It was somewhere in the month of May 2005 when I first heard about Balshree. I was travelling from Canacona to Ponda in my uncle’s car, and the In-charge of the Canacona Bal Bhavan Kendra happened to travel along with us to Margao. On the way, my uncle told him about my writing skills, and the in-charge seemed impressed. He gave me the contact of Mr. Madhukar Joshi, and that was the starting of my long lasting alliance with Bal Bhavan.
When I entered Bal Bhavan, I had no idea of what it was, and its purpose and objective. As time passed, the fog began to lift. Eventually I became a part of Bal Bhavan and I am proud to say that till today I am holding the same position. And that was only because of people like Mr. Madhukar Joshi, Mr. Shashikant Punaji, Mr. Suresh Amonkar and many others who in some way or the other chiseled away the crudeness of my talent and turned it into something extraordinary.
Balshree as I see, is more or less equivalent to a great national honour. The way Padmashree is honored upon those who outshine in their respective fields, Balshree is for young minds with exceptional talents. A very common question asked by parents in the meetings held by Bal Bhavan are –What are the future prospects of this Camp? Well, I would say, to bring out the best in a person, the person has to meet one’s equal, and only then one can figure out one’s pluses and minuses. People may try to compete with one another at various selection levels of Balshree. It is to be kept in mind that Balshree Camp is not a competition. On the contrary, it’s a freedom granted by the Bal Bhavan to explore ourselves and our talents forgetting all other obstacles in our way.
Snehabandha is a movement initiated by Mr. Rupesh Gawas and Mr. Trivikram Kamat to hold the Bal Bhavan Awardees together in order to contribute to and propagate the idea of Balshree in all the corners in Goa. Our objective is to attract as many talented people as possible to Balshree, because it will be these people who will place our country under the focus of intellectual and cultural prosperity.
