Samavesh: The Warli Connection

A Chinese proverb says that a single word with a wise man is better than ten years of study...And this year, we had an opportunity to listen to, to interact with not one but many wise and knowledgeable men and women and gained a lot of learning. We are talking about "SAMAVESH 2008", an annual event at SIMSR conceptualized with a single aim of "making minds meet" i.e. the students and the industry stalwarts.

Warli Painting which was presented

Our social cell also contributed its bit by partnering with the college in making this event a huge success by the way of giving away “Warli Paintings” as felicitation mementoes to the esteemed guests.A “special” tribe in Thane District, about 150 kms north of Mumbai are the originators of a school of painting, commonly known as the Warli paintings. Somaiya Social Cell through the Warli project helps market these paintings and give the artists their due. This initiative of collaboration with the college will make this project even more sustainable and the guests will be happy to get a memento with a social connection.

The esteemed judges

In a nutshell, Samavesh was a combination of academic events for B-School students along with insights into the real world by the "been there, done that" professionals who would share their experiences and add to our learning.

The Road towards Peace….

“The good we secure for ourselves is precarious and uncertain until it is secured for all of us and incorporated into our common life”
Jane Addams, Noble peace laureate

On 5th December; Mr. Steve Fryburg, the Director of Dayton Peace Museum Inc, Ohio, visited SIMSR campus, as part of his collaborated initiative with the Peace Club of Mumbai. He was accompanied by Ms Padma Ramamurthy an active member of the Lions Club, Chembur who is partnering with Mr. Fryburg in the various programmes conducted under The Peace Club.
Mr. Fryburg met the Director General and then an interaction with some of the members of Social Cell was scheduled. Mr. Fryburg a retired police officer and now a peace veteran, spoke about the philosophy of the Peace Museum and the various activities, exhibits and events which it sponsors.
In the backdrop of the recent terror attack and the striking dearth of peace all over, we found his message very insightful. The world reportedly lost 109 million people in the past century over warfare. This is inspite of the common man from any corner of the world wanting to be at peace with his surroundings. He pointed out that the society today ironically venerates the culture of violence. All the great monuments glorify war in a way and so do all history books. Very few of them speak of peace.

The symbol of peace

What is this Peace Museum after all?
Like art museums around the world, a peace museum can give room for recognition, experimentation, education, training and appreciation of peace. Peace, like art, needs a space to breathe while the world determines whether or not its message is worthwhile. The Dayton International Peace Museum is a place where Daytonians and people across the Miami Valley can find the arsenal of peace. It is a non profit organization which works to encourage, support and supplement the already diverse and unwieldy spirit of peace that is underrated and unheard by many in our community.
This is done through various events like concerts, presentations, fundraiser events etc all over the United States. It also has a mobile exhibit centre called the Peace Mobile which can visit several educational institutes, churches showcasing literature, paintings and other forms of art conveying peace. The Museum has an increasing reach outside US in countries like Kenya, Iran, Pakistan, Nigeria, India, Congo, Sweden and Uganda. The Museum collaborates with various peace organizations in these countries through intercultural exchange programs. The Peace Club of Mumbai is one such organization inspired by the Dayton Peace Museum.
The interaction helped us realize how the ‘Arsenal of Peace’ needs to be developed and nurtured. It should be incorporated in our daily activities and most importantly its values should be inculcated in young minds through the education process. It is only then that the youth worldwide will be enabled to look at positive alternatives to the conflict and violence that bombard our lives.

The AIDS Awareness Drive

On the occasion of 'WORLD AIDS DAY' on 1st December, the social cell undertook an awareness drive to make people aware about AIDS and the importance of this day. ‘Jaankaari hi bachav hai’ was the concept which this initiative emphasized on.
The Red ribbons being the global symbol of solidarity towards the HIV positive people, the day started with distributing the Red ribbons in the all classes at SIMSR as also to the college staff and faculty.
The highlight of the day was the visit to 'Aditya Birla Centre for Welfare of Children', Chembur by the members of the Social Cell and some volunteers. A prior permission was taken to perform a skit at this place to spread awareness about the disease and how we should treat people afflicted by it.

Children enjoying the skit

Over 150 children aged between 12 to 18, were assembled at the common room all awaiting to know what the visitors have in store for them. After a brief introduction about us and the skit the show began! The skit had used a “Munnabhai and Circuit” theme, keeping in mind the extent of familiarity which young children have towards them. The play had these characters explaining about the cause, testing and prevention of AIDS to a group of young teenagers. It also stressed on the need for fair treatment of HIV infected people by the society. It received an overwhelming response punctuated with lots of cheers and claps.
This was followed by an interactive question and answer round through which the Social Cell members cleared doubts about HIV and AIDS. The audience had many inquisitive questions to ask like “From where has this disease originated?” or “How do I know if I have been infected?” There also were some fun activities like dance performances by few volunteers who were later joined by the children.

SIMSRites answering the Querries

The children were made to reiterate their learning from the show and we rejoiced to know that the skit had served our much desired purpose. The young impressionable minds had indeed been positively influenced, making the AIDS Awareness drive a success!

Children’s Day Celebrations with Pehel community

Childhood is about innocence and playfulness. It is about joy and freedom. November 14th celebrates this spirit of childhood. Yet the fact remains that only a section of the country’s children actually get an opportunity to celebrate their being. This Children’s day, the Somaiya Social Cell decided to take this spirit to our very own Pehel community.

The event kicked off after all the young and the older kids were assembled at their usual classroom area in the evening. The kids were taught to play “Passing the parcel” which they thoroughly enjoyed. After this ‘The Tom and Jerry Show’ was screened on the laptop for them. Though it was a tough job to quiet the kids to watch the cartoons, the essence of the event was ‘naughtiness unperturbed’ after all. Later the kids were given information about Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and the importance of this day. By the end of the event, many of the kids could rattle out whatever they were taught about it. Many of them also learnt to ‘drink fruity with a straw’ for the first time that day.

A child reciting

The event concluded with reciting the prayers. Thus here was a day of giving children their right to enjoy and grow into healthy and educated citizens of the country.
It was also about creating pleasant memories for the children about this day, which they could cherish for a long time for now.

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…