Creating Umang among Young India
26Th Jan 2010: Public Holidays are generally considered as a break from hectic work schedule and a mode of relaxation but for Umang Foundation’s team, this was the day for celebration not only among themselves but among 200 street / orphan / single parent children.
Around 30 team members of Umang Foundation gathered at St. John Baptist Special School in Thane (W) to mark the celebration of Republic Day. Though the event was planned by the team 4 weeks before, last minute preparations had started at 7.30 am in the morning.
The school’s terrace was artistically decorated with tri-color balloons by a group of professionals. All the members of the team were seen in traditional ethnic wear with Indian flags attached to their dresses. Just after all pre-event arrangements were completed, kids from various places started coming in for the much awaited event. At around 11.15 am, the terrace was completely occupied with 200 innocent kids and their teachers. Father Joe de Gama, Incharge – Aasara along with Aasara team was also present to motivate the children and Team Umang.
At 11:30 am, event was kick started by Sharad Tripathi with National Anthem by everyone which was followed by Magic Show by Magician Sooraj, his magical tricks really amazed the kids and other audience present in the hall. Some of the lucky kids even got a chance to be a part of Magician’s tricks at the stage which made other kids all the more excited about the Magic show.
Dance competition added an extra edge to the event. Participants were ready with their songs and costumes. These kids had rehearsed their performance beforehand and as expected they did rock the stage with their fantabulous moves.
Judges for this competition were
(1) Mr. Raj P (Lead Choreographer, Dance Villa),
(2) Ms. Vandana Mittal (TV Actress)
(3) Ms Jimmy Sanghvi.
All 3 judges are experts in the field of dancing and choreography but still they thought children’s performances were mind-blowing. “Judging the Solo and Group performances was a real tough task as everyone was better than others” said Raj.
Keeping in mind children’s taste for food, Pav Bhaji and Gulabjamun was served to the children in Lunch. All the children enjoyed the tasty dishes and were seen contented and satisfied after eating it. Lunch brought an extra energy and zeal among these children and on the spot entries for Dance competition increased drastically. Mr. Manmohan Tiwari, one of Umang member and a fame of popular TV show (Rakhi ka Swayamvar), then added the fun and entertainment of the event with his dancing and comparing skills.
Drawing and Painting competition was next on the cards. Drawing sheets, Compass boxes with Pencil, Ruler, Sharpener, Eraser and Crayons were provided by the Team Umang to each and every child. Then, children were divided into 3 age groups :
(1) Below 8 years,
(2) 8-12 years
(3) 12 years and above,
depending on their age groups, different topics were given to the children for drawing.
Mrs. Mini Suboth, expert in Fine Arts was invited for judging these talented children. She was stunned by the imagination of the children. These children are very impressive as many of them (in below 8 years category) completed their sketch along with color filling within 5-7 minutes with complete perfection, said Mini Suboth.
Till all the judges made up their minds about the winners, evening snacks of Samosa, Slice cake and chocolates were distributed among all the children. Children were seen busy enjoying the delicious snacks with their friends and waited to know about the winners.
After snacks, on the spot prizes were given to the kids for the winners of Quiz Competition. Gaurav Gujare, Umang Quiz Master, had prepared the quiz questions to make the session interactive, but the overwhelming response he got from the kids was truly amazing. There were hardly any questions left, which the smart children didn’t answer said Gaurav.
Fancy Dress competition was next on cards for the Special Celebration and the participants were prepared to strike their performances for this competition too.
(1) Mr Raj P (Lead Choreographer),
(2) Ms Vandana Mittal (TV Actress)
(3) Ms Jyotsana Chandola (TV Actress)
were there to judge the children for fancy dress competition. Prize Distribution followed thereafter to felicitate the winners in all competitions.
Dance competition winners were given a coupon for Shamak Davar’s Classes along with other prizes.
“This is truly amazing experience of life, I am celebrating Republic Day with some different experience which will be memorable for rest of my life” said Sharad Tripathi (Known TV Screenplay and script writer for more than 30 shows)
Father Joe de Gama from Aasara said “We are highly grateful to Umang Foundation and its pro-active team for organizing this event on such a large scale and not cancelling this long-awaited event due to motorman’s strike which was later called off”.
“Our idea of organizing this event is to entertain children, mark the importance of Republic Day and identify talented children and give them training under experts who will guide them further to sharpen the skills” said Ashish Goyal, Founder Umang Foundation.
It’s been rightly said by somebody, “Where there is a will, there is a way”. Team Umang had purity and true spirit of organizing this event in their hearts, and hence this was their 136th successful event for the Umang Foundation.
Kudos to Team Umang!!
Team Umang who were present:
1. Gaurav Gujare
2. Amrapali Mathwale
3. Santosh Iyer
4. Sweta Singh
5. Neha Damania
6. Archana Ambhavne
7. Nikhil Sawant
8. Sonu Singh
9. Prashant Bhoir
10. Sharad Tripathi
11. Manmohan Tiwari
12. Jimmy Sanghvi
13. Garima Goyal
14. Ashish Goyal
15. Pooja Goyal
16. Himanshu Gupta
17. Swapna Nair
18. Rama Naidu
19. Abhilasha Kale
20. Rahul Gupta
21. Swati Jagtap
22. Roli Sharma
23. Gourav K Sunaria
24. Fouzan Shaikh
25. Ganesh Bomble
26. Praveen Ochani
Photographs of the Day
http://picasaweb.google.com/umang.pics/RepublicDay2010#
Editorial : Roli Sharma
Umang Champion : Gaurav Gujare, Sweta Singh, Ashish Goyal, Pooja Goyal & Amrapali Mathwale