Kshana - Moments of Happiness

KSHANA EVENT WITH ICICI PRUDENTIAL

Children and teachers lined up on both our sides, clapping and cheering, giving us a celebrity welcome. This was the first sight that welcomed us on our arrival at Sanjivani Home in Virar for our event with ICICI Prudential. This event was a part of their CSR initiative.

To our astonishment, the children settled down very quickly after we arrived. Ritesh Thakkar gave the children a quick introduction about Kshana and ICICI Prudential. He also explained to them the theme of the event — ‘Recycling Waste’.

The children were divided into groups of 6 with each Kshana-ite as their group mentor. Each group was given a product; think of an advertising concept and enact it in front of everyone. The children were quick to name their groups with peppy names like ‘Baccha Party’ ‘Masti’ and ‘Happiness’.

Some of the enacted advertisements were downright funny, some had a social message to it, some had a really creative concept where as some had really catchy jingles. A complete entertainment package!

As soon as we got done with our first activity, we decided to take a lunch break. Lunch comprised salad, papad, sabzi, roti, dal, and rice — steaming hot and delicious — dessert comprised hot gulab jamuns and vanilla ice-cream.

After the sumptuous lunch no one (including the kids and us! :P) wanted to move an inch from the place they were sitting, but the next activity got us all very excited!

It was a bag making competition. The material used for making these bags was cotton which can be recycled easily. The children drew different patterns and pictures of diyas, houses and flowers on their bags. They stuck and stitched pretty beads and stones on these designs to make them look even more attractive!

Once our little artists finished with their master pieces, a group of girls between the age group of 16-18 years were taken to a different room where an interactive session was planned in order to develop and enhance their soft skills.

The speaker gave them tips to build a strong and impressive personality and answered all the queries which were put forth by the girls. A mock interview session was conducted with a few girls in front of the audience in order to prepare them for the actual job interview and instil the confidence in them to overcome the challenges that they could face outside the gates of Sanjivani Home.

On the other side the DJ had started playing the music and the children were dancing blissfully, enjoying each and every moment of it! No sooner than the older girls got done with their interactive session that they joined the remaining kids in their festivity, making up for the time that had missed out on.

It was time to stop the music and the dancing, but the children refused with a ‘NO’. After every song; a request of ‘One last song. Please!’ was made (followed by the fatal puppy faces!). Finally the DJ stopped playing the music, as all good things must come to an end.

The exhausted children were served a refreshing drink with mawa cakes. It was time to say goodbye. But before that it was time to hand out the gifts which comprised cricket kits, footballs, and board games. Something that they could all share and play together with.

A farewell photo session took place. The kids sang a wonderful song for us and thanked us with big smiles on their faces.

We departed with the satisfaction of knowing that we had succeeded in our mission of ‘Spreading Moments of Happiness’ in Sanjivani Home. J