Social Commitments
SCI Day 2017
SCI Day 2017 was celebrated in a befitting manner. The international theme for this year's SCI day was "Yes We Can". Keeping this in mind, SSWB proposed to have a song based on this theme which could be used later on as the SCI Anthem. Sumit Ray of Red Curtain, rose up to the occasion and produced a music video with the help of the noted singer, Usha Uthup. The song was written, composed and sung in Bengali and English and the melodious voice of Usha enlivened the SCI anthem. It was officially launched at the inauguration of the ISSICON at New Delhi in December 2017 and it was highly appreciated by the audience. Subsequently this effort was recognized at the General Body Meeting of ASSI in Chennai in January 2018. We hope this will go a long way in encouraging people of different walks of life to unite to the cause of ushering in the SCI patients to a new life of complete social integration and fulfillment.
SCI Day 2016
5th of September 2016 will go down in Kolkata's rich history of culture, compassion and social work as a remarkable day. Spine Society of West Bengal's decision to observe Spinal Cord Injury Day to create awareness about the extent and implications of Spinal Cord Injury led to an event that touched hearts and was the first stepping stone in changing lives.
Despite an incessant downpour, doctors, thespians, connoisseurs of art, patients and their families thronged the Taj Gateway Ballroom to learn a different "lesson" this Teacher's day. The event started with a series if addresses where Dr. Saumyajit Basu and other members of the Spine Society of Bengal gave heartwarming and yet informative speeches about the occasion and why it's imperative to support SCI patients through the trauma they face. This was followed by an elaborate video where facts about SCI and it's long lasting impact on the life of it's patients were elucidated in really lucid terms. The fact that Kolkata is the rare metropolitan city without a SCI centre hit home and managed to disturbed everyone sitting in the audience.
Then came the moment everyone had been waiting for. The Red Curtain, presently the oldest English theatre group in the city and well known for its "theatre for causes" initiatives premiered Mastermoshai, a rib tickling comedy based on real life accounts of SCI survivors from West Bengal. Playwright and co director Sumit Roy and his cast of some of the most brilliant English theatre actors from the city including the impeccable Pradip Mitra as Mastermoshai brought alive the story of a motley crew of SCI survivors standing up for each other in a spoken English class. The audience laughed their hearts out but perhaps the most hitting moment of the play was when the real life survivors, on whom the play was based were brought up on the dias for the curtain call. The audience could not help but give a standing ovation, saluting the remarkable courage and sheer resilience of these people who despite being confined to wheelchairs, have reached pinnacles of success and have never let go of hope and kindness.
The event concluded with a grand fundraising dinner where the audience heartily participated. The donations collected through the play and the dinner would be used to create a Spinal Cord Injury support group in Kolkata, facilitated by The Red Curtain and the first of its kind. The audience members left with a heavy heart but with an informed mind and with the determination that Kolkata needs to stand by SSWB and help create a better future for SCI survivors and in short as the tagline of the event proclaimed: #bethebackbone.
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