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Assisi Bhavan - January 29, 2011

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roshni
on February 25, 2011
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Making it special at Assisi Bhavan

On a sunny Saturday morning, the Kshana-ites made their way to Assisi Bhavan which is a home for the aged, tucked away in the green and breezy by lanes of Goregoan east. The very first thing that we noticed about this beautiful place was that it radiated a soothing feeling of peace. We were greeted by many curious faces that had 10 different questions running through their minds. We wasted no time in introducing ourselves and having a quick chat with everyone present. We explained to them that our aim of coming to Assisi Bhavan was not just to entertain them but also leave them with something that would benefit them in the long term.

True to our point, we had arranged for a yoga session for the residents of Assisi Bhavan. Mrs. Varsha Thakkar who has been teaching yoga for over 17 years now, was more than happy to conduct the session with them. She conducted a one hour session where she demonstrated different yoga ‘asanas’ and postures and highlighted how each one of them would benefit and help them to live a happy and healthy life. By this time all the Kshana-ites had mingled with the residents and were helping them to practice the asanas and were also practicing themselves! :P The session ended with a ‘question and answer round’ where the inmates were encouraged to ask questions and Mrs. Thakkar answered all their queries.

Then we started with something that the residents of Assisi Bhavan enjoy immensely — a game of HOUSIE! Tickets were distributed. The categories for the prizes were announced. And then began the – ‘Housie Fever’!

Waiting anxiously, for the next number to be called out; hoping, it is the number that you have on your housie ticket; shouting out the numbers that you need – LOUDLY; the compere, making lame number jokes; praying anxiously to get that one number to win the ‘Full House’; the ‘Oh no’ when someone wins; and the happiness and excitement on the winner’s face.

Everyone was hit by the ‘Housie Fever’!

After the ‘Housie Fever’ it was time to be hit by the dancing bug. Enthusiastic aunties and uncles held hands with Kshana-ites and took over the dance floor! They taught the Kshana-ites a thing or two about dancing. Classic Western songs reverberated in the room and there was a smile on everyone’s face as they danced away to some peppy numbers.

The residents are a bunch of lively people. One aunty came forward and recited a poem called ‘Smile’. While another bunch of them sang a lovely duet. One of them simply chose to hum a song and dance with the Kshana-ites. It felt like we were one happy group of people having fun on a camp fire night!

We served delicious Idlis with Chutney which was followed by a glass of ‘chaas’. We also distributed the gifts to the Housie prize winners. We dropped everyone to their rooms and said our goodbyes.

The evening ended with a beautiful line said by Aunt Maggi (one of the residents) – ‘Love little, but love long’ :)

Aadhar Home - February 13, 2011

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roshni
on February 17, 2011
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We walked into Aadhar Home, Borivli on February 13, 2011, only to be greeted with toothy smiles of some of the residents. The rest were slowly making their way to the hall, where we would be spending the evening with them.

Aadhar Home houses about 100 senior citizens, who were happy, and chatted with us about everything under the sun until it was time to start.

Once everyone settled down, we handed Housie tickets to each resident and made sure our volunteers were with them, to help detect their lucky numbers. With much enthusiasm, they waited to cross out numbers on their tickets to claim, jaldi five, four corners, any of the three lines and a full house.

We were requested to call out the numbers in Hindi, Gujarati and English for everyone’s benefit; which also made us realise our lack of knowledge on them!

After the first full house, they just wanted us to hold a second one, so we went on until one more resident claimed it. The joy on their faces was absolutely lovely. Each winner was smiling, holding on to their tickets with so much pride!

Then we had members of the Borivli Laughter Club to hold a laughter therapy session. They taught us that a simple thing like sharing a smile or making someone laugh can cure you of a number of illnesses. They went on to teach the residents a few laughter therapy exercises that they could practice whenever they want. All the Kshana volunteers and member joined in too — was quite a sight to see.

The laughter session was followed by the residents coming up on stage and dancing to the music. A very energetic bunch of people they were indeed. This was followed by platefuls of idlis with chutney and a glass of Frooti for each of them. They relished every bite and thanked us. They posed with us for pictures and laughed at our silly antics. Some of them got talking to us, and wanted us back real soon.

We told them we wanted to be back soon!

Kshana Premier League

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aejas
on May 20, 2010
in Events
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Kshana decided to take the cricket fever one step ahead by having its very own Kshana Premier League at The Bandra East Community Centre which is a home to 40 cricket crazy boys.

The boys were divided into 6 teams with names of their favourite IPL teams. Two Kshana members were assigned to coach and guide each team. The boys couldn’t wait to play cricket with their brand new cricket kit which was a gift from Kshana to them. We brought caps and printed the Kshana logo for all the children so that it could help them beat the heat and focus on playing well.

The matches started with a lot of clapping, cheering and boo-ing. All the teams were riding high on expectations. The matches had all the elements which would keep the spectators at the edge of their seats. There were moments of anxiety, moments of panic, moments of happiness, and moments of disappointment.

The boys would scream with joy and jump around with their ‘Four!!’ flashcards whenever the ball hit the boundary or gasp collectively in horror when the umpire declared a player ‘Out!. And then the screams of ‘Hozzzatttt!’ from the team that was bowling and murmurs of ‘Woh toh out nahi tha!!!’ from the team which was batting. These are the few moments that we cherished with the boys who reminded us of our childhood days.

We had a huge audience comprising people from the nearby slums who just could not resist catching a few minutes of the match. Our wonderful commentator kept the audience entertained with his witty remarks about the players, their batting, bowling and fielding skills (and sometimes the lack of it! :P). There were so many photographers who just couldn’t get enough of all the action (inspite of dodging and getting hit by the ball!). The boys had such high levels of enthusiasm that the presence of any cheerleaders was just not required..hehe.

The Royal Challengers won the finals and were declared as the champions of the Kshana Premiere League. There was lots of yelling, hugging and dancing to celebrate their victory. All the other team members and Kshanites joined their dance session. It was so surprising to see the boys dance so actively inspite of being so tired with all the cricket. The DJ kept playing popular chartbusters and we danced like there was no tomorrow. We did not stop until it was dinner time. It was then, that we realized how hungry we were. The boys were greeted with a delicious meal comprising chole, puri, gulab-jamuns and chocolate cake! Post a quick prayer they pounced on their food and insisted that the Kshana members also eat with them. The boys saw to it that each of us ate atleast one gulab-jamun before we left. It was such a sweet gesture indeed.

We wrapped up after sharing a wonderful meal with the boys. We said our goodbyes and left with the memories of an action packed day which I doubt anyone would be able to forget.