The Managing and Mahila Shakha Committees of G.S.B. Sabha, Mumbai, jointly presented a Community Get-together “Sneh Milan” programme on Saturday, 8th March 2025, at the Pracharya B.N. Vaidya Sabhagraha in Raja Shivaji Vidyalaya, Dadar, Mumbai. Shri Vinayak Pai, MD and CEO of Tata Projects Ltd. was the Chief Guest.
The programme began with the presentation of an adaptation and Konkani translation of the very popular Marathi Sangeet-natak “Jay Jay Gauri Shankar”, which was wriiten by Shri Vidyadhar Gokhale and presented for the first time in 1966. Coinciding with International Womens Day, an all women cast comprising of Smt. Bina Shenoy, Smt. Prathima Pai, Smt. Gautami Acharya, Smt. Jaya Kamat, Smt. Radha Bhat, Smt. Unnathi Nayak and Smt. Anita Pai presented the drama. They were supported by Smt. Pratibha Mattey (harmonium), Shri Janardhan Salian (tabla), Shri Ajay Ginde (audio arrangement), Shri Pednekar (make up artist) and Smt, Prafulla Shenoy (console).
Following a brief intermission, the following awards were presented on the occasion :
- The K.M. Kamath Memorial G.S.B. Sharada Sanman Puraskar (Founder Sponsor : Shri K. M. Kamath family) to Shri Devdas Nayak, the young writer-Director of the award winning Konkani movie, “Tarpana”.
- The Smt. Vatsala Shenoy Memorial G.S.B. Mahila Udhyamee Puraskar (Founder Sponsor : Smt. Sadhana and Shri Sunil Shenoy, USA) to Smt. Preeti Shenoy, Founder and CEO, Greentara Bags, an all women eco-conscious business.
- The newly instituted G.S.B. Dhanvantri Puraskar (Founder Sponsor : Smt. Suman and Dr. R. N. Kini) to Dr. Ramakant Deshpande, Padma Shri Awardee in 2014, for his exemplary service to humanity in the field of onco-care.
- The Dr. B.M. Acharya Memorial G.S.B. Jeevan Gaurav Puraskar (Founder Sponsor : Dr. B. M. Acharya Memorial Trust) to Shri Shrinivas Dempo for his outstanding work as Chairman of the Dempo Group of Companies and contributions to various industry, sports and non-government organizations
All the awardees thanked the Sabha for the honour and mentioned that it is always a special feeling to be recognized and felicitated by the Community.
Mahila Shakha President, Smt. Amita Kini, welcomed the audience and updated them on the Mahila Shakha programmes and initiatives. Sabha President, Shri Laxmikant Prabhu thanked the awardees for accepting Sabha’s invitation and being present to receive the felicitation. He spoke about the various initiatives of the Sabha and requested people to contribute in tana-mana-dhana towards the same. The Chief Guest congratulated the awardees and applauded the work done by the Sabha.
About 300 attendees enjoyed a traditional Konkani dinner.
The programme was sponsored by SMS Financial Services and received co-sponsorship from Shri Mangalore Prakash Hegde, Shri M. V. Kini family and Tazo Natural Home Cleaners and venue support from Indian Education Society.
Some glimpses of this event were featured on Youth of GSB’s Youtube Channel :
