The date 18 October 2024, was really an exciting day for the members of Soroptimist Pune, who had been preparing for months and working on every minute detail for the fund raiser for one of our oldest and pioneering project, “Let me Bloom” scheduled for this day.
The event was attended by all our fellow Soroptimist sisters who were present in Pune on this date. The program was scheduled from 5pm- 8pm. Everyone gathered with full enthusiasm, tea along with biscuits was served initially for the audience to sip in some joy, thanks to Jayashree Kale for sponsoring the tea, and Dr Naina Athalye for the biscuits which came with warm good wishes.
Our two esteemed artistes to perform for the evening were Sonal Pendse, a classical dancer, and Kapil Patil, a stand-up comedian. The event began at 5.30p.m. as the guests trickled in and filled the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute auditorium, the venue selected for this event. To begin the program, Treasurer Maleka Siamwala who was the MOC gave a brief introductory welcome followed by President Rashida Ansari who introduced the club and graciously thanked the donors. She mentioned the intention of holding this fund raiser for our scholarship project ‘Let me Bloom’ and how the recipients have benefitted in continuing their college education.
As we moved on into, the evening our first artiste Sonal Pendse a classical dancer, and a trained teacher who runs a dance academy, gave a brief introduction to her performance. She divided her program in four parts, the first with her senior students, performing on “Lay” meaning rhythm, which she mentioned is present in our everyday life. She then had another recital with her senior students and then two more by her young and enthusiastic juniors. Each performance and every rhythm had the entire audience mesmerized at each beat.
After this, one of our beneficiaries Mohsina and the mothers of two more recipients of our Let me Bloom project spoke and expressed their gratitude at how the scholarship grant is benefitting them and their daughters in their education. This was followed by a 10 minute break for the audience.
For the next part of the program we had another exciting artiste, Kapil Patil, a software engineer by profession and a stand-up comedian by hobby. He was introduced by member Kakoli Bagchi to the audience. The trickling of laughter had just begun as the audience began to warm up with each act, the mimicry gaining much appeal with everyone, young and old. His act ended with engaging the audience with his fun games. The evening ended with the audience showing much appreciation and heartily applauding both the artistes.
Our thanks to our President Rashida Ansari for planning and looking into every minute detail of the event, Treasurer Maleka Siamwala for keeping all the finances up to date and Jayashree Kale in co- ordinating with the management of the auditorium and taking care of all the requirements of the performers. In general, all the members of SI Poona put in their combined efforts which led to such a successful event.