Rubaroo & British Deputy High Commission​, host 'Agaaz-e-Baatcheet', a Weeklong InterFaith youth Fest

Inculcate being respectful to all faiths, don't be complacent, try and do better to grow interfaith bondage : Andrew Fleming

 There is so much of negativity the world over, this may be a small initiative from Hyderabad, but can go long way in removing the negativity, hatred: Zafar Javed

Hyderabad, 12^th November 2017: Rubaroo, supported by the British Deputy High Commission, Hyderabad​, launched the First Social Action Project by their Youth Champions as part of their programme,  Agaaz-e-Baatcheet, a call to ‘initiate a conversation’ on Interfaith on 12th November 2017 at Sultan-Ul-Uloom, Banjara Hills where British Deputy High Commissioner, Andrew Fleming, launched the Photograph Exhibition, Humans of Interfaith and also addressed the Youth Champions. 

Agaaz-e-Baatcheet is a weeklong Interfaith event from 12^th-19^th November 2017 in Hyderabad. The programme celebrates religious diversity through community cohesion. It is a secular platform for young people to interpret and reflect deeply upon the underlying message of different religions and religious identities, finding and celebrating the commonalities between them. 

Speaking on the occasion Mr Andrew Fleming said, Interfaith is an annual event back in my country England and Wales and this is a wonderful initiative by Rubaroo in Hyderabad, where 125 Youth Champions have been trained and they will put up several Interfaith programmes spread across the week. Do encourage your family and friends to attend them. This initiative of reaching out to people of different backgrounds, different faiths and initiating it in this city of Hyderabad is amazing. I have been to several cities, but Hyderabad is the most friendly and the people here are warm. You should not stop here, you should not become complacent, you always need to try and do better, to grow interfaith bondage. Need to reach out to all groups especially the marginalised groups like HiV, single women and others like that. We should inculcate being respectful to all faiths. Look forward to interacting with many of you during the course of this week as several events are hosted as part of Agaaz-e-Baatcheet. He inaugurated the Photograph Exhibition, Humans of Interfaith, on the occasion.

Prominent Educationist Zafar Javed said, the topic Agaaz-e-Baatcheet means starting a dialogue and that's the biggest need of the hour. There is so much of a need to have an Interfaith dialogue. There is so much of negativity the world over, this may be a small initiative from Hyderabad, but can go long way in removing the negativity, hatred and can become a popular exercise across the country. We are willing to walk many miles with you Rubaroo, on this initiative to spread the word of love and dispel misconceptions, negativity.

Today's performers were,

1) Sidharth Bendi, Hyderabad’s youngest independent musician, gave a solo acoustic pop act with influences ranging from rock and roll to modern pop. He’s also founder of an NGO, The Beautiful World Movement. Having done more than 150 shows in 2017 so far, he’s excited to be part of Rubaroo’s Agaaz-e-Baatcheet on Sunday.

2) Payya - singer name Neelkantha and sings poetry from different cultures and Kabir.

3) The Youth band is by the Youth Champions of the Agaaz-E-Baatcheet program, as part of their social action project.

The Photograph Exhibition, Humans of Interfaith was also launched as part of the Interfaith Week. Off the 300 photo entries received from different parts of the country, 15 which represent the celebration of diversity that is India and depict the theme of celebration of interfaith diversity from across India have been showcased and will be on display at different venues during the Interfaith Week. The programme will conclude on 19th November with Music and cultural activities to celebrate the efforts of Youth Champions. These events will be open for public.

125 Youth Champions, between the age group of 18-25 years were selected from more than 20 applications, representing 26 different colleges across Hyderabad. Rubaroo received equal number of applications from both girls and boys. These youth champions from diverse socio economic, religious and gender backgrounds across Hyderabad, were part of a month long journey through a series of activities including workshops on the theme of Interfaith and Identity, symposium with religious leaders of different faiths, conversations with peers from heterogeneous religious communities, and Social Action Projects.

Some of the participating institutions are: Amjad Ali Khan College of Business Administration; Andhra Vidyalaya College of Arts, Science, and Commerce; Babu Jagjeevan Ram Government Degree College; Bhavans New Science Degree College; Dr. VRK Womens Medical College; G. Narayanamma Institute Of Technology; Government City College; Gokaraju Rangaraju Institute of Engineering Technology; Government Degree College Hussaini Alam; Madina Degree College; Mathru Sri Jr College; Maulana Azad National Urdu University; MNR Degree College; Nanakram Bhagwandas Science College; New Govt Degree College; PRR Law College; Roda Mistry College Of Social Work And Research Centre; Roots College; Shadan Institute Of Medical Science; Sindhu Junior College; Sri Chaitanya Junior Kalashala Govt Degree College; Government Junior College; Osmania University and Vivekananda degree College.

The Social Action Projects will include community walks, food festivals, street plays, short films, musical events, social media campaigns, photo competition, radio show, and other such activities in different parts of Hyderabad.

The forthcoming events during the week include Kuchipudi Dance Performance by Haleem Khan, on 13th November; Interfaith Walk in Nampally on 14th November; Interfaith Film Screening on 15th November; Stand Up Comedy by Hriday Ranjan & Sandesh Johnny on 16th November; Qissebaazi by The Hoshruba Repertory by Padma Damodaran & Kailash Waghmare, Directed by Danish Hussain on 17th November; Musical Kabir Evening by Vedanth Bharadwaj & Shruthi Vishwanath, on 18th November and Grand Closure Event, with Neeraj Arya’s Kabir Cafe on 19th November.