Anupam Kher celebrates Children's Day with slum kids

Mumbai, Nov 14 (UNI) Bollywood actor Anupam Kher today celebrated the Children's Day with the school children drawn from 34 slums in suburban Bandra.

The celebrations were held at the Children's Complex, run by the National Society for Clean Cities-India, at Kherwadi on the occasion of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru's birth anniversary, in which nearly 1,000 school children participated.

The actor mingled and interacted with the children, and in his inimitable style narrated his own life story and how he has come up in life the hard way.

Addressing the kids, the Padmashri awardee said, ''If you want to achieve something in life, it is very important to dream and above all work to make your dreams come true.'' ''As a child I use to dream in broad daylight. My dad did not have money to send me to a good school or to buy me new clothes, but he loved me a lot,'' he added.

''When I first came to Mumbai from Shimla, my address in Mumbai was Kherwadi, Khernagar and Kher Road,'' he recalled ''when I sent a letter to my father, he wrote back saying, 'son, how did you build a colony of your own?''' Kher said, ''You have the potential to become somebody in life.

Many of you will be actors, cricketers and so on. If today I can stand here and become somebody in life, so can you.'' The actor gave away prizes to the children for excellence in various fields, and the children crowned him 'Kherwadi Ka Raja'.

In the day-long event, film shows, puppet shows, games, magic shows, dance, music and singing programmes were organised. A painting competition, sponsored by the ONGC Mahila Samiti, was held on the occasion.

Hindustan Times Political Editor Sujata Anandan was the chief guest for the programme.

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