Literacy India's Utsav

Utsav, the two day festival organised by Literacy India on the occasion of Universal Child Rights Day, on 20-21 November saw more than 150 beneficiaries from the 16 centres of Literacy India around NCR participate in the event. This was their chance to showcase their talent in various activities such as theatre, animation movies, dance and music. The event was well attended by various schools and corporate associates of Literacy India.

On day one, the kids presented some foot-tapping dance performances, animation movies made by them, entertaining but meaningful plays and much more. They also had an interactive session with Kapil Dev, captain of world cup winning Indian Cricket team and Navin Gulia, a former army officer who runs an organization ADAA that works for street children despite being confined to a wheelchair for the last 14 years. He is a recipient of a number of prestigious awards such as Haryana Gaurav Award, Indian people of the Year Award, global Indian of the year, Kavincare Ability Mastery Award, and National role Model award.

Kapil Dev stressed on the value of kids being a better citizen rather than just a better doctor, engineer or cricketer. He answered many questions by the children on various aspects of child rights. For his own family, he said, “For my daughter, it is not what I expect her to be, but what she wants to be”

Mr. Navin Gulia, who has been running an organization ADAA for child beggars in spite of being on wheelchair for 14 years, also shared similar thoughts on the matter.

On day two, Rohit and Ronit Bisht who are both winners of ITF Junior World Tennis Championships and winners of POGO Awards graced the event. They have been ranked Asia’s No. 1 in under-14 and under-16 tennis category.

The event was marked particularly by the two-hour play Baghi Samrat. Based on the Persian play Rustam-Sohrab, this story unfolds in a small village in Bihar named Mirzapur. This is a village that has given birth to brave men, but is now plagued with false egos, religious conflicts, and political and emotional issues. The music in the play is from an upcoming album by Phat-phish records and has voices of singers like Kailash Kher, Bombay Jaishree, Naresh Aiyar, Malgudi Shubha, Kartick Das Boul and Sayoun. The play is directed with a unique DEKH KE concept that brings the complexities of a film set, right on stage.
The plays had been directed by the Star TV’s Sansani fame Shrivardhan Trivedi and designed by Nikhil Raj. Nikhil Raj is very popular as a character Bhokal Singh on Mahuaa Channel. He had designed the play concept and its adaptation along with giving guidance to the young performers.