Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Children's day with grand-parents

Most of us have had a great time with our grand-parents. They have always been special for us. In line with these memories, we thought of spending time with some grand-parents who are away from their children and make the "Children's day" a great day for them. However, Oldage homes are not happening places and at most times, you would get negative vibes from the people staying there. They are also very low on EQ (Emotional Quotient) and even a simple conversation could drive them to bad memories of the past. Understanding this, we knew we had a tough task ahead.

It was a challenge and we had to prepare ourselves. We spent about 2 weeks on creating the plan, discussing it and working out options. We planned for an ice-breaking session on the first day, followed by a stage show in the evening. We had interactive games, the second day morning and a gifting ceremony to close the event. We wished to create memories that they could cherish for a long time. Little did we dream that the event would give us such a memorable experience. And while we had a wonderful time with the people there, we also had our share of "masti" with a night-walk, then terrace chatting, the making of "khottos", morning walk to emu farm...and not to forget cramping 15 in 2 cars (9 in Honda City and 6 in Suzuki Estilo)
The experience was very nice and very fantastic...not just for me or a few other, but for all. We collected feedback from the people there as well as the Maha GSB team and the response was equally positive! The people there like stage show that we did as well as the interactive games that we had. One of them mentioned, "You people have brought a ray of light in the lives of the aged by interacting with them so ably" The fact that they likes the event was seen by their participation as well.
Some joined us in the performance while the rest participated in the interactive games. They sang, played tabla and even danced with us! The enthusiasm was bubbling...they were as eager to play with as much as we were to get involved with them.

We had planned to gift decorated "Matki (pot) Candles" and while we were painting, a couple of ammas joined us in the decoration work.
While some of the team members were busy with the interactive session, some worked on filling the matkis with wax and the rest cleared up non-biodegradable stuff from the premises.
The interaction was so smooth with the inmates, that we never felt that we were there for the first time. Hegde maam, the incharge there said "It was really nice to see the inmates happy" while Bhat maam has invited us to visit more often. And the feedback from the Maha GSB team is no different. All the feedback mention that the visit was a pleasant and wish to visit the place as many times as possible. We, the Maha GSB team are all set and waiting to cater to another social cause!
If you feel you can contribute to Maha GSB and are not sure how you can, please email us as mahagsb@googlegroups.com or feel free to call Ashutosh (9820992403).

3 comments:

Anushree said...

Yippe it was really a great event and nicely put in by Ashu!!!
The smile on each of their faces showed that they were very happy with wat all activities we did for them.

Vaibbhav Nadkarnni said...

I am very eager to go there as often as poss. Truly mind blowing event. I felt very satisfied after visiting there.

Anika Rocks said...

it was an amazing event .. really enjoyed it . I was happy dat we were able to make dem happy for those 2 days .