Week 1

The Festival opened with the celebrations of Krishna Janmashtami, the birthday of one of the most beloved deities of the Indian people, Sri Krishna.

The World Cultural Festival began with Spain, the first country to present its culture and contemporary reality. It was followed by New Zealand, Israel, Ukraine, Laos, while on the final day of the first week Oman and Sudan were presented.

We listened to beautiful music, witnessed a wonderful theatrical performance from Laos based on the Indian epic Ramayana—a journey from Europe to the Middle East, back to Eastern Europe, to the Arabian Peninsula, to Africa, and Asia.

The Backbone of a Massive Movement

Let us now pause at one particular part of the afternoon programme of the events: the CSR Circle of Honour 2025. In this segment, the OWOF Organisation honoured sponsors and supporters of its Mission who contribute to the many and diverse public-benefit projects of the Organisation.

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in India has been legislated since 2013. The law on CSR is one of the most important legal frameworks incorporating social and environmental responsibilities into the corporate world. 

The reason for this special reference to this section of the Festival, however, is that it introduced to us some astonishing stories behind these gigantic, free-of-charge projects, that have been developing over the past 15 years in the fields of Health, Education, Nutrition, and beyond—something unprecedented and almost inconceivable in scale, value, and speed. What began as an experiment succeeded.

Of course, the contribution of these companies is significant, but what we sensed is that even more significant and dynamic is the contribution of common people, like you and me. The truth is that even a small sum of money we spend on something which is not necessary can make the difference, even between life and death, between health and a life sentence of misery or between human dignity and dehumanising poverty. 

Therefore, In this column, alongside the journey through the 100 countries that unfolded within the small village of Sathya Sai Grama,

we will attempt to explore how these projects, one by one, got initiated, and in which unimaginable, industrious,  and marvellously audacious way they unfolded - as there is no shortage of challenges and difficulties, to reach the present —becoming a study about the passionate human being who plays openly, who holds nothing back, and who, almost unnoticed, is working on a revolution, the real one.

A study on the leap into the void.

…to be continued in the bosoms of Programme 'Annapoorna'.