Vision-Aid, a non-profit organization that serves people with Vision related disabilities hosted a Bollywood fundraiser featuring the band Din-Check on April 23 at the Cary Memorial Hall in Lexington.

With over 475 attendees, dancing, singing and cheering on a stream of lively music, it was truly a feast for the senses, captivating the audiences, while helping to raise funds for children with visual impairment and multiple disabilities in programs supported by Vision-Aid and the Perkins School for the Blind.  

  

The event began with video presentations about the impactful work of Vision-Aid and Perkins. Vision-Aid’s Chairman Emeritus Mr. Puran Dang and Vice Chair Veena Handa, extended a special welcome to special guests – Perkins School for the Blind – Katie Holland, Rebecca Fater, Natalie Anderson and Paige Holtzman; from the Aravind Eye Hospital in India – Dr. Sahithya Bhaskaran and Dr. Tej Prasad and Dr. Beula Christy, Head of Vision Rehabilitation, from the L.V.Prasad Eye Institute in India. Perkins, Aravind and LVPEI are important strategic allies and partners of Vision-Aid.

  

Vision-Aid Volunteer President Lalit Sudan, Director & Past President Syed Ali Rizvi, Director Sonal Bakre and Founders Ramakrishna Raju and Revathy Ramakrishna introduced programs of Vision-Aid, Perkins and thanked the several key sponsors for their gracious support.

The Din Check Band on stage featured Jolly Bhatia, Meenakshi Kulshreshta and Guru Anandh (vocals), Anandini Sekhar (Keyboard and vocals), Samir Bhambhani (guitarist) and Mike Grover (guitarist) and Kamal Dasu (drums). The music had the audience dancing away. The famous Nattu Nattu was delivered with a lot of energy by the Din Check band. I really enjoyed dancing along with the Ophthalmologists from Aravinda. 

From the lobby to backstage, a virtual army of dedicated volunteers seamlessly ran the complex behind the scenes logistics and operations from ticketing, ushering, aisle management, food distribution and stage management. The volunteer team included Sonal Bakre, Syed Ali Rizvi, Sanjay and Vasudha Kudrimoti, Shreyas Kudrimoti, Shashank Bakre, Atul Nimbalkar, Vamsi Kolakani, Ujwala Phene, Veena Handa, Pramod Handa, Hiral Desai Wakhlu, Anurag Wakhlu, Manisha Jain, Mayuri Shah, Revathi Pillai, Dr. Dipti Maniar Kamani, Reena and Swaroop Vattam, Jeyanthi Ghataraju, Monika Manocha Wadhwa, Dr. Loubaina Buxamusa, Rekha Palriwala, Swasti Bhargava, Sangeet Srikanth, Neeta Agarwal, Rohan Rastogi, Vijaya Nelavelli, Revathy Ramakrishna, Ramakrishna Raju and over a dozen high school youth volunteers led by Vision-Aid Youth President Ronak Wakhlu. A special mention needs to be made about Sanjay Kudrimoti who serves on the Board of Vision-Aid and led all of the A/V and multi-media needs of the show while also serving as a photographer with the able support of his wife Vasudha and son Shreyas.

It was a fun event enjoyed by one and all while supporting a good cause.