Kiosks during Dandiya nights!!

Dandiya is a traditional dance form of Gujarat where men and women dance to the tune of rhythmic beats. The place is filled with the sounds of clattering of sticks and bells, laughter, enjoyment and happiness. Mumbai also has many places where dandiya is celebrated with utmost fervor and enthusiasm as it would be in any other Gujarat town. To add colours to this the Somaiya Social cell had set up a kiosk on the nine days of the Dandiya festival in the Police Hockey Grounds, Ghatkopar. The kiosk added a new dimension to the customary look that the place wears every year.

The SSC kiosk at the dandia grounds

The kiosk displayed a huge variety of products from its various projects like NASEOH, NAB, Warli, Kiran etc for sale. The audience were captivated by the wide range of products which were kept at the display.
Some of the products included artificial jewellery and bags (SAHAS), gel filled aromatic glass candles, chains and ear rings, files, envelopes etc (NAB), paintings (Warli), diyas, cell phone pouches, rangoli mats etc (Kiran).
The kiosk received an overwhelming response from everyone who visited the dandiya festival and the cell recorded bumper sales. The stalls were majorly visited at the start and the end of the dandiya event every night. The cell also got a possible lead for a bulk order on refilling of the gel candles from NASEOH. By and large, people were eager to know more about the products and the projects giving the social cell a wide publicity.

Nostalgia- Recreating the magic

Nostalgia 2008, was an alumni event where around 200 alumni dating back from 1983-85 to 2006-08 batch were present. This years theme was Magic and the entire campus was decorated keeping the theme in mind.

The theme of SSC for nostalgia

In Nostalgia all the committees of SIMSR were given a chance to showcase their activities and endeavours undertaken in the past year . Our very own Somaiya Social Cell had also come up with a stall where we decorated the presentation area keeping the theme-magic in mind. The main idea of our presentation was “An angel holding the earth in her hands”, in this manner we signified the protection and care which Somaiya Social Cell bestows upon its communities. Besides this we had put up a brief description of all our 10 projects currently being undertaken by us and also an update of the major events that happened in the past year. We also showed our website to the alumni, who were very appreciative of the same.

The team with decoration in the background

The whole team of Somaiya Social Cell worked day in and day out for 48 hours non-stop before the event. The Somaiya social cell stall received an overwhelming feedback and the alumni also gave us inputs to improvise on the way we work on our initiatives. Many of them asked us to add them to our alumni group so that they don’t miss out on any communication with regards our events and initiatives.

Thus Nostalgia served the Social Cell its purpose of re-establishing ties with alumni. It also helped to secure the much needed guidance and encouragement to embark the journey ahead !

Eco-Friendly Ganesh Utsav

Mumbai is known for the magnanimity and grandeur with which Ganesh Chaturthi is celebrated. A significant aspect of this festival is the ‘Ganesh Visarjan’ (immersion) which concludes it. Besides the sense of devotion and enthusiasm which signifies these immersions a different viewpoint to look at it would be the environmental damage which it causes. Plaster of Paris, a primary component used in making the Ganesh idols takes months to dissolve in water as also the chemical paints used is reported to increase the heavy metal content in water. The society needs to look for a relatively less polluting way of celebrating Ganesh Utsav.
It is in this backdrop that Somaiya Social Cell came up with the idea of marketing eco friendly Ganpati idols!!

The flyer

The ceramics department of National Society for Equal Opportunities for the Handicapped, India (NASEOH) makes such environment friendly idols of Lord Ganesh. These idols are made of clay and are decorated with glitter, lace and decorative stones. No chemical paint is used either. They can be immersed in the house itself as they dissolve within 5-10 min in half a bucket of water. Moreover, most importantly these idols are made by physically and mentally challenged people at NASEOH. The proceeds of the sales are utilized by NASEOH for children welfare.
For this year’s Ganesh Chaturthi, the Somaiya Social Cell offered to take orders to deliver Ganesh idols from NASEOH. Priced at about Rs200 and about 9-10 inches tall, these brick colored idols could also be made customized as per customers requirements.

One of the Ganesh idol made at NASEOH

The response which the NASEOH idols obtained from SIMSR campus was overwhelming. These were purchased by many among the faculty and students alike.
This is how the Somaiya Social Cell attempted to spread awareness about water pollution during Ganesh Utsav and also encourage the differently abled people at NASEOH by finding them customers and appreciation. In the future the Somaiya Social Cell aims to come up with a more widespread reach to market the idols.

Green Initiatives: The tree plantation drive

What is this life if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.
No time to see, when woods we pass,
Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass.

The poet asked us to stand and stare at the beauty of nature. Today even if we have the time, we don’t have anything to stare at. So,

What is this life if, full of care,
We have no woods, to stand and stare!

Yes it’s true; we don’t need any statistics to prove the reducing amount of trees; Pollution and increase in Population have taken care of that. With the concrete jungle expanding, the number of trees is falling at an alarming rate.
Somaiya Social Cell took the initiative of Tree Plantation. On 5th October 2008, the event took place at two venues. The Tree plantation drive was organized by the monthly activity team.

The Initiative

In association with Lion’s Club, Tree Plantation was done at Pantnagar Police Station. About 30 saplings were planted nearby the Police Station. The Lions Club Team was of great help in the whole process.

The team involved

The second venue was SIMSR Hostel. As many as 40 saplings were planted. Prof. Radha Iyer and Prof Reena Mehta participated in the plantation drive held at the hostel. The volunteers were full of life and took up the job with zeal and enthusiasm, contributing to the success of the event in a big way.

Prof. Radha Iyer watering the plants

If not the whole planet, at least we will make our city green again.

You may say that we are dreamers,
But we are not the only one.
I hope someday you will join us,
And the world will be green again…