vivek oberoi celebrated Holi with little angels

This Holi, vivek oberoi chose to celebrate the festival with the girls from his project Devi in Vrindavan.

Says Vivek, "It was extremely satisfying to celebrate Holi with my little angels. I gave them a surprise by landing up unannounced. I picked them up in a bullock cart when they were coming back from school and when they discovered I was driving the cart, they were thrilled."

Vivek says after landing up in Vrindavan he took the children up to the banks of the river Yamuna and played Holi with them. "That was the way Krishna used to play Holi during the ancient times. We took five boats hired by a local sponsor who had decorated them with lovely fabrics and took the children all across the Yamuna for a boat ride. At the end of the day they were all exhausted."

Vivek even narrated stories to them. "I told them the story of Holi, how important it was to play with colours and the most important colour was of love. I told them to fill each other with love and shouldn't cause pain to others. Many of these children come from abusive environments and there is lot of anger in them."

Vivek and the children even played Holi the next day. "It's called phool Holi and the children and I got together in the evening and threw flowers at each other."

Vivek says the children whom he played Holi with are part of Devi that stands for the development and empowerment of girls - an initiative taken by the Yashodhara Oberoi Foundation. "At Devi, we give them a chance to educate themselves and provide them with nutrition and health care. Devi has at present 1200 children."

Vivek says, "We want to give the girl child a chance and at just Rs.60 a day, we give all of this. We raise funds through individual sponsors, my fans (through my website: http://www.vivek-oberoi.com/) and other large hearted people. I try and raise awareness when I travel across the world. The girl children are educated in the Krishna Sandeepani Muni school and are given three meals a day."

Vivek's big dream is to have a Pariyon Ka Mahal. "I don't want to call it an orphanage. It will be a home for abandoned kids who will be looked after by mothers who have been abandoned themselves or are physically abused and need a shelter."