INSTRUMENTS OF CHANGE

In his final year at Mumbai’s Cathedral & John Connon School, Varun Jhunjhunwalla had to pick a social service project. “Music had helped me deal with stress,” he says. “I thought maybe introducing music to students in government schools would help them too.” So he began to volunteer at BPK Sahakari Vidyamandir in mid-2016. But he had a lot of trouble sourcing instruments for these classes. “There were days when we had only one set of keyboards and a guitar for the eight students. Some drew piano keys with chalk on the benches to learn the correct finger positions.” So he launched a crowdfunding campaign called Songs for Change on Ketto in June 2016, thinking people would donate enough to buy a few instruments for the school.

The campaign met its target of Rs 84,500, but that was just the beginning.

“He approached us and proposed a fundraising concert to raise money for NGOs that work to promote music among underprivileged children. The idea was welcomed by the school,” says Susan Vaidyan, psychology and music teacher at Cathedral. The concert raised close to Rs 3 lakh and has become an annual event.

“We bought instruments, music books, score sheets and choir costumes that are being distributed across BPK and all the participating NGOs. And there’s some money set aside for next year’s concert,” says Jhunjhunwalla, 18.