Balagokulams in Hyderabad celebrated International Yoga Day in their respective communities in a grand way. More than 3000 children and adults participated in these events. Apart from Yoga and pranayam demonstrations, various communities celebrated in their customized way including the following – Sports events Group Games Talk on Significance of Yoga Yoga competitions and so on. In many communities, children and parents has practiced daily for 2-3 weeks towards the preparation of their respective events. Also, for the first time, we had Balagokulam T-shirts released. The amazing design with Balagokulam text & Om in the front and “My Nation My Pride” theme at the back were worn with pride by almost 300 children across communities.

Hundreds of Balagokulam children celebrated Mango Festival in their respective Balagokulams in June 2015. It was a great way to get back to weekly Balagokulam sessions after the break for those who went out of town during the summer vacation. The idea was very simple – each child was supposed to get the best possible mango from their respective homes. All the mangoes were put in one common pool, washed, then cut into pieces and then redistributed  among all the children present for the event. While shikshaks talked about the importance of Mango trees from traditional, religious and health perspective, children shared their view about why they love mangoes and any art work they prepared around the same. Below are some images from Mango festival celebrated across various BGs.

Conducted online open book Quiz on Indian epics, recently in November 2020. Received wonderful responses.

Balagokulam, Hyderabad Chapter celebrated Gita Jayanthi on 15th December, 2013 at G. Narayanamma Institute of Technology and Science (GNITS), Shaikapet, Hyderabad. This event was organized in context of Swami Vivekananda’s 150th Birth Anniversary. The event was a grand affair with 1000+ participants (including more than 450 children). The 12th Chapter Bakthi Yoga from Bhagavad Gita was chanted by more than 300 children in a beautiful formation. This was followed by Aashirvachan from Swami Raghunayakananda of Ramakrishna Math who talked about relevance of Bhagavad Gita and message of Swami Vivekananda in current times. Subsequently National Yuva Pramukh of SV150 Celebrations, Sri Ayush Nadimpalli (CEO, Adroitek Engineering Solutions Pvt Ltd), stressed on impact of Balagokulams & the key role that children can play in nation building. Many dignitaries from different fields in Education were present at the occasion including Mrs Vasanthy Parasuraman (Principal, Maharshi Vidya Mandir, Kondapur), Mrs E Kamerwari (Principal, Oasis School, Shaikpet), Prof Prabhakar Rao (Chairman, Rao’s group of Educational Institutions), Mrs Jayashree Rao (Principal, Pallavi Model School) & Sri Kasipathiji (Akhil Bharateeya Saha Sangathan Mantri, Vidya Bharathi). Very colorful well prepared performances in form of cultural events were presented by children attending Balagokulam from different gated communities in Hyderabad. Lots of exciting competitions were also conducted as part of this event including Coloring, Drawing, Essay Writing, Quiz competition & so on.

On 26th Jan 2014, 65th Republic Day of India, Balagokulam Bharat (Hyderabad Chapter) convened a Samman Samaroh (Felicitation Ceremony) of the Youngest Blade Runner, from our own city Master Hari Charan Rao (5 years old). Hari Charan Rao participated for the dream run in the Mumbai Marathon on Jan 19th earlier this month completing 6+ kms. The felicitation event was attended by more than 120 people, including about 60 children. Everyone present at the event took lots of inspiration from the very heart touching & motivational account of Hari Charan & his family, who have taken up on themselves to set an example for everyone to achieve great things in life in spite of all odds one may come across. Brief background on Hari Charan Rao Hari Charan Rao hails from Nizamabad district and currently lives in Hyderabad with his father T Raghavendra Rao, mother Prasanna and elder sister Hamsa Gayatri. In a tragic accident about 1.5 years back (on 10th August 2012) young Hari was playing on the terrace of his home in Hyderabad. While playing the iron rod with which he was playing came in contact with high tension wires running close by. He suffered a severe nerve damage and because of which his right arm and left leg had to be amputated. Just four months ago his parents got him prosthetic leg. This ever smiling young hero became the youngest to take part in the Mumbai Dream Run earlier this year.

Balagokulams are driving yet another change in their respective communities this year. This time it is with double benefit – ‘Ganesha ki bhakti, Pradushan se chutti’ (Devotion to Lord Ganesha coupled with saving environment to move to Clay rather than PoP Ganeshas). The plan was simple. About 3500 kgs of Clay was arranged & passed on to more than 30 gated communities, schools & localities. Workshop was conducted for Volunteers across Balagokulams where they were thought how to make Clay Ganesha Idols by Rekha Kondaji (an expert on clay molding, who is running such workshops for many years now). Subsequently the volunteers conductions such Clay Ganesha making sessions in their respective communities touching upon various important topics like symbolism of Ganesha, how to do Ganesha pooja & environment benefits of using clay instead of PoP. About 2000+ children have participated in these sessions with full enthusiasm having lots of learning & fun.