Republic Day - 08

Tu dhoop hai, chham se bhikhar,

Tu hai nadi o bekhabar ,

Udd chal kahin dil khush jahaan,

Teri to manzil hai wahi ......

This beautiful song appeared more meaningful on our 59th Republic Day ... when kids with overwhelming enthusiasm and vivacity sat down to unleash their imagination and creativity ...

Republic day this year was celebrated with a fervour of patriotism. Kids were taken to witness the flag hoisting at the KJ Somaiya Arts College by the NCC cadets. They were in high spirits after witnessing the March past by the NCC Cadets and marched back after the flag hoisting.

They then munched on some biscuits, and sang aloud a few patriotic songs like Mere Desh ki Dharti to their(and our) heart's content :)

We had a short break .. and at 10:30 am , we began the most awaited event of the day - the PEHEL ART COMPETITION !! .. Pehel art competition was open to all .. including the students of SIMSR...

There were 20 kids who were dressed in their best with their eyes beaming with excitement ... and there were almost equal number of volunteers from SIMSR who did not want to miss the fun ! ...

The competition was organised by Jyoti Gouda, Seema Goswami and Akhila Sekhar.

The Volunteers were Om Kumar Jha, Pranshu Gupta, Soumya Iruvanti, Tanvi Shikha, Avipsha Banerjee, Sangeeta Sengupta, Ashish Maheswari, Rishikesh Kumar, Subhasish Sarkar, Hirak Sarkar, Juhee Prashanth, Richa Khetawat, Ajay Choudhary and Beno Ewald.

To encourage the kids, many of the volunteers sat beside them and tried their hands at art too !!

The kids were given a choice - if they wanted to draw and colour or .. just colour the drawings.. a couple of kids chose to draw and the majority chose to colour .. and the fun began ! ...

Have you ever seen a Blue coloured sun ??? or a pink coloured rocket ?? or multi-coloured stars ??? We have :) !! ... It was the kids' innocence and creativity that reflected upon the paintings... To see them fill colours ... was a great sight indeed... !!

The kids and the members of the team were all given chocolates as a token of appreciation :P .. !! The paintings were then judged by four judges - Subhasish, Hirak, Ashish and Beno and the prizes were declared. The kids received the prizes with wide smiles amidst loud cheers and clapping.

At the end, all of us sang the National Anthem and called an end to the amazing morning !

Eye check up and General health checkup camp for PEHEL students

As part of PROJECT PEHEL, Somaiya Social Cell members were involved in teaching the children of the construction workers of Somaiya Buildings at the new Somaiya Hostel. After seeing the children and the houses in which they stay, the members felt that there was a need to conduct medical check up and provide medical advices for not only the children, but also the family. Hence a General health and eye checkup for the children of construction workers (PEHEL students) along with their parents and grandparents was conducted on Dec 28, 2007 by the Somaiya Social Cell.

Doctors from K. J. Somaiya Hospital & Research Centre agreed to perform the checkup free of cost. The event started at 8 am with regular classes for the students as art of PEHEL and then the checkup was started. The height and weight of the students were measured followed by eye checkup and other general physical tests were also conducted. It was observed that most of the kids suffer from anemia and deficiency of iron and calcium. Required medication was also provided to them by Somaiya Hospital. The kids were also given fresh fruits and chocolates on this occasion. The doctors advised the parents on the medication to be given and also about nutritious food to be given to their family.

Cmdr. Kailash Girwalker provided great support for this whole event. The hospital staff was impressed by the way the event was organized. They asked the help of the Somaiya Social Cell in organizing such events like vaccination etc in other communities in future. The photos have been given below : -

Doctor conducting full body Checkup of a student

Doctor giving medical advice to parents

Eye checkup for parents of the students

Eye checkup conducted for students and grandparents

Doctors conducting medical checkup for parents

Parents interacting with the doctors

Social Cell members distributing fruits and snacks

Blood Donation Camp organised @ SIMSR

The Somaiya Social Cell conducted a blood donation camp in the Somaiya Institute of Management campus, for Somaiya Hospital. The Somaiya Hospital was in need of 73 units of blood and it needed a massive drive to get them. The social cell provided the publicity in the institute, to get the volunteers for blood donation from the institute and was responsible for the smooth conducting of the camp and in making the volunteers comfortable while donating blood.

The Event

The blood donation drive started at 9 am in the morning and the room saw volunteers flocking to donate blood. The doctor and the hospital staff collected the blood and made the people comfortable while the process was on. The participation and the enthusiasm of the students who came forward to give blood was amazing and worth applauding. The camp had to be closed earlier at around 2 pm since the target was achieved beforehand. Students came even after 2 pm but were sadly sent back. The doctor and the staff were all praises for the participants and the organizers. Later, donor cards and certificates of appreciation were distributed to all the donors.

Students donating blood

Social Cell members making the donors comfortable

Social Cell members helping the hospital staff