The 6th of July, 2013 turned out to be an evening of celebration of talent for the children of Delhi slums as more than fifty students took to the stage at Shri Sathya Sai Auditorium to perform before a packed audience including Mr. Salman Khurshid, Honourable Minister for External Affairs, Government of India as Chief Guest. Joining as Guests of Honour for the evening were Mr. Suresh Goel, Director General, Indian Council of Cultural Relations and Mr. Kajal Ghose, Chief General Manager, State Bank of India.
The musical event titled ‘Samaavesh’ was hosted by Asha in association with Hindi Sangeet Institution. Since January, Asha in collaboration with the prestigious Bhaatkhande Sangit Vidyalaya has been providing free classes in performing arts to its students.
An all girls group from Asha slums perform a Rajsthani folk dance
The performances included a set of songs and dance pieces by these young talents interspersed with Asha tales of challenges, hope, dreams and victories. As the evening progressed, everyone had been waiting for the ghazal (Urdu love poems set to music) performance by Dr.Kiran and Guru Vinod Kumar ji, Principal of the Bhaatkhande Sangit Vidyalaya.
Dr. Kiran and Guru Vinod Kumars ji’s performance so enthralled the audience that even the Honourable Minister requested for one more song amidst loud applause and cheers!
The end of the programme saw the Asha toppers (Standard XII) being presented with certificates of achievement by Mr. Khurshid who appreciated the sincere efforts being made by Asha and encouraged the children to relentlessly pursue their goals.
We are sure that with dedicated efforts of the students and the Asha Team, we will have many more musical soirees and stories to last us a lifetime. Asha is also immensely thankful to our sponsors- State Bank of India, Indian Council for Cultural Relations, Oil and natural Gas Corporation, Canara Bank and Indian Overseas Bank for helping us make this event a possibility.
Click here to see more photographs of the event.
