Tag: boys

2018 Saraswati Puja at shuktara

Saraswati Puja on the roof

Every year Saraswati Puja is celebrated on the roof of the shuktara boys' home. All of the young people at shuktara eagerly anticipate wearing new clothes and having kedgeree and prasad. Friends and family are invited to this puja and as you can see, there is always quite a crowd of people having a wonderful time.

shuktara homes

Old friends visit shuktara

In 1999, the very beginning of shuktara, Alison and Bryan stayed in an upstairs flat in the first shuktara home. Their door was almost always open to the first five boys - Anna, Sunil, Shantara, Bapi and Sanjay.

For the next few years they taught computer skills downstairs in David's flat, shared meals with everyone at shuktara, and even went on vacations to Goa and Puri with the boys. While they lived in Kolkata they were frequent visitors to the shuktara homes.

They recently returned to Kolkata for a visit and absolutely loved being back with the young people of shuktara. They took dozens of photos - here are a few of the best.

Fresh water from a new friend

Sanjib Shaw has been a longtime supporter of shuktara, bringing food supplies every month when he visits. Recently he brought his friend Dhiman Chowdhury who following Sanjib's example promised a delivery of fresh drinking water every week from the company he works for, Nirvana Pure Water.

True to his word the first water delivery for both homes arrived on 20th November. Thank you Dhiman!

shuktara - 2017 October - Tamina twirling a sparkler

Diwali – the festival of light

Diwali is Hindu New Year - also called the Festival of Lights, a holiday that all of shuktara look forward to with joyful anticipation.

The festivities begin at dusk as candles are lit in all of the windows, up the stairs, and around the perimeter of the roof. Everyone enjoys lighting sparklers and crackers as well as watching the fireworks that explode above the rooftops of Kolkata. It's a magical celebration however it's possible that no one enjoys it quite as much as Sunil.

shuktara - 2017 October - Rajesh

Rajesh and Shrewsbury

Through Shrewsbury Morris Dancers on Twitter, shuktara has been introduced to a lot of people in the town of Shrewsbury (UK) who now support and follow us.

Simon Trifunovic from St Locks sent this Tee Shirt for Rajesh (with his name printed on the back!) - all the way from Shrewsbury Town FC! Thank you Simon.
@shrewsmorris
@saintlocks
saintlocks.co.uk
www.shrewsburytown.com

shuktara home for girls with disabilities - Muniya the camerawoman

Yep! films shuktara

Yep! Films International sent Raegan Hodge to Kolkata to film and take photos for a feature documentary about shuktara.

This is a work in progress and we have all had such fun and look forward to welcoming Phoebe Brown, Elizabeth Strickler and Raegan back soon to complete this work.

Please follow them and keep an eye on Yep Films pages for more news and updates:
https://yepfilms.com/films/shuktara-a-documentary/

Below are a few photos from the filming and the all-important Wrap Party at Lula Bari…

shuktara homes for young people with disabilities - Subhash and Raju

Social media brings a smile to Subhash

Sometimes social media can be a wonderful thing.

Shuktara has an account on Instagram @shuktara_homes and there we share various activities and stories from the day to day lives of our young people.

On sharing a short video of Subhash enjoying some Hindi film music, we received a video back from one of our followers and supporters Helen Downie a London based artist who has an account on Instagram @unskilledworker to say hello to Subhash and to say how happy she was to see him.

He was overjoyed to see this and you can see the happiness in his face.