Rupesh, said “reaching in few minutes”. We said “ok, we are waiting”.
Clock clicked 2pm, no volunteers. We called Kailash who was supposed to bring the TV, said “reaching in few minutes”; called Rupesh, said “reaching in few minutes”. We said again “ok, we are waiting”.
Ultimately KAILASH came at 02:30pm; we made children’s sit inside the classroom. Rupesh came after few minutes; along with him were the point of attraction: the FOREIGNERS (2 women & 1 man volunteer from YOUTH VENTURE). Children’s forget us; not even seeing us, they were more interested in those aliens.
All children’s (around 30 in nos.) were looking quite happy with the crowd & the environment that was created inside. Quite few volunteers started gathering, some of them were the new faces for us, interacted with most of them for the 1st time.
Started with the prayer. A ma’am (teacher from the nearby school) started with the speech on MAHATMA GANDHI from the children’s point of view; it was quite attractive for the kids, and also they responded well, learned well. Lasted for about 45minutes. Good start start’s with good education.
We had also downloaded the slide-show of the pics on “LIFE OF MAHATMA GANDHI” with the music behind (it was on the laptop, the expected effect was not there because the TV was still on the way).
Ultimately the TV – “LCD TV”, great to see. Expectations built again.
The FOREIGNERS - looking quite happy, quite interested externally, quite concerning & quite curious. The guy from Thailand was the DIRECTOR OF SHORT MOVIES who also was preparing the movie of this event at LEAD. Other 2 women were sharing their experiences with our volunteers. The environment was quite interesting.
The class was packed, all volunteers overflowed outside the class. Stepping inside the class means stepping in the local-train.
Ultimately the LCD TV Started. We run the PANTALOONS-LEAD-Navratri event video (given by PANTALOONS – edited to a movie by us). Kids felt like involving again. They were trying to identify & were finding themselves in the video; finding themselves on TV amused them. They were just about to stick to the TV. It’s safe yet, the LCD.
We started with the POETRY competition, very nice to see the students prepared well & were actively participating & that too without the fear of peer/teachers/crowd.
Everyone recited the poetry well & all said different poetry (that was well done). We experienced that Rahul came 3 times (smart, he wanted to increase his chances of winning).
Oops, the lights? Everything paused. Today we realised that a person from the electricity department must also be the part of LEAD. Everyone sweating. TV dead. Children alive again, were steering us.
In the mean time, we decided to continue with the “passing the parcel game”. Played. Everyone who is out need to act/sing/dance; when out, Rahul hopped (smart again, that was the simplest way to escape).
Good participation & healthy competition. Good to see children’s following the rules peacefully & supporting each other & getting out at their own will. Last 2 remaining were VINOD & MADHURI (both brother/sister). Both were celebrating the coincidence by giving pat to each other. Good to see the smiles on both the faces.
MADHURI won the “passing the parcel” game. VINOD was not accepting. Madhuri seems to be feeling bad for it (her face shows all); if Vinod might have argument more, Madhuri would have definitely handed over the crown to her brother. But result is result – as Vinod understood “honesty is the best policy” that what we wanted everyone to know – accept the situation & the result & then work accordingly – GANDHI’s principle.
(LIGHT’s came in between. Not a big issue, as everyone was involved much in the game.)
That all happened with the hungry stomach. Than the snacks, arranged by volunteers – Samosa & Jalebi. Everyone forget each other for the moment. Everyone felt relieved with that plate.
Than the last shot, the main shot, for which the children were waiting desperately, for which the TV was present, the MOVIE – “MY FRIEND GANESHA”.
Children stuck to their place for 2.5 hrs. Eyeballs constantly on the TV. But it was needed as that movie contains lot of values & principles teaching & also the practical results of having these traits.
In the mean time, all the volunteers were quite busy in interacting, knowing each-other, a good day to do that. Rarely do we see all the volunteers present at the same time at the same place.
Movie ended. Children’s wanted to see another one. We felt that we were successful today by having that feeling in the children’s soul even at the end of the day.
Greeted everyone, every student, every volunteer & everyone said to continue with the good work for these kids anytime at any point of our lives.
All in all a very good day & celebration again, very nice to see all the enthusiastic & passionate volunteers present there, for they took out almost the whole day for this celebration with kids.
Thank u all for your esteemed presence, support & care.
Thank u GANDHIJI for all the values u left behind & also the day to actually track our values which gives us the thrust to work heartily for these children’s every other day
All the co-ordination started yesterday when we SIESCOMites & few other volunteers (Deepali, Prachi) decided the activities that we are supposed to conduct today (as already mentioned in the previous report). We intimated the same to the students of morning batch to come at 2pm on 2nd & also the things they have to come prepared with. (Drawing materials, poetry for the competition)
RUPESH intimated about it to all the volunteers by SMS & e-mails. It was also said to all the volunteers of the afternoon & evening batch to inform about it to their respective batches so that they can come prepared with. Also KAILASH is supposed to arrange the TV for the movie.
http://picasaweb.google.co.in/lead.airoli/GandhiJayantiProgramme#
Today the day started at 10am, when we SIESCOMites left for the CLASS to prepare for the day activities & also to continue with the creativity on the walls.
Prepared the sequence of the events, chart of “GANDHI-JAYANTI”, did some wall-painting, tried to decide gifts (though, muddled).
Ooopphhh, the kids, our eyes widened when MALLESH made the entry, we assumed that something is going to happen wrong. Some kids comment on our painting saying “CHHATRI” to the “FLOWER” that we were making on the wall. With that comment, we understand that we are not making anything great. We really felt the absence of RUPESH that time, only he can handle these kids. We closed the shutter & made ourselves isolated to work peacefully (obviously, it was of no use again).
Clock clicked 1:30pm, no volunteers. We called Kailash who was supposed to bring the TV (important part of the day), said “reaching in few minutes”; called Rupesh, said “reaching in few minutes”. We said “ok, we are waiting”.
Clock clicked 2pm, no volunteers. We called Kailash who was supposed to bring the TV, said “reaching in few minutes”; called Rupesh, said “reaching in few minutes”. We said again “ok, we are waiting”.
Ultimately KAILASH came at 02:30pm; we made children’s sit inside the classroom. Rupesh came after few minutes; along with him were the point of attraction: the FOREIGNERS (2 women & 1 man volunteer from YOUTH VENTURE). Children’s forget us; not even seeing us, they were more interested in those aliens.
All children’s (around 30 in nos.) were looking quite happy with the crowd & the environment that was created inside. Quite few volunteers started gathering, some of them were the new faces for us, interacted with most of them for the 1st time.
Started with the prayer. A ma’am (teacher from the nearby school) started with the speech on MAHATMA GANDHI from the children’s point of view; it was quite attractive for the kids, and also they responded well, learned well. Lasted for about 45minutes. Good start start’s with good education.
We had also downloaded the slide-show of the pics on “LIFE OF MAHATMA GANDHI” with the music behind (it was on the laptop, the expected effect was not there because the TV was still on the way).
Ultimately the TV – “LCD TV”, great to see. Expectations built again.
The FOREIGNERS - looking quite happy, quite interested externally, quite concerning & quite curious. The guy from Thailand was the DIRECTOR OF SHORT MOVIES who also was preparing the movie of this event at LEAD. Other 2 women were sharing their experiences with our volunteers. The environment was quite interesting.
The class was packed, all volunteers overflowed outside the class. Stepping inside the class means stepping in the local-train.
Ultimately the LCD TV Started. We run the PANTALOONS-LEAD-Navratri event video (given by PANTALOONS – edited to a movie by us). Kids felt like involving again. They were trying to identify & were finding themselves in the video; finding themselves on TV amused them. They were just about to stick to the TV. It’s safe yet, the LCD.
We started with the POETRY competition, very nice to see the students prepared well & were actively participating & that too without the fear of peer/teachers/crowd.
Everyone recited the poetry well & all said different poetry (that was well done). We experienced that Rahul came 3 times (smart, he wanted to increase his chances of winning).
Oops, the lights? Everything paused. Today we realised that a person from the electricity department must also be the part of LEAD. Everyone sweating. TV dead. Children alive again, were steering us.
In the mean time, we decided to continue with the “passing the parcel game”. Played. Everyone who is out need to act/sing/dance; when out, Rahul hopped (smart again, that was the simplest way to escape).
Good participation & healthy competition. Good to see children’s following the rules peacefully & supporting each other & getting out at their own will. Last 2 remaining were VINOD & MADHURI (both brother/sister). Both were celebrating the coincidence by giving pat to each other. Good to see the smiles on both the faces.
MADHURI won the “passing the parcel” game. VINOD was not accepting. Madhuri seems to be feeling bad for it (her face shows all); if Vinod might have argument more, Madhuri would have definitely handed over the crown to her brother. But result is result – as Vinod understood “honesty is the best policy” that what we wanted everyone to know – accept the situation & the result & then work accordingly – GANDHI’s principle.
(LIGHT’s came in between. Not a big issue, as everyone was involved much in the game.)
That all happened with the hungry stomach. Than the snacks, arranged by volunteers – Samosa & Jalebi. Everyone forget each other for the moment. Everyone felt relieved with that plate.
Than the last shot, the main shot, for which the children were waiting desperately, for which the TV was present, the MOVIE – “MY FRIEND GANESHA”.
Children stuck to their place for 2.5 hrs. Eyeballs constantly on the TV. But it was needed as that movie contains lot of values & principles teaching & also the practical results of having these traits.
In the mean time, all the volunteers were quite busy in interacting, knowing each-other, a good day to do that. Rarely do we see all the volunteers present at the same time at the same place.
Movie ended. Children’s wanted to see another one. We felt that we were successful today by having that feeling in the children’s soul even at the end of the day.
Greeted everyone, every student, every volunteer & everyone said to continue with the good work for these kids anytime at any point of our lives.
All in all a very good day & celebration again, very nice to see all the enthusiastic & passionate volunteers present there, for they took out almost the whole day for this celebration with kids.
Thank u all for your esteemed presence, support & care.
Thank u GANDHIJI for all the values u left behind & also the day to actually track our values which gives us the thrust to work heartily for these children’s every other day
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Navratri Celebrations with Pantaloon
(26-Sept-2009)
PANTALOONS-LEAD event at CENTRE-ONE-MALL, Vashi
Today was the day when we saw the divine smiles on the faces of the children for the 1st time, faces which were out of their homes, out of Airoli; where they experienced the other colours of the life; experience, which has provided more exposure to them; experience, which we believe will remain atleast till we live.
Thanks to PANTALOONS TEAM for all they provided us today including sympathy, emotions, togetherness, support, belief, trust & faith.
Day started at 5:15am.
All SIESCOMites geared up to reach airoli at 7:30 so as to make the registered children’s ready for the event.
Kids? Where are the kids? Except 3, 4; Mostly said “we have classes at 11”, parents: “girls can’t come since they have to take care of the kids” (sad faces of children all-around), “tests at 11”, “I will only come if he/she comes”.
http://picasaweb.google.co.in/lead.airoli/NavratriCelebration#
Convincing, motivating, filling illusions, boosting morale of children’s & also of parents, all took 2 hrs to do. Finally 17 children’s instead of 15 (registered). Sign of relief.
Still we felt bad for madhuri, who didn’t come due to the 3kids that she had to take care of, as said to us by 3 ladies & 2 men, who encircled us to leave behind madhuri. Madhuri’s sad face was understood & obvious but of no use.
When the kids met at one place, all were very excited, shouting, hopping, laughing, enjoying. We really felt good seeing all this. Sweat was our friend at that time. Rahul was looking “cute” & Mallesh – all time “mischievous”. Vinod still lost in school-test “dreams”. Sinki (can’t spell) “silent” & “observing”.
All entered the Van (arranged by PANTALOONS); we prepared & gave I-Cards to respective student. Also the same given to each of us – volunteers.
Co-ordinated & communicated with other volunteers: SHILPA, DEEPALI, ARUN-1, ARUN-2 to come & join us; shilpa, deepali & arun1 reached directly & arun2 came with us from airoli with one kid & one SIESCOMite. Another bike was also there – both SIESCOMite with raja.
We reached CENTRE-ONE-Mall, took some pics, lined-up the students, counted, & called up the PANTALOONS head-HR to intimate about our presence.
Then all started running inside the MALL to reach. Husssshhh. Mallesh was leading, so it was obvious.
HEAD-PANTALOONS announced: “we have some children’s with us who are from an NGO - LEAD & they have come here to join us” good start.
PANTALOONS employee were very supportive & enthusiastic; DJ-music’s/DJ-Light’s, awesome, all started vibrating, employees starting dancing with kids, kids still not opening up, thinking what’s happening. Than obviously Mallesh & Raja initiated the group, we too joined to make them move & enjoy. All opened, girls played with dandya sticks with pantaloons girls & also with us (all volunteers).
Lasted for about 1 hr with complete involvement.
Our ma’am from SIESCOMS arrived too, to see what’s happening, know what? She cried... She moulded, dissolved, and touched seeing the kids dancing here inside the pantaloons mall in vashi.
“Everyone please gather at the centre” announced akshay-HR-store, “I would like to call all the LEAD volunteers to please come in front of the audience & the Chief-guest” were the next words. We got excited, lined up all the kids in the front row. Disciplined kids, though.
“Say few words about the LEAD & the students” said HR.
We handed over the mike to Arun (volunteer of LEAD), he started saying:::
“Instead of criticising the government system without doing anything; better to initiate, do something & then confidently criticise” applause.
Said almost all of LEAD specially focussing on getting volunteers as LEAD’s one of the highest priority.
He didn’t stop after that...continued... ended atlast... applause.
Then akshay-HR let the employees-present distribute the gifts individually to every kid one by one. Anjali didn’t get the gift due to the shortage, sad face was expected.
Then the combined BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION of the pantaloons-employees for the month of August/September.
Cake came, it was surrounded by our kids, it was supposed to be cut by our kids. Children saw it 1st time & were not able to guess what that huge spongy thing was. Cake was cut with a loud B’DAY song.
Pantaloons employees gave a bite of cake to every LEAD kids with their own hand. They tasted it for the 1st time. Felt yummy.
Then the chief-guest said few words...
We had arranged a THANK-U GREETING for the whole PANTALOONS-TEAM on behalf of whole LEAD-TEAM, Which was given to Akshay by our children’s.
Finished.... Gave water, everyone ate vada-pav. Greeted well to the pantaloons group & we left.
Everyone enjoyed. We can even see the smiling faces. We gave éclairs to kids to widen the smile even more.
We & Pantaloons team even have taken the video/Pics of the whole event.
We have handed over the FLYER to akshay to put it inside the mall for everyone to see & share.
Put them in the van & left. “Bi sir”, “Bi sir” all-around. Felt good & complete. We left too afterwards.
It was all-in-all a very good experience for everyone including the PANTALOONS-Team.
In afternoon, akshay-HR called up & said he has arranged gifts for the remaining students (Anjali & one more) & we have to collect it till the end of the day. Felt relieved for Anjali & the other one.
Spoke to shilpa to collect the gift from PANTALOONS as she stays in vashi. She collected.
AKSHAY again called us in the EVENING: to say the unexpected.....
1)PANTALOONS is interested in conducting YOGA-SESSION for 15 days for all the students of LEAD at the LEAD centre-classroom in the evening time, by the YOGA experts. All for free. Any time it can be done based on our comfort.
2)They are working to crack the deal for giving FREE-MOVIE-TICKETS & also FREE-SKIT-TICKETS to 15 students & 2 volunteers, periodically.
Benefits:
This will definitely help in getting more students from the same communities & will also help in sustaining the existing one, atleast they will be excited to remain in LEAD for something due to these activities/benefits.
We can also create pressure in kids like, if any student has more than 20 present in a month will be given the movie/skit-tickets. Sort of......, to sustain them for some reason.
Even parents will understand & start believing LEAD & also will try to find out the benefits.
As the gifts & food given to kids in the PANTALOONS event might have really moulded & diverted the minds of parents towards LEAD to some extent, which will ultimately boost the student’s morale due to the support & concern of their parents.
Really, something is happening with our efforts. We are trying to initiate more concepts like this.
PANTALOONS-LEAD event at CENTRE-ONE-MALL, Vashi
Today was the day when we saw the divine smiles on the faces of the children for the 1st time, faces which were out of their homes, out of Airoli; where they experienced the other colours of the life; experience, which has provided more exposure to them; experience, which we believe will remain atleast till we live.
Thanks to PANTALOONS TEAM for all they provided us today including sympathy, emotions, togetherness, support, belief, trust & faith.
Day started at 5:15am.
All SIESCOMites geared up to reach airoli at 7:30 so as to make the registered children’s ready for the event.
Kids? Where are the kids? Except 3, 4; Mostly said “we have classes at 11”, parents: “girls can’t come since they have to take care of the kids” (sad faces of children all-around), “tests at 11”, “I will only come if he/she comes”.
http://picasaweb.google.co.in/lead.airoli/NavratriCelebration#
Convincing, motivating, filling illusions, boosting morale of children’s & also of parents, all took 2 hrs to do. Finally 17 children’s instead of 15 (registered). Sign of relief.
Still we felt bad for madhuri, who didn’t come due to the 3kids that she had to take care of, as said to us by 3 ladies & 2 men, who encircled us to leave behind madhuri. Madhuri’s sad face was understood & obvious but of no use.
When the kids met at one place, all were very excited, shouting, hopping, laughing, enjoying. We really felt good seeing all this. Sweat was our friend at that time. Rahul was looking “cute” & Mallesh – all time “mischievous”. Vinod still lost in school-test “dreams”. Sinki (can’t spell) “silent” & “observing”.
All entered the Van (arranged by PANTALOONS); we prepared & gave I-Cards to respective student. Also the same given to each of us – volunteers.
Co-ordinated & communicated with other volunteers: SHILPA, DEEPALI, ARUN-1, ARUN-2 to come & join us; shilpa, deepali & arun1 reached directly & arun2 came with us from airoli with one kid & one SIESCOMite. Another bike was also there – both SIESCOMite with raja.
We reached CENTRE-ONE-Mall, took some pics, lined-up the students, counted, & called up the PANTALOONS head-HR to intimate about our presence.
Then all started running inside the MALL to reach. Husssshhh. Mallesh was leading, so it was obvious.
HEAD-PANTALOONS announced: “we have some children’s with us who are from an NGO - LEAD & they have come here to join us” good start.
PANTALOONS employee were very supportive & enthusiastic; DJ-music’s/DJ-Light’s, awesome, all started vibrating, employees starting dancing with kids, kids still not opening up, thinking what’s happening. Than obviously Mallesh & Raja initiated the group, we too joined to make them move & enjoy. All opened, girls played with dandya sticks with pantaloons girls & also with us (all volunteers).
Lasted for about 1 hr with complete involvement.
Our ma’am from SIESCOMS arrived too, to see what’s happening, know what? She cried... She moulded, dissolved, and touched seeing the kids dancing here inside the pantaloons mall in vashi.
“Everyone please gather at the centre” announced akshay-HR-store, “I would like to call all the LEAD volunteers to please come in front of the audience & the Chief-guest” were the next words. We got excited, lined up all the kids in the front row. Disciplined kids, though.
“Say few words about the LEAD & the students” said HR.
We handed over the mike to Arun (volunteer of LEAD), he started saying:::
“Instead of criticising the government system without doing anything; better to initiate, do something & then confidently criticise” applause.
Said almost all of LEAD specially focussing on getting volunteers as LEAD’s one of the highest priority.
He didn’t stop after that...continued... ended atlast... applause.
Then akshay-HR let the employees-present distribute the gifts individually to every kid one by one. Anjali didn’t get the gift due to the shortage, sad face was expected.
Then the combined BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION of the pantaloons-employees for the month of August/September.
Cake came, it was surrounded by our kids, it was supposed to be cut by our kids. Children saw it 1st time & were not able to guess what that huge spongy thing was. Cake was cut with a loud B’DAY song.
Pantaloons employees gave a bite of cake to every LEAD kids with their own hand. They tasted it for the 1st time. Felt yummy.
Then the chief-guest said few words...
We had arranged a THANK-U GREETING for the whole PANTALOONS-TEAM on behalf of whole LEAD-TEAM, Which was given to Akshay by our children’s.
Finished.... Gave water, everyone ate vada-pav. Greeted well to the pantaloons group & we left.
Everyone enjoyed. We can even see the smiling faces. We gave éclairs to kids to widen the smile even more.
We & Pantaloons team even have taken the video/Pics of the whole event.
We have handed over the FLYER to akshay to put it inside the mall for everyone to see & share.
Put them in the van & left. “Bi sir”, “Bi sir” all-around. Felt good & complete. We left too afterwards.
It was all-in-all a very good experience for everyone including the PANTALOONS-Team.
In afternoon, akshay-HR called up & said he has arranged gifts for the remaining students (Anjali & one more) & we have to collect it till the end of the day. Felt relieved for Anjali & the other one.
Spoke to shilpa to collect the gift from PANTALOONS as she stays in vashi. She collected.
AKSHAY again called us in the EVENING: to say the unexpected.....
1)PANTALOONS is interested in conducting YOGA-SESSION for 15 days for all the students of LEAD at the LEAD centre-classroom in the evening time, by the YOGA experts. All for free. Any time it can be done based on our comfort.
2)They are working to crack the deal for giving FREE-MOVIE-TICKETS & also FREE-SKIT-TICKETS to 15 students & 2 volunteers, periodically.
Benefits:
This will definitely help in getting more students from the same communities & will also help in sustaining the existing one, atleast they will be excited to remain in LEAD for something due to these activities/benefits.
We can also create pressure in kids like, if any student has more than 20 present in a month will be given the movie/skit-tickets. Sort of......, to sustain them for some reason.
Even parents will understand & start believing LEAD & also will try to find out the benefits.
As the gifts & food given to kids in the PANTALOONS event might have really moulded & diverted the minds of parents towards LEAD to some extent, which will ultimately boost the student’s morale due to the support & concern of their parents.
Really, something is happening with our efforts. We are trying to initiate more concepts like this.
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Independence Day celebrations
Hey friends…
Firstly congratulations to all of us!! With our country firmly forging ahead into her 63rd year of independence & dignity, LEAD too completes its exciting journey of 365 days steadily circumventing all the challenges on its way. And this achievement is a no trifle as it’s blended with our professional schedules as well as personal & family commitments! Fortunately, LEAD shares its anniversary with our country’s most prestigious day & hence each passing year will provide us an opportunity to be proud of being able to DO something for our country in one of the most sustainable ways. I heartily express my gratitude to each one of you for your determination & support.
We wanted to celebrate this day with our entire LEAD family & hence parents of our children formed the main participants. On one hand, we failed to get the NHP School premises for this event; while on the other hand we succeeded in convincing the trustees of Jai Ambe Mahila Mandal (NGO) to wave off the charges (Rs.500/-) for their community hall. I, Ashutosh & Dhaval’s mom met on Thursday & we finalized the items to be given to each child. Thanks Ashutosh for dropping the prizes in our centre from Nerul. Prof. Mani had given a wonderful set of gift items for the first 3 rankers of class I & Class II each. All the 6 toppers received a beautiful shoulder bag, an exam pad, pouch, tiffin box, water bottle, stencil, pen, pencil, sharpener, eraser, note-book & a crayon box. While other 33 children received a gift pack containing a stencil, pen, a pencil box, sharpener, eraser, note-book & a crayon box.
Thanks to Rashmi, Kailash, Dhaval, Shefali, Abhilash, Jake, Avishkar & Arun for turning up on Friday evening (14th Aug). All of us instantly swung into action, neatly gift wrapping all the materials, purchasing the deficit items & personally informing parents of all the communities about the next day’s event. An idea of giving a first-aid cum hygiene kit to these families cropped in our mind. So I & Dhaval literally went on a rummage in all the medical shops to get 30 sets of Dettol bottles, tooth pastes, band-aids, cotton rolls & Sophramycin tubes. Thanks to my cousin Roopali for her kind donation of 30 Neem soaps & some pencil packets. Kailash & Arun tried a lot for the LCD projector but unfortunately it didn’t materialize. We all decided to meet early the next day to finish off the pending tasks.
15th August:
I & Arun left for purchasing some toys for our toddlers at 10am. Each boy was gifted a set of 2 cars while girls were given a pair of dolls. We ordered the snacks, got the flags & then headed for the centre to group up the items to be shifted to the venue. All the volunteers gathered at 1.30pm sharp. Thanks to Arun2 for being very punctual with his car ;-) (For those who don’t know, we have one more Arun with us, again from Patni who is an excellent artist & teaches drawing to our children every Sunday!! To avoid confusion, we call him Arun2 ;-) Shifting of materials was well-handled by him, Kailash & Dhaval. One of our ex-student volunteers Suraj too turned up with his 2 friends & helped us in gift-wrapping the toys & decking up the hall. Must mention, our senior citizen morning batch volunteer Mr. Padale beat the clock & diligently took up the decoration work. Nishant helped with getting the chairs from the nearby NMMC office, Kailash was cracking his head in fixing up our banner while Dhaval helped in getting the Big water bottle. No doubt, all of us were at the euphoric levels!! Meanwhile, one of our children Rajesh made a startling entry with his younger brother Shankar & mother. This was their first time & so his mother seemed to be perplexed wondering about the hundred things going around! While I made them sit on a mattress, I still recollect the glimpse of happiness & curiosity in her eyes. Roopali’s mother too arrived on time with her 4 daughters, Santosh & his hyper-excited friend. Shefali, Abhilash, Jake & Dhaval’s mom had arrived by then almost followed by our enthusiastic lot of children & their parents. For the first time, Airoli Gaav people beat the Sector-17 community by turning up well on time. Surprisingly, they even thronged in with larger numbers than Sec-17. Our senior volunteers will definitely cherish this moment ;-) Richa & Avishkar gave us a pleasant surprise by suddenly turning up at the eleventh hour. Kailash & Arun left to receive Prof. Mani while I zoomed out for Sachin & his friends Babita & Avinash. Got through Karmayog, this team of volunteers does the commendable task of awakening & empowering the people who prefer pinning their hopes & frittering away their money on Tantrik & Baba-log rather than Medicine/Doctors.
We decided to heighten the patriotic mood by airing the audio visual “Vande-Mataram” & then commemorated the vigor & sacrifices of our brave soldiers through the legendary melody “Aye mere watan ke logon…” Needless to say; everyone remained glued to their seats. Everyone looked so beautiful with our tiny tricolor flags flashing near their hearts. I shared few words with children about our Independence Day & then handed over the dais to Prof. Mani, when he convincingly, with a firm & soft tone, explained the children & their parents about the importance of education, discipline & hard-work. He praised the performance of our children, congratulated the entire LEAD family for its conviction & then promised all the possible support for this cause. Kailash too delineated the parents about work/role of LEAD as a ‘sanstha’ (NGO) & the important role ‘they’ need to play in this process to pull their wards out of the affliction. The parents too corroborated with this part. This was the first formal announcement to our communities about our team as an NGO.
This was followed by the eagerly awaited event of the day—Felicitation of our children for their sparkling academic progress. First we announced our 6 star performers. Arun insisted that these students be accompanied by their parents too. What an idea Sir-jee ;-) A real heart-warming show! Their innocent smiles & humble posture not only evinced their profound happiness & feelings of pride & achievement but also clearly radiated the vibes of gratitude towards LEAD. To invigorate this, the cynosure of our eyes -- Vinod & Maruti --, after zealously receiving their prizes, confidently extended their arms for a firm handshake with their Sirs & Madams on the dais. And all this amidst a thundering applause!! Announcement of almost every name was followed by a spring like action from the children’s side & then a run for their booty. Do catch everyone’s expressions on this link:
http://picasaweb.google.co.in/lead.airoli/IndependenceDayCelebrations#
Our girl Sita had turned up with a special sari & make-up for this event. Sunita, Reshma & Surekha were also neatly dressed. In fact Madhuri had sprinkled some zari powder in her neatly combed hair ;-) All the girls looked so beautiful & happy!! We should have taken their group photo ;-( Thanks Dhaval & Shefali for getting Sunita & Thanks Arun for getting Mallesh & Surekha from their homes.
After this, Sachin’s team started their show with a sweet song that acted as a good ice-breaker. A series of mind-boggling demonstrations that literally grabbed everyone’s eyeballs! Lighting up the fumes & fire, a dry coconut breaking off to project the black stuff in it, & much more, to fill up the atmosphere with intrigue & curiosity! The group also actively involved some of our children & one of their mothers in these stints, thus making a mockery of their fanatic behaviors towards superstitions & ‘Tantrik’ or ‘Baba’ groups. How skillfully these cons exploit their ignorance & poverty for their selfish petty interests. Offering a chicken will cure their children, Karni, Jaadu-tonaa, Vashi-karan & what not!! We don’t know how successful we are in quashing their delusions, (though some follow-up leading questions did reveal some confession) but it was an attempt to batter & root out these stupid practices at least from the impressionable minds of our young children.
Then it was a masti-time. The audience was divided into 3 parts. While ladies were engaged in the race for pushing in maximum number of needles in the thread in one-minute, the fathers hurried up for grabbing up maximum number of pairs from the 3 packs of playing cards scattered on the floor –this too in one minute. I am sure the elders definitely would have had a fun-ride! Of course, the children shrieked in hoots of excitement when we announced about the limboo-chamach race. (Contenders race up while balancing a spoon & a marble in their mouth) The winners were also given the spot prizes (a small idol of ganpati). The best part was when our small girl Sangita beat other elder girls in this competition!! An atmosphere full of joie de vivre!!
Hunger pangs had already started hitting our children & so the volunteers immediately snapped into the action of pepping up the dishes for snacks. Thank You Shankar & Beena for doing this wholesale shopping of Wafers, chocolates, plates & glasses from Mulund ;-) Some of us rushed out to receive the order of Samosas & Frooti. While some of them had started tucking in the stuff, our children Anil, Vinod, Maruti & Masoba were happily & hurriedly volunteering with us -- serving the dishes ;-)
This was followed by giving away the hygiene cum first aid kit to each family. While doing this, we also explained the directions for usage & importance of each item. As their tummies & hands were filled up, it was difficult to hold the horses now & so we ended with our national anthem & the hollering the slogans of “Bharat Mata Ki Jay!” Families were allowed to leave merrily while the volunteers, after doing some pet-puja, started gearing up for their next set of tasks —cleaning up the mess, sweeping the floor, unwinding the gadgets, dumping the waste, shifting the materials back, etc…
Friends, this was a day signifying the unabated passion, unalloyed joy & unassesable spirit of entire LEAD family, thus fluttering high the flag for its next phase of journey. I thank you all from the bottom of my heart not only for your unstinted support for this cause but also for the unwavering faith that you have bestowed upon me.
Jai-Hind!!
--
Thanks & Regards
Rupesh S Gesota
LEAD
www.google.com/profiles/lead.airoli
"A body of determined spirits fired by an unquenchable faith in their mission can alter the course of history.".... Mahatma Gandhi
Firstly congratulations to all of us!! With our country firmly forging ahead into her 63rd year of independence & dignity, LEAD too completes its exciting journey of 365 days steadily circumventing all the challenges on its way. And this achievement is a no trifle as it’s blended with our professional schedules as well as personal & family commitments! Fortunately, LEAD shares its anniversary with our country’s most prestigious day & hence each passing year will provide us an opportunity to be proud of being able to DO something for our country in one of the most sustainable ways. I heartily express my gratitude to each one of you for your determination & support.
We wanted to celebrate this day with our entire LEAD family & hence parents of our children formed the main participants. On one hand, we failed to get the NHP School premises for this event; while on the other hand we succeeded in convincing the trustees of Jai Ambe Mahila Mandal (NGO) to wave off the charges (Rs.500/-) for their community hall. I, Ashutosh & Dhaval’s mom met on Thursday & we finalized the items to be given to each child. Thanks Ashutosh for dropping the prizes in our centre from Nerul. Prof. Mani had given a wonderful set of gift items for the first 3 rankers of class I & Class II each. All the 6 toppers received a beautiful shoulder bag, an exam pad, pouch, tiffin box, water bottle, stencil, pen, pencil, sharpener, eraser, note-book & a crayon box. While other 33 children received a gift pack containing a stencil, pen, a pencil box, sharpener, eraser, note-book & a crayon box.
Thanks to Rashmi, Kailash, Dhaval, Shefali, Abhilash, Jake, Avishkar & Arun for turning up on Friday evening (14th Aug). All of us instantly swung into action, neatly gift wrapping all the materials, purchasing the deficit items & personally informing parents of all the communities about the next day’s event. An idea of giving a first-aid cum hygiene kit to these families cropped in our mind. So I & Dhaval literally went on a rummage in all the medical shops to get 30 sets of Dettol bottles, tooth pastes, band-aids, cotton rolls & Sophramycin tubes. Thanks to my cousin Roopali for her kind donation of 30 Neem soaps & some pencil packets. Kailash & Arun tried a lot for the LCD projector but unfortunately it didn’t materialize. We all decided to meet early the next day to finish off the pending tasks.
15th August:
I & Arun left for purchasing some toys for our toddlers at 10am. Each boy was gifted a set of 2 cars while girls were given a pair of dolls. We ordered the snacks, got the flags & then headed for the centre to group up the items to be shifted to the venue. All the volunteers gathered at 1.30pm sharp. Thanks to Arun2 for being very punctual with his car ;-) (For those who don’t know, we have one more Arun with us, again from Patni who is an excellent artist & teaches drawing to our children every Sunday!! To avoid confusion, we call him Arun2 ;-) Shifting of materials was well-handled by him, Kailash & Dhaval. One of our ex-student volunteers Suraj too turned up with his 2 friends & helped us in gift-wrapping the toys & decking up the hall. Must mention, our senior citizen morning batch volunteer Mr. Padale beat the clock & diligently took up the decoration work. Nishant helped with getting the chairs from the nearby NMMC office, Kailash was cracking his head in fixing up our banner while Dhaval helped in getting the Big water bottle. No doubt, all of us were at the euphoric levels!! Meanwhile, one of our children Rajesh made a startling entry with his younger brother Shankar & mother. This was their first time & so his mother seemed to be perplexed wondering about the hundred things going around! While I made them sit on a mattress, I still recollect the glimpse of happiness & curiosity in her eyes. Roopali’s mother too arrived on time with her 4 daughters, Santosh & his hyper-excited friend. Shefali, Abhilash, Jake & Dhaval’s mom had arrived by then almost followed by our enthusiastic lot of children & their parents. For the first time, Airoli Gaav people beat the Sector-17 community by turning up well on time. Surprisingly, they even thronged in with larger numbers than Sec-17. Our senior volunteers will definitely cherish this moment ;-) Richa & Avishkar gave us a pleasant surprise by suddenly turning up at the eleventh hour. Kailash & Arun left to receive Prof. Mani while I zoomed out for Sachin & his friends Babita & Avinash. Got through Karmayog, this team of volunteers does the commendable task of awakening & empowering the people who prefer pinning their hopes & frittering away their money on Tantrik & Baba-log rather than Medicine/Doctors.
We decided to heighten the patriotic mood by airing the audio visual “Vande-Mataram” & then commemorated the vigor & sacrifices of our brave soldiers through the legendary melody “Aye mere watan ke logon…” Needless to say; everyone remained glued to their seats. Everyone looked so beautiful with our tiny tricolor flags flashing near their hearts. I shared few words with children about our Independence Day & then handed over the dais to Prof. Mani, when he convincingly, with a firm & soft tone, explained the children & their parents about the importance of education, discipline & hard-work. He praised the performance of our children, congratulated the entire LEAD family for its conviction & then promised all the possible support for this cause. Kailash too delineated the parents about work/role of LEAD as a ‘sanstha’ (NGO) & the important role ‘they’ need to play in this process to pull their wards out of the affliction. The parents too corroborated with this part. This was the first formal announcement to our communities about our team as an NGO.
This was followed by the eagerly awaited event of the day—Felicitation of our children for their sparkling academic progress. First we announced our 6 star performers. Arun insisted that these students be accompanied by their parents too. What an idea Sir-jee ;-) A real heart-warming show! Their innocent smiles & humble posture not only evinced their profound happiness & feelings of pride & achievement but also clearly radiated the vibes of gratitude towards LEAD. To invigorate this, the cynosure of our eyes -- Vinod & Maruti --, after zealously receiving their prizes, confidently extended their arms for a firm handshake with their Sirs & Madams on the dais. And all this amidst a thundering applause!! Announcement of almost every name was followed by a spring like action from the children’s side & then a run for their booty. Do catch everyone’s expressions on this link:
http://picasaweb.google.co.in/lead.airoli/IndependenceDayCelebrations#
Our girl Sita had turned up with a special sari & make-up for this event. Sunita, Reshma & Surekha were also neatly dressed. In fact Madhuri had sprinkled some zari powder in her neatly combed hair ;-) All the girls looked so beautiful & happy!! We should have taken their group photo ;-( Thanks Dhaval & Shefali for getting Sunita & Thanks Arun for getting Mallesh & Surekha from their homes.
After this, Sachin’s team started their show with a sweet song that acted as a good ice-breaker. A series of mind-boggling demonstrations that literally grabbed everyone’s eyeballs! Lighting up the fumes & fire, a dry coconut breaking off to project the black stuff in it, & much more, to fill up the atmosphere with intrigue & curiosity! The group also actively involved some of our children & one of their mothers in these stints, thus making a mockery of their fanatic behaviors towards superstitions & ‘Tantrik’ or ‘Baba’ groups. How skillfully these cons exploit their ignorance & poverty for their selfish petty interests. Offering a chicken will cure their children, Karni, Jaadu-tonaa, Vashi-karan & what not!! We don’t know how successful we are in quashing their delusions, (though some follow-up leading questions did reveal some confession) but it was an attempt to batter & root out these stupid practices at least from the impressionable minds of our young children.
Then it was a masti-time. The audience was divided into 3 parts. While ladies were engaged in the race for pushing in maximum number of needles in the thread in one-minute, the fathers hurried up for grabbing up maximum number of pairs from the 3 packs of playing cards scattered on the floor –this too in one minute. I am sure the elders definitely would have had a fun-ride! Of course, the children shrieked in hoots of excitement when we announced about the limboo-chamach race. (Contenders race up while balancing a spoon & a marble in their mouth) The winners were also given the spot prizes (a small idol of ganpati). The best part was when our small girl Sangita beat other elder girls in this competition!! An atmosphere full of joie de vivre!!
Hunger pangs had already started hitting our children & so the volunteers immediately snapped into the action of pepping up the dishes for snacks. Thank You Shankar & Beena for doing this wholesale shopping of Wafers, chocolates, plates & glasses from Mulund ;-) Some of us rushed out to receive the order of Samosas & Frooti. While some of them had started tucking in the stuff, our children Anil, Vinod, Maruti & Masoba were happily & hurriedly volunteering with us -- serving the dishes ;-)
This was followed by giving away the hygiene cum first aid kit to each family. While doing this, we also explained the directions for usage & importance of each item. As their tummies & hands were filled up, it was difficult to hold the horses now & so we ended with our national anthem & the hollering the slogans of “Bharat Mata Ki Jay!” Families were allowed to leave merrily while the volunteers, after doing some pet-puja, started gearing up for their next set of tasks —cleaning up the mess, sweeping the floor, unwinding the gadgets, dumping the waste, shifting the materials back, etc…
Friends, this was a day signifying the unabated passion, unalloyed joy & unassesable spirit of entire LEAD family, thus fluttering high the flag for its next phase of journey. I thank you all from the bottom of my heart not only for your unstinted support for this cause but also for the unwavering faith that you have bestowed upon me.
Jai-Hind!!
--
Thanks & Regards
Rupesh S Gesota
LEAD
www.google.com/profiles/lead.airoli
"A body of determined spirits fired by an unquenchable faith in their mission can alter the course of history.".... Mahatma Gandhi
Saturday, June 13, 2009
LEAD starts Bal-Vihar
Hi friends...
Luckily I could atend this session that I was missing since long...
It was just till about 7.15 or so.. But belive me, it was a fantastic journey !!
When I entered the session, the atmospehere was already something very different....
They were talking about Ramayan, about 4 obedient brothers Ram, Bharat etc, their 3 mothers who used to 'share' all the things happily... playing intersting games like
Children have to act as per the instructions..If 'Ram' then stretch their arms shaping bow & arrow, if 'Krishna' then flute & simlarly 'Ganpati' & others..
They recited some very good prayers (unfortunately, never heard by me! ) , some very simple songs (or bhajans? ) but nicely converted in the form of interseting games so that children enjoy as well as learn them....
Dr.Gitanjali & Anupa teacher explained them the importance of praying before meals, Maruti distributed prasad to all the children in the end ... (If I am not wrong, the ladies had even brought the photos of god)
http://picasaweb.google.co.in/lead.airoli/ValueEducationMoralScience#
So if you wnat to clear out some of your mytholigical/spiritual fundas (like why shatrugna & laxman were twins brothers?, why we tell Omm Shanti thrice ? & much more) but that too in a fun filled intesting way, then do drop in on Tuesday for Bal-Vihar !!!!
Regards
Rupesh
LEAD
Hi friends,
This is Anupa Dutta . I would like to share with u what Balvihar is.
It is an organisation started by Swami Chinmayanand.This mission helps the children to lead the correct path, but also serve as an arena of glee & mirth. These Vihars train the children & inculcate into them a reverence for our ancient culture an aspiration to live up to it. In short it is Moral Science.
In this class at LEAD in airoli We start the session with OMKAR then tell what good things can be done with our hands. This is followed by any moral story or stories from our Epics ,stotram bhajan wherein the meaning is explained.There are also small games eg memory games Quiz.
At the end of the session we offer prasad to Lord Ganesh.This prasad is distributed among children by one of them .
This session was conducted by Dr. Gitanjali Taori.Hope this will help our children to grow into good, confident individuals.
HARI OM!
Best regards
Anupa Dutta
LEAD
Luckily I could atend this session that I was missing since long...
It was just till about 7.15 or so.. But belive me, it was a fantastic journey !!
When I entered the session, the atmospehere was already something very different....
They were talking about Ramayan, about 4 obedient brothers Ram, Bharat etc, their 3 mothers who used to 'share' all the things happily... playing intersting games like
Children have to act as per the instructions..If 'Ram' then stretch their arms shaping bow & arrow, if 'Krishna' then flute & simlarly 'Ganpati' & others..
They recited some very good prayers (unfortunately, never heard by me! ) , some very simple songs (or bhajans? ) but nicely converted in the form of interseting games so that children enjoy as well as learn them....
Dr.Gitanjali & Anupa teacher explained them the importance of praying before meals, Maruti distributed prasad to all the children in the end ... (If I am not wrong, the ladies had even brought the photos of god)
http://picasaweb.google.co.in/lead.airoli/ValueEducationMoralScience#
So if you wnat to clear out some of your mytholigical/spiritual fundas (like why shatrugna & laxman were twins brothers?, why we tell Omm Shanti thrice ? & much more) but that too in a fun filled intesting way, then do drop in on Tuesday for Bal-Vihar !!!!
Regards
Rupesh
LEAD
Hi friends,
This is Anupa Dutta . I would like to share with u what Balvihar is.
It is an organisation started by Swami Chinmayanand.This mission helps the children to lead the correct path, but also serve as an arena of glee & mirth. These Vihars train the children & inculcate into them a reverence for our ancient culture an aspiration to live up to it. In short it is Moral Science.
In this class at LEAD in airoli We start the session with OMKAR then tell what good things can be done with our hands. This is followed by any moral story or stories from our Epics ,stotram bhajan wherein the meaning is explained.There are also small games eg memory games Quiz.
At the end of the session we offer prasad to Lord Ganesh.This prasad is distributed among children by one of them .
This session was conducted by Dr. Gitanjali Taori.Hope this will help our children to grow into good, confident individuals.
HARI OM!
Best regards
Anupa Dutta
LEAD
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Medical Camp for children
Hello friends…
This turns up to be one of the most important events for LEAD. Important in two senses: First, of course, the health of our children. And secondly being building up the stronger bond with the families in these communities.
Heres the link that will take you to the snaps:
http://picasaweb.google.co.in/lead.airoli/MedicalCampForChildren#
Preparations started almost 2 weeks back, when we had the meeting with Dr.Kartik (physiotherapist), Dr.Malti (Anaesthist) & Dr. Nitin (Dentist) on Sunday 17th May for this event. Dr. Pravin (General physician) & Dr. Gitanjali (child specialist) were later updated with the discussions. Thanks to NHP school teachers cum LEAD volunteers -- Archana & Anupa for inspiring Dr.Malti & Dr.Gitanjali respectively for this camp. Ramesh really did some good work here like noting down the discussions, requirements, preparing the format, updating the doctor, etc.
We thought of booking the larger sector-3 NMMC community centre (our republic day event hall) for this. So I made an application to the corporator. Meanwhile we got the idea of organizing this event in a school to do away with the pains of chairs & tables, etc.
Then Archana took the extra efforts along with Richa for convincing the school principal regarding this. Special Thanks to Mrs. Kuldeep, HM, NHP School for providing not only the school space & all other basic infrastructure needed for the camp.
I & Arun informed Sathey Nagar families & then joined Kailash for the Sector-17 work. However, due to then Airoli gaav problems, we could intimate them only a day before that too at about 8.30 pm! Ramesh, Archana & Richa too joined us for this. Arun & Kailash had to then immediately rush for Sec-3. All the families were supposed to gather at our centre at 2 pm while the volunteers at NHP School at 1.30pm.
Despite detailed prior-announcements, we still had to do the field work on the same day, as usual, when none of the Sec-3 families turned up. Fortunately we could meet the mothers & get them to the venue. Ganesh’s mother was busy packing up the stuff for their 10 day visit to native place. We somehow convinced her to spare half an hour for the health of her children. While in Airoli-gaav, Einnetti’s mother insisted to go for work rather than check-up. But thank god we can pull this mother of 2 girls & a toddler. Sector-17, which happens to be LEAD’s strength, again demonstrated their faith on us as almost all the mothers arrived on time with their children. Sania took charge in the centre while Arun, I, Pulkit & Ramesh started shifting mats, water glasses, empty bottles, decoration material, etc from center to school. Meanwhile Richa, Archana, Kamlesh & Vishal had already started with all the arrangements in the school. The best part -- Ramesh’s children Kumaresh & Bhakti too joined us helping out in almost all the activities during the event be it decoration, queuing up the children for the 1st doctor or manufacturing of eco-friendly paper-bags for the health-cum-hygiene kit (Soap, Tooth paste, Banana, Parle-G Biscuits) given to every child. Ramesh proudly announced on Saturday that we should not use polythene bags & cleverly passed this job to his poor children ;-) These wonderful children tried to make up for the absence of Kailash’s children Manisha & naughty Golu, but we did miss our all-time junior volunteers.
This time Kailash went a step ahead & arranged for a brand new LCD TV (Thanks to his friend Kundan) & his DVD player for entertaining (managing!) the children while they wait for their check-up turn. Archana purchased 3 DVDs of Hindi & English stories with good morals. Kailash was not sure for the event but then he soon made a dashing entry with immediately wiring up the mess of connections that even the engineers like me, Arun & Pulkit were unable to do after racking our heads for quiet a long time ;-)
Richa handled the Xeroxing work (of health checkup formats), Ramesh got the bananas & health scale, I ordered the samosas & ice-creams, Pulkit got the wafers & paper-plates from Mulund (the discounted ones!), Nina arranged for the examination gloves & mask, & Arun got the soaps & tooth pastes (He is waiting to share his wonderful shopping experiences ;-) Things went bit gloomy when Dr. Kartik ringed up apologizing for his absence due to a sudden death in his family. We can take up his part later may be with his wife’s counseling part but the worrying part was Weight scale, that he was supposed to bring. I immediately called up Dr.Gitanjali & she tried her best but in vain. Thanks to Dr.Pravin, we could do the ‘jugaad’ of weight scale & his stethoscope with the help of a doctor from Indravati Hospital. Dr.Pravin also deserves a special applause as he directly came from his OPD for the camp without taking his lunch. He also missed some of his very important calls from OPD during the checkup.
One more interesting incident is the sudden disappearance of Dr.Nitin (dentist) 3 days before the camp. Not reachable! Sunday morning, I did some hunting for the dentist & could luckily get the number of Dr.Nilesh. I explained him about us, the camp & the problem, but still he was on two minds about this. I again SMSed him our website details & then he called me up for face-face meet at his clinic at 1.45. Arun joined me & said, “Don’t worry, this is not an uncommon situation for us now & we will get him.” & it was done! But really special thanks to him to rescue us at the right time. He is a very polite & humble guy, who immediately left for his next appointments after the camp without having any refreshments.
Families had already started arriving at the school now from centre; Richa, Sania & others managed this nicely. Eyes totally wide-open at the 21 inch LCD TV, children rushed in for the first row while the mothers comfortably occupied the last ones with their babies. What caught my attention later was Raja’s mother having a nice nap while waiting for her turn ;-) Chairs & Tables were arranged such that every child will have to complete a circle for her/his complete check-up by 4 doctors. Starting with height & weight checks (Sania, Richa & junior volunteers), they were again routed back to the entertainment zone for their turn. Kailash too carefully guarded the entrance point of check-up (Dr. Pravin), while Archana took up the final position to file up the health reports & prescriptions given by doctors. No doubt, traffic got jammed at the counters of Dr.Pravin & Dr.Gitanjali. Doctors patiently examined the children & inquired their mothers for further details/problems. Children of course too this as another event but we could make out some success of this initiative from the relief on the mothers’ faces.
Some of the scenes still flashes around in front of my eyes- Arun rushing out for the torch, Ganesh’s mother in total hurry to finish off fast, children hanging around on the stairs, we running behind them, Children insisting on ‘Bhoot ka picture’ & then again complaining that there is no bhoot when we put up the new movie, children almost on a non-stop mode for cold water & toilets- literally keeping our volunteers on toes, etc.. And in the midst of all these-- Kumar, Sandhya & Pranay requesting me time & again for sparing few minutes with them for LEAD! This is the team from Youth Venture who had come all the way from Bandra to shoot a small minute video for LEAD!! Sounds great na? This will help us a lot. Archana had invited her dad & cousin too for the event. Thanks to Kumar & this guy for taking some snaps of the event, or else we wouldn’t have anything! Beena too made up this time & assisted in all the activities around. Mr. Padale, who has recently joined us, thanks to the senior citizen meet attended by me & Arun, also volunteered for the event. My colleague Daizy & her husband Dipesh also joined us with a bag of clothes from Ghatkopar! Am sure they had a nice time with our bacchha-log ;-)
Meanwhile some of the parents started getting restless due to the long waiting list & so I, Ramesh & Arun zoomed out for getting the snacks (“No ice-creams please!”, aired the voices around) while others fattaa-fatt kept the dishes ready with wafers. The families who had done with the checkup & snacks were made to leave with the health cum hygiene kit in every child’s hand. Thanks to Rahul & Nishant who geared up for this work as soon as they joined in. Some of the mothers started inquiring what about the ‘doctor’s paper’? We explained that we will get back to them very soon with proper description. Doctors too started making their moves when Archana gifted them with a Thank-you greeting card along with a token of love (pen). The purchase & decoration was also handled by her itself. Rahul & Kailash are trying to get this event covered in some local print so as to create some awareness about LEAD. (We still need lot of human resources!!!!)
Finally it was time for our pet-pooja now… but again, as usual, no samosas, no wafers for volunteers…I got the garam vadaa-paavs & thandaaa Fanta.!! Hope that would have pushed the car till our homes… at least in reserve ;-)
It was 6 pm & we relived some of the volunteers after cleaning the place & rearranging the stuff. After returning the TV with Kailash, Arun joined me, Rahul, Nishant & Krishanu to replace back the materials at our centre. Krishanu is our new volunteer who began his first day with such a wonderful event. He plans to come all the way from Powai every weekend & will also try to encourage some of his colleagues that are part of the company-CSR to volunteer for LEAD. After explaining him a lot about the directions for Powai, I was still worried (looking at his face), weather I helped him or confused him? ;-) Krishanu, did you reach properly?
The serious note with which we ended was that the end of this medical camp marks the beginning of more important work for LEAD volunteers! (This reminds me of our words… “After admitting these children to the school, our work actually began!”)
Yes friends, there is nothing great in organizing a medical camp. Definitely sounds good to tell outsiders about this event… to get a pat on our back...or to pull in some funds… But I am sure all of us remember that this is not at all our motive. We have clearly discussed this while planning for this event. Our work begins now!!
We need to give the prescriptions back to the families after photocopying them, read the health reports of all the children carefully, explain even these to all the parents, may be we will have to sit with concerned doctors before this, guide them if at all there are some costly check-ups/ tests/ scans & more importantly follow-up regularly with all these families about the status of treatment. Only the feedback of these families through their health & words will decide if this event was a success or a failure…..!!!!
I have Xeroxed all the reports & prescriptions. Kailash has already donated some amount for this & even Kaustubh has given some suggestions.
So gear up friends….its time to again sit together & discuss carefully so that we ourselves don’t wash out our efforts, time & money!
PS: Archana has taken a good lead in taking the feedback from all the volunteers regarding the event. Hope this will help us rectify some of our mistakes in the coming event. Please reply to her email ASAP.
Regards
Rupesh
LEAD
www.google.com/profiles/lead.airoli
This turns up to be one of the most important events for LEAD. Important in two senses: First, of course, the health of our children. And secondly being building up the stronger bond with the families in these communities.
Heres the link that will take you to the snaps:
http://picasaweb.google.co.in/lead.airoli/MedicalCampForChildren#
Preparations started almost 2 weeks back, when we had the meeting with Dr.Kartik (physiotherapist), Dr.Malti (Anaesthist) & Dr. Nitin (Dentist) on Sunday 17th May for this event. Dr. Pravin (General physician) & Dr. Gitanjali (child specialist) were later updated with the discussions. Thanks to NHP school teachers cum LEAD volunteers -- Archana & Anupa for inspiring Dr.Malti & Dr.Gitanjali respectively for this camp. Ramesh really did some good work here like noting down the discussions, requirements, preparing the format, updating the doctor, etc.
We thought of booking the larger sector-3 NMMC community centre (our republic day event hall) for this. So I made an application to the corporator. Meanwhile we got the idea of organizing this event in a school to do away with the pains of chairs & tables, etc.
Then Archana took the extra efforts along with Richa for convincing the school principal regarding this. Special Thanks to Mrs. Kuldeep, HM, NHP School for providing not only the school space & all other basic infrastructure needed for the camp.
I & Arun informed Sathey Nagar families & then joined Kailash for the Sector-17 work. However, due to then Airoli gaav problems, we could intimate them only a day before that too at about 8.30 pm! Ramesh, Archana & Richa too joined us for this. Arun & Kailash had to then immediately rush for Sec-3. All the families were supposed to gather at our centre at 2 pm while the volunteers at NHP School at 1.30pm.
Despite detailed prior-announcements, we still had to do the field work on the same day, as usual, when none of the Sec-3 families turned up. Fortunately we could meet the mothers & get them to the venue. Ganesh’s mother was busy packing up the stuff for their 10 day visit to native place. We somehow convinced her to spare half an hour for the health of her children. While in Airoli-gaav, Einnetti’s mother insisted to go for work rather than check-up. But thank god we can pull this mother of 2 girls & a toddler. Sector-17, which happens to be LEAD’s strength, again demonstrated their faith on us as almost all the mothers arrived on time with their children. Sania took charge in the centre while Arun, I, Pulkit & Ramesh started shifting mats, water glasses, empty bottles, decoration material, etc from center to school. Meanwhile Richa, Archana, Kamlesh & Vishal had already started with all the arrangements in the school. The best part -- Ramesh’s children Kumaresh & Bhakti too joined us helping out in almost all the activities during the event be it decoration, queuing up the children for the 1st doctor or manufacturing of eco-friendly paper-bags for the health-cum-hygiene kit (Soap, Tooth paste, Banana, Parle-G Biscuits) given to every child. Ramesh proudly announced on Saturday that we should not use polythene bags & cleverly passed this job to his poor children ;-) These wonderful children tried to make up for the absence of Kailash’s children Manisha & naughty Golu, but we did miss our all-time junior volunteers.
This time Kailash went a step ahead & arranged for a brand new LCD TV (Thanks to his friend Kundan) & his DVD player for entertaining (managing!) the children while they wait for their check-up turn. Archana purchased 3 DVDs of Hindi & English stories with good morals. Kailash was not sure for the event but then he soon made a dashing entry with immediately wiring up the mess of connections that even the engineers like me, Arun & Pulkit were unable to do after racking our heads for quiet a long time ;-)
Richa handled the Xeroxing work (of health checkup formats), Ramesh got the bananas & health scale, I ordered the samosas & ice-creams, Pulkit got the wafers & paper-plates from Mulund (the discounted ones!), Nina arranged for the examination gloves & mask, & Arun got the soaps & tooth pastes (He is waiting to share his wonderful shopping experiences ;-) Things went bit gloomy when Dr. Kartik ringed up apologizing for his absence due to a sudden death in his family. We can take up his part later may be with his wife’s counseling part but the worrying part was Weight scale, that he was supposed to bring. I immediately called up Dr.Gitanjali & she tried her best but in vain. Thanks to Dr.Pravin, we could do the ‘jugaad’ of weight scale & his stethoscope with the help of a doctor from Indravati Hospital. Dr.Pravin also deserves a special applause as he directly came from his OPD for the camp without taking his lunch. He also missed some of his very important calls from OPD during the checkup.
One more interesting incident is the sudden disappearance of Dr.Nitin (dentist) 3 days before the camp. Not reachable! Sunday morning, I did some hunting for the dentist & could luckily get the number of Dr.Nilesh. I explained him about us, the camp & the problem, but still he was on two minds about this. I again SMSed him our website details & then he called me up for face-face meet at his clinic at 1.45. Arun joined me & said, “Don’t worry, this is not an uncommon situation for us now & we will get him.” & it was done! But really special thanks to him to rescue us at the right time. He is a very polite & humble guy, who immediately left for his next appointments after the camp without having any refreshments.
Families had already started arriving at the school now from centre; Richa, Sania & others managed this nicely. Eyes totally wide-open at the 21 inch LCD TV, children rushed in for the first row while the mothers comfortably occupied the last ones with their babies. What caught my attention later was Raja’s mother having a nice nap while waiting for her turn ;-) Chairs & Tables were arranged such that every child will have to complete a circle for her/his complete check-up by 4 doctors. Starting with height & weight checks (Sania, Richa & junior volunteers), they were again routed back to the entertainment zone for their turn. Kailash too carefully guarded the entrance point of check-up (Dr. Pravin), while Archana took up the final position to file up the health reports & prescriptions given by doctors. No doubt, traffic got jammed at the counters of Dr.Pravin & Dr.Gitanjali. Doctors patiently examined the children & inquired their mothers for further details/problems. Children of course too this as another event but we could make out some success of this initiative from the relief on the mothers’ faces.
Some of the scenes still flashes around in front of my eyes- Arun rushing out for the torch, Ganesh’s mother in total hurry to finish off fast, children hanging around on the stairs, we running behind them, Children insisting on ‘Bhoot ka picture’ & then again complaining that there is no bhoot when we put up the new movie, children almost on a non-stop mode for cold water & toilets- literally keeping our volunteers on toes, etc.. And in the midst of all these-- Kumar, Sandhya & Pranay requesting me time & again for sparing few minutes with them for LEAD! This is the team from Youth Venture who had come all the way from Bandra to shoot a small minute video for LEAD!! Sounds great na? This will help us a lot. Archana had invited her dad & cousin too for the event. Thanks to Kumar & this guy for taking some snaps of the event, or else we wouldn’t have anything! Beena too made up this time & assisted in all the activities around. Mr. Padale, who has recently joined us, thanks to the senior citizen meet attended by me & Arun, also volunteered for the event. My colleague Daizy & her husband Dipesh also joined us with a bag of clothes from Ghatkopar! Am sure they had a nice time with our bacchha-log ;-)
Meanwhile some of the parents started getting restless due to the long waiting list & so I, Ramesh & Arun zoomed out for getting the snacks (“No ice-creams please!”, aired the voices around) while others fattaa-fatt kept the dishes ready with wafers. The families who had done with the checkup & snacks were made to leave with the health cum hygiene kit in every child’s hand. Thanks to Rahul & Nishant who geared up for this work as soon as they joined in. Some of the mothers started inquiring what about the ‘doctor’s paper’? We explained that we will get back to them very soon with proper description. Doctors too started making their moves when Archana gifted them with a Thank-you greeting card along with a token of love (pen). The purchase & decoration was also handled by her itself. Rahul & Kailash are trying to get this event covered in some local print so as to create some awareness about LEAD. (We still need lot of human resources!!!!)
Finally it was time for our pet-pooja now… but again, as usual, no samosas, no wafers for volunteers…I got the garam vadaa-paavs & thandaaa Fanta.!! Hope that would have pushed the car till our homes… at least in reserve ;-)
It was 6 pm & we relived some of the volunteers after cleaning the place & rearranging the stuff. After returning the TV with Kailash, Arun joined me, Rahul, Nishant & Krishanu to replace back the materials at our centre. Krishanu is our new volunteer who began his first day with such a wonderful event. He plans to come all the way from Powai every weekend & will also try to encourage some of his colleagues that are part of the company-CSR to volunteer for LEAD. After explaining him a lot about the directions for Powai, I was still worried (looking at his face), weather I helped him or confused him? ;-) Krishanu, did you reach properly?
The serious note with which we ended was that the end of this medical camp marks the beginning of more important work for LEAD volunteers! (This reminds me of our words… “After admitting these children to the school, our work actually began!”)
Yes friends, there is nothing great in organizing a medical camp. Definitely sounds good to tell outsiders about this event… to get a pat on our back...or to pull in some funds… But I am sure all of us remember that this is not at all our motive. We have clearly discussed this while planning for this event. Our work begins now!!
We need to give the prescriptions back to the families after photocopying them, read the health reports of all the children carefully, explain even these to all the parents, may be we will have to sit with concerned doctors before this, guide them if at all there are some costly check-ups/ tests/ scans & more importantly follow-up regularly with all these families about the status of treatment. Only the feedback of these families through their health & words will decide if this event was a success or a failure…..!!!!
I have Xeroxed all the reports & prescriptions. Kailash has already donated some amount for this & even Kaustubh has given some suggestions.
So gear up friends….its time to again sit together & discuss carefully so that we ourselves don’t wash out our efforts, time & money!
PS: Archana has taken a good lead in taking the feedback from all the volunteers regarding the event. Hope this will help us rectify some of our mistakes in the coming event. Please reply to her email ASAP.
Regards
Rupesh
LEAD
www.google.com/profiles/lead.airoli
Saturday, May 16, 2009
Outing to Thane skit-show & LEAD Awareness
Hi friends,
The subject line might come as a big surprise for many of you…
The main reason keeping this on low key being – it happened almost all of the sudden… & the main reason for this one was not an outing actually, as these were the same plays as those of Vashi ones, but we wished to tap this as a good opportunity to sensitize the masses (audience) about the plight of such children & more importantly our work… The first play (Footpath) was on the similar theme & so we thought it might be bit easier to stimulate the audience (assuming, such a play will successfully stir up their conscience) & secondly, the short distance (Thane to Airoli) would further prove to be good advantage for the people willing to join our platform…
Amazing work by Raji, for converting our black & white, dull & lengthy appeal into a colorful eye-catchy & heart-warming one...Thank you so much Raji for this creative piece of work especially at a very short notice… (Freinds, i have marked her cc)
We wanted to get this translate into Marathi, keeping into mind the target audience, but unfortunately Richa suddenly got unwell & we had to move on with English stuff itself.. But good that Raji had kept the appeal very simple one though quite impacting…
I & Arun gathered at our centre at 9.30. Eight children were selected….Except Vinod & Ganesh, everyone was excited for their first turn...Shenu, Venkatesh, Akash, Govind, Anil (small) & you wont believe---Mukesh! Yes, fortunately we could rope him in with us….. {Let’s pray that we don’t lose him again…}
While Sachin met us at Thane station, Tejal was instructed to hold on while getting down at Airoli station. We boarded the same train & forming groups crossed the heavily crowded bridge. I stayed back to get the Xerox work done, while the rest headed for the show…It took about 40 minutes for the color Xeroxes, meanwhile the gang over there had already occupied the backstage (We saved on tickets front & anyways we were part of the climax scene)…Reena too joined us soon, leaving aside her office work… We hope she did not have any tough time with her boss l8r ;-)
While on one side I was enjoying the act (I even played the role of public in this play… though didn’t receive any compensation for this ;-)) & smiles & cheers on the faces of our children, the other side—was very touched by the efforts taken by Sachin, Reena & Tejal for the speech. The climax was that a boy from the footpath dies in an accident & his spirit urges the masses for the support hence forth at least for his comrades….. This will pave the way for our entry along with the real-heroes, allowing us make a 2-minute appeal to audience about LEAD. While Arun hesitated to join us & I kept mum, our 3 marathi volunteers delivered a short, crisp & impacting speech… & there went the shutter down amidst the loud applause...
It was an interval time for the audience & of course the real testing time for LEAD… Sachin & Arun assisted Sachin Pawar for the stage set-up of his next play, while I, Reena & Tejal spread around the audience with xeroxes & started talking to almost every family …. First outside & then within the audi… fortunately, the longer interval acted as good bonus for us… While my target was to cover the maximum crowd, however Reena & Tejal were very patient & courteous in explaining them…. To drop in at our place once, see our activities, whys, whats, websites, contacts, etc…Excellent work by them..!!!
Sachin & Arun were waiting out for us with the excited children... We joined them merrily, hoping to get some queries soon…. After taking some snaps, we headed for Thane station…Noting that children were hungry a bit, we had the Mango juice… children happily gulped down the fruit…. (I guess this was their first time!) Meanwhile, a small sweet girl tugged my shirt begging for a penny & we involved her too in the party…
While we had to wait about 20 minutes for the train, children seems had a wonderful time together on the platform… {Do check this cool snap…} How innocently they sit on the floor, laughing, gossiping, least bothered by the staring eyes of the world…
We are still waiting for that 1st call from the audience……!!!!!!!!!!
Here’s the link to our snaps:
http://picasaweb.google.co.in/lead.airoli/OutingToThaneSkitShowAnotherBatch
& these are some of the funny/touchy interactions with/among our children… that i thought you would love to read...
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thane platform while heading for the last compartment:
Pointing towards the blue colored striped First class ladies compartment, Mukesh says,” yeh ladies log ka hai na? Isme hum chad sakte hain? Main 1-2 baar isme chada hoon”.. Ganesh hits a sixer ” Abbey, Isme chadega to police tujhe dandda maaregi” ;-)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Friday evening, I had taken Mukesh, Sanesh & Vinod to Sachin Pawar for the rehersal..
Our volunteers Sachin & Tejal too joined us…While on the way back to home,
1) I was trying to persuade Vinod that he has to convince his brother Rahul & sister Renuka to take the responsibility of her two siblings Anita & Monika…If Madhuri doesn’t come, we wont take Vinod too….
Ganesh replied immediately,” Sir, Please Vinod ko aane do naaa..Vinod rahega to mere o himmat rehtaa hai … ;-)
Vinod says,” Sir, Madhuri mujhe bolti hai…Main kab badi houngi…mujhe kab baahar lekar jaayega ??? ;-(
2) I & the 3 children stopped at an icecream wala near Sector-3 garden….
Ganesh happily tells me,,” Sir, kal mera bhai Surya gaav se aa raha hai!” Pleasantly surprised, I asked him,” Good, lekin baaki do bhai ko kyon nahin laaya?” Gansh replies,” Sir, woh bahut khaataa hai… itnaa paisa nahin hai hamare paas”
Pointing to Vinod I replied, “ Vinod ke ghar pe 8 bhai behen hai..tere se bhi chhota ghar hai…” Ganesh replied sadly,” Sir, Uske ghar pe baap hai :-(
Somehow, I managed to change the sad mood. ..
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Children wee insisting to see the other two plays too.. While we tried to cajole them saying, they had already seen this…& now next time , you have to be on the stage for acting…. Ganesh replied,: Sir, isiliye to bol raha hai…. Wahan pe baad mein acting kar na hai na…Isiliye aur ek baar dekhna hai !!!!
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I don’t know, what triggered this topic but suddenly some of the children especially Madhuri & Shainki started throwing some strange questions upon me…
Sir, aapko bachcha hai?? Aapka shadi ho gaya ??
This didn’t end when replied in negative…. Sir, humko aapke shaadi mein bulayega ??
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Arun, me & 8 children-- after getting down at Airoli station fromThane----
1) Sachin would have showed them the magnificient Patni building & complex, & also that their Arun Sir works there…
Mukesh asks Arun , “ Sir, aap kya kaam karta hai??” Ganesh jokes, “ Sir kya begaari (daily wage labor) kaaam karega kya ?? ;-) We replied that he is an engineer…
Mukesh’s gets more curious.. Woh building banaata hai kya ?? “ Nahin, who computer pe kaam karte hain ! While Arun nicely uses this opportunity to encourage them for becoming a software engineer… Mukesh heads for me and asks , “ aap kaunsa engineer hai?? [So, now he feels that all of us are engineers??? ;-)] “I am an electronics engineer”…Mukesh says, “Oh!. fridge, TV , mobile repairing karne ka ??” ;-)
2) While walking along, we passed by Priyanka hotel… & Vinod immediately screamed, “Sir, Priyanka hotel ! Priyanka teacher ka naam hai na !!!! “
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Cheers
Rupesh
LEAD
The subject line might come as a big surprise for many of you…
The main reason keeping this on low key being – it happened almost all of the sudden… & the main reason for this one was not an outing actually, as these were the same plays as those of Vashi ones, but we wished to tap this as a good opportunity to sensitize the masses (audience) about the plight of such children & more importantly our work… The first play (Footpath) was on the similar theme & so we thought it might be bit easier to stimulate the audience (assuming, such a play will successfully stir up their conscience) & secondly, the short distance (Thane to Airoli) would further prove to be good advantage for the people willing to join our platform…
Amazing work by Raji, for converting our black & white, dull & lengthy appeal into a colorful eye-catchy & heart-warming one...Thank you so much Raji for this creative piece of work especially at a very short notice… (Freinds, i have marked her cc)
We wanted to get this translate into Marathi, keeping into mind the target audience, but unfortunately Richa suddenly got unwell & we had to move on with English stuff itself.. But good that Raji had kept the appeal very simple one though quite impacting…
I & Arun gathered at our centre at 9.30. Eight children were selected….Except Vinod & Ganesh, everyone was excited for their first turn...Shenu, Venkatesh, Akash, Govind, Anil (small) & you wont believe---Mukesh! Yes, fortunately we could rope him in with us….. {Let’s pray that we don’t lose him again…}
While Sachin met us at Thane station, Tejal was instructed to hold on while getting down at Airoli station. We boarded the same train & forming groups crossed the heavily crowded bridge. I stayed back to get the Xerox work done, while the rest headed for the show…It took about 40 minutes for the color Xeroxes, meanwhile the gang over there had already occupied the backstage (We saved on tickets front & anyways we were part of the climax scene)…Reena too joined us soon, leaving aside her office work… We hope she did not have any tough time with her boss l8r ;-)
While on one side I was enjoying the act (I even played the role of public in this play… though didn’t receive any compensation for this ;-)) & smiles & cheers on the faces of our children, the other side—was very touched by the efforts taken by Sachin, Reena & Tejal for the speech. The climax was that a boy from the footpath dies in an accident & his spirit urges the masses for the support hence forth at least for his comrades….. This will pave the way for our entry along with the real-heroes, allowing us make a 2-minute appeal to audience about LEAD. While Arun hesitated to join us & I kept mum, our 3 marathi volunteers delivered a short, crisp & impacting speech… & there went the shutter down amidst the loud applause...
It was an interval time for the audience & of course the real testing time for LEAD… Sachin & Arun assisted Sachin Pawar for the stage set-up of his next play, while I, Reena & Tejal spread around the audience with xeroxes & started talking to almost every family …. First outside & then within the audi… fortunately, the longer interval acted as good bonus for us… While my target was to cover the maximum crowd, however Reena & Tejal were very patient & courteous in explaining them…. To drop in at our place once, see our activities, whys, whats, websites, contacts, etc…Excellent work by them..!!!
Sachin & Arun were waiting out for us with the excited children... We joined them merrily, hoping to get some queries soon…. After taking some snaps, we headed for Thane station…Noting that children were hungry a bit, we had the Mango juice… children happily gulped down the fruit…. (I guess this was their first time!) Meanwhile, a small sweet girl tugged my shirt begging for a penny & we involved her too in the party…
While we had to wait about 20 minutes for the train, children seems had a wonderful time together on the platform… {Do check this cool snap…} How innocently they sit on the floor, laughing, gossiping, least bothered by the staring eyes of the world…
We are still waiting for that 1st call from the audience……!!!!!!!!!!
Here’s the link to our snaps:
http://picasaweb.google.co.in/lead.airoli/OutingToThaneSkitShowAnotherBatch
& these are some of the funny/touchy interactions with/among our children… that i thought you would love to read...
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Thane platform while heading for the last compartment:
Pointing towards the blue colored striped First class ladies compartment, Mukesh says,” yeh ladies log ka hai na? Isme hum chad sakte hain? Main 1-2 baar isme chada hoon”.. Ganesh hits a sixer ” Abbey, Isme chadega to police tujhe dandda maaregi” ;-)
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Friday evening, I had taken Mukesh, Sanesh & Vinod to Sachin Pawar for the rehersal..
Our volunteers Sachin & Tejal too joined us…While on the way back to home,
1) I was trying to persuade Vinod that he has to convince his brother Rahul & sister Renuka to take the responsibility of her two siblings Anita & Monika…If Madhuri doesn’t come, we wont take Vinod too….
Ganesh replied immediately,” Sir, Please Vinod ko aane do naaa..Vinod rahega to mere o himmat rehtaa hai … ;-)
Vinod says,” Sir, Madhuri mujhe bolti hai…Main kab badi houngi…mujhe kab baahar lekar jaayega ??? ;-(
2) I & the 3 children stopped at an icecream wala near Sector-3 garden….
Ganesh happily tells me,,” Sir, kal mera bhai Surya gaav se aa raha hai!” Pleasantly surprised, I asked him,” Good, lekin baaki do bhai ko kyon nahin laaya?” Gansh replies,” Sir, woh bahut khaataa hai… itnaa paisa nahin hai hamare paas”
Pointing to Vinod I replied, “ Vinod ke ghar pe 8 bhai behen hai..tere se bhi chhota ghar hai…” Ganesh replied sadly,” Sir, Uske ghar pe baap hai :-(
Somehow, I managed to change the sad mood. ..
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Children wee insisting to see the other two plays too.. While we tried to cajole them saying, they had already seen this…& now next time , you have to be on the stage for acting…. Ganesh replied,: Sir, isiliye to bol raha hai…. Wahan pe baad mein acting kar na hai na…Isiliye aur ek baar dekhna hai !!!!
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I don’t know, what triggered this topic but suddenly some of the children especially Madhuri & Shainki started throwing some strange questions upon me…
Sir, aapko bachcha hai?? Aapka shadi ho gaya ??
This didn’t end when replied in negative…. Sir, humko aapke shaadi mein bulayega ??
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Arun, me & 8 children-- after getting down at Airoli station fromThane----
1) Sachin would have showed them the magnificient Patni building & complex, & also that their Arun Sir works there…
Mukesh asks Arun , “ Sir, aap kya kaam karta hai??” Ganesh jokes, “ Sir kya begaari (daily wage labor) kaaam karega kya ?? ;-) We replied that he is an engineer…
Mukesh’s gets more curious.. Woh building banaata hai kya ?? “ Nahin, who computer pe kaam karte hain ! While Arun nicely uses this opportunity to encourage them for becoming a software engineer… Mukesh heads for me and asks , “ aap kaunsa engineer hai?? [So, now he feels that all of us are engineers??? ;-)] “I am an electronics engineer”…Mukesh says, “Oh!. fridge, TV , mobile repairing karne ka ??” ;-)
2) While walking along, we passed by Priyanka hotel… & Vinod immediately screamed, “Sir, Priyanka hotel ! Priyanka teacher ka naam hai na !!!! “
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Cheers
Rupesh
LEAD
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