Cycle Rally- A way to good health

Some of the famous quotes written on cycling are:

"I do not ride a bike to add days to my life. I ride a bike to add life to my days"

And

“Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving".

With the same quotes in mind the Vadu team of KEMHRC is going to breathe deeper, perspire and experience increased body temperature on 10^thFeb 2016 to not only add life to their own days but to promote to the Pune city that cycling is one of the best ways to live a healthy life in a clean environment which ultimately leads to staying fit and fine.

This rally will begin from KEMHRC-Pune and end at KEMHRC-Vadu. The riders will ride to promote cycling as an exercise in everyday life and to make people aware about the benefits of riding a bicycle.

ENTHUSIA 2K15

Vadu Rural health program (VRHP) of King Edward Memorial Hospital Research Centre (KEMHRC) hosted a cultural cum sport event between 7^th and 17 ^th Jan 2015. This event was filled with various cultural and sport activities filling every team member with enthusiasm and team spirit.

Vadu Rally-Theme: Female Feticide

“Nari Nari mat kaho, nari hai nar ki shaan, issi se paida hue Ram, Krishna aur Hanuman”

slogan which filled everyone with heartfelt emotions on the very first day of the event-

Vadu Rally.

The rally started with a brief introduction by Dr. Sanjay Juvekar wherein he explained the crowd and the VRHP team the significance of the rally. This was further led by Md. Hanif Shaikh and Dr. Anand Kawade who motivated the VRHP team to march with all the enthusiasm and heart touching slogans in their hands giving everyone various messages to stop female feticide. We all aimed to tell everyone that a female child is a gift given by the almighty and deserves to be as equally respected and treated the way a male child is. The children of the orphanage home- Maher marched with all of us and supported the rally with all the courage it deserved.

In this rally some of our team members like Mrs. Preeti Musale, Mrs. Meera Tambe, Mrs. Vidya Bharthe, Mr. Manoj Dagwar, Mr. Dipak Nagre and Mr. Sagar Argade also performed a small skit explaining people how some narrow minded families do not mind murdering their unborn daughters for the fear of bearing her education, marriage and dowry expenses; It’s been years India gained independence but still some illegal traditions still remain the same. In the end Dr. Arun Gondhali summarized the skit and gave everyone the message that women empowerment has led to females excelling in all kinds of professions; therefore a female child deserves all the compassion and opportunities this world can offer.

Sports and Cultural Activities:

After the rally, came the team building and blood circulation increasing event-SPORT activities; Badminton, volleyball, chess, cricket, carom and table tennis. Every one participated in the activities with all their winning spirit and excitement.

The preparation of the same began with preparing the sports ground; this activity involved everyone giving them a sense of responsibility training the intellect and developing morality. All the matches were thoroughly entertaining and developed a spirit of healthy competition and tested everyone’s skills and stamina.

Two of the most colorful and yummy activities were the traditional and Bonfire night with Karaoke. The traditional day clearly portrayed the diversity of India in VRHP wherein everyone dressed beautifully in their own cultures. Some of the participants like Mr. Lalitkumar Gupta and Mr. Dheeraj Agarwal gave all of us some memorable messages like treating every human being with respect and valuing every kind of work.

While the bonfire cum Karaoke night filled everyone’s stomach with some yummy food cooked by Dr. Anand Kawade and Md. Hanif Shaikh. Another event which brought everyone together and play as a team was the treasure hunt. The treasure was to be hunted by a few bollywood teams like PK, Sigham, Krish etc; rolling all of us to run around the Vadu research centre campus and hunt for clues to find their treasure. This was won by the Singham team led by Dr. Girish Dayma. Enthusia 2k15 also had small events like Rangoli, mehendi and chocolate day involving every one of us in blend of colors and sweet chocolates.

The last day of the event was the cultural day. This day began with the food competition and fun fair activities. Food competition allowed us to taste some delicious delicacies of Maharashtra whereas fun fair allowed us to play games taking us back to school days making us thoroughly enjoy every moment of life.

Then came the exciting dance evening; the evening was honored by the presence of our chief guests- Dr. V.S. Padbidri-Director of KEM hospital research centre (KEMHRC) and Dr. D.T. Morya -Director of National institute of virology (NIV). A small speech by Dr. D.T. Morya made of all us realize how through our hard work and success spirit we all have marked the VRHP on the world map as a renowned community research centre.

This was followed by the prize distribution ceremony wherein Medals, shields and cups were awarded to the players for achieving excellence and high standard of performance in their respec­tive delegated responsibilities. The evening also had a few dance and drama performances by the VRHP team members entertaining everyone to the core.

Thus, all the days of Enthusia 2k15 refreshed each one of us with New Year resolutions, excitement and enthusiasm to scale Vadu Rural health program and KEM hospital research centre to reach even bigger heights.

Vaduphoria - 2014

Work Hard – Party Harder, a new youth mantra and emerging trend of the 20^th Century.  Looks like Vadu has adopted to the notion rather quickly as its vibrant and young force manages to keep up with the changing times! Innovation was in the air as people put in great idea.

Vaduphoria, which combines two words:  our workplace - Vadu and Euphoria which means supreme joy! Thus, Vaduphoria 2014 too, like its yearly tradition managed to keep up to its name! The event was conducted from 9^th Jan to 17^th Jan 2014. This year the event was given a noble theme – Health and Hygiene, following which a rally was conducted from Koregaon to Vadu title – “Ek Pravaas – Swachhata aani Aarogyacha Pravaas”. We witnessed a participation of around 200 people. The program was targeted towards the villagers and thus spread awareness. The Vadu employees threw light on the importance of washing hands and the ideal way to do it for school children so that they could imbibe the idea of hygiene from a tender age. Therefore, one can say that Vaduphoria started off with from a great social platform in conformance with the image of Vadu Research Center amidst the society.

DAY 2:

For any organization its employees are its most valuable assets and therefore they have to be taken well care of, the same is true when one speaks of KEMHRC, Vadu.

 ‘Progress is a nice word. But change is its motivator’.  To achieve the same Vaduphoria 2014 also included various sporting activities, both indoor and outdoor, so that the employees could feel a part of a single team. Another added advantage that sporting events bring with them is the dissolution of the typical designations! In vaduphoria it was observed that the always senior was now commandeered by a junior in a sporting event, this in itself built up the enthusiasm of every individual who felt the need for being responsible in the game.

Indoor sports that were conducted included – Carrom & Chess. The sheer zeal of the participants was remarkable and the otherwise disciplined office workers were now cheering and supporting our home grown sports stars. The organizers gave special attention to some more aspects – “creativity & womanhood”. They invited creative women at Vadu to participate in Rangoli and Mehendi competitions.

Day 3 - 4

After the saga of indoor activities came the turn of outdoor events - for which everyone was eagerly waiting for. Much before the actual Vaduphoria, employees had been practicing their respective sport and identifying Competitors. The calibre of the sports teams / individuals had begun to be a part of everyday gossip and it was now the turn to see the gossip turn into a show of skills! Very similar to a country like India, smitten by cricket – Vadu was turned into a small nation in itself. Cricket became a religion. In Men’s category, Team Rota Royals claimed victory and in Women’s category the Pabal KEMHRC team emerged victorious!

Day 5:

After cricket, on the fifth day, Vaduphoria moved towards Table Tennis and Badminton. Although the expected number of participants were less, the turnout actually was found much better.  

Day 6:

Everybody loves novelty and similarly the organizers introduced a relatively new event to the staff – Treasure Hunt. The team had to find a hidden treasure – ‘Sweet Silver Coins’ for which they would be given some clues. Although a known concept, everybody loved it as it was instantaneous and highly unexpected. The charm of the game was increased by the added colors of the Traditional day.

Day 8:

The last day of Vaduphoria comprised of two events, a food competition and the Cultural Event.  Food competition was theme based wherein participants would showcase their own culinary skills along with their knowledge on the nutritious facts in the cuisine they make. One could only be a winner if he makes the most delicious food as well as explains everyone the nutritious benefits in his / her creation. Although one would associate the event with women, the men at Vadu did put up a tough fight to impress everyone present there! Lucky judges however got to taste all the delicacies!

Finally, Vaduphoria ’14 moved on to its denouement– the Cultural Event. The lamp lighting ceremony was done by Dr.S.Sivaram, Dr.V.Padbidri, Dr.Shetty, Dr.Juvekar and Mrs.Rajlaxmi, following with an inaugural Classical dance – Ganesh Vandana performed by Dr. Supriya Shah. It was followed with the prize distribution ceremony as a token of appreciation and motivation for the employees. After the prize distribution, we moved on to a very colorful, charismatic, fun and frolic filled event. It consisted of theme based anchoring by Dr. Kawade, Dr. Ankita, Veena and Devika, comedy nights with Kapil by Hanif Shaikh, superb mimicry by Rutuja Patil and various other group performances.  The most awaited fish ponds were now disclosed in a musical way. The event was concluded with a vote of thanks by Mr. Hanif and a promise to embark into a newer year and bring another sequel - Vaduphoria ’15!!!

-Dr. Supriya Shah (Principal  Co -ordinator  Vaduphoria 2014)

International Women’s Day Celebration at VRHP

International Women’s Day was celebrated on 8^th March 2014 at Vadu Rural Health Program. With reference to UN theme for International Women’s Day 2014- "Equality for Women is Progress for All" we believe that women should be provided with equal opportunities and benefits without any gender bias at workplace. VRHP has 35% women employees and maximum of them belong to rural areas. With similar note on

Director, Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology Dr. Gufran Beig and senior scientist Dr. Dilip Chate honoured this occasion with their presence. The program started with an audio of a poem recited by Sachin Tendulkar on woman. This was followed by participation of many staff members who expressed their thoughts. A small skit on women empowerment was also performed.

Considering this occasion, a basic survey of our staff members was conducted to understand the changes which have occurred within them after joining VRHP with respect to their decision making capacity, education status, health awareness, self confidence and standard of living. The results of this survey were announced.

The chief guests of the programs then expressed their thoughts which was followed by encouraging note by Dr. Juvekar (Officer in charge, VRHP).