Nagendra K.S.’s project in Landmark Education’s Self-Expression and Leadership Programme led him to bring together two very different groups of people together to contribute to each other: Kids from an orphanage and seniors from an old age home. Titled Ullasa, Love and Happiness all around, the project’s intention was to give orphans the opportunity to have the love, wisdom and guidance of grandparents, and give the seniors the opportunity to give love and have a chance to be with young people that they otherwise would not have.

The first event took place on May 11th. Nagendra, who is a software engineer at IBM, partnered with some of his coworkers to drive young people from the Anatha Shishu Nivasa orphanage to the Asha Jeevan old age home in Basavanagudi. In preparation for the arrival of the children all the seniors had prepared stories and songs.

When the children arrived, one of the people managing to old age home said as part of the introduction ”Naavu Swaiche inda, preethi kottu, preethi padedu illi kelasa maduthive”, that is “we are here for service. We give love and we take love”. That statement made everyone silent for a short while. Then the caretaker for the orphanage said the children had many wonderful talents that they were eager to demonstrate.

Then the kids performed the dance shows, sung songs, drew drawings, played games and just made all the people (volunteers and old people) joyful. The old people just became kids among the other kids and had a happy, unforgettable evening.

Here is a video of a child from the orphanage singing:

Nagendra believes that gatherings such as this should be taking place all over India, and that by doing so, children such as these will grow to become great citizens. Look for more such events in the future.