AIM for Seva, Boston Chapter presents MeghaDootam: Cloud Messenger

An Operatic Ballet with music by Oscar-nominated Bombay Jayashri

to raise funds to help educate underprivileged children in India

Regis College Arts Center, 235 Wellesley Street, Weston, MA 

Saturday, 20th September 2014, 5:45 pm

At this time in late summer, when school and college graduation celebrations are still fresh in our minds, we request you to pause and reflect on the high value we attach to education, the success and prosperity our community enjoys as a result of our education, and how we can give back by contributing to the education of rural and tribal children in India who are struggling to finish high school. 

The All India Movement (AIM) for Seva, recognized as a model organization by the United Nations, has been helping rural and tribal underprivileged children to complete their high school education, so that they can support their families and break out of the cycle of poverty. AIM for Seva builds and runs Free Student Homes (called chatralayas), where students get free housing, food, uniforms, sports, healthcare, tutoring, arts and nurturing to develop their total personality and help them complete their studies in nearby schools. This unique model of a home away from home, initiated in response to a tribal mother’s plea to help keep her three children in school, has reaped remarkable benefits, including an astounding decrease in the high school drop-out rate from 84% in remote areas to less than 1%. Since its inception in 2000, 

AIM for Seva has directly helped about 20,000 students from 5000 villages, with a multiplier effect on millions of people. Many FSH students have gone on to pursue higher studies, including one who is doing a Ph.D. in Canada. There are more than 100 district level chatralayas in 15 Indian states, serving over 3,000 children every year. The vision is to have 300 chatralayas in as many districts by 2020.

To help achieve this goal and to raise money for current operations, the Boston Chapter of AIM for Seva is organizing a fund-raising event – an audio-visual treat for music and dance lovers, the operatic ballet 

Meghadootam (Cloud Messenger), based on Kalidasa’s great poem of an exiled and pining lover asking a cloud to convey a message to his far-away beloved. Produced by the Cleveland Cultural Alliance, set to 

music by Oscar-nominated Bombay Jayashri Ramanath and choreographed by Shijith Nambiar and 

Parvathy Menon, Meghadootam opened to rave reviews in Chennai recently. The New Indian Express said: "Enthralling, impressive, fantabulous... adjectives may not suffice to explain this dance drama." And The Hindu: "Sorrow so exquisite! Beauty and visual appeal were the hallmarks of Meghadootam." So Boston area dance, music and 

Sanskrit lovers can look forward to a most enchanting experience!

Last year, with another dance program called Prabhavati, we raised over $ 90,000 from philanthropic Boston area sponsors. We thank all of you for your generosity. Our goal this year is to raise at least $100,000 from the greater Boston community. We request generous donors and dance rasikas from the Boston community to sponsor one or more students at an AIM for Seva chatralaya. 

A donation of $ 450 sponsors one student’s expenses for one year, with various other levels also available. Donors who sponsor FSH students will be assigned complimentary seating for Meghadootam, followed by a vegetarian Indian dinner after the program. For more information, to donate with a credit card, and for a trailer of Meghadootam, please visit www.AfSevents.org and click on Boston at the bottom left of the page. After you make your donation, we will contact you by email/phone (at the contact information you provide on the online donation form – so please fill these out correctly!) to assign seats based on your needs.

Please note that more than 90% of your donations go directly to the management of the chatralayas, and your contributions are tax-exempt in the US. AIM for Seva is a registered 501 (c) (3) non-profit 

organization. 

We thank you in advance for your most generous sponsorship of AIM for Seva chatralaya students, and look forward to your presence on September 20th to behold, and that too for a very worthy cause, the 

dancing Cloud Messenger!

For more information, please contact Kumar Nochur at 617-244-6394, or by email at knochur@gmail.com

Links:

• AIM for Seva Website: www.aimforseva.org

• Information about MeghaDootam & to donate online: www.AfSevents.org, then click on Boston at 

bottom left of page.