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Kalkeri Sangeet Vidyalaya - Monthly Newsletter

Welcome to the January Newsletter. This month, was full of joy, but also great sadness, as we had to bear the passing of one of KSV’s founders, Ustad Hameed Khan.

This month also included an intimate house program in Hubli, celebrating Republic Day, welcoming Lama Lobsang Samten from Mundgod, starting the reconstruction of one of the classrooms, and all this took place amongst lots of our regular activities including two Manch Pradharsan sessions.

We hope that you enjoy catching up with our news from January at KSV?

Much Love

The KSV Family

Our Benefactors

This month, our benefactor in the spotlight is the Infosys Foundation.

The Infosys Foundation is a non-profit organisation based in Karnataka, established in 1996 by Infosys to support the underprivileged sections of society. The foundation supports programs in the areas of education, rural development, healthcare, arts and culture, and destitute care.

The Infosys Foundation supported KSV this year with an generous financial contribution, and we are looking forward to a long-term and mutually benefical relationship with the Foundation in the future.

All the KSV Family are wholeheartedly thankful to the Infosys Foundation for their generous and valuable support.

This Month's Annadaan Donors

This month we were most grateful to receive Annadaan donations from the following people:



If you are interested to support KSV and the children by making an Annadaan donation then please write to us at annadaan@ksv.org.in or give us a call on (0)9945906721.

Manch Pradharsan 


This month, there were two Manch Pradharsan sessions; all the students gave excellent performances that were greatly appreciated by the students, staff, and volunteers.

The Manch Pradharsan sessions are empowering for the students as they have the opportunity to showcase the outcome of all their hard work and effort, and their Guru’s performances are inspiring for the students which serves to further motivate them onwards in their musical journey.

Nikita gave a wonderful sitar solo performance

Kishore gave an excellent solo tabla recital

Savubhai and Sujata from Sukanya's Junior Vocal Class

Gangubhai and Bassavva from Vasanti's Intermediate Vocal Class

Karishna, Akshata, Priyanka and Kaveri from Noor Jahan's Sitar Class

Mr Pattar's drama group gave an excellent performance

The Sad Passing of Ustad Hameed Khan

Early in the month our hearts were filled with great sorrow when we heard that one of the personalities who was instrumental in the foundtion of KSV had sadly passed away.

Ustad Hameed Khan was greatly known by all his family, friends and students for his integrity, his open-mindedness, his respectful and caring nature towards all, as well as, of course, his great knowledge of music and performance skills.
He was a proud guardian of the purity of his family's tradition, known today as the Dharwad Gharana.

Ustadji leaves behind his wife Farida, his son Mohasin, his daughter Arma, as well as his daughter in law Shruti and grandson Ahir.

Ustadji will be fondly remembered by his disciples, amongst them Kalkeri Sangeet Vidyalaya's students Gamanna Hulikatti, Dullu Adolkar, Tukaram Chavan and Sangeeta Chavan.

May he rest in peace and play his sitar for the Creator.

Ustadji teaching students at KSV

Celebrating Republic Day

The 26th January is Republic Day which honours the date on which the Constitution of India came into effect on 26 January 1950.

We celebrated the day by gathering the whole KSV Family, where Mr. Anil Kumar Bhoomreddy - DYSP Dharwad, hoisted the Tiranga, the national flag, and we sang the national anthem.

Our guest, Mr. AnilKumar Bhoomreddy hoisting the Tiranga

A beautiful setting to celebrate Republic Day

The KSV Family gathered for Republic Day

Mr. AnilKumar Bhoomreddy took some time to speak with the students

A wonderful representation of the true diversity of the nation

A nice family photo

A House Program in Hubli

This month, we held an informal Baithak-style concert at the home of Naveen and Neelam Jha in Hubli. The objective of the function was to bring together interested individuals from the local community and give them the opportunity to learn more about the KSV model, the school and the students. A small group of students presented a music program and there was also a short presentation on KSV.

We are currently planning to host these events every three months with the intention of attracting further support and new donors to the school. The next event will be in March just before the school holidays. If you’re local to the Hubli-Dharwad area and are interested in attending one of these events then please reach out to us for more details:

By phone: +91 9008111438
By e-mail: info@ksv.org.in

A small selection of guests made for an intimate evening

The KSV students preparing for the program

A vocal performance

Sharanappa gave a violin recital

Lama Lobsang Samten at KSV

This month, we were blessed to receive a visit from Lama Lobsang Samten, a Tibetan monk who has settled in Quebec, Canada.

Lama Samten was born in Tibet, near Lhasa, in 1965. At the age of 15, he began his studies at the Gaden Jangtse Monastery, where he was ordained a monk. He left Tibet in 1985 and became a refugee in India where he continued his studies at Mundgod which is 70km from Kalkeri.

In 1997, he received an invitation to visit Quebec and he settled there in 1998. His objective is to share the teachings of Buddha and promote Buddhist understanding beyond cultural and religious borders.

On his visit to KSV, Lama Samten spent some time with the students, gave them a basic introduction to Buddhism, and very patiently took a wide variety of questions from the students, teachers and volunteers.

Lama Lobsang Samten interacting with the KSV students

The KSV students were very fortunate to spend some time with Lama Samten

Classrooms Construction Project

We have started to rebuild the classrooms! We currently have eleven classrooms, and over the course of the next few years, in several phases, we will rebuild them, and add a twelfth.

The first phase will see two classrooms being rebuilt and the foundation work started for a further two and will take place from January to March. This phase has been generously funded by Husky Injection Moulding Systems and Casira.

Husky is the world's largest brand name supplier of injection moulding equipment and services to the plastics industry. The company has more than 40 service and sales offices, supporting customers in over 100 countries, including Chennai in India. Husky has been supporting KSV as a part of their CSR activities for the last two years.

Casira is a registered charity whose mission is to support disadvantaged communities in developing countries. They recruit volunteers who give their time and experience to NGOs and associations that operate at the community level.

For this phase, we welcomed the first group of sixteen volunteers from Casira, and then next month, we will welcome the second group. The first group were an energetic and hardworking group of people who have really made a positive impact and were an inspiration to us all.

On the design side, we have been working with a young husband and wife architect team from Pune, Druvang and Priyaka. They design and build vernacular structures in natural materials, using traditional building materials, techniques and local skills.

Also involved, are three members of Ingénieurs Sans Frontières Québec (ISFQ) (Engineers without Borders). ISFQ is a non-profit organization that aims to use engineering as a means of development in less affluent communities.

The ISFQ team who as well as overseeing a large part of the classroom construction, are assessing the needs of KSV in terms of construction projects, helping us to develop the overall site masterplan, design new buildings, and plan how best to implement these projects. They will return to KSV later in the year to start work on the kitchen, office and Bobo House.

In January, we started work on rebuilding the first classroom. We demolished the existing structure, dug and laid the foundations for the new structure and set about making the 6,500 mud bricks we will need for the build!

Work will continue into February when we hope to finish the first classroom and make good progress on the second. Watch this space for further updates.

The existing classroom, Thodi, before demolition

Jean from ISFQ getting stuck into the demolition work

Digging the new foundations

Foundation are dug and ready for laying

Max from ISFQ mixing the lime for the foundation mortar

Lots of earth needed for the brick making

A mix of earth, brick dust, lime and dried grass was used for the mud bricks

Earth brick making has started

We will need more than 6.500 earth bricks for each classroom!

The only cement in the build is a couple of inches laid at the plinth level

The foundations are almost finished

The Casira and ISFQ Teans

We're most grateful to the project partners Husky and Casira

Contact us

Kalkeri Sangeet Vidyalaya,
Kalkeri,
Dharwad District,
Karnataka,
580007.

E-mail: info@ksv.org.in

Website - www.ksv.org.in

Kalkeri Sangeet Vidyalaya,
Kalkeri,
Dharwad District,
Karnataka,
580007.

684 Rue Saint-Vallier ouest, Québec, Quebec G1N 1C8