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Navi Mumbai Kendra
Dr Veena Adige, journalist, author, Hon. Joint Secretary, Bhavan’s Navi Mumbai Kendra, was conferred a prestigious award during the Vishwa Konkani Samaroh 2024 in Mangalore on November 6, 2024 by Chief Guest Shri Avadhut Timblo, chairman of the Fomento Group of Industries, Goa.
Organised by the Konkani Language and Cultural Foundation, World Konkani Centre, the Late Basti Vaman Shenoy Vishwa Konkani Seva Puraskar was conferred upon Dr Adige for her social and cultural achievements.
Teaching Diwali Traditions
A unique method of conveying Diwali meaning, traditions and rituals through the popular Treasure Hunt game was conducted by Heeral Doshi for the Bhavan’s Children’s Club members on October 30, 2024. The children from different schools picked up chits containing clues on Diwali. It was a novel method of teaching children the importance of Diwali. An on-the-spot Diwali card making contest was organised and the young artistic ones made spectacular and attractive cards. A few games were organised for children and they enthusiastically participated in the games.
Grand Book Release by Karadi Tales
A beautifully written children’s book with lovely sketches called ‘Is that a Kudkud Kumbha?’ was released by publishers Karadi Tales of Chennai on October 26, 2024 at the Navi Mumbai Kendra auditorium. This grand book release function organised by Karadi Tales and the Indian Women Scientists Association, Vashi, was attended by Shobha Viswanath, Co-founder and Publishing Director of Karadi Tales. The programme included a story telling session by authors Samita Aiyer and Vijaya Chakravarty and sketches by illustrator Ambika Karandikar from Pune, and involved the Bhavan’s Children’s Club members throughout the function. The book release saw enthusiastic participation. The highlight was the ‘Kudkud Kumbha’ song by young Nihar Shembekar from Pune.
Navi Mumbai Kendra
Bhavan’s Navi Mumbai Kendra celebrated Kala Utsav by showcasing Masterpieces by top Indian artists and sculptors from July 12 to July 14, 2024 on its premises. The art exhibition garnered a good response.
Guru Poornima Celebrations
Guru Poornima celebrations were conducted at the Kendra by inviting children from municipal schools and performing a havan on July 21, 2024.
Independence Day Celebrations
Shri Ajaykumar Landge, ACP Crime branch, Navi Mumbai, was the Guest of Honour who unfurled the tricolour on Independence Day. Eminent people of Navi Mumbai, Bhavan’s committee members and staff, and well-wishers were present on the occasion.
Shri Ajaykumar Landge joined Maharashtra Police in 1990. He has served in Mumbai, Navi Mumbai and Thane, and has been active in Anti-Naxal Operations in Nagpur. He was awarded the President’s Police Medal for Meritorious Service on January 26, 2022.
Patriotic songs by Bhavan’s Children’s Club and a lively Karaoke session by members of the Kalaranjani group was the highlight of the event.
Vanmahotsav
The Vanmahotsav festival, a quiz, a fancy dress competition and the ‘forgotten food’ information programme was organised with the Indian Women Scientists’ Association (IWSA) on August 10, 2024. The children had a quick tour of the library and the computer room, followed by a presentation on ‘Forgotten Food Forest’, where naturally-born edible fruits and vegetables abound and people have forgotten them. A written quiz on the talk was won by Mihir Kukreja, Vinaya Kukreja and Vedant Gudibanda.
A Fancy dress on the theme of Independence Day was conducted. The first prize went to Sumedha Pai of St Mary’s School, who dressed like Bhagat singh and spoke eloquently about him. The second prize went to Mukund Kamath of North Point and the third, to Arjun Adige of Avalon Heights, both of whom personified C.V. Raman.
The children then enthusiastically planted ‘forgotten food plants’.
Ventriloquist Sunny Enthralls
Members of Bhavan’s Children’s club were enthralled and mesmerised by the antics of ventriloquist, comedian and puppeteer Sunny, on July 21, 2024 at the Kendra.
The ventriloquist’s show was followed by a Drawing contest. The subject was ‘Festivals’ and the winners in the junior group were Mukund Kamath, Avishka Avdhani and Prisha Barai. In the senior group the winners were Mihir Kukreja, Leysha Saxena and Vedant Gudibanda.
Navi Mumbai Kendra
The Indian Women Scientists Association Library, Ruparel College and Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Navi Mumbai Kendra together conducted a session of story-telling and one on the technique of growing microgreens on June 1, 2024 for the members of the Bhavan’s Children’s Club.
‘Andher Nagari Choupat Raja’ was depicted by the members of IWSA Library through acting, PPT and narration. Dr Srirupa Mukherjee, Dr Maitreyi Paul,
Dr Param Anthappan, Dr Santini Nair and Ms Sukhvinder Sandhu donned various props to showcase their characters and interacted with the children in an interesting and hilarious manner.
Dr Shyam Palkar, Assistant Professor of Botany in Ruparel College, Matunga, spoke on microgreens with his presentation and later conducted a workshop on growing greens. The children received potted plants and also created their own microgreen plants with the seeds, soil and compost provided by the Ruparel team. There was also a crossword puzzle on this theme in which everyone, including the parents, participated.
Greeshma Cultural Outreach
The prestigious Greeshma Cultural Outreach program of the Infosys Foundation and Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Navi Mumbai Kendra was inaugurated on June 7, 2024 with an impressive Dhol Tasha, scintillating Bharatanatyam performances by students of Ms Gayatri Subramaniam and soulful bhajans by Pandit Sanjeev Chimalgi. The programme culminated on June 13.
All the events were very well attended and highly appreciated by the audience. They were telecast live by the BVB Bangalore YouTube channel. The performers were national and international award-winning artistes.
Present at the inaugural function were Shri K G Raghavan, Ms Nagalakshmi Rao, and Shri Piyush Jain from Bhavan’s Bangalore Kendra; Shri Milind Pande from Infosys Foundation; Shri Jagdish Lakhani and Dr Daftary, from Bhavan’s Head office, Mumbai. Shri M Ramchandra, Chairman, Bhavan’s Navi Mumbai Kendra lit the traditional lamp.
Chakri bhajan by Sadguru Shri Gurubabaji Maharaj Ausekar was one of the programmes on June 8.
On June 9, Lavni ke rang by Shakuntala Bai Nagarkar and company also had an overwhelming response. The artistes who had come from all over Maharashtra, were colourfully and beautifully dressed in nine-yard silk sarees with jewellery and flowers. A medley of vibrant folk dances and melodious songs enthralled the audience on the fourth day. On June 10, the programme began with melodious songs pertaining to Greeshma Ritu by Neha Chimmalgi.
Then followed folk dances like Gondhal from Maharashtra, Garba from Gujarat, and Samai dance from Goa. A beautiful Ekpatri Kirtan by Charudutta Aphalebuwa on June 11 at the Bhavan-Infosys Greeshma Cultural fest enchanted the audience. On June 12, Mukhtiyar Ali kept the audience glued to their seats with his lovely Sufi music. He sang Kabir and Meerabai’s songs. An impromptu jugalbandi with Sanjeev Chimmalgi was a delight.
On June 13, the finale of the week-long cultural extravaganza saw Kathiawar dances by the very popular Saptak Folk dance group. Hailing from a village near Rajkot in Gujarat, the eighteen dancers presented several Raas, Garba and Dandiya numbers.
Fancy Dress
Members of Bhavan’s Children’s Club displayed their innovativeness and confidence during the online Fancy Dress contest held on June 17, 2024. Shantha Belvadi was the judge for the occasion.
The first prize winner was Anika Bhat. Mihir Kukreja won the second prize, Vedant Gudibanda third prize while Ansh Kute got the consolation prize.
Navi Mumbai Kendra
Pour Painting is a colourful and exciting, though messy work. Members of the Bhavan’s Children’s Club enjoyed the freedom of painting without a brush and produced lovely pictures. Amita Kini, founder of Suchitra Classes and Art Gallery, conducted the interesting workshop. Parents and kids appreciated and loved the workshop.
Navi Mumbai Kendra
A photography club was inaugurated on April 14, 2024 at the Bhavan’s Navi Mumbai Kendra.
A presentation on light and shade photography was given by Dr Nima John, officiating head of Amity Film School, Mumbai in the presence of club president K V Subramaniam, secretary Sagar Mhatre and treasurer V Krishnamurthy, Rajendra Waghmare, secretary, Photography Club of India and Bhattacharjee, a prominent photographer.
Microscopic Marvels
Microscopic Marvels was an interesting and fun filled activity conducted by Navi Mumbai Kendra’s Children’s Club on April 21, 2024 at the Kendra.
Thirty-seven children from different schools of Navi Mumbai, flocked the venue, armed with colouring material and plenty of enthusiasm.
Arti Kute held the audience spellbound with a story and an interactive question answer session, leading to the microscope and its qualities. Besides a real microscope, Arti had created a working microscope which the children lined up to gaze through the eyepiece.
This was followed by a colouring session where the children were given printouts of a telescope with its parts listed and made colourful pictures.
Navi Mumbai Kendra
The third annual day of the Bhavan’s Children’s club held on March 23, 2024, was a kaleidoscope of activities.
The exhibition put up by the children’s club members was inaugurated by Smt. Madhavi Mutatkar, Creative Head at Impact Vision and former President of ZEE Network, in the presence of Shri Satish Mutatkar, Director, Producer and Author. The variety entertainment consisted of dances, songs, poem recitation and speeches. Smt. Madhavi Mutatkar gave away the prizes won by the club members in various activities around the year, honoured the ones who were the judges, the workshop organisers and those who assisted in various activities during the year.
Shri Satish Mutatkar autographed his books on Sachin Tendulkar and Krishna.
Art Exhibitions, Ghazal, Geet and Bhajans
Bhavan’s Navi Mumbai Kendra has had a spate of exhibitions in the last three months. Photography and Painting exhibitions held in February by the Photographic Society of India and STOP Foundation of Indore in the Bhavan’s Navi Mumbai Kendra were inaugurated by Shri M N Ramchandra, Director of the Kendra. The Art Dhamma exhibition was held earlier. Kala Ranjani with the theme of ‘Ghazal, Geet and Bhajans’ by Vinod Trivedi and Bhavanaben Gada was held on March 25, 2024. The Garba dance performed received an enthusiastic response.
Navi Mumbai Kendra
Commodore Sunil Rajashekharan, Commanding officer, INS Tanaji inaugurated the art exhibition titled ‘Art Dhamma’, curated by Shri Vidhu Pillai and Shri Suresh Nair. The 8–day event showcasing eight artists was held by Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Navi Mumbai Kendra from December 23–30, 2023.
The artists were mainly from Bengaluru, including Dr Shantala S, Nagaraj Hanehalli, Makarand Joshi, Nishad MP, Rupesh Bhandarkar, Shiva Hadimani, and Bhaskaran Achari. The exhibition was visited by many people who appreciated the beautiful works of the artists.
Sports Day
An exciting sports day was organised keeping Jai Shri Ram and Republic day in mind on January 21, 2024 at the Kendra premises. An archery contest saw Aavya Mahajan, Mukund Kamath and Vivaan Kapoor nearly hitting the target.
A 100 metre race was organised where the children held the national flag in their hands while running. In the boys group, Mihir Kukreja, Vivaan Kapoor and Arjun Adige won the first three prizes, while in the girls group it was Prisha Barai, Parisshi Kukreja and Aavya Mahajan who won the first, second and third prizes. In another race, the boys Mihir Kukreja, Yagya Kapoor and Vivaan Kapor won while Leysha Saxena, Sumedha Pai and Yessica Doshi won the first, second and third prizes in the girls category.
Sports Day
The 75th Republic Day was celebrated by the Navi Mumbai Kendra with the former Joint CP Sanjay Mohite as the Guest of Honour. The flag hoisting was followed by an interesting discussion about Bhavans and the Kendra by all the invitees and guests.
Navi Mumbai Kendra Office bearers and other distinguished guests were present.
Navi Mumbai Kendra
Celebrating the holy month of Margazhi, Navi Mumbai Kendra, in collaboration with Guru G V Ramani Natya Kala Foundation, led an overwhelmingly large number of enthusiastic dancers, singers, flute players and devotees to Laxmi Venkataramana Balaji Mandir, Vashi, on December 16, 2023, in a huge procession. The Sangeet Nritya Sankirtana procession consisted of more than 35 dancers dressed in colourful attire and teachers and devotees in silk robes.
Several cultural groups from all over Mumbai like Upasana, Kalasadan and others also participated. Margazhi procession is akin to Pandharpur Vari performed by varkaris in the month of ashadha and culminating in front of Vithala.
The dancers performed a group dance in front of the temple. A song and dance on Sant Eknath’s composition ‘Majhe Mahera Pandhari’ was performed.
Navi Mumbai Kendra
Bhavan’s Children’s Club organised a Diya Painting contest and a Lego Model making contest on the eve of Diwali on November 8, 2023. The children were given earthen diyas and asked to paint on them. The judge was Kiran Jadhav, an arts and crafts teacher and the prizewinners were Leysha Saxena, Mihir and Aavya Mahajan.
In the Lego model contest, Ramjanmabhoomi, aeroplane, garden, house, skee-ball game, and others were made. Prizes were won by Arham, Samar Jaggi, Sumdeha Pai and Arjun Adige.
This was followed by games and distribution of Diwali gifts.
Navi Mumbai Kendra
The members of Bhavan’s Children’s Club along with their parents participated enthusiastically in the art and craft exhibition held on October 29, 2023 at the Navi Mumbai Kendra.
Mandala art and craft, and photographs of rural folk, aeroplanes, animals and birds — were some of the superb creations on display.
Brainchild of Dr Sengupta, founder of My Retired Life (MRLF) and displayed by Rohit Viswanath, Rajendra Waghmare and Shailendra Waghmare, the exhibition featured the work of more than 30 artists. Jointly organised by Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan’s Navi Mumbi Kendra and My Retired Life Foundation, it was a treat for the eyes and mind.
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