Utsav

Utsav is CMCA's annual festival where in all the schools get to present as to what do they understand of various civic and environmental issues in the form of skits, songs, games etc. It is in this event that action heroes from various schools are felicitated.

Below are the schools that won prizes in 3 major categories Best stall,Best skit and Best Song
BEST STALL:

1st: Hussain Allana English School
2nd: Hiranandani Foundation School, Powai
3rd: Pali Chimbai Municipal School (Aseema)

BEST SKIT:

1st: Little Flower of Jesus High School
2nd : Beacon High School
3rd: Hiranandani Foundation School, Powai

BEST SONG:

1st: Gopal Sharma Group of Schools (SSC)
2nd: Gopal Sharma Group of Schools (ICSE)



Here are few pictures and articles about UTSAV this year.



On the 31st of January, CMCA’s annual fest ‘Utsav’ was held at St. Aloysius School in Bandra. The fest was filled with talented children, fascinating projects and innovative ways of spreading awareness. The sun shone brightly as we boarded the bus and there started our journey, towards the useful fun and environment friendly fest.

After a long drive we reached school and I was enthralled by the projects the various schools had made.

The projects were very innovative and totally eco friendly. I was stunned by the project that the under Chimbai Municipal school had made. They had transformed a simple cloth into an attractive hand bag. They even showed people how the cloth bag can be used to wrap gifts. I couldn’t think of a better way to save our environment. Many other schools had made colourful charts and meaningful attractive models. This was just the beginning. Then came the singing competition. The crowd cheered and clapped as the performers sang confidently and melodiously. I was enjoying the songs as they were tunes from our favourite Bollywood songs. The songs came to an end as the skits started.

I saw one of the schools perform their skit which was in the form of a street play. They proved their talent by doing a marvelous job. I felt if they actually went to the film industry they would do an amazing job. Our school performed next and did very well. The meaningful skits came to an end and along with it, so did the fun filled ‘UTSAV’.

By the time we went home the sun was at its best. We really enjoyed Utsav and would love to go to the fest again. It was a wonderful and mesmerizing experience which we will always remember and cherish

Aishwarya Sadasivan

VIII C

Hiranandani Foundation School,

Powai.

CMCA Utsav

It was bright and sunny when I reached St.Alyosius at Bandra for CMCA’s annual festival- Utsav. I was told that the school children had arrived at 8:30am to set up their stalls. The program was scheduled to start at 10am, but started a little late because the chief guest Mrs. Seema Redkar had not arrived. Mrs. Redkar is the officer on special duty in the Solid Waste Management department for the BMC. Our second chief guest was the famous cricket commentator Mr. Harsha Bogle. They both spoke to us about how to save the environment and of the impending disaster of Global Warming. They also told us not to be cynical about the government and leave everything to it. After that the awards for the action heroes were given. The action heroes were children who were active citizens as they stopped others from doing things like using plastic bags and urinating on the road. It was an amazing idea to confer these children with awards for helping the city.

The activities for the day were announced and the song competition started. The songs were amazing and a lot of effort was put. Following this there was a break for 10-15 minutes when I played the snakes and ladders game and visited the stalls. I really liked the Hiranandani Foundation, the Jamnabhai Narsee, the Hussain Allana and the Beacon High stalls. There were many stalls put up by other NGOs like ASEEMA and GOONJ .I really loved the GOONJ stall and I bought a skipping rope made from old clothes from them. Some stalls had really advanced technology used in the construction of the exhibits. Another stall that I really liked was put up by the Andheri volunteers. Apart from other tips to reduce global warming it explained how much energy was used by appliances when “off”, but on standby and when they were on.

I also learnt to make a cute spider, using an old mineral water bottle and coloured paper. It was a very different activity and I’m sure that all the children enjoyed it heartily and have put up their spiders in their rooms, mine is on the dressing table mirror. In the middle of the morning, the canteen ran out of snacks, but the day was saved as they had a huge pot of delicious biryani ready. The skit competition had some really well made skits dealing with topics like pollution, corruption and active citizenship. The game “Bin the Waste” and “Antakshari” had to be scrapped due to lack of time, but nonetheless the Utsav was a success.
I really, really enjoyed this Utsav and I hope CMCA keeps improvising and expanding every year.

Kaagni Harekal
CMCA Junior Volunteer

Best out of Waste

Turning trash into a piece a of art by our students....

And Few of our volunteers making bags out old Newspapers....

Traffic Police Day

A day to pay our gratitude and compliment the most deserving people in the city, who often go unnoticed: The Police Man.

These are the men who toil in the heat so as make sure the city’s law and order is maintained. Man is of nature to always see the glass half empty, but we at CMCA make it a point to acknowledge these men for their hard work. Just imagine the menace one would have to face if we did not have the protection that we receive.

On 13th February 2009, CMCA school children visited the Police Head Quarters, Mumbai at Worli. There were approximately a 100 school children eagerly waiting for the felicitation process to start so as to thank these officers of all ranks.

Once the children had finished thanking the officer’s one of the senior most officer was so touched by this show of gratitude that one could see a tear in his eye. To quote him, “In his entire career as an officer, No one had said a thank you for their noteworthy work” and today when a bunch of school kids had done so the tears did not seem to stop.
Next was a speech with a message from the Assistant Commissioner of Police who quite charged up the crowd with his facts.

After which came an audio visual with hard hitting facts about the necessities in order to maintain road discipline, whether one was driving or crossing the road and if one did not the adverse consequences man would have to face, which could be any from loosing a limb to even ones life.
We were then shown the control room and how messages were sent to all patrolling cars on the streets, the newly installed CCTV cameras amazed everyone as to how much we have advanced, a cop sitting at worli could see what was happening at CST.

With this came the end of the event.

Here are our Students trying to understand a day in traffic police's life...

Diwali Campaign and schedule

CMCA’S CAMPAIGN FOR A POLLUTION FREE DIWALI

About us:

Children’s Movement for Civic Awareness (CMCA) is a forum of school children in Mumbai, founded on the belief that children are the most powerful messengers of change.

CMCA has been spearheading efforts to inculcate civic and environmental consciousness through Civic Clubs in schools. CMCA has thus far instituted more than 40 Civic Clubs in about 20 schools in Mumbai, including schools with under-privileged children and has reached out to more than 10,000 students - their homes, their friends and their neighbourhood through various campaigns.

CMCA Volunteers take sessions once a week in a given school, on civic & environmental issues and children are encouraged to spread the message to their friends, family members, etc. We thus hope for a ‘ripple effect’ in bringing about a better civic sense within the city.

Children from CMCA have spread awareness on various issues, including that of celebrating Ganpati in an eco-friendly manner, segregating garbage, saying no to plastic bags, etc.


The Campaign:

Every year, CMCA Teacher volunteers speak to the children and get them to spread awareness about having a pollution free Diwali.

Children are told about the pollution caused by the fire crackers, in terms of noise, the air quality as well as the garbage the next morning. Children are also sensitised about child labour that is involved in the making of fire crackers.

Children are then asked to spread the message to others as well, in the city.

Last year we had very successfully done 4 rallies in the city – at Andheri, Powai, Chembur and Marine Drive, with over 1000 children participating in them.
Children stood silently on the footpaths for about an hour in the morning on the designated day, with posters and stickers (on their uniforms) – all carrying the message of a pollution free Diwali (Say no to fire crackers / I want a safe Diwali / I want a pollution free Diwali, etc)

Passers-by and commuters who saw the children with these messages were extremely supportive and even applauded some of them.

This year, we are planning to repeat the exercise. The dates are as follows:



LOCATION SCHOOLS DATE TIME

Peddar Road Villa Theresa 13/10 9.00 – 10.00 am



Andheri Jankidevi Public School 17/10 8.30 – 9.30 am
(Contact person: Sangeeta Harekal: 9820272889


Matunga Amulakh Amichand 18/10 9.00 – 10.00 am
Matunga Premier
(Contact person: Suchita Gosar: 9920734002


Chembur OLPS 18/10 10.00 -11.00 am
(Contact person: Effie Acharya: 9223429597)


Powai Hiranandani Foundation 20/10 9.00 – 10.00 am
Gopal Sharma
(Contact person: Sushma Shetty: 9920022049)


Marine Drive Navy Children School 20/10 9.30 – 10.30 am
(Contact person: Vinodini Lulla: 9820638439)



For more information call CMCA Mumbai Coordinator,
Vinodini Lulla: 9820638439
cmcamumbai@gmail.com
www.cmcaindia.org

Beach Cleanup

THE WORLD CHANGERS

We are world changers we will clean
Our whole area and make it green
Say no to plastic
Say no to them
say no to garbage
and make it clean.
we will clean we will clean
and make our world bright and clean
we are world changers
we will never dirty
and if anyone litters
we will make it clean
it’s my dream
to make India
like America and Britain
we will make India the cleanest country
for this I will thank CMCA
for the awareness to make our environment clean.



- World Changers, CNMS

SAY NO TO CRACKERS!!!

CHILDREN PLEA FOR A POLLUTION FREE DIWALI

Office goers were treated to an unusual sight on Monday morning on Peddar Road.

Over 100 students from Villa Theresa High School stood on the pavements of the busy Peddar Road on Monday morning, holding big banners and placards and with stickers on their uniforms, pleading for a pollution free Diwali. They urged passers-by and motorists not to burn fire crackers this Diwali. The children are part of Children’s Movement for Civic Awareness which is a forum of school children in Mumbai, founded on the belief that children are the most powerful messengers of change.

More rallies will be held in other parts of the city over the next few days:

Andheri, D.N. Road 17th October
Chembur Diamond Garden 18th October
Matunga 19th October
Powai Hiranandani gardens 20th October
Marine Drive 20th October

Over 1000 children will be participating in these rallies, in an attempt to spread the message to the city of Mumbai.

Every year, CMCA Teacher volunteers speak to the children and get them to spread awareness about having a pollution free Diwali.

Children are told about the pollution caused by the fire crackers, in terms of noise, the air quality as well as the garbage the next morning. Children are also sensitised about child labour that is involved in the making of fire crackers.

Children are then asked to spread the message to others as well, in the city.

About us:

CMCA has been spearheading efforts to inculcate civic and environmental consciousness through Civic Clubs in schools. CMCA has thus far instituted more than 40 Civic Clubs in about 20 schools in Mumbai, including schools with under-privileged children and has reached out to more than 10,000 students - their homes, their friends and their neighbourhood through various campaigns.

CMCA Volunteers take sessions once a week in a given school, on civic & environmental issues and children are encouraged to spread the message to their friends, family members, etc. We thus hope for a ‘ripple effect’ in bringing about a better civic sense within the city.

Children from CMCA have spread awareness on various issues, including that of celebrating Ganpati in an eco-friendly manner, segregating garbage, saying no to plastic bags, etc.


CMCA was stated in 2000 by Public Affairs Centre, Bangalore and is currently present in Mysore, Hubli-Dharwad and Hosur too. In Mumbai, the Sophia College Ex-Students’ Association (SCESA) supports CMCA.

For more information, please visit www.cmcaindia.org / call Vinodini Lulla on 9820638439.

Diwali Rally – The festival was back round the corner, wherein people go ahead lighting up the city with crackers, diyas etc. Our motto this year was the same but with a stronger appeal and look to it.

School kids made the most out of this rally seeing to it that every passer by would notice the poster in some form or another. And that the word of having a safe and less noisy Diwali would be sent across.

The human chain was the eye catcher for any onlooker and having so many kids come together just made the whole rally all the more forceful.
Kids vouched to burst, comparatively lesser the amount of crackers. Thus help reduce pollution in any manner possible.

A Dream Of Diwali and disaster for our future.
A festival of light,
A day of darkness,
The happiness of crackers,
The sadness for our future.
Your happiness causes,the world's sorrow.
So are you still planning to burst crackers,
Cause if you are you just burning money.
Your happiness is momentary.
But the sorrow is forever.
Be a true citizen,
and celebrate a noiseless and cracker less diwali.
Work together for the environment,
then the environment will be with you.
You go against it,
It will go against you.
So you decide for yourself.
The actions are fun,
But consequence are heavy.
So go ahead and celebrate a cracker less and noiseless diwali,
And save the environment or,
Later you will have to save yourself.

Aishwarya .S
The Evolution Club. Hiranandani Foundation School (Powai)