The 10th edition of Lakshmi Bal Mahotsav (LBM) was celebrated at IFMR on January 7. The event was started in memory of the late Lakshmi Iyer, a meritorious student of IFMR who passed away in a road accident, and the IFMR fraternity decided to carry on the service she was fond of doing — helping underprivileged children.
Samarthan — the social service club of IFMR and a registered NGO — arranged the entire event. The theme of LBM this year was the circus, and 200 kids came from two children's homes in TADA and Sullurpeta near Sricity, Andhra Pradesh. The children were colourfully dressed and it was a day of outing and entertainment for them. They were assigned a student volunteer who took care of them the entire day.
They were served breakfast and then taken on a tour of the campus. Screening trees were planted by the children, along with Director PK Biswas. The little ones had fun playing games such as jumping castle, musical chairs, lemon-spoon race, football and volleyball. Fun games such as hoop-in-the-loop and stacked cans were arranged, along with keychain give-aways. A drawing competition was also held.
After lunch, they were entertained with mime acts, dancing and music. Apart from the performances planned by the college’s dance and music clubs, the kids also grooved to the music. They danced to peppy songs which they had come prepared for. They were given participation gifts.
Samarthan also came up with the initiative of awarding a scholarship to the most meritorious student in the schools, in the memory of Sourav Rakshit, an excellent student who died in an accident. The scholarship was given to Archana from a local government school.
There ended this year's Lakshmi Bal Mahotsav!