Filanthropia, the social awareness fest of Techno Main, Salt Lake, set its wings in 2016 as the first philanthropic fest ever of its kind in Kolkata. This noble initiative has been the brainchild of the NSS Club of Techno Main, Salt Lake, which rightfully calls itself the “SAMARITANS”. Over the past years, FILANTHROPIA has been a way towards creating a compassionate society. We, the Samaritans, have organized Free Eye Check-up camps, Photography contest (with a social message), and Sit-and-Draw competitions (for NGO children).
Feilicitation of eminent personalities who help in making this earth a better place to live in
Debate rounds among participants from various colleges
Discussion among panelists on social issues to create awareness
Open photography contest on empathetic topics
A painting competition between the teachers, NGO kids and the college students
Various fun games arranged for everyone
Cultural Performance by college students, NGO children & public figure.
It all began for the 1st time on April 6, 2016 – Filanthropia, the social awareness fest of Techno Main, Salt Lake, the first philanthropic fest ever of its kind in not only Kolkata, but in the entire Eastern region. This began as a noble initiative by Samaritans and was visibly different from the other college fests all around with it spreading its arms of compassion around the ones in need. The first edition had a sit and draw competition for the NGO kids, free eye check-up camp, photography contest with social message, and a panel discussion with the concerned bodies. The guests in Prerna section were felicitated for their respective contributions to the society.
April 25, 2017, saw the second edition of Filanthropia. With another year, Team Samaritans came out bigger and better with Filanthropia. With the panel discussion, Sit and Draw competition, photography contest, we reached out to more people around us. The kids from Ichhe Dana mesmerized the audience with their performances, alongside the cultural performances from our college students.The Perna section remained the main attraction with the felicitation of the guests of this year.
21st March, 2018, was a day very close to our heart of us Samaritans, because on this day Filanthropia 3.0 happened, the best version to date. The Prerna section stole the entire limelight away with two Padma Shri awardees and our Padman from Kolkata taking their esteemed chairs on the stage. The photography contest and the sit and draw competition were held as usual with the aim of sharing various social messages. The cultural performances from the college students focusing on women objectification and their empowerment shook everyone, while the kids from Ichhe Dana gave a lovely mesmerizing performance.
Organised on 9th and 10th April, 2019 by Samaritans, NSS club of Techno Main, Salt Lake, Filanthropia 4.0 was unique in many ways. It succeeded in spreading happiness and smile especially among the underprivileged. Filled with hoards of motivational, cultural and social event along with exciting surprises kept everyone on the edge of their seats throughout. To top it all we had Wildlife Conservationists – Nirit Dutta and Dr. Jerryl Banait and “The Real Life Spiderman” motivating us all to dream and work harder to achieve a socially aware and cooperative society. Also renowned personalities from SVF graced the occasion. Filanthropia 4.0 did spread the message – Join hands, Raise hands, and Be the change.
In the dreadful situation of Covid-19, Team Samaritans came up with a brand new idea of the first ever social awareness fest “Filanthropia E.0” which was hosted on 8th, 9th and 10th of May, 2020. Filanthropia E.0 was premiered on our Facebook page and Youtube channel. Our PRERNA guests were – Dr. Dhires Chowdhury, Mr. Sobhan Mukherjee(PADMAN), and Mr. Deb Kumar Mallick. They inspired us with motivational speeches. There were motivational speeches by our college authorities and the faculty members too. To fill the air with positivity we had Foodka aka Mr. Indrajit Lahiri, the “Yellow Taxi”, a band formed by our alumni and a spectacular cultural performance by our college students. We also witnessed the grand launch of the Samaritans theme song “Amader Obhiman Samaritans”. This year we introduced two new event categories – One Minute to Showcase, and Meme War. Along with the spreading Covid-19 awareness, Filanthropia E.0, a complete social awareness fest of this year, was pretty successful like every year.
Filanthropia e.1, the second version of our online awareness fest, we paid tribute to the frontline workers who risked their own lives during the pandemic to serve humanity. Also we showed our gratitude to the LGBTQ community by celebrating inclusivity. The much awaited event was hosted and premiered on Facebook on 23rd of July, 2021 from 4:30 pm and from 5:30 pm on 24th and 25th of July, 2021. It began with some inspiring words by our honorable college authorities who graced us with their presence. Three women of substance, namely Mrs. Pratima Poddar- Kolkata’s first female bus driver, Ms. Shruti Mohta- the founder of the Live Kingsize Die Kingsize (LKDK) Foundation and Mrs. Debopriya Biswas-a dedicated teacher and humanitarian, were present for our PRERNA section. Amidst other fun sub-events like ‘One minute to showcase’ and ‘Clickopia’, ample amount of pleasure and entertainment were provided by our other guests like Sinful Foodie-a popular food blogger, Mr. Anupam Das-a fantastic content creator, Arunava Dey-a charming actor, Kinjal Chatterjee-a renowned singer and the lovely Ritabhari Chakraborty to name a few. Our dedicated members and respected sponsors made the event a roaring success.
Debkumar Mallick
Shobhan Mukherjee
Dr Dhires Chowdhury
Indrajit Lahiri
