Celebrating 40 Years of Work for India’s Underprivileged Children

Award-winning campaign Yellow Fellow, stellar performances by Dharavi Rocks and an evening of stand-up comedy ‘Together for Children’ at Royal Opera House dominate the 40 year celebrations of the country’s foremost organization for child rights in Mumbai.

November 19, 2019 Mumbai:  India’s foremost child rights NGO celebrated its four-decade journey with a series of gigs to raise awareness for every child’s right to a happy childhood

In celebration of Children’s Day as well as to commemorate its 40-year-long journey in the service of the country’s children, CRY- Child Rights and You kickstarted the week with its award winning campaign #YellowFellow by  inviting people from all walks of life to celebrate happy childhoods by becoming #YellowFellows as an event on Carter Road Amphi Theatre on November 8. 

The Carter Road Amphitheatre in Mumbai was packed with people who showed their solidarity for the cause by wearing yellow socks in quirky ways, taking pictures of themselves and posting it on social media using the hashtag #YellowFellow.   The evening also saw electrifying performances by Dharavi Rocks, a collective of slum kids who make music using instruments created from recycled junk, Zumba instructor Bhakti Sonawane and a group of hip-hop and street culture artists curated by ToTheCuIture.

Dharavi Rocks also performed a cover version of  #BachpanKiDhun, a delightful music anthem launched on October 17, 2019 to commemorate CRY’s 40th anniversary. The anthem, which inspires people to relive their childhood memories, is originally composed by the talented AnkurTewari of Gully Boy fame and sung by him as well as Benny Dayal, Shalmali Kholgade and Benny Dayal.

#YellowFellow is an award winning CRY campaign that aimed to raise awareness for every child’s right to a happy childhood. Launched in 2018, the campaign has a special significance this year as CRY celebrates 40 years of ensuring happier childhoods. Campaign partners include Metro Shoes as the Merchandizing Partner and Scoop Whoop as the Content Partner – with many celebrities including Virat Kohli who are participating to show their support for India’s children.

A week later on November 15, CRY got India’s leading stand-up comedians to perform at the Royal Opera House in Mumbai stand up comedy to an audience of child rights supporters. The audience comprised of illustrious names like former Justice of Mumbai High Court Mohit Shah, CRY Trustees Ratan Batliboi and Behram Vakil, and CRY CEO Puja Marwaha.

The performances by Preeti Das, Rohan Joshi and Ashish Shakya had the audience in splits.

 “CRY has advocated for the rights of children for the last 40 years and will continue to do so. Our numerous campaigns for support of child rights have received worldwide recognition and are been widely looked forward to, including the award winning Yellow Fellow campaign after its inception last year. We hope this year too people will partner with CRY to make the lives of children better,” said Kreeanne Rabadi, Regional Director – CRY (West).

CRY - Child Rights and You is an Indian NGO that believes in every child’s right to a childhood - to live, learn, grow and play. For over 4 decades, CRY and its 850 initiatives have worked with parents and communities to ensure Lasting Change in the lives of more than 3,000,000 underprivileged children, across 19 states in India.