Mumbai : Grooming Babies Global Pvt. Ltd. – an initiative by a group of corporate women willingly stepped aside to make motherhood their priority by hosting a mega cultural festival to promote father child bonding. ‘Under the Peepal Tree’ it was a two day cultural extravaganza that brought forth the traditional art forms of India in a simplified manner understandable by preschool children. The event was held at the Maharashtra Nature Park, Bandra East on February 15 and 16, 2014 between 8.30 am and 3.30 p.m.

Event was inaugurated by Shri Rajendra Singh, who is more popularly known as the ‘Jal Purush’ or the Waterman of India with event called Drum Circle to create awareness about Mumbai’s Mithi River and water pollution amongst today’s generation. He was accompanied by 50 children from Mumbai’s NGO called Green Line and students from Auxiliun girls schools and St. Xaviers boy’s school. The event also witnessed house a pledge board where children pasted cutouts of fishes, crabs, etc. as a symbol for reviving the river.

Apart from that event witnessed various ancient medium of communication and art like A ballet by street artists which essayed the life of the Great Maratha Chatrapati Shivaji amidst music and dance; a moral story on ‘unity in diversity’ conveyed through the medium of street play where the performers used the traditional instrument ‘Duff’ to gather the crowd; a puppet show brought alive by puppeteers dressed as puppets, live musical performances like ‘Ektara’, ‘Bansuri’ and ‘Duff’ by visually impaired local-train artists; Drum Circle, Bicycle trail, Yoga, Film Workshop, India Baazar and many more cultural forms of engagements.

Other activities apart from the above mentioned which were sessions like story telling session, book reading sessions, film workshops, cooking with dad where children where involved in making food with their father, Butterfly workshop where children went through a crafty workshop and decorated the butterfly at their best. Adventure tail where parents took a ride with their child in a bicycle, mommy’s club where all spend time with friends, discuss, and indulge in activities as dad and baby having fun. And lastly as the event was cultural there was a yoga session too which was organized for kids

Well known celebrity Kunal Roy Kapoor who was recently seen in the film Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani happened to be at Under the Peepal Tree workshop with his two kids and wife said “I really enjoyed coming and having some good and quality time with his family. Really appreciate the effort taken by the group of mothers & congratulate Grooming Babies team. I feel they should organise such kind of activities every year”

Oindrila Purohit, Director of Grooming Babies said “Being an unprecedented event, we were unsure about the response, but was overwhelmed seeing so many happy children. Going forward we plan to make this an annual endeavor. We are looking forward to hosting it I would really like to thank parents and the children who attended the event without which the event would not have been successful”.