[Shaheen Mistry, Anita Trehan, Sakina Jaffrey and Mallika Sagar at Anjali for Akanksha in New York]

Why? Because Verve has earlier held events with children from Akanksha where they met up with celebrities like Raveena Tandon and Hrithik Roshan, through the aegis of the NGO, Nanhi Kali which educates the underprivileged girl child. Because the synergy caused by the collaborative effort between the children of Akanksha and some of India's finest artists including Anjolie Ela Menon and Paresh Maity, raised a whopping sum of dollars, which will eventually effect the lives of so many children. Guests at the auction recognised the exclusivity of the works produced and bid generously for the cause of slum children. Shaheen Mistry, founder of Akanksha, who has previously been covered in the pages of Verve, provided a brief audio-visual introduction to Akanksha, highlighting future plans and objectives. But, for most of us in Mumbai, this is nothing new since this is one NGO whose work speaks eloquently for itself.