Making a difference with their art
   Date :10-Jul-2020

Soumya Dalmiya Presha Bha
 Soumya Dalmiya, Presha Bhattad (centre), Ditya Thapar (right) with their paintings.
 
By Aasawari Shenolikar :
 
Giving is not just about making a donation. It is about making a difference. Three teenagers from the city -- Saumya Dalmiya, Ditya Thapar, and Presha Bhattad -- through their paintings, have made a difference in the lives of many who needed help during these tough times. The proceedings, a lakh of rupees, from these 44 paintings, that took them over three weeks to finish, went into the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund, Chief Minister’s Relief Fund and a part of it went to Asha Kiran orphanage for girls and for the physically handicapped.
 
All three, close friends, who share a love for drawing and painting, were inspired by many organisations and individuals who have been helping out during the pandemic crisis. They realised that they had ample time on their hands during the lockdown period which they could utilise constructively and so they decided to put brush to their canvas and paint. “Anusuya Kale, who runs an NGO Swachch Nagpur, guided us and even though shops were closed, Mr Bhatia from Laxmi Stationers went out of his way to provide us with the materials when he heard of our noble cause,” says Souyma Dalimya, a Std XII student of Modern School, Koradi Road. Passionate about painting, Soumya has passed a couple of examinations and this helped her greatly to achieve the goal set by her and her friends.
 
“We picked random subjects as each one’s style is different,” she says, and is ecstatic that they have contributed in their own way. The three agree wholeheartedly on one point that they didn’t want their parents to donate money on their behalf. “We wanted to work on our own and raise money for the cause. And so we got down to doing what we do best -- paint,” they state in unison. “The paintings in various sizes -- from as small as a coaster to really huge ones, were priced between Rs 800 to Rs 3000 and were painted whenever we could squeeze in time from our schedule,” states Presha Bhattad, a Class X student of Centre Point School, Katol Road. She apprises that for marketing the paintings, friends and family helped out. “Soumya has a social media page for her paintings, we took help of that, we put them on Instagram, we called up friends and relatives and asked them to pitch in for our noble cause.
 
People were happy that we had toiled, produced something constructive and beautiful and the response was amazing,” says Presha. Ditya Thapar, the youngest of the trio, a student of Class VIII of Centre Point School International is happy that they achieved the target of Rs 1 lakh through the 44 paintings. “We decided that fifty percent would go to the PM and CM relief fund and the rest to the orphanages as they were also in dire need of help from any quarter,” she says. The girls, now busy with online classes, will if time permits, continue with this venture.
 
“The entire exercise was immensely satisfying and it gave us a purpose. We are glad we could help, even if it’s a little bit, those who have been struggling during these times,” say the trio, and conclude that the support from family and friends was what egged them on to achieve their goal in record time. Charity, they say, begins at home. And these three youngsters, with their selfless act have just put a stamp on this adage.