Boston’s Din Check Band staging “Naatu Naatu” for Vision-Aid and Perkins on April 23^rd.

The talented musicians at Din Check and volunteers from Vision-Aid are hard at work, preparing for a dazzling live concert on Sunday, April 23^rd from 4 to 7 p.m. in the historic and beautiful Cary Hall in Lexington Center. The concert celebrates the recent historic Oscar and Golden Globe Awards of “Naatu Naatu”, while also more generally celebrating the vibrancy of Bollywood music and dance. This first live musical fund-raiser by Vision-Aid after the pandemic will support the programs of Vision-Aid and Perkins School for the Blind to enable children with visual impairment and multiple disabilities (MDVI) served in programs jointly run by Vision-Aid and Perkins through the Perkins Project Identification and Intervention (IDI).

About “Naatu Naatu”  

What is “Naatu Naatu”? The Oscar and Golden-Globe winning super hit song (originally in Telugu and later translated to Hindi) from the movie 'RRR' is about the joy of dancing, something Indian cinema has always been known for!

On Sunday, April 23, 2023, Boston audiences will be treated to a veritable explosion of fun, foot-tapping musical numbers by Din Check (New England’s Favorite Bollywood Band) in a special concert titled ‘NAATU NAATU - A Celebration of Dance in Indian Cinema’. The concert by New England's ever-popular Din Check band will feature melodious music and energetic dance numbers from Bollywood and beyond, spanning different eras, genres, and languages. Fans of world music, fun and colorful lively performances will surely enjoy this amazing evening filled with popular music from Bollywood films, from melodious oldies to hit dance numbers, as well as some fresh and creative pop and fusion numbers in Tamil, Telugu and English as well, in the elegant setting of the historic Cary Hall in Lexington Center.

The Din Check band consists of co-founders Jolly Bhatia (vocals) and Sameer Bhambhani (lead guitar), alongside Meenakshi Kulshreshtha (vocals), Anandini Sekhar (keys), Kamal Dasu (drums) and Mike Grover (bass guitar). Din Check is known in the New England area for getting crowds on their feet and their high-octane performances.

The organizing committee from Vision-Aid including Sonal Bakre, Revathy Ramakrishna, Syed Ali Rizvi, Manisha Jain , Sanjay Kudrimoti, Anagha Singh, Monika Manocha Wadhwa, Ravi Rastogi, Ujwala Phene, Veena Handa,  Hiral Desai Wakhlu, Sudhir Varma, Ram Raju, Lalit Sudan and several others are hard at work to make this a fun and memorable event for all.

The Vision-Aid team is also working closely with the Perkins team, including Natalie Anderson and Rebecca Fater and several others to coordinate communications.

Early Bird Tickets & Sponsorships Open through April 1, 2023

Early Bird Tickets and sponsorships are now available at www.VisionAid.org/event. The Early Bird Discounts end on April 1! Proceeds from the show will help to support programs run jointly by Vision-Aid and Perkins in Agra, India, and other locations. These impactful programs serve the needs of children with visual impairment and multiple disabilities (MDVI) – one of the most vulnerable segments of the disabled population in India. Early Bird sales end on April 1, 2023. Sponsorships are available at varying levels from $250-5000+ and will include show tickets and acknowledgment opportunities at the performance and via digital marketing efforts. All sponsors will be gratefully recognized at the event and have reserved front-row seating. 

About Vision-Aid

Vision-Aid is a non-profit, founded in 2004 with a mission of enabling, educating, and empowering the visually impaired to live with independence and dignity. In addition to serving over 18,000 visually impaired across 23 locations in India, Vision-Aid operates resource centers in partnership with several pre-eminent organizations including the Aravind Eye Hospital, Sankara Nethralaya, the L.V.Prasad Eye Institute, Voluntary Health Services, Dr. Shroff’s Charity Eye Hospital, CECF (Community Eye Care Foundation) among others.

Vision-Aid has gained a reputation for its innovative and high-impact programs. Several unique training programs help to train the visually impaired to find gainful employment and live with independence and dignity. Among recent innovations – in addition to the revolutionary AI-powered Smart Vision Glasses being introduced last year, other examples of innovation include the newly launched Digital Accessibility Testing and Training center which not only trains the visually impaired but also employs several of them to perform digital accessibility testing for a global client base, and a large portfolio which includes over a dozen specially designed training programs to level the playing field for the visually impaired. 

About Perkins Project IDI

Perkins Identification and Intervention (IDI) project is a game changer for health and education sectors. The United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) recognized Perkins India's Project Identification and Intervention as an SDG Good Practice.

Perkins India brings together eye hospitals and educators to raise the bar on providing children with multiple disabilities, solutions and frameworks that enables access to government’s schemes and services. Project IDI (Identification & Intervention) is initiated with local health and education partner organizations like eye/civil hospitals, local education organizations and schools. Strategic partnerships with local governments, schools, and civil society organizations to establish interconnected referrals and services help in seamless integration.

Perkins India builds capacity to effectively identify, assess, and educate children with multiple disabilities. Training and mentoring of community-based rehabilitation (CBR) workers and special educators to carry out day to day identification, intervention and education support for children and families are part of the program. Post assessments, families are guided to available therapeutic services and ways to obtain assistive devices, such as wheelchair or glasses. The IDI team ensures that every child has access to learning in a setting most appropriate - be it attendance at early intervention centers, home-based instruction or inclusion in government schools and community programs.

Buy-in from local community members has resulted in increased disability awareness and an increased number of children with disabilities being identified and educated.

Describing the program, Barsha Banerjee, Managing Director, Perkins India said “We are working towards ‘Inclusiveness’ and ‘Equity’ for ‘Every Child’ leading to meaningful participation in the run up to UN’s SDG Goals in building a resilient future for children with disabilities.”

Katherine Holland, Executive Director, Perkins International added “We are modeling how we do this in a meaningful way. We have to continue to adapt.”

Vision-Aid and Perkins in Agra and Beyond

The collaboration between Perkins India and Vision-Aid (Agra) was initiated in two blocks - Bichpuri and Khandauli in Agra in November 2021 to establish a seamless system of identification, referral and intervention services to enable children with MDVI to access education and realize a meaningful life in their community. An important component of the project is the intervention center run by Vision-Aid for children within the local vicinity of Agra. The Perkins-IDI team which offers at-home interventions works closely with the Vision-Aid center and other locally operating partners to empower children who are unable to access the intervention center. Agra is just the starting point of the relationship and both organizations hope to scale up similar programs in many other locations also in coming years.

Describing the program, Mr. Lalit Sudan, volunteer President of Vision-Aid, said, " The impact of our going door to door in the villages has been phenomenal. In a very short time, over 2,000 at- risk children have been proactively identified and helped. This is just the beginning. Much more is to come in the years ahead.” Mr. Puran Dang, Chairman Emeritus of Vision-Aid added "Perkins and Vision-Aid together are serving the Vision Impaired and the disabled with the highest devotion and it is going to help thousands. Helen Keller said, “Alone we can do very little and together we can do so much.....”.

Please Join Us! Early Bird Tickets and sponsorships for Naatu-Naatu are now available at www.VisionAid.org/event

Photo Credits: Thanks to Cocoon Media, Fotu Duniya / Sanjay Kudrimoti for photos of Din Check and Perkins for the Project IDI Photos

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