NRI sisters’ dance shows to raise funds for encephalitis kids

They live thousands of miles away from encephalitis-afflicted children in eastern Uttar Pradesh but the hearts of these two United Statesbased sisters are attuned to the cause of ensuring that there is no re-run of last August’s BRD Medical College tragedy in Gorakhpur.

Meet Aishani Agrawal, 16, and Anika Agrawal, 12, from Allentown in Pennsylvania. The sisters are out to raise funds for Encephalitis patients by holding Bharatnatyam shows in select cities of Uttar Pradesh. Bharatnatyam is a classical Indian dance form.

The girls, whose father has roots in Bahraich, have already held one such show in Bahraich and collected Rs 3 lakh.

In August last year, scores of children died after alleged disruption of oxygen supply due to nonpayment of the supplier’s bills. The girls say they will hand over all the money to the BRD authorities. They are here with their father Atul Agrawal, who belonged to Bahraich and moved to the United States in 1999. Atul Agrawal runs a software firm in the United States and employs young graduates from India and America. Aishani, a grade 11 student, said she was pained to hear about the BRD tragedy from her father and decided to hold charity shows so that no children died due to dearth of funds in future.

As Bahraich was their father’s home district, they held their first show here, said Aishani, who aspires to be a doctor.

Her sister Anika, a grade 8 student, said, “When our father planned to visit Bahraich, we decided to raise funds by organising cultural charity events.” Anika said the sisters learned Bharatnatyam in the US. Their next performance is scheduled in Azamgarh on July 15, she said. The girls had raised over Rs 3 lakh by holding just one charity event, Atul Agrawal said. He said, “We have chosen these two places (Bahraich and Azamgarh) in the beginning as we have connections (there). We will also hold shows in the US, as well as other places in India and Nepal.”