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On the occasion of Children’s Day on 14th November’22, The Young Indians (YI), Kolkata Chapter, The Youth Wing of CII (Confederation of Indian Industry) initiated the ‘Flight of Fantasy’ project where they flew down 14 children from the 2 Kolkata based NGO’s Don Bosco Ashalayam and MSS to Mumbai, India’s dream city. As a part of this initiative, team Young Indians is also committed to funding children’s education and supporting these institutions in varied ways. The objective behind this project was to reiterate the importance of believing in your dreams and providing an opportunity for these young children to encounter experiences of a lifetime. 

Young Indians (Yi), which was formed in the year 2002, is an integral part and a strategic partner of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), operating with an objective of creating a platform for young Indians to realize the dream of a developed nation. Young Indians (YI), Kolkata Chapter is Spread across 57 chapters in the country, YI works towards the development of a better India through thousands of impactful projects and activities divided primarily into three areas; Youth Leadership, Nation Building and Thought Leadership

The exhilarating journey for the children began with them boarding an aircraft for the very first time! This was followed by a city tour of Mumbai’s iconic spots such as Marine Drive and Gateway of India, amongst others. The icing on the cake was to meet, interact and learn from their favorite movie stars - Ajay Devgan, Anupam Kher and Sonu Sood. 

 Anupam Kher inspired the children by saying, ‘Work hard and accomplish all of your goals. Failure is a situation, not a person. Never be afraid of failure because it is only an incident. A person who doesn’t give up can keep trying till they succeed. Believe in yourself, that’s when the magic happens.’

Actor Ajay Devgan lauded the efforts of the organization. He said ‘I feel honored to support team Young Indian’s, Kolkata Chapter in this excellent endeavor. Education has the power to transform lives and Team YI has done a commendable job by advocating this.’

Sonu Sood reiterated, ‘Dream big since nothing is impossible if you’re willing to work hard towards it. The key is to believe in your dreams, have faith in them and put in the required effort to achieve them. Don’t let anyone stop you from fighting for it’.  

Commenting on the ocassion,Vaibhav Soni, Chair, Young Indians (YI), Kolkata Chapter said, “With YI’s project ‘flight of fantasy’ we seek to empower children from less privileged communities and inculcate in them the thought that dreams can come true if one works hard and believes in them. This project was extremely close to out hearts as an organization and the biggest payoff was the smile on the childrens’ faces when they took the first flight of their lives and experienced a whole new world with their favorite movie stars”.   BE Bureau