Venue- Cidco Auditorium, Vashi, Navi Mumbai.
Supported by Gorkha Territorial Administration, Darjeeling.
Project ‘ Run with Roshni ’ is started by a Gorkha Girl from a village known as Pedong in the sub-division of Kalimpong, District Darjeeling. Roshni is an Advocate, the ultra marathon runner and a motivational speaker. She is based in Mumbai. Now ‘Run with Roshni Foundation’ is registered as a Public Trust.
Marathon running is Roshni’s hobby and she has run several marathons, which includes four international marathons viz.
1.Prague International Marathon 2010 (42km),
2.Comrades Marathon 2012 (89km) in South Africa,
3. Maidenhead Half marathon 2013 (21km) in UK and
4. 10km Race- ‘ London Run to the Beat 2014.
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| Ramailo with Gorkhas |
The longest distance run by Roshni is the Comrades Marathon of 89km in South Africa in 2012, which she had dedicated as a tribute to all the Gorkha martyrs, who have sacrificed their lives for mother India and also for the cause of Gorkhaland.
From 2012, Roshni has started a project by name ‘Run with Roshni’ and till now, she has supported more than 30 runners from Darjeeling to run eight different Marathons and Tiranga Relay 2015.
Following are the details of the marathons participated by team ‘Run with Roshni’.
1. Mumbai Marathon in January 2012,
2. Mumbai Marathon in January 2013
3. Hyderabad marathon in August 2013
4. Chennai Marathon in December 2013.
5. Mumbai Marathon in January 2014.
6. Hyderabad Marathon in August 2014
7. Mumbai Marathon in January 2015.
8. Tiranga Relay 2015- Five runners ran with India’s flag from Mumbai to Delhi in 20 days.
9. Cherrapunji Marathon 2015 (Meghalaya) in July 2015.
Future Events
1. Bangalore Half Marathon 2015 in October- Two runners areregistered.
2. Nashik Half Marathon 2015 in December- Six runners will go.
3. Mumbai Marathon 2016- thirteen runners are registered.
VISION of the project ‘Run with Roshni’ are;
• To empower and enlighten Gorkhas in India.
• To eliminate the identity crisis faced by Nepali speaking Indian in their own motherland.
• Bringing awareness among Indians, how the Nepali speaking people are Indians.
• To bring awareness all over India that Nepali is a recognized language under the Constitution of India and it is one of the languages mentioned in the Indian currency.
SLOGAN;
We are Gorkhas and proud to be Indian. Jai Gorkha, Jai Hind.
MISSION
• To support strong runners from economically backward class in Darjeeling to run national and international marathons.
• To make India proud by winning International and Olympic Marathons by Indian Gorkha runners.
• To let the world know, who the Gorkhas are by getting media mentions through running and winning marathons.
Best timings of the runners;
1. Runesh Tamang ran Mumbai Marathon 2013 (42km) in 2hrs 51km and he came third in Amateur Category.
2. Prabal Chettri ran Mumbai Half Marathon 2012 (21km) 1hr 17mins.
3. Binod Tamang ran Mumbai Half Marathon 2014 (21km) 1hr 18mins.
4. Uttam Bhujel ran Mumbai Half Marathon 2015(21km) 1hr 15mins.
If the runners of team ‘Run with Roshni’ get proper support and enough encouragement, in another 3-4 years, they will start competing with Kenyans / Ethiopians and start making India proud by winning International Marathons. All the runners, whom we are supporting, can run 21km in between 1hr 10mins to 1hr 30 mins, without proper coach and guidance. Many times these runners do not have proper running shoes as well.
Ramailo with Gorkhas
‘Run with Roshni Foundation’ organized its first charity event ‘Ramailo with Gorkhas’ on 12th Sept, 2015 in CIDCO Auditorium, Vashi, Navi Mumai. Mr. AdilleSumariwalla, Indian Olympian and the President of Athletics Federation of India graced the event as a Chief Guest along with the distinguished guests like Dr. Malav Shroff, the Indian Olympian and Mr. Atul Kulkarni, Consultant to Ministry of Petroleum.
The aims of the event were to provide an awareness about all the Indian Gorkhas, our unsung contribution and to showcase our rich cultural heritage that contributes to making mother India, awesome and to raise the fund to sponsor 13 runners from Darjeeling to run Mumbai Marathon in January, 2016.
Gorkha Territorial Administration (GTA) supported the event by sponsoring the travel tickets of thirteen dancers from Darjeeling to Mumbai. Their food and accommodations were supported by Mr. Krishna Tamang, the owner of China Gate. The Dancers from Darjeeling performed the following dances;
1. Sarothi Dance
2. Maruni Dance
3. PachemeliChutke
4. TamangCelo and
5. Gorkha Folk Dance.
Mrs. Hira Rasaily was the guest performer all the way from Darjeeling on her own expense. Gorkha Youths of Mumbai also performed in the event under the leadership of Mr. Vivek Khati.
‘Ramailo with Gorkhas’ was inaugurated with the lighting of lamp by the Chief Guest, which was followed by the signing of National Anthem by all the guests.
Mrs. Poonam Lama, one of the Trustee of the Foundation gave the welcome speech.
Trustees of the foundation acknowledged the following supporters of the ‘Run with Roshni
1. Mr. Daniel Vaz- Marathon Coach for the Team Run with Roshni.
2. Mr. Prakash Wani, ACP Mumbai Police (Retd)- For the support to get the registration done for Run with Roshni Foundation as a Public Trust.
3. Mr. Mehra for buying 13 pairs of Nike shoes worth Rs. 70000/- (Seventy Thousand) for the team.
4. Mrs. Mala Sherpa and Ms. Premika Rai, the Co coordinators of team Run with Roshni in Darjeeling.
In March 2015, Foundation had raised Rs. 3 lacs for the treatment of a blood cancer patient Jyotika Khati from Darjeeling with the support of the runners from Mumbai. On this charity event, Foundation acknowledged the following supporters of the ‘Run for Jyotika’;
1. Mr. Vivek Sagar- Main supporter to organize the run.
2. Mr. Hari Nair- Coach of the runners club, Runestic-Dilse, who helped to raise Rs. 1lakh 10 thousand for Jyotika.
3. Mr. Samuel Chattair, a cancer survivor, who donated Rs.35000/- for Jyotika
4. Mrs. Mala Sachdev
5. Mr. Sunil Gwalani
6. Mr. Dinesh Lungani.
7. Dr. Sudarshan Singh & Mr. Vivek Soni from Joint and motion.
8. Mrs. Sonia Kulkarni & Mrs. Sharmila Munj- Pinkathon Ambassador for supporting to make the Run for Jyotika big.
9. Mrs. Vani Arora- For always helping team Run with Roshni, when they are in Mumbai.
Acknowledging program was in batches. The foundation acknowledged the following distinguished Gorkhas of Mumbai;
1. Prof. Jagdish Thapa – The first Gorkha to graduate from IIT in 1958.
2. Mr. Ranjeet Gajmer- Composer, who introduced madal in Bollywood.
3. Mr. LB Subba–First Gorkha scientist with BARC (Retd).
4. Mr. Lalit Dutraj, ACP Mumbai Police (Retd)- He is a Gorkhas Pride in Mumbai and the founder member of Bharatiya Gorkha Ekta Sangh (BGES).
5. Mr. C.B Chettri- MDRT and COT in LIC. He is a guardian to every Gorkha in Mumbai.
6. Mr. P Shashankar – Admin head of MGM hospital, Vashi. He is the Vice President of Bharatiya Gorkha Ekta Sangh(BGES).
7. Mr. Durva Pradhan- Nepali Industrialist and the President of BGES.
8. Mr. Rohit Pradhan- He is working with Times of India. He is the Secretary of BGES
9. Mrs. Indu Gajmer President of Sunakhari Nepali Mahila Samaj. In her absence, Mrs. Vishnu Singh and Mrs. Jyotsna were called upon the stage.
10. Major Habi Gurung, who is from Dehradun and socially very active.
11. Colonel Tilak Thapa.
12. Mr. Mahesh Powrel, Deputy Commandant, CISF.
Mr. Dhruva Pradhan, the president of BGES announced the launch of the website of BGES during his presentation.
The cultural program was followed by the Launch of the book ‘FROM THE MOUNTAIN TO THE OCEAN RUN WITH ROSHNI’ written by Ms. RoshniRaithe founder of the Run with Roshni Foundation. After the book Launch Chief Guest appreciated the effort of the foundation and he praised the Gorkhas for their contribution towards India. He also acknowledged the Bravery, Loyalty and Integrity of the Gorkhas.
Roshni read the first chapter of her book, after which her father Mr. Nardhoj Rai gave his speech. The publisher of the book, Mr. Venkat Pichumani also spoke about the book. As an ambassador of Puma, Mr. Pichumani presented the running kits to Roshni, which is meant for the entire team, who are going to participate in Mumbai Marathon 2016.
The event was concluded with the Thank you message from Mrs. Jaya Chhetri, the trustee of the foundation. We handed over the seal of appreciation to the dancers from GTA, Darjeeling.
Many Gorkha parents in Mumbai were happy for being able to show Gorkha cultural program to their kids. Founding Trustee, Roshni Rai says though the event’s aim was to raise funds for the foundation, they could not manage to raise even Rs. 3lakhs. However the intention of the event, which was to connect with all the Gorkhas in Mumbai and to bring awareness about Gorkha Culture to non Gorkhas were fulfilled.
We are very thankful to the following volunteers, who helped us to raise funds for this event by distributing donor passes to the people from all over Mumbai;-
Mr. Prakash Wani, Mr. Hari Nair, Mr. Suraj Chettri, Mrs. Sai Jyoti Chettri, Mr. Kesav Sapkota, Ms. Shristee Gurung, Ms. Sabina Lama, Mrs. Reshmi Karma, Mr. Mani Tamang, Mr. Shadeep Tamang, Mrs. Vani Arora, Mrs. Rajani Subba.
Gorkha Cultural Program in Mumbai University.
On 14th September, 2015, Foundation arranged for a Gorkha Cultural Event in the Student’s welfare Department of Mumbai University with the support of Mr. AtulKulkarni. Event was graced by the presence Dr. Manali Londhe, Director of Students’ Welfare Department, Mumbai University, Mr. Nilesh Sawe, Cultural Coordinator, Mumbai University, Dr. Terence D’souza, Foreign Advisor, Mumbai University and Prof. NishaDeodher, Manjunatha College, Dombivelli.
In Mumbai University, program started with the presentation of ‘Run with Roshni’ by Roshni Rai. She shared with the students the vision of ‘Run with Roshni’, which is to create a team of Gorkha runners, who will win Olympic Marathon for India, which will ultimately help to eliminate the identity crisis faced by Indian Gorkhas. In every marathon, they participate, her team, wears t-shirts with slogan- WE ARE GORKHAS PROUD TO BE INDIAN. JAI GORKHA JAI HIND!
The program was anchored by Roshni herself, while sharing the experience of her identity crisis, she became emotional. Later in the concluding speech, Mr. NileshSawe made his students promise that they will make sure that the Indian Gorkha feel emotionally integrated with India. All the students enjoyed the dances performed by the Dancers from Darjeeling. Mrs. Hira Rasaily presented one Nepali song and two Hindi songs of Lata Mangeskar, which was very well received by all. After the program was over, all the students present were seeking blessings from Mrs. Rasaily by touching her feet.
‘Run with Roshni Foundation’ is very thankful to Mr. Dawa Lepcha, Sabhasad of Pedong, who connected us with Mr. Bimal Gurung, Chief Executive of GTA and Mr. Binay Tamang, Sabhasad of Cultural Department, GTA, who sent thirteen dancers from Darjeeling to Mumbai. Special thanks to Mr. Krishna Tamang for all local support to the dancers in Mumbai.
Via Roshni Rai
