Goregaon Art and Culture Festival

An Arts and Culture Festival, in Goregaon (GACF) was conceptualised and staged within an incredibly short period of fifteen days by our volunteers and teachers along with me. The event, brought together children, elders, youngsters, adults of different castes, class, creed and language in celebrating various Indian art forms ranging from music, acting, dancing, drawing etc.The event saw a footfall of over a thousand people and the interesting sight to behold was families, both nuclear and joint, sitting together at one place, smiling, laughing, getting thoroughly entertained by enthralling performances one after other, cheering the participants together, connecting with the crowd around and leaving the GACF venue with smiles and visibly enhanced bonding.With more than a hundred artists performing, making it a unique cultural extravaganza.

Goregaon Arts and Cultural Festival began with a drawing competition named Kaleidoscope wherein approximately 150 children of the age group 5- 21yrs ranging from both mainstream and BMC schools participated. Renowned Artists Shri Ghanshyam ji Gupta and Smt.Pradnya Busari judged the drawings. Kashvee Barjatya a nine year old young author of the book, Lost in the Woods, came and interacted with the drawing competition participants inspiring children to follow their dreams.

Day 1- had a series of musical, acting and dancing performances. Students of Swarajali Singing classes, group casio recital by students of Shri Ghanshyam Bhagat and Smt.Renuka Bhagat, Meera padas by Priya Bhagwat, Mime act by Modi family followed by Guru puja and a short meditation, Bharatnatyam Mythological Ballet on avatars of Lord Vishnu by Smt.Radha Mohan and her team, vocal recital by Jyati Gangani and Sameer Pandit – both international singing artists.

Day 2 – had performance of 20 Tabla playing children lead by their teacher Shri Aditya and accompanied by Shri Sarang on Sitar, followed by an Art of Living Satsang, Flute recital by the disciple of Pt.Shri Hariprasad Chaurasia, Shreedhar jujar, accompanied on Tabla by Shekhar Gandhi, Bharatnatyam performance by Akhila Nair and her group, Vedic hymns and Hatt Yoga by the children of Sri Sri Ravi Shankar Vidya Mandir Borivali, Kathak by Smriti Mishra, choreographed by Pt.Dinesh Chand of Jaipur Gharana, Khayal gayyeki by Smt.Rashmi kulkarni.

Just like a dam channelises the uncontrolled energy of water into a life supporting force, in the same way knowledge given by Gurudev, naturally directs our energy towards constructive activities. It is a wonder how GACF got organised in such a brief period and how all those who became a part of it were touched somewhere deep in their hearts. Yes! Art has the ability to unite.

GACF was a small offering from us for Gurudev’s vision of ‘One World Family’ for which WCF 2016 is being organised.Our entire team is grateful for all the love and support  we got from people in organising this event.

Few Experiences :

Says Shri VInod ji- the sanskrit teacher who won the Central India competition for Vedic chants for SSRVM, borivali -” ऐसे उत्सवों  से शरीर मे उत्साह, उमंग एवं हर्षोल्लास बढ़ता है कला प्रदर्शनकारों एवं दर्शको दोनों पर सात्विक भाव उमडता है । जिसके फलस्वरूप प्रेम, साहचर्यता, एक दूसरे के प्रति आदरभाव जागता है।

Says Mr.DP Aggarwal,  “A great beginning in the direction for uniting the world culture and striving to make the world a GLOBAL VILLAGE. ”

Says, Kathak Pt.Guru Shri Dinesh Chand – ” It was a pleasure to witness &  be a part of such a Divine concert organised by Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar Ji’s volunteers of Art Of Living. Feeling blessed..

Special thanks to Rangresa pictures, Akhil Patel and Kunal Mehta for being prime donors of the event. Thanks to Mr. DP Agarwal ji, Mr. RD Agarwal ji, Mr. Nittin Save ji for helping in organising this event. And to all the Artist for contributing their Art at GAFC.