New Delhi   

Thanksgiving to Mother Earth

Green festival: School children performing a skit while celebrating “Prithivi Parv”.

NEW DELHI: With an aim to foster early and sustained engagement with arts in education, the art and vocational centre Kalasthali, conceived by non-government organisation Search Years, hosted “Vasundhara Meri Dhara”, a festival celebrating the gifts of planet Earth in neighbouring Gurgaon over the weekend.

The festival was inaugurated by lighting the traditional lamp and planting of trees by Sri Ram Schools director Mark Parkinson and the Block Education Officer, Gurgaon, Ramkumar Phalswal.

About 250 children in the age group of 6 to 14 years from four government schools participated in the event. The festival began with children planting their handprints in various colours on a “Kalpavriksha” in a symbolic gesture to own and protect the tree of life. This activity was followed by “Prithvi Parv”, a cultural event where children sang folk and contemporary songs in praise of Mother Earth, presented an English skit with a pledge to protect and conserve the environment and performed a dance celebrating the month of Baisakhi.

Odissi danseuse Arushi Mudgal, who is a disciple of Madhavi Mudgal, performed to a composition by Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra based on the Bala Leela of Lord Krishna. Several other artistes also specially performed for the children to inspire them to take up performing arts later on in their lives.

Search Years is a small grassroots organisation based in Gurgaon with a vision to create a positive environment where children from underprivileged backgrounds can realise their full potential, take control of their lives and interact with the world around them. Its approach is to harness the enormous resource and knowledge equity existing in the community and bringing it through volunteer experts and educators to the children going to a network of existing government schools.

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