Funds of goodwill

To celebrate 83 years in the service of education The J. B. Vachha High School for Parsi Girls and The C. J. Primary and Infant School, located in Dadar’s Parsi Colony, organized Dreamz, a music and dance extravaganza featuring Penaz Masani and The Planets at Bombay’s Shanmukhananda Hall on January 19, 2008, as per a press report forwarded to Parsiana by the School. Masani, an alumnus of the school, was seen in a brand new avatar with her dancers, The Planets who had come all the way from Delhi. She enchanted the audience with ghazals, Bollywood hits and more, urging the School children to join her on the stage for some of the numbers and the grand finale.

Managing committee members with principal Banoo Makoojina, Amy Kavarana and chief guest Homai Daruwalla (4th, 5th & 6th from left). Bottom: Children enjoying themselves with Penaz Masani and Nauheed Cyrusi

The purpose of the event was to raise funds to revamp the School to keep up with the times and to maintain its status as one of the better educational institutions in the city. "The response was truly overwhelming,” Amy Kavarana, secretary to the board of trustees who spearheaded the fund-raiser, wrote in the souvenir brought out on the occasion. The souvenir itself was massive, the size of a Bombay telephone directory, and the target amount of one crore rupees was crossed.

The seed money for Dreamz, the culmination of months of effort, came in the form of a donation of Rs 25 lakhs by Soli M. Daruwalla in loving memory of his wife Coomie, a former student of the School. The monies raised will be used for repairs and renovation of the School’s premises, upgrading the auditorium, revamping the School library, cookery room, science and computer laboratories, informs Kavarana. Donations, which are exempted under section 80G of the Income Tax Act, may be sent by cheque drawn in favor of "Vachha and Cowasjee Jehangir Schools Annual Day Account” to the School at Parsi Colony, Dadar, Bombay 400014.