HBA to make the Event all India to spread Prevention of Drowning Awareness

New Delhi ,September 7 : When the Hemant Bala Advaitha (HBA) Foundation embarked on an unchartered territory, they had not imagined that their efforts would get such a massive support from people. The founders just decided to take up the cudgel and create awareness about prevention of drowning.

So many deaths have happened in India from drowning but very few have inspired to make drowning prevention a national cause. Journalist parents of Advaitha Verma who drowned in Pawna Lake (Pune) on 23 June 2024 decided to keep their son’s memories alive and transform the same into saving lives of others.

There could not have been a better day than the UN Day for prevention of drowning 25 July 2025 when they launched Advaitha- A symphony music award to invite teenagers to become ambassadors of this movement. They launched the music competition but limited it to NCR region because of lack of resources and their own confidence about response.

The response was overwhelming. More and more parents joined the cause and within a month through online campaign, they attracted close to 100 participants. Experts shortlisted 22 out of which finally 12 singers performed at the event on 6 Septtember. (the better date was Advaitha’s birthday but since it is Teachers’ Day the organizers decided to keep this on 6th).

There was massive support from family and friends who understood the cause and soon came on board. Some media houses such as NewsX and Oneindia became media partners and Big FM became the radio partner along with others who gave their service either subsidized or free. Eminent Music director Gunjan Jha framed and steered the programme without charging any fee and Garam Kalakar team joined the cause and came to Delhi from Nagpur.

No such programme becomes successful unless you have presence of audience. People came from various corners of Delhi to join in the movement. Some schools sent their children to get the awareness about the programme’s theme.

The judges found it difficult to judge the winner when the 12 young singers performed on the state. Shreya Verma stole the show with her own rendering of the song Intehan Ho gayi Intejar ki..(by Kishore Kumar) and was awarded a cash prize of Rs 51,000 for winning the first title of Advaitha- A Symphony. The first Runner-Up Jenya Vishwakarma received a cash award of Rs 31,000 for her super rendering of the song Suno Sajna papihe ne….(by Lata Mangeshkar). The young sensation Aryaman Chhabra enthralled the audience with his superb rendering of Laga Chunri me Daag…(by Manna De)and became the Second Runner Up and won a cash award of Rs 21,000. Since this was the first show, the organisers decided to reward all the finalists as a mark of gratitude.

The aim of the show was not lost on the audience since all speakers stressed the need to create awareness and take precaution while getting into unknown waters. Chief Guest of the first session renowned classical dancer and Padam Bhushan Sonal Mansnigh said that it was very painful to lose such a young soul and the society must take up the issue of awareness. Guest of Honour and renowned classical dancer and Padam Shri Shovana Narayan was deeply emotional for all such losses. She urged the audience to keep telling their younger ones that they should not ignore the safety measures. Guest of Honour Kurafhati Nitin of Big FM stressed that safety measures are must around water bodies to save young lives.

The Chief Guest for the evening Hon’ble Kartikeya Sharma, who is a member of Rajya Sabha, could not come since he got stuck in a different programme. However, he assured that he would raise the issue in every platform. The country cannot afford to lose lives like this where it is possible to save them.

Maj. Gen KK Sinha, an army veteran, gave a very inspiring speech and asked parents never to forget to keep telling their children what to do and what not to do. The children may not like but we cannot abdicate our responsibility. These warning do keep reverberating in the minds of the young people.

The force behind the show and father of Advaitha, Sudesh Verma, told the audience that we must learn to make administration accountable. When the government is advertising about tourist spots and also earning revenue, it must take measures that make the water spots safe. He urged children to ask what are the safety measures when they enter any water body. When you go gliding, you must ask the organizers what are the safety measures taken in case of an accident. Don’t use their services if they say no.

Sudesh said that because of media highlighting the drowning of Advaitha and the fact that the parents have lodged a case against the government for negligence, the administration was more careful. In the last one year after Adviatha’s death, there was a not a single case of drowning in Pawna Lake that used to take lives by pleasure. He said the HBA would use various measure to spread awareness about prevention of drowning. This is our life mission as a tribute to our son.

HBA convener Santosh Verma announced that we will make the show bigger and make it an all India event from next year onward. The scale has to be very big to create awareness at an all India level. We hope Good Samaritans will join us in this mission, he added.

About Advaitha

Advaitha Verma did his schooling from DPS Noida and Modern School, Barakhamba Road. He always aspired high and wanted to do big things like any teenager of his age. When he took up cricket he did extremely well and travelled to Yorkshire (UK), Sharjah and other places to hone his skills under his cricket coach, Sanjay Sir. If Covid 19 had not stuck, he could have become a cricketer. Almost two years of non-cricketing activities and he lost interest and took up music.

His elder brother was trained in music but Advaitha was self-taught. He learnt from the internet and soon surprised everyone by his dedication, voice and performances. He performed at many places and got appreciation of one and all. Within a year the music society of Symbiosis made him the convener. He was building new dreams where he could combine study and music. He wanted to become very serious in is vocation and had just gone to the Pawna Lake, a famous tourist spot for picnic. He never returned to fulfil his dreams. Music was his first love which got nurtured under his music teacher Rajesh Upadhyaya. He was he school’s lead singer when he left the school and joined Modern School.

He was lucky because to get admission in Modern School Barakhamba is an uphill task. This was his luck that came in the form of blessings from the school’s principal Dr Vijay Datta who wanted to give the child a chance to shine. This had brought lot of confidence in him that yes I can do.

HBA Convener

Santosh Verma