Ekal Youth Leader, Rishabh Tole, organized a Bollywood and western singing competition to help raise funds for Ekal Vidyalaya, an organization that brings education to rural and tribal villages in India. Over 50 participants took part in the competition and helped raise funds for 20 schools catering to 600 children for a whole year. The event was held on Sept 21 at Tufts University in Medford, Ma. To learn more about Ekal check out their website at http://ekal.org

Growing up as a young musician, Rishabh had several opportunities to perform at competitions. He valued them very much and wanted to create an unbiased platform where the young and the old could showcase their talent. He wanted to bring together Indian and Western music for many Indian American children pursue both. He also feels passionately about education and thus combined his twin passions to create a musical competition to support the cause of education. 

The event opened with a welcome by Manisha Jain, President of Ekal USA where she applauded the talent and courage of each and every child who had taken part in the competition. “You are all winners” she said. The grand sponsor for the event was Poppy Charnalia, the multi-faceted artist who is a painter and poet. Her own daughter won the competition last year. “I went to design school where we learned design should have utility. This competition is the best example of this where art is being used for a purpose” The trophies for the event was sponsored by Dr. Manju Sheth, the founder of Women Who Win. She applauded the efforts of the children. Ranjani Saigal, executive director of Ekal presented details of the programs of Ekal while Ekal Youth Program director Latha Krishnan talked about the Youth leadership program at Ekal. 

The competition was so tight that the judges worked hard to make their decisions. Winners were