THE FOUNDATION ANNOUNCES 'THE IDEA OF INDIA' PRESENTED BY STANDARD CHARTERED BANK

THE FOUNDATION ANNOUNCES 'THE IDEA OF INDIA' PRESENTED BY STANDARD CHARTERED BANK

Rahul Bose & his NGO in partnership with Standard Chartered Bank, are to auction 16 iconic pieces of memorabilia from the 16 greatest Indians in their fields to celebrate 'The Idea of India'

Mumbai, February 10, 2014: The Foundation, the NGO founded by actor Rahul Bose today announced “The Idea of India' – an auction of iconic memorabilia donated by 16 legendary Indians who with both, their genius and their generosity uphold the ideals that nest within the idea of India - Indians, who with their talent, intellect and world view, make every Indian proud.

The auction will be held on February 22, 2014 preceded by cocktails followed by a black tie, sit down dinner.

Speaking on the occasion the founder of The Foundation, Rahul Bose says, “The founding idea of free India was that ours would be a country where every citizen mattered, every Indian would be cherished by the state regardless of class, caste or religion. It is this idea that these sixteen Indians have actively upheld all their lives. In support of that very idea these Indians have not just donated their memorabilia, some have donated a part of their history, others a part of their best work, some a piece of their greatest joy, others their most prized memory - all with unthinking selflessness and love. Thank you for this, thank you for living The Idea of India.

We are also extremely happy to have Standard Chartered Bank on board with us as partners. Standard Chartered has an enviable history of philanthropy long before it became fashionable for corporations to be philanthropic. Our gratitude and a warm welcome to them to 'The Idea of India!”

Commenting on the bank's association with The Foundation and 'The Idea of India', Sunil Kaushal, Regional Chief Executive, India and South Asia, Standard Chartered, said : “Standard Chartered Bank is delighted to sponsor this event organized by Rahul Bose's 'The Foundation' which is raising funds for deserving yet underprivileged children from across India. To us being a sustainable bank means looking beyond philanthropy, beyond CSR and reputation management; it means embedding sustainability deep into the way of how we do business. We support a number of initiatives - to empower adolescent girls through our WASHE (Water, Sanitation, Hygiene & Education) and Goal programmes. Seeing is Believing - our global programme on preventable blindness for which we match fundraising dollar for dollar - has provided over 5 million people in India with access to essential eye care since 2003. We continue to set ourselves targets to broaden our contribution to the communities in which we operate."

As a celebration of his journey and as a show of support to The Foundation and 'The Idea of India', present at the announcer press conference as the chief guest was tabla maestro Ustad Zakir Hussain, who is also one of this year’s donors.

Says Zakir Hussain, “When Rahul approached me to be one of the 16 Indians to donate their memorabilia, I was surprised and flattered. What an honour it is to be in this list of illustrious Indians! Then I began thinking of what I could donate that would be equal to the occasion. This is the only set of  tablas that has been played on both by my father Ustad Allah Rakha and me. This instrument was Abba's. After he passed away I started performing with it. It has travelled the length and breadth of half the world with me and also bears the signatures of some of the world's greatest musicians whom I've had the pleasure of playing with : Carlos Santana, Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter. It's brought me indescribable pleasure to play with these tablas and it gives me even greater pleasure to donate them to this auction.”

Finally on behalf of hospitality partners, Devendra Bharma, Executive Vice President, The Oberoi and Trident, Nariman Point said, : “We are delighted to be partnering with Rahul Bose's The Foundation for the fourth year in a row. These evenings are very special to us because they are unique, creative, beautifully put together and for a wonderful cause. The Trident always aims to create a world class banqueting and dining experience. This event on Feb 22 will be of that class and more.”

The pieces up for auction this year are: 

1	JAVED AKHTAR	HAND WRITTEN POEMS: MUZTAR KHAIRABADI, JAN NISAR AKHTAR, JAVED AKHTAR, ZOYA AND FARHAN AKHTAR
2	SHABANA AZMI	GOLD MEDAL - ‘BEST STUDENT IN ACTING’, FTII, 1973
3	ABHINAV BINDRA	OLYMPIC GOLD MEDAL WINNING RIFLE, BEIJING, 2008
4	CHARLES CORREA	KANCHENJUNGA - SECTION, ELEVATION, PERSPECTIVE 1973-82
5	AMITAV GHOSH	‘THE HUNGRY TIDE’. COLLABORATION: AMITAV GHOSH (HANDWRITTEN PASSAGES) DAYANITA SINGH (PHOTOGRAPH)
6	SUBODH GUPTA	SPECIAL PIECE OF ART CREATED ESPECIALLY FOR THE FOUNDATION AND THE IDEA OF INDIA
7	ZAKIR HUSSAIN	TABLAS : USTAD ALLAH RAKHA USTAD ZAKIR HUSSAIN
8	USTAD AMJAD ALI KHAN	AUTOGRAPHED SAROD (1990-2013)
9	AAMIR KHAN	AUTOGRAPHED BUNDI ‘LAGAAN’ (2001)
10	R K LAXMAN	HAND DRAWN ORIGINALS ‘SIX DECADES OF THE COMMON MAN’
11	ZUBIN MEHTA	AUTOGRAPHED BATON
12	LEANDER PAES	AUTOGRAPHED RACQUET GRAND SLAM NO 14, US OPEN 2013
13	RAGHU RAI	MOTHER TERESA IN PRAYER, KOLKATA, 1995, EDITION 7/10 BABY DONKEY, HARYANA, 1965, EDITION 2/10
14	AMARTYA SEN	‘THE ARGUMENTATIVE INDIAN’ - ANNOTATED SPEECH AUTOGRAPHED EDITION - ‘IDENTITY AND VIOLENCE’
15	VIKRAM SETH	HANDWRITTEN SONNETS 1.1 & 13.52 : ‘THE GOLDEN GATE’ - AUTOGRAPHED EDITION
16	DAYANITA SINGH	IN CONVERSATION DSAGRB 2013

THE FOUNDATION

The Foundation came into existence in 2006. The organization aims at bridging existing geographical, social and psychological schisms in India through interventions involving sensitive social engineering designed to create both quantifiable impact as well as attitudinal changes within society at large. It travels to India's furthest outposts (e.g. The Andamans & Nicobar Islands, Manipur, Jammu & Kashmir) and offers 15 year scholarships to six children from each region starting from Grade 6 upto employability.