Fashion for a cause
Pratham West Coast Galas on Sep. 14, 2008 at Los Angeles

Los Angeles, California September 14th, 2008
By Mandy Tung
NRI Press Entertainment Reporter

Glitz, Glamour, and the spirit of Giving were the overall feelings of everyone that attended the Pratham Los Angeles annual Gala event on Sunday, September 14th, 2008 at the Hyatt Regency Long Beach. The goal of the charity was to raise money for its mission which is to “Imagine an India where every child can read”.

Pratham is the leading NGO in India working in the field of primary education. Pratham has been successful because it has focused primarily on educating 6-14 year olds through a low-cost and scaleable model. Supporters of Pratham have included the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and Google.org.
Pratham Los Angeles’ fundraising goal for 2008 is $1,000,000 which was surely met since they already received pledges of $840,000 before the show even began. “I would rather give it to God’s children than to God”, said Sudesh Arora, Chairman of Pratham Los Angeles during the press conference that kicked off the evening. The celebrity spokesperson for Pratham Los Angeles was model, actress, singer, and mother Saira Mohan. Beautiful, and eloquent, she explained her passion for Pratham and its cause. Half Punjabi and half French Irish Canadian, you couldn’t help but notice her in the room as she spoke passionately about our community and the need for us to give back to support the children of India.

The evening began at 5pm with a silent auction being held with items that included sari’s, artwork, sunglasses and weekends in popular hotels. The Emcee for the evening was the beautiful Bollywood actress, Simone Singh. The rest of the evening included an amazing dance performance by Rina Mehta from the Chitresh Das Dance Company, a speech from President of Pratham Mr. Dhiren Meta, comedian Dan Nainan who had some really funny one liners in reference to the Indian community, followed by a passionate speech by actor, firm director, screenwriter, and social activist Mr. Rahul Bose. Next up were updates on Pratham programs by Dr. Madhav Chavan, founder and Director of Programs, Pratham. The Keynote speech was given by Dr. Sam Pitroda, who has revolutionized the state of telecommunications in India by providing public access to telephones. He is currently the Chairman and CEO of World-Tel Limited, and International Telecom Union (ITU) initiative. The highlight of the evening was the fashion show that had designs by Satya Paul & Deepika Gehani, featuring Miss India 2008, 2007, 2005 and other beautiful models that worked pro bono for the evening. Dinner followed the show with a comedy called “Siblings of Doctors” put on by Rasika Mathur, Danny Pudi & Ranjit Souri) with a closing by Dr. Jayshree Vyas and the LA Team of Pratham.

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