March 27 2016, 18.56 PM IST || Pocket News Alert
Visually challenged take up navigators role and guide participants through treasure hunt
Actress Meghana Gaonkar flag-off Foresight 2016
Charity fundraising event aimed at sharing joy with the visually challenged
Funds raised to be used for the education of the underprivileged children and also donated to National Association for the Blind (NAB) towards the welfare of visually challenged
Kannada Cine Actress Meghana Gaonkar with the visually impaired navigator at the Foresight 2016 flag-off.
Bengaluru, March 27, 2016: Visually challenged persons, navigating drivers along Bengaluru roads is not a common sight. If this happens it not only excites the visually changed persons but also the masses and fills the air with excitement. This is not a fiction but a reality that was witnessed in Bengaluru on Sunday.
Thanks to the unique treasure hunt – Foresight 2016, visually challenged persons had a whale of a time wherein they played the role of navigators and guided participants by cracking clues in Braille. This charity fundraising event was aimed at sharing joy with visually challenged friends and also creating awareness among the masses about the issues faced by visually challenged persons.
Foresight 2016 was flagged off by Meghana Gaonkar, Kannada cine actress, from The Chancery Pavilion and in all there were 120 participants with 40 of them being visually challenged. Chasing the treasure hunt the participants drove around parts of the Bengaluru and finally ended it at ‘Kitsch Mandi’ - the flea market at Palace Grounds.
In between the flag off and the finish point there were five other check points each of which could only be discovered by cracking the clues which was printed in braille. The clues for each check point were given to the participant’s one at a time. The treasure hunt route taken was about 15 kms long and took about 1hr 15mts to complete. A unique feature about this treasure hunt was that no two cars had the same check point or route, making it all the more challenging.
This event was jointly organized by Bangalore Knights Round Table 174 (Part of Round Table India) and Bangalore Knights Ladies Circle 107 (Part of Ladies circle India). They are a charitable organization who mainly focuses on providing education to the underprivileged. Over the past several decades they have directly contributed in building classrooms, school toilet blocks, school facilities, adopting and running of schools and other charitable activities across India. This event was conducted with support from National Association for the Blind (NAB) and in association with Divyasree Builders who are the title sponsors and many other sponsors. Foresight 2016 was an initiative to raise funds specifically for building facilities that help create a favorable environment in the education of the under privileged. Also a part of the funds will be donated to NAB for the welfare of the visually challenged.
Commenting on Foresight 2016, Tr. Ranbir Singh, Chairman, Bangalore Knights Round Table 174, said, “We are a charitable organization and strive to work for a cause. While our main focus is on providing education to the under privileged children, this time we made a conscious effort to enable the visually challenged to be accepted by mainstream society by being a part of this unique treasure hunt.”
According to Cr.Vasudha Gadi, Chairperson, Bangalore Knights Ladies Circle 107, “We wanted to do something different that not only excites the visually challenged but also gives them an opportunity to showcase their hidden talent. We gave them the role of navigator and thank National Association for the Blind who readily agreed to support us in this event. We also thank our title sponsor Divyasree builders and other sponsors.”
The event ended at Kitsch Mandi, Palace Grounds who are the curators of the flea market with a grand festive welcome to all the participants who were entitled for a free entry into the market. Here the results were tabulated and the prizes which included first prize, runners up, all women participation prize, whole family participation prize, max. cars from a group prize were distributed at the presentation ceremony.
