Rahul Bose to auction memorabilia of 16 legends

Actor-activist Rahul Bose will be putting on sale iconic memorabilia of 16 famous Indians in an auction titled as ‘The Idea of India’ through his NGO, The Foundation. The memorabilia belongs to legends like Zakir Hussain, Ustad Amjad Ali Khan, R K Laxman, Vikram Seth, Amartya Sen, Javed Akhtar, Shabana Azmi, Amitav Ghosh, Aamir Khan and many other celebrities. While tabla maestro Zakir Hussain has donated a set of tabla which belonged to his father Ustad Allah Rakha Khan, Ustad Amjad Ali Khan has donated an autographed Sarod and Aamir Khan has pitched in with the jacket that he wore in Lagaan. The rest of the memorabilia have still not been disclosed. “We decided to have an auction from 16 greatest Indians, who with their talent and world-view uphold the value of ‘The Idea of India’. The idea behind the auction is that India should be a secular inclusive democratic state without discrimination of any kind,” said Bose in a statement. “These people are compassionate, generous and they don’t discriminate on the basis of gender, caste, colour, age and religion. Auctions also help us in raising money for my NGO The Foundation. Our funding model is based purely on auctions,” he added. Bose came up with The Foundation as an effort to fight all kinds of discrimination prevailing in the country. The auction is slated to take place this Saturday.