Technopark’s IT bosses shake a Leg and take a Bashing for Charity

TechnoparkToday.com>> Oct 7, 2014:   The CEOs of around 30 companies at Technopark, India’s largest IT park, today stepped out of their boardrooms and proved they are just as skilled on the dance floor as Kerala held its first event for Daan Utsav, the country’s annual Festival of Giving.

The IT bosses, including Technopark CEO Mr K G Girish Babu, broke out their dance moves to thundering music and rousing cheers from a large gathering of employees at the atrium in Bhavani building.

CEO Bashing, a chance for employees to take a potshot at their bosses with water-soaked sponge bricks. There were plenty of takers for the Rs 100-a-throw offer, the proceeds of which will go to charity.

GTech, the industry body of IT/ITes companies in Kerala, and Technopark joined hands this year to introduce the festival to the IT community here. A number of fund-raising programmes were planned and implemented in this connection.

“Daan Utsav” which started off as the Joy of Giving Week in 2009, is a celebration of compassion, volunteering and the spirit of philanthropy. It is celebrated every year for a week starting from Gandhi Jayanti on October 2, and brings together Indians from all walks of life.

“We wanted to attract the attention of all of the 45,000 plus employees in Technopark, to this noble cause, which is the reason the CEOs themselves hit the dance floor. I hope the message of ‘Joy of Giving’ is embraced by the larger society too,” said Mr Girish Babu.

“This is a fun and spirited way of raising funds for a noble cause. The response to all activities has been overwhelming and shows that the IT workers will go all out to support the needy. All CSR initiatives of GTech have been very well received by the community,” said Mr. Anoop P Ambika, Secretary, GTech.

The week-long celebrations also witnessed a Facebook photography contest on the ‘Joy of Giving’ theme. Differently-abled children from a care home in Menamkulam near Kazhakuttom visited Technopark, where a screening of the Malayalam movie 1983 was held for them and they had  a chance to interact with its star Nivin Pauly.

The employees of various companies joined children from care homes in pot-painting and other craft making. These products were auctioned at the Technopark campus.

Earlier, 44 CEOs of multi-national companies walked the ramp to raise funds for charity, as part of Daan Utsav, which counts among its ambassadors Sachin Tendulkar, Harsha Bhogle, Shikha Sharma, managing director and CEO, Axis Bank Ltd; Sunil Kant Munjal, joint managing director, Hero MotoCorp Ltd and chairman, Hero Corporate Service Ltd; and Kalpana Morparia, CEO (South Asia and India operations), JPMorgan Chase and Co.