Big Names and Bigger Dreams – CHI Gala Attracts Sizzling Stars!

Photos: Mohammed Jaffer/Snapsindia

As an orange sun set over the Hudson River on Manhattan’s Chelsea Piers, over 450 guests had gathered at Pier Sixty for the event of the season, the CHI 30^th Anniversary Gala. It was a gathering of New York’s rich and famous, the beautiful and the creative. There was Hollywood film director M. Night Shyamalan, his lovely wife Bhavna and their three talented daughters. The occasion, however, was not the premiere of a big new cinematic extravaganza but an insightful look into quite another side of the Shyamalans – their passion for the work of the M.Night Shyamalan Foundation which works with underserved populations in Africa in creating new leaders.

Children’s Hope India, one of New York’s premier organization dedicated to the education of children in India was celebrating its 30^th year of service and had decided to honor the work of three remarkable US foundations  – the M.Night Shyamalan Foundation and Sunil Wadhwani’s Wish Foundation and Artificial Intelligence Foundation which both work toward helping vulnerable communities in India. At the same time CHI was also recognizing dynamic corporate leader Himanshu Gulati who had started out as a young person as the founding member of the CHI Young Professionals Group. His award was sponsored by Meera Gandhi of the Giving Back Foundation and she had brought along many of her friends from the American political, cultural and social world to join the celebration of honoring rising stars.

The goal of course was simple – to raise funds for CHI’s ambitious 30 x 30  Education 30 Initiative for schools for early learning, remedial learning and college scholarships. Five initial pilot schools are being established in Delhi and Mumbai and the fundraiser was to raise the money for the Education Initiative.

But who ever said you could not have fun while doing fundraising for a great cause? Donors and supporters had turned up in their glittering best and were happy to intermingle with old friends and new acquaintances over cocktails as the sun set over New York harbor. A luxurious silent auction awakened the latent shopper within everyone, and trips to hot resorts in Maldives and Kerala were temptation for most guests who had been landlocked in the post-COVID days.

The evening began on a darkened stage with Grammy winner Falu Shah singing a soul-stirring ‘Mast Kalandar’ which is every audience’s favorite ballad. She was accompanied by Gaurav Shah, and the drumming magic was contributed by Nihal Singh.

If all that was not celebrity power enough, you had Preet Bharara – yes THAT Preet Bharara who was proud to be hired by Obama and fired by Trump. Yes, the former US Attorney General for the Southern district of New York. After a distinguished career, he was now bringing his blue eyes and sharp wit to the world of books and podcasts – and now to co-hosting a New York gala raising funds for education in India.

His co-host was Reena Ninan, the noted TV anchor who is a dedicated Children’s Hope India ambassador and founder of Good Trouble Productions. She looked stunning in an orange ensemble by DN/NY and introduced the audience to Children’s Hope India, while also sparring expertly with the cool Mr. Bharara.

Dina Pahlajani, president of CHI, spoke about the utter necessity of education and shared a video of how the lives hundreds of thousands of children have been transformed over the past 30 years.    The honorees Bhavna Shyamalan, Sunil Wadhwani and Himanshu Gulati each shared the experiences of their different worlds, inspiring others to also join in the adventure of giving.

 

After a spirited pledge drive the audience took a detour to diverse markets set up in the elegant Pier Sixty,  wandering around tasting Indian, Middle Eastern and Chinese delicacies created by Chef Gaurav Anand. A lot of fun and a lot of photo opps as well as dessert and dancing. Fund-raising when it includes ‘fun-raising’ can be sooo exhausting! A good time was had by all and good funds were raised for Children’s Hope with the help of so many friends.

Here in photos are the glimpses of this black tie event gala.