Contact: Shyam S Byra
Tel. 602-568-8658
Email: publicity@iacrfaz.org
Date: May 29, 2018
“Bring basic education to every child across rural India”
Phoenix, AZ: Ekal Vidyalaya (EKAL), with a mission to bring basic education to every child across rural India has been supporting eradicating illiteracy since 1986; today more than 67,096 Ekal schools are educating over 1.8 Million tribal students throughout India.
In support of noble cause of bringing education, EKAL and Indo American Cultural & Religious Foundation of Arizona (IACRF) organized ‘Kaafila’ – A Bollywood Caravan by Aditi Bhagwat an inte
ationally renowned Kathak dancer, at Indo American Community Center, 2809, W Maryland Avenue, Phoenix, AZ 85017 on Friday, May 4th, 2018 from 6:30 PM to 10:30 PM.
The fundraising event had overwhelming response with 100s of donor registrations. The program on Friday May 4, 2018 began with guests socializing and enjoying Indian Chai with appetizers. The dance performance began with the lighting of the Diya by Dr. Gautam Shah, Sri. Subash Thathi, Sri. Neal Uppal, Sri. Vasu Atluri, Sri Venkat Kommineni, Sri Ramesh Shah, Sri Prakash Shah and other prominent community leaders welcomed by Sri Shyam Byra. A presentation about Ekal mission/vision, current status of Ekal operations, activities were given by Sri Ramesh Shah, President of Ekal USA with whole event hosted & explained step by step by Sri Shubha Ekambaram.
Aditi joined by Kunal Om who is trained in Flamenco dancing from Spain began the mesmerizing program of dance, music and Bollywood songs. From Kathak to Flamenco, Bollywood song/dance sequence of popular old songs as well as mogul fare of dance/music, Aditi mesmerized the audience with her mastery and versatility. This combination of the dance form is natural since the vocals and the music used in Flamenco is influenced by the gypsies of Rajasthan, who traveled to Spain. Shruti Bhave with her performance on violin captured the heart of the audience. Singer Suranjan Khandalkar with his Bollywood song based on classical Raga spellbound the audience and proved his versatility of singing beyond doubt. Without the spell bound support of percussionist Kantha Das, none of the performance of other artist would have reached the crescendo of joy and engagement of the audience.
The performance, Kaafila (gypsy caravan) provided a jou
ey through all dance styles including Indian cinema, classical Kathak, folk and Spanish Flamenco with Moghul Quwali style dance/music.
An Art of artist Swa
a Sitaraman’s “Stepping down the memory lane” was auctioned live and won by Solar Topp’s Sri Neal Uppal family. The art reflects the steps of the local temple and o
ately carved granite elephants along with beautiful carvings of adjacent pillars and grass laden grounds are etched in memory as you step down the memory lane and framed in 2017.
The evening was a resounding success, Donors, supporters from all co
ers of Arizona, attended in support of providing basic education to tribal children enjoyed the performances, the hospitality and every aspect of the program; which was described as “unique”, “fabulous”, “phenomenal”, and “mesmerizing”.
Including Impromptu donations more than 3000 children’s education is supported through pledges, donations and support from gala sponsors, seniors, including prominent AZ area companies such as Solar Topps, Renavitas, efulgent and local restaurants such as Godavari, Amaravathi, Ohm, Paradise Biryani and many others.
A special thanks to youth volunteers ( Mohit, Gautam, Suhas, Shreya, Sid, Sameera, Aditya and many others ) who broke their kiddy banks to sponsor schools and Indian Women Empowerment Forum –IWEF which stood like a backbone for this cause right from the begi
ing.
EKAL thanks all donors, sponsors, and volunteers especially IACRF’s Senior group for making the event one to remember done for a noble cause! This event spread awareness of need for Education to underprivileged tribal children with 15+ volunteers making it a very well organized event.
Indo-American Foundation of Arizona is a Non Profit Organization in Phoenix, serving the Community through Community Center & Ekta Mandir Hindu-Jain Temple. http://www.iacrfaz.org
Ekal Vidyalaya, a 501(c) (3) tax-exempt non-profit organization, involved in integrated & holistic development of rural & tribal India undertaken to run one-teacher schools (known as Ekal Vidyalayas) all over India, in the remotest rural & tribal villages to take the education to every child with a holistic approach of social and economic development.
With the participation of numerous trusts and non-profit organizations, this movement has become the largest grassroots level non-gove
mental education & development movement that operates in the remote villages of India. The Ekal movement aims to help eradicate illiteracy from rural and tribal India following the philosophy of rural development based on the criteria of equality & inclusiveness across all the sections of the society. More details about the EKAL VIDYALAYA are available at: http://www.ekal.org
