Indo- Pak teacher-student duo collaborate on dance for peace

DUBAI: A dubai-based teacher-student duo have collaborated over a dance to promote peace among Indians and Pakistani’s across the globe. The artists, along with their team, urge nationals to celebrate the unity in diversity between both nations and call for netizens to be kind in their choice of words when dealing with members of the neighbouring country.

The “Dance for Peace 2020” is being released ahead of the 74th Independence Day of both countries. The idea was conceptualized by Desiree’ Francis, a former Pakistani radio presenter and marketer In Dubai. She has been closely related to Indo-Pak peace projects since 2008, with dance for peace being the second-of-its-type initiative in Dubai.

“Due to the Covid-19 scenario, I was a little apprehensive about the idea, however, when I approached my dance teacher Akshay for this, he was all up for the idea and took it up whole heartedly and suggested ways to do it limiting the number of people and keeping safe distancing and protocols in mind,” she said.

Akshay Dhoke is the co-founder and Head Choreographer of The Buzz Dance Studio (TBDS) in Dubai. He along with his partner Preeti Gadkary  took up the cause of Dance for Peace the moment it was discussed with them.

“We welcome children and adults of all nationalities at our dance school. Music and dance for us is about an emotional connection that we aim to build in our students with the art. We don’t support any form of discrimination and inculcate values of kindness and tolerance, which I believe, is a must for any artist,” Preeti said.

The initiative The team also comprised editors Rocky Panesar and Sohail Khan of Super Dancer and The Kapil Sharma Show fame from Mumbai, India along with Majo Joy (performer) , Abul Basar (vlogger), Jasmine Saroia (makeup) , Ishan Modi  and Sarfaraz Ahmed (support team) and Lenu Thomas (digital artist).

Sohail says, “I joined hands with Desiree aka Dj Dez on this because as an Indian, I am very loyal to my country but that in no way means that I should be unpleasant in my dealing with people of any other country. Respect for other human beings is important.”

It is also supported by Aman Ki Asha and Aaghaz-e- Dosti.

Aman Ki Asha is a campaign jointly started by two leading media houses, The Jang Group of Pakistan, and The Times of India in India. The campaign aims for mutual peace and development of diplomatic and cultural relations between the two nations in South Asia. It was established on 1 January 2010.

Aaghaz-e-Dosti was started in 2012 and it encourages volunteers to work for peace, particularly through peace education in both countries.

No entities charged any money in collaborating for this video.

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Pakistani girl’s dreams turn into reality – with some help from Indian company

Shifa is like any other girl – a life full of joy, dreams, goals and a passion for doing something. After the death of her grandmother (dadi ammi) whom she loved a lot, she would often see her in her dreams where her dadi would talk to her and share a few memories of India.

In 2018, Shifa, who was a chemist by qualification and loved to indulge in social welfare, thought she should try her hand at a small business. This is where her real journey started – she learnt that establishing a business is always more difficult than the daily routine of a job.

But since she was ready to take on the challenge, she started exploring ideas based on her own observations and calculations such as the risks involved, cash flow, need for a certain type of business, capital involved etc. Like any other entrepreneur would do.

The idea of opening her own laundry instantly clicked and she started working towards it. When she talked to her friends and family, most of them rejected the idea, mainly because she had no experience of a washing business. Shifa narrates:

Shifa (Founder-WashHub, Pakistan)

“In 2018, mujhe business ka junoon tha. Laundry start karney ka idea aya. Hoon to mein chemist and social worker. Par ek dam sey yeh idea aya to bas sab ne bohat sunai, guide karna to door ki baat hai. Mein subha se raat tak laundry companies ko mails bhejti thi. But no response.”

 

 

But Shifa did not give up hope and instead became ever more determined to take up the challenge and make all the effort she could to bring her idea to life. She looked up all the laundry businesses on the internet and started writing them e-mails for guidance. She did not even count the number of emails she had sent. While she didn’t receive any response to her mails, she did not feel defeated and sent more emails to more companies.

Her effort bore some fruit when she received a surprise response to one of her emails. But wait! This reply was from an Indian company! And they were ready to guide her on how to open a laundry business. Shifa started taking tips from WashApp, the Indian company, collected resources locally and, finally, succeeded in opening her own laundry in Faisalabad, Pakistan.

She says, “Ek din meri aankh khuli and I saw an email from India. One of the biggest companies in India. After that daily unn se baat hoti thi and they guided me at every single step.”

Washapp Team (India)

While narrating her story to Aaghaz-e-Dosti, she says that the entire process sounds like a dream and makes her so happy. She believes that people living on the other side of the border have a good heart and we just need to stretch our hands towards each other to become united. She said “I wish ke mein sab ko bata sakoon ke border key uss paar bhi hum jaise log baste hain jo hum se pyar karty hain bas hath barhanay ki dair hai. Ek bar koshish to keejiye.”

Aaghaz-e-Dosti learnt that her business started with providing laundry services initially to domestic users and students, but after positive feedback and trustworthy relationship with customers, it has grown significantly into a firm, called WashHub, and now provides services to industries, hospitals, restaurants and many other commercial users.

She never forgets to say thank you to the Indian company that guided her about how to set up her own laundry.

Her message to young entrepreneurs is:

“Never give up on what you really want to do. Anyone with big dreams is more powerful than one with all the facts.”

(Send your Indo-Pak stories, experiences, poems, travel blogs, articles etc at aaghazedosti@gmail.com to publish with us)