International Senior Citizens’ Day celebrated at Punyadham Ashram 

There were distinguished guests like Shri Arvind Inamdar, Ex- Director General of Maharashtra Police as the Chief Guest, Shri Terence Correya, (Ex Director General of Police, MP cadre) Shri A.C. Shukla, Chief Income Tax Commissioner and Dr. T S Bhal, IPS were the Guests Of Honour, and of course our very own Padma Bhushan Dr. Vijay Bhatkar who graced the occasion.

All the guests were welcomed by young girl students from the Lokseva English Medium School with ‘teekas of Haldi, kumkum and chandan’. The guests were happy to get delicious homemade date chocolates specially made by our senior citizens.

The program started with the lamp-lighting and Ramesh Grover, our articulate and eloquent compere welcomed the esteemed guests, who were felicitated by our gracious Mataji Krishna Kashyap. Our talented lovely students of Lokseva English Medium School gave a soulful song dedicated to all the ‘Betis’(daughters) followed by a patriotic dance celebrating the ‘Independence of our young confident daughters’ of our country called ‘Swaraaginiyon se sajaa hai Bharat’ which received a huge round of applause. Dr Atul Joshi, a consultant Physician of Sahyadri Hospitals, specializing in ‘Care for the elders’ in his informative talk cum presentation on ‘Ailments of Old age and how to deal with them’ gave useful tips to follow. A lot of queries from the audience were also patiently answered by him. A short film on Punyadham Ashram and how Maa Krishna Kashyap made her childhood dream of serving the old and needy come true is so beautifully depicted in the film. Rameshji acknowledged the hard work and dedication of Amrut Purandare, the creative and talented film maker who brought this film alive.

Maa always believes in appreciating and commending the life-long efforts of persons who are contributing to society. The hard work and dedication of such senior citizens who work and make a difference even today were applauded and specially felicitated. They are – Brig (Dr) Y D Singh, Shri K K Jindal, Munawar Peerbhoy, Ramila Bhansali, Ghulam Ali, Sudha Lodha, Ratnaprabha & Sudam Jagtap, Dilip Pawar and Bala Kameshwari Kapila who in their own capacity have left their indelible mark.

The distinguished guests were then called upon to share their thoughts and address the gathering. Shri A C Shukla, Dr T S Bhal, and Shri Arvind Inamdar shared their experiences of a lifetime with us and made a huge impact with their speeches. Maa blessed everyone present and shared how important family value systems are. She wished that all elders lived with their own near and dear ones but if they are left with no one in the world to look after them then the doors of Punyadham are forever open and they will be welcomed with open arms. The Vote of Thanks was given by Amita Baindur and invited everyone to proceed for the delicious sumptuous lunch.

All the guests had enjoyed the lovely celebrations and were full of gratitude for putting up such an inspiring show for all and left with a promise to return next year