Poila Baisakh for a cause

April 15, 2014: Mid April is a very auspicious time of the year according to the Hindu calendar in India.

It is the new year with the Poila Baishakh celebrations in Bengal and Vishu in Kerala, Bihu festival time for the Assamese, Puthandu for the Tamils, Baisakhi or springtime harvest festival in Punjab, Hanuman Jayanti and also on April 13 was Mahavir Jayanti for the Jain community.

Being in Kolkata, I personally observed the Bengali New Year (1421) day – Poila Baisakh today. To celebrate the occasion, Prabha Khaitan Foundation joined hands with Hotel Hyatt Regency for a project “Donate Clothes for a Cause” to collect and distribute old clothes to the needy. Hyatt Regency Kolkata has been kind enough to make arrangements for collecting as well as dry cleaning and mending the old clothes.

The target of collecting 4000 clothes was met much earlier and till yesterday 7000 clothes were collected. It was a wonderful initiative and Hyatt collected the clothes from April 1 till 10, 2014. Prabha Khaitan Foundation, as an NGO partner, will distribute the clothes to the needy through their various associate NGOs.

In a formal function yesterday, representative of Chhaya – an NGO of actress Roopa Ganguly – were given clothes, boxes and bags to start the distribution process. I must thank Hyatt Regency and their initiative Hyatt Thrive for the initiative.

Today I am hosting a small dinner party at home. Tomorrow I have to attend two events and maybe a dinner again at home and on April 17, 2014, I shall leave for Delhi.

ess bee