Arts & Culture

Jal Tarang brings Confluence of Diversity to autism awareness

Arundhati Mukherjee

A spectacular evening exhibiting an incredibly diversified Indian cultural show with phenomenal performances is coming on November 5 at The Bhavan, London. The cultural evening 'Sangam – Confluence of Diversity' is hosted by Jal Tarang predominantly for raising autism awareness, and supported by India based non-profit organisation for autist adults, AALFA.

Jal Tarang's 'Sangam' will present Living legend Kathak Exponent Padmashree and MBE Pratap Pawar, who has mesmerised the audiences for over fifty-five years and transcended Kathak dance to Global Platform and International fame.

More Like This…

Geetanjali School of Arts will be performing Indian classical music with their founder Jayeeta Ghosh, an eminent award-winning Classical vocalist who will showcase Colors of Raga. Her students will endeavour to connect souls with glorious Hindustani classical Ragas and glimpses of impeccable traditional Gwalior Gharana.

The event will also present 'Bhanu Singher Podaboli', - the lyrical and musical depiction of noble laureate Rabindranath Tagore. Bithi Purkyastha will present this phenomenal piece of art with her team, 'Robi Chhondo'. She is a prominent singer in London and aims to propagate the inspirational work of Tagore and other Bengali poets in the UK.

Jal Tarang strives to encourage acceptance of neurodiversity in our society through music. The newfound organisation has already received multiple awards from the House of Commons and support from Indian embassies and the Ministry of India across the globe for exemplary work in just 20 months of its inception. Based in the UK, the organisation curates events across India, US and the UK.

More Like This…

"This is not just a cultural program but to support diversity and inclusivity in music, heritage and neurodiversity that comes through Autism," said Paromita Goswami, founder and Director of Jal Tarang.

Incidentally, Goswami's 8-year-old son also is on the spectrum of Autism which drives her to work on such projects and support the cause with the musical venture.

"Autism is a spectrum disorder that affects individuals to varying degrees. Some may look autistic, and some may not. But they all have definite strengths and challenges. The child or the adult in the spectrum struggles to be understood and accepted. Autism is not always "noticeable", and the world around them is not yet conducive to developing a coping strategy to bring inclusion.

"Little did I know about Autism till I started living through it, and now, I will support this campaign till my very last," said Goswami.

More Like This…

Goswami was much inspired after meeting Ruby Singh, a mother of a 30-year-old autistic boy who is the founder of the non-profit organisation AALFA.

AALFA provides exclusively residential facilities for Autistic Adults in Bangalore, India. It also provides counselling to people affected with Autism and their families and protects them when their parents get old or in the event of the guardian's death.

*Info: Jal Tarang; ALFAA

SCROLL FOR NEXT