Picture this: Dim lights, glistening moon, whistling wind with just the flash of mobile phones breaking away the darkness with the rhythms of soothing music by Raghu Dixit Project. Fantastical? Well, that's how Delhiites treaded towards key elements of The Global Goals campaign via a 'Light The Way' event at Purana Quila here.
The event, on Thursday, saw a confluence of three eras -- the ruins of old fort harking to the times bygone, and contemporary musical notes by Raghu Dixit Project making the right noise for a better future.
Music lovers here joined hands to illuminate the path towards global development at a time when Prime Minister Narendra Modi is in New York for the United Nations General Assembly, where he and other world leaders will sign new Global Goals to tackle poverty, inequality and climate change in the next 15 years.
The aim of the musical evening 'Light The Way' -- organised by action/2015, Save The Children and the United Nations in India, and presented by Seher -- was to highlight the crucial areas that need development in India.
As symbols of hope -- sky lanterns and white balloons filled up the night sky, while dance group Nritarutya injected enthusiasm and energy to the evening.
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The audience was enthralled by their dance performance, as the group painted the story of India and its culture on the stage, synchronising their moves to beats of drums from different regions of the country.
With just the magic of instrument -- be it drums, shehnai or trumpet, the gig recreated the tradition of south India, especially their 'aarti' rituals and lamps as the dancers pranced on the stage in white ensembles and garlands. There was a touch of 'dandiya' as well.
Then, a kaleidoscope of light and loud cheering welcomed Raghu Dixit Project on to the stage as the multilingual folk band listed out their global goals like "eradicating poverty, inequality" with special emphasis on education.
"The young generation will lead India after ten years. We hope PM picks right topics for India and lead this world towards development," said the band's frontman Raghu, who looked stylish in a lungi and ghungroos.
There was music, dancing and more music since the time the band started belting out their numbers like "Jag changa", "Ambar pe milte hain kadmon ke nishaan" and "Masti ki basti".
Raghu's quirky attitude and witty comments brought a wacky twist to the musical night.
Communicating with the audience is a passe for Raghu, he indulges in the moment and talks to the crowd while performing or even can leave you stumped if you are not dancing during the gig, or are leaving halfway. He pleads: "Sir, please don't go. I sing with all heart".
Unity and diversity was at the core of the event as Bengaluru-based Raghu made the music fanatics bridge the language gap by making them sing songs in Kannada. They may not know the meaning of the lyrics, but the love for music tied them all together into one string.
UN representative Rebecca Reichmann Tavares noted that the aim of the new global goals is to put people who are in dire need as first priority.
"The aim of the global goal is to transform the fate of humanity...With the new goals, the real focus is on poorest and in putting the last first. Today, we call everyone around the world to support global sustainable development agenda," Reichmann Tavares said.
Nisha, a 13-year-old girl from Srinivaspuri, who is involved in 2015 campaign, said she wants Modi to stress on girl education.
"I would like to request Modiji to talk about girls education in India," she said.
Delhi was not alone in its endeavour as over 100 countries hosted similar events.
