Utsav? What does it mean to you? What is the first thing that strikes your mind on hearing the word ‘Utsav’? Ask any AIESECer, and he’ll tell you what it means to the AIESEC Community. To put it in one word, it means ‘satisfaction’. The immensely satisfying, gratifying experience that Utsav-2011 has been for AIESEC Agra just cannot be described in words.
The smiles. The happiness. The spirit of teamwork. The experience. Everything about Utsav-2011 was phenomenal. Utsav was AIESEC Agra’s inaugural event, sort of a kick-start or a cold start event, held in Prelude Public School, one of the premier schools of Agra on the 1st of June, 2011.
Pioneered by AIESEC Jaipur, one of the World’s foremost local chapters in AIESEC, Utsav has come to mean ‘celebration of innocence’ and we at AIESEC in Agra ensured that it lived up to its name by celebrating it at a never before seen scale. Around 350 under-privileged kids under charge of various NGOs and schools had the time of their life at AIESEC Agra’s ‘Utsav’. Not only did we make sure that they were well fed and entertained and taken care of, but we also submitted ourselves whole-heartedly to them in making them feel not only equal but ‘special’. After all, they are the future of this country and they, undeniably, deserve all the care and attention we can give them.
Had you been in attendance there, you would have felt the sheer level of energy in the whole compound with those three hundred and fifty kids playing around. It was contagious, and in no time we found ourselves playing with them, dancing with them, drawing with them, laughing with them and most importantly sharing with them.
It took a lot of effort from each and every AIESECer and in the end, we’re all happy to have delivered it so well. Numerous meetings, countless discussions and infinite Facebook wall-posts later, there it was, our ‘Utsav’, our ‘Celebration of Innocence’ and how excited we all were. We are only an entity right now but let me say, at the risk of sounding immodest, that I’m pretty sure that it was a job well done. However, the kids were the one who, at the end of the day, really shone. It was their platform, their chance to showcase what they’ve got, through cultural performances and various other competitions. It was their fun-filled day. To ensure that no child returned disappointed at the end of the event was of paramount importance to us.
Around three hundred and fifty kids. Several NGOs. Several Guests of Honor. Yes. It was a logistical nightmare. It was not at all easy managing the kids, making them sit for the next round of performances or snacks, but it was fun at the same time, shouting ‘Baith Jao Bachho, Baith Jao’ again and again. We learnt that kids would remain kids, naughty and energetic. It didn’t matter one bit whether they belonged to an NGO at Kamala Nagar or one at Bhagwan Talkies. They were literally all over the place. They were dancing, shouting, fighting and running here and there, banging into us from time to time. We were stretched really thin, even with all the volunteers. But at no point of time did anyone complain. Truly commendable work done by the volunteers and the rest of the team at AIESEC in Agra.
It is, however, impossible to forget the equally brilliant ‘Utsav’ organized by AIESEC Jaipur that served as an inspiration for the Organizing Committee team here at AIESEC in Agra. Jaipur. The kids had a field day there at the Police Grounds in Jaipur. They were running, squealing, laughing, chattering and some of them dancing exuberantly on the stage while the volunteers were interacting with them, serving food to them and had become little kids themselves. The venue seemed perfect, there was a stage, a lot of big steps which provided a huge space for the kids to sit and play around and there was a big field as well. We just stood around jobless for a while, interacting with some of the AIESEC Jaipur members but soon we were ushered in to do some volunteer work. We made the kids stand in two lines while they went and got the food served to them on plates. But the whole line-making scene got a little messy, so we took the plates and served it to them where they were sitting. It felt good, when they smiled in the cutest way ever on receiving the food.
The drawing competition there, as in here, was a sight to behold. Hundreds of kids, stooped over their drawing sheets, sharpening their pencils, trying to figure out which color to use. I saw my share of green suns and yellow trees, but the passion in the kids was inspiring. It was a hot day, but that didn’t dampen the spirits of the AIESEC Jaipur team who managed the event brilliantly.
Back to Agra’s ‘Utsav’ now. The drawing competition saw entries that dazzled the judges; it is, however, another story how a member of AIESEC in Agra’s Organizing Committee won the Second Prize. That part of the event was hilarious. Even the talent hunt competition proved to be incredibly hard to judge. These kids had actually been preparing their dances and acts for weeks and weeks and therefore, they executed their parts flawlessly. Some of the dances were especially magnificent.
And before we knew it, the time had come for us to end the event. We distributed coloring books and coloring sets and tiffin boxes as a little ‘thank you’ present from us and escorted the kids back to the buses. We had done it. The kids had thoroughly enjoyed themselves. We had thoroughly enjoyed the entire event. And we had managed to pull it off without any glitches. That feeling of euphoria that just erupted out of us felt magnificent. It was, as I have said before, a job well done. I will cherish that Utsav t-shirt of mine forever and I hope that as AIESECers, we get the opportunities to host such events again in the future.
We, at AIESEC Agra would like to thank all of our sponsors who made this event event possible and also Jaideep Chagger, LCP - AIESEC Jaipur, Apurv Gupta, VP-F - AIESEC Jaipur and our LCC, Mansweeny Chanana who personally came down to Agra from Jaipur to help us with the event.
