More people are walking in from early morning on Sunday to participate in Raahgiri to beat summer heat
Besides IT folks, now people around areas too walk in to enjoy Raahgiri
Homeless poor on June 7 can walk into The Street Store, a pop up store at Madhapur and pick up a pair of choicest old clothes, shoes and toys donated by people
To donate old clothes, shoes and toys, contact The Street Store just floated by Aakash Goud, a student of JNTU on phone 8886525252
Hyderabad, May 31, 2015….."Raahgiri Day" the most talked about and enjoyed street event attracts more crowds. People are walking in from early morning as early at 5.30am onwards to beat summer heat and enjoy cool breeze as well as fun frolic activities. What is so interesting development is besides IT folks and folks from corporate world, the common people too are enjoying Raahgiri. Common people from far off places like even Alwal, LB Nagar are reaching Raheja Mind Space and BioDiversity park to participate in the event to have fun.
Sunday May 31st witnessed Zumba by 8 Counts and Yoga Jam by What Club and Art of Living, Reebok Fitness activities as well as GeoMeridien fun games. Sunday also saw lot of people from nearby areas mixing up with Raahgiri Regulars to participate in Dance, Yoga, Fitness, Cycling activities. They played marbles, the traditional fun game which most of the urbanities have forgotten long ago. Underprivileged children, construction workers of nearby areas, several girls Chandrakala, Manju, Sweety, Rama, Swathi, Kuruvamma, Sanjana from Telecom Nagar seen actively participating in Paper Cup Games, Pencil Games, Paper Games, Vaana Gunatalu a traditional game and also played marbles. Most of these girls are children of watchmen, maid servants, drivers, tailors. We have been coming here for the past five weeks. Thanks to Toyin, a Nigerian, a student of National Institute of Travel and Hospitality Management and founder of GeoMeridien, We have been involved in Raahgiri activities and various other community activities said the girls.
Raahgiri Plans to celebrate World Yoga Day falling on June 21st in a big way informed Aatish of What Club. What Club in association with Art of Living will make World Yoga Day a very big event, he said. We are also planning to organise Raahgiri of Twins, in a large scale very soon informed Vishala Reddy and Rahul of Raahgiri.
Toyin, a Nigerian girl along with 8 other friends ---Aarti, Shyno, Kavya, Rasheed, Madhav, Kirti, Ansari, Sana from the National Institute of Travel and Hospital Management floated a group called GeoMeridien, which is involved in community activities and Travel Related events. All for fun and social service. They have distributed school bags called Bags of Hope to 350 students with voluntary contributions from the group members. They have also organised a lantern festival which was a great hit. I like this place, says Toyin. I will live here and continue to do activities even after my college gets over. My family lives in Nigeria. I am already engaged. I will get married in November in Nigeria. I will come back here with my husband and continue the community service that I have been carrying on, says Toyin, who made Hyderabad her second home.
If you want to make a change, you be the first to accept the change, says Toyin.
Sreejain and Neha who are married a month ago chose to spend their Sunday morning at Raahgiri. I am also involved in GeoMeridien activities said Srejain. His wife, Neha, whom he married last month hails from Nagpur. I haven’t seen such a fun on the streets of a city like Hyderabad. I enjoyed fun games. It was worth for us to come here all the way from Alwal said. Neha.
The Raahgiri toda witnessed many construction workers, their children getting involved in various activities. It was good blend of rich and poor, educated and uneducated all having fun time together. This is what the real india is said Rahul. We will involve more and more people. We would like to attract people from less privileged backgrounds to have equal fun along with other people he said.
Raahgiri which has been providing citizens with the opportunity to reclaim their streets, connect with their community, celebrate their city and reclaim their lives has been well accepted. Despite of summer heat, people are still walking in early morning till 8am. It is a people’s movement. People are coming here to Play, Dance, Sing as if they own the road said Vishala. Every Sunday, the 1.2 kms stretch of road(one side) from Mindspace to Bio Diversity Park in Madhapur has been out of bounds to Cars, Two Wheeler and other vehicles.
Inspired by Raahgiri and also a newspaper article Aakash Gound, a JNTU first year student of Computer Science has come out with a unique idea of The Street Store, a pop up clothing store for the homeless. It will be start working from a parking near Extreme Sports Bar, near Cyber Towers at Madhapur. It will be a store for the underpreviledged, who can walk in and pick up one pair of used Clothes, Shoes, Toys for theme selves. These old and used Clothes, Shoes and Toys will be collected through donations from the public said Aakash Goud. For donations of old, unused clothes, shoes and toys, people can reach Aakash Goud on his mobile: 8886525252, you can also write an email to
[email protected], You can also visit their Facebook page. Our volunteers go to people to collect these donations, said Aakash.
Those underprivileged people who want to pick up a pair of old clothes, shoes and toys can walk to the store at a Parking place near Extreme Sports Bar, Near Cyber Towers in Madhapur in on Sunday June 7th from 10am to 4pm he said. For details, you can phone him on 8886525252
The Street Store is the world’s first rent-free, premises-free, pop-up charity store, giving away clothes to the poor. This pop-up store is made up of posters on the sidewalks and runs entirely on donations. It is pretty simple: you bring clothes and shoes you don’t wear and the homeless help themselves, said Aakash.
We often see homeless people and we wanted to do something to help—but, its tough. Where do you take donations, and who gets them? We need a middle ground. Somewhere easy to donate and easy to receive. So we took to the street with nothing but a couple of posters, said Aakash. It makes easy to donate as it is hosted in public area, but is also dignifies the receiving process. Instead of feeling like wearing a thrown clothes, here poor can walk in and select what they want informed Aakash.
