The Support a Child foundation helps provide means for underprivileged kids from India to thrive. The youth council was established by Preethi Ganesh, a Junior in High School from Holliston, MA, and Avani Kashalikar, Sophomore in High School from Hudson MA in the year 2019. The current members of the SAC Youth Council are Ananya Sharma, Freshman from Newton, MA, Mridula Mukundan, Freshman from Westboro, MA, Nandini Murali, Sophomore from Hopkinton, MA, Shivnath Shankar, Junior from Southborough, MA. The SAC youth council was created for one purpose - connecting with the younger generation to bring awareness to this cause. 

SAC Youth Council will be holding a fundraiser on December 18 to assist with this cause. Donations to the foundation go towards assisting a child’s education and basic necessities. The fundraiser will showcase the talents of some exciting up-and-coming artists in Harikatha. Harikatha literally translates to “the story of Lord Vishnu”. It is a form of Hindu traditional discourse where the storyteller explores a traditional theme. Harikatha involves the narration of a story, intermingling songs relating to the story. It involves numerous sub plots and anecdotes. Harikatha as an art form can be traced back to the Ramayan days. Lav and Kush had sung the story of Ramayan in the Ashwamedha Maha Mandapam in the presence of Lord Ram Himself. The first Harikatha singer was Sage Narada. 

About the Artistes: 

Sumedha Mahesh, a Junior at Western Reserve Academy in Ohio, will be performing. She is a multi-talented artist, whose Harikathas have won multiple awards and garnered attention from television networks.  

Karthik Subramanian, a seventh grader from New Jersey who has been learning Harikatha since the age of four, will also be performing. In addition to his Harikatha skills, he is proficient in both Western and Eastern styles of music.  

Lastly, we will be joined by Mohanakrishnan Narayanan, a fourth grader from Massachusetts. He started his musical journey at the age of 4, when he began Bhagavat Parayanam. Krishna has quickly advanced, performing Harikatha on various topics like Bhakta Charitram and Thyagaraja Krithis.  

Here is the link for viewing the program: 

https://www.supportachildusa.org/sac2021shows