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Pratham Canada was launched on Sunday, October 10, 2004. Pratham India CEO Ujwal Thakar and Pratham USA President Yogi Patel were at hand to assist Pratham Canada founders Jayshree and Siddhartha Thakar with the launch of Pratham Canada. The speeches and presentation made by them were much appreciated by the assemblage. Many of them have shown interest to be volunteers and donors.
 The highpoint of the launch was a spectacular dance recital by 18-year old Kathak dancer Kanika Thakar* performing her Rangapravesh (dance debut) in front of a packed hall of nearly 500 invitees at Ottawa's most prestigious venue, the Main Theatre of the Canadian Museum of Civilization. Ottawa is Canada's Capital and has a large population of Indo-Canadians. The event was covered by Ottawa's largest TV station CJOH and featured on their popular nightly news broadcast on Sunday evening.
 Approximately $1800 CDN was raised at the event, and at the reception following the dance program, many people had a chance to meet Ujwal and Yogi to discuss their interest in Pratham. Several people have followed up with pledges of support and commitments to volunteer for Pratham Canada, and also to participate in Pratham India programs.
 There is growing interest in Pratham in other Canadian cities also and it is possible that before long there will be Vancouver and Toronto chapters of Pratham Canada as well. Jayshree and Siddhartha Thakar received a tremendous amount of help towards the launch of Pratham Canada from Mangal & Ramesh Waghmare, Simi and Ravinder Gupta (Toronto), Zuli Moledina, Pankaj & Babita Gupta, Vivek Shah (Kingston), and Mala & Dinesh Advani. Michel Audet of Kelly Manthorp Solicitors worked hard for many months to help get Pratham Canada registered as a non-profit corporation.
You can reach Pratham Canada by contacting Jay or Sid Thakar at sjthakar@rogers.com
The Pratham Canada website is currently being designed by new volunteer Romy Randev of Soma Station Media. Stay tuned for the launch of the Pratham Canada website in the next two weeks.
* Kanika is the daughter of Jayshree and Siddhartha Thakar. Her interest in child literacy and the Pratham initiative made her Rangapravesh the ideal occasion to launch Pratham Canada. Kanika plans to study Kathak dance in Delhi in early 2005 and explore opportunities to work on Pratham programs during her 6-month stay in India. She plans to return to Ottawa in June 2005 to start her university education and promote Pratham in Canada.
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