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Udaan India Foundation (UIF), a Powai based non profit organisation working towards educating less privileged children, presented their annual concert ” I have a Dream ” an evening of hopes and dreams on 7^th February, 2010 at the Gopal Sharma Memorial School (GSMS) Auditorium. The evening of dance and drama put together by the Udaan children and team was a musical extravaganza which left the audience asking for more.

The concert began with a welcome speech by Ms.Padma Vaswani, a renowned educationist, which beautifully captured the essence of the evening “The birth of a child fulfils the dream of many a parent. But a child takes life devoid of dreams.  Dreams of parents grow with each passing day… Colour, class and economic status make no distinction in the ability to dream.” This was followed by the auspicious lighting of the lamp by dignitaries from the corporate world- Paternoster , Nomura , Transocean  and Founder Chairperson of GSMS.

Dreams, some big, some small but each important to the child, were presented by children from kindergarten to grade 9. While the young ones danced to popular Bollywood numbers like Maine kaha phoolon se and Dil hai chota sa, grade 3 and 4 chilldren presented a very powerful musical drama titled ” I have a dream “. This showcased their simple individual dreams as well as dreams for their families and communities and how education was an important tool in changing lives. The 5^th and 6^th graders highlighted the dreams of the girl child and how one can conquer one’s dreams by having the right attitude and through sheer hardwork.

The children of grade 7 conveyed the message of world peace and called upon the audience to accept humanity as their religion, through their dance ballet “Gurus of Peace”. The street play put up by Grade 8 raised a strong voice against the discrimination faced by the girl child in Indian society and the need for equal rights and opportunities. The 9^th graders rekindled the spirit of patriotism in everyone when they presented their dream for a strong and united India in “Maa Tujhe Salaam”.

The outstanding students for the academic year 2009-10 were felicitated by guests for the evening. This was followed by the grand finale “We are the World” wherein the entire Udaan family came up on stage to express their gratitude to the audience for their encouragement and support to the cause . This soul stirring act left many in the audience emotional and was a perfect closure to a wonderful evening.

To know more about Udaan India Foundation , please visit their website www.udaanindiafoundation.org .

I happen to live across Golden Oak and on my evening walks, i suddenly saw a police van opposite Golden Oak Bldg along with some residents and Hiranandani Commandos. I immedialtely knew this was something about the balloon war which has been going on since yesterday. I had been lucky yesterday, as I had avoided getting hit in the cross-fire between the war raged by the 2 buildings on the either side.

I joined the group of residents/commando’s/policemen to understand what had happened. Incidently the over enthusiastic kids of Golden Oak building had thrown a ballon at a guy called Sunil Patel from Walkeshwar who was on a kinetic bike. I hear him explaining to the police that he is a network marketer and on marketing calls.

Mr. Sunil Patel got so angry at the kids, that he got down from his kinetic and started pelting stones at the kids, the kids retaliated by throwing another ballon on him. Fortunately none of the kids were injured by the stone pelting Mr. Sunil indulged in, but one car belonging to a resident of Golden Oak, Mr. Jai Talwar, a baleno,(MH01-NA30910) was badly damaged. I saw the dents caused by the stones, if it would have got into one of the kid, the kid would have been gravely injured.Also it clearly seems that if the balloon thrown by the kids had hit Mr. Patel, he would have fallen from his bike, and would have been seriously injured, maybe a call center Sumo would have run over him.

The reaction by Mr. Patel, is also highly disturbing, if  his stones had found the right target we would have a had a inrevocable damage. Some of the pedestrians who watched the incident told me that Mr. Patel was throwing huge stones, whatever he could lay his hands on, there are were people who said that the kids were at fault and then there were others who said Mr. Sunil Patel was a disturbed man.

The kids on the other hand have to be explained that throwing balloons at pedestrians or bikers is apparently very dangerous.

Please feel free to comment.

Have a safe and Happy Holi

Miss Mumbai experience- The journey

It all started with reading the advertisement, “Kaun  Banegi Miss Mumbai 2009” in DNA newspaper .

Had about four auditions to reach the final 20 who would compete for the three main titles

1. Miss Mumbai

2. Miss covergirl

3. Miss hottie

The grooming sessions were filled with fun and enthusiasm , every day giving us a new challenge. Trust me I loved every bit of it. From the dancing to gyming , I enjoyed every bit of it. We got trained with basic make-up techniques, possing classes, a question answer session, dining etiquettes, ramp walk with gyming and dance rehearsals being almost regular. This event got delayed about four times in the whole with problems cropping up but finally it was held on 17^th October at Indian education society bandra.

Finals:

We had in overall four rounds:

1. Saree cum introduction round: The walk was on my favourite song,” afreen”. That song really gets me in the mood . The moment I slowly lowered the saree and showed my face, I could hear the cheers from the crowd. My heart almost skipped a beat as I walked the ramp in rhythm to the music. Saree is one of the most beautiful apparel a woman can wear and she looks most elegant and gorgeous .
2. Funky and indo- western round: This was one round which allowed the contestants to walk the ramp the way they wanted. This was all about playing on the stage.
3. Talent round(dance): This marked a start of power- packed performance which I could have only imagined to perform .Taking the center stage had always been my dream and there I saw it  turning into reality. I just loved it when I danced and I could hear the constant cheering from the crowd.
4. Question and answer round: This is one round that’s judges the personality of a person.

After these rounds I did get the first runner up award,” miss covergirl”

Final words:

From a game lost, it is the experience you win and I did win a lot of support, fame, recognition, experience and most of all I understood the trend of this industry. It was an amazing journey.
Don’t know the road ahead, but I am sure it is all for the best.

Reality check:

Four months have passed and I haven’t yet got my prize money of about 60,000 which would include cash and gift hampers. It thus becomes important in a local beauty paegeant to see who your organizers really are and see the credibility of the contest.

The lake-side was clogged with water hyacinth and rafts of it drifted gently further out in the lake. The rafts made good floating islands for the birds and straight away I could see communities on each one.

On the first, a Little Egret fished while a Bronze Jacana picked among the hyacinth.
Close in there were a few Indian Pond Herons and a couple of Pheasant-tailed Jacanas flushed further along the shore. {Click to read more}

This article was published by Red Gannet on his blog http://redgannet.blogspot.com/

This was my third HouseHunt in the Maximum City, Mumbai. In the three missions I have clearly understood that Bachelorhood is not just a marital status, its a social-outcast that puts you below everyone who has joined the institution. In this city, and Pune as well (as my dear friends, tell me) WE Bachelors, or Singletons, or Unmarried souls are looked down with even more contempt than Ajmal Kasab (or No, Kasab is also a bachelor), so maybe more than Nithari or Aurangzeb or your Spouse’s ex or even more than the perverted ‘married’ man, in your neighborhood, who fancies his daughters’ friends. As they believe that We, as bachelors, could be worse… [Click Read More]

Written by Mohit Nanda

Mumbai, Feb. 2 — A group of collegians enjoy their walk along the new promenade that hugs the landscaped periphery of Powai lake.

On the surface, all appears well with Powai, one of the three major lakes of Mumbai and among the 10 included in the National Lake Conservation Plan in 1995. But buried in its shallow depths, lie vast amounts of silt, chemicals, debris and perhaps a whole lot of taxpayers’ money.

The civic body is spending Rs 22.65 crore to de-silt the lake of the debris deposited through years of hill quarrying by the powerful builders’ lobby. Powai lake is an important part of Mumbai’s ecosystem.

It is part of the green zone that stretches from Sanjay Gandhi National Park to the no-development zone at the south of Hiranandani Complex. The lake supports a variety of migratory birds, fish, eight or nine crocodiles and a small population of turtles.

The large silt deposits are worrying because they can cause an overflow into the Mithi river, leading to a flood similar to the one on July 26, 2005. The British artificially created Powai lake in 1891 as an emergency measure at a cost of Rs 6.5 lakh to supplement the city’s drinking water supply by recharging the area’s underground water table.

Ironically, the water of the lake has proven to be non-potable through the years and is only supplied for industrial purposes. A Right To Information (RTI) query filed in November 2009 by S.K. Saksena, a former director of Siemens and member of the Powai Residents Welfare Association, revealed that the de-silting contract was awarded to Chembur-based Raj Engineers and Aakash Engineering Consultants.

“The contract was given to a firm that had no experience in such specialised projects. This is against all established norms,” said Saksena.

In the RTI report, the office of the Deputy Hydraulic Engineer (the designated guardian of the lake) stated that 40,807 truckloads of silt were transported out of Powai. By this estimate, nearly 56 trucks of wet silt would have been transported every day since October 2007, when the work started.

But according to J.A. Shah, another citizen activist, “None of the residents living near the lake have seen so many trucks on Adi Shankara Marg in the past two years.” Saksena, an engineer, said the machines used by the contractors are “children’s toys” and that no large water dredgers, required to excavate silt deposits, were used.

“The contractors are merely nibbling away at the edges, removing surface silt and weeds to give the appearance of depth,” he claimed. Justifying the work, civic Executive Hydraulic Engineer M.S. Pawar said: “Water-level surveys taken before and after de-silting show a considerable increase in the lake’s capacity.

Records of this are available at the site office and can be checked by those unsure of the progress.” Nonetheless, the activists plan to file another RTI query to investigate the technical know how of the contractors and the equipment used.

This is not the first time Powai residents have raised their guard. In 2005, the Centre released Rs 4.46 crore to the state government to save the lake.

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) awarded the contract to Ace Housing Corporation, which spent the money on bioremediation (oxygenation of the lake) instead of restoration of the lake’s depth by de-silting. Activists from NGOs such as AGNI and Citispace alleged that the company never existed, that no sampling of water was done to test the effectiveness of the bioremediation and that the Rs 4.66 crore remained unaccounted for.

“When I moved here in 1995, my building was surrounded by green hills and mango orchards. I had a brilliant view of Powai and Vihar lakes,” said Saksena, who has been battling to save the lake for nearly 10 years.

Now, all he can see are barren hills and towering buildings. While the quarrying has ceased, the damage has been done.

Hindustan Times

We often capture in a photograph many scenes that impact us. They just lie with us and gather dust (in drives!). Here is an opportunity that you can’t let go!

With a click of a button you can -

1) Share it with thousands!  2) Contribute for a noble cause!! 3) Win a cash prize!!!

*Rs. 10000/- first prize Rs 5000/- second prize, Rs. 3000/- third prize and Rs.1000\- consolation prizes (10)

Rotary Club of Bombay Powai has organized an amateur Digital Photo Contest !

The theme of the contest is: ‘Yeh Mera India’. It could be people, places, monuments etc   of our beautiful country.

The entry fee is a nominal Rs.100. We intend to use the collection to bring smiles to some less fortunte and some physically challenged people. We propose to get wheelchairs, cots, fans and other needy stuff to make their life easier.

So grab this opportunity now ! This involves three easy steps:

Step 1) Make a payment to Rotary Club of Powai Charitable Trust using one of the several options mentioned in the attached Entry Form.

Step 2) Fill up all the details about you in the Entry Form. Also give the reference number of your payment as per the instructions in the Entry Form. If you wish to send multiple entries, please feel free to do so. Just send a separate Entry Form in a separate mail for each entry and make sure that you have paid Rs.100 per entry..

Step 3) Mail the photograph and the Entry Form to rotarypowai@yahoo.in. Please note that the photograph (your entry) should not exceed 5 MB in size. Request send only one entry form and the corresponding photograph per mail.

The last date for receiving your payment and your entry is 28^th February 2010.

*Subject to the number entries received. Conditions apply.

Do you want a cleaner, happier, healthier and protective environment?

There are so many environmental problems, which can be slowly tackled by small efforts, but people don’t seem to bother and realize about these problems. So for some contribution and awareness around us, we the students of Bombay Scottish School Powai have made an environmental club called the “Junior Paws “. We do many fun filled activities in which we try to protect the environment. We had started a project with the shop “More” in Raheja Vihar. In this project, we collect the plastic bags of the shop “More” from the various buildings of Raheja and return the plastic bags to the shop. By this, we can reduce and reuse plastic, which harms the environment. Though we collected a lot of plastic bags, around a thousand, we did not get any support from the public. It was only the shop “More” who gave us support but over a period of time  the support got a little weak. We would like more participation and support in this regard from all residents of Raheja Vihar.

On the 24^th of January  a fair was organized by the Raheja Vihar committee in which we participated and put up a stall in our group’s name-Junior Paws and collected the money mainly for the Mobile Crèche and for things related to the environment.

Recently we went to Sewri for bird watching. There were mostly the migratory flamingos from the runn of kachchh. We also saw Terns, Sea Gulls, Swallows, Median and Large Egret, And most of all a Kingfisher, two small and one huge kingfisher flying in the sky(the plane)! Although we enjoyed our visit to Sewri, we were saddened by the fact that the approach to the place was very bad as the road were in a really bad condition and the amount of litter lying around. I wish there was something that could be done to create more awareness about this place so that more people can enjoy their visit to Sewri as they can have the pleasure of seeing these beautiful migratory birds. There were also few broken down ships which caused the leakage of oil. I hope our group could do something about that to.

We now need support from everybody for our projects ahead. For ideas, please contact us on the email-id juniorpaws@gmail.com

And our website is http://www.juniorpaws.webs.com/

-Ninaad, Shivaank, Anirudh, Manav,                                                                                   Sidhaant, Soham, Ryan and Akshat 

JUNIOR PAWS

NEW DELHI: Competition watchdog CCI has asked about two dozen banks and housing finance companies, including HDFC, ICICI Bank, and LICHF, to explain their imposing penalty on borrowers for pre-payment of home loans.

The commission, according to official sources, has sent notices to major home loan players after examining a report of director general (investigations) which found evidences against banks for misusing their dominant position and entering into anti-competitive agreements.

“We have sent showcause notices to 20 banks including ICICI Bank, HDFC, LIC Housing Finance, Deutsche Postbank and the Indian Banks’ Association. We have also sensitised RBI on how the practice of charging pre-payment penalty is hurting consumers,” a senior CCI official said. The commission was scrutinising a complaint filed by a customer against the practice by these banks.

Spokespersons of ICICI Bank, HDFC and LIC Housing Finance could not be reached for comments. The move gives hopes to thousands of borrowers of foreclosing their housing loans without paying penalty. If the penalty is lifted, it may also lead to borrowers’ shifting their credit to those lenders offering lower interest.

The CCI, official said, could also penalise lenders for adopting such practices to discourage customers from pre-paying home loans or the the practice could be banned across the industry. HDFC, for example, currently levies pre-payment charges ranging between 0% and 2%.

Article sourced from: http://blog.gurutek.co.in/2010/01/banks-pulled-up-for-fine-on-home-loan.html