The Association for India Development put up a three-day cultural extravaganza featuring many of the leading local classical musicians and dancers on July 11,12 and 13 at the Little Kresgee Auditorium in MIT. The event was organized to create awareness for the various projects undertaken by AID and to raise funds to support them.

The show titled “Raag-Taal” featured some of the finest local talent. “We are very particular about supporting local initiatives in our projects in India. In that very spirit, we decided to use the help of local talent to raise funds for those projects,” said Anand Shivaram, an AID volunteer who is a graduate student at MIT. “We were particular in selecting the best. For our dance section, we auditioned the dancers and the best were chosen to perform.”

Friday evening was dedicated to Kathak. Pandit Sudharshan Charka and his troupe from New York and Anjali Nath, student of Gretchen Hayden of New England were the performers. Charka and his troupe presented a wide variety of items that were a mix of classical and some semi-classical numbers. Anjali Nath performed “Kathak Yoga” where she danced Kathak while enunciating the “Bols” or syllables. She was accompanied on the Tabla by Stephan Celluci, a high school student from the Boston University Academy. He is a student of Samir Chatterjee.

The second day was dedicated to music. Swathi Panda (Hindustani Vocal), Geeta Murali (Carnatic Vocal), Tara Anand (Violin), Durga Krishnan (Veena), Pravin Sitaraman (Mridangam) and Nitin Mitta (Tabla) along with their senior students presented many shades of the musical styles. The third day was devoted to dance. Bharatnatayam, Kuchipudi and Odissi dances were featured.

As I walked into the foyer of the Kresgee Auditorium, the dedication of the volunteers stood out. The excitement in their voice as they talk about the various projects established the commitment that they had for the projects. “Our goal is three-fold: Sangarsh, Nirman and Seva. Seva is a very important part of AID. Seva does not just mean helping others in need. It also means modifying one’s own life and habits to create less damage in the world which is perhaps the greatest Seva that is needed. There is a piece of software that can estimate your ecological footprint. I was shocked to see that mine is 7.0 as opposed the safe estimate of 2.2. Since I have joined AID, I am more conscious about how I live my life,” said Mokshay Madinan, a volunteer who is a graduate student at Brown University.

The projects cover a wide range from a DNT Post-Graduate Institute in the tribal areas of Gujarat to a women and marriage counseling center in Maharashtra. Volunteers spend at least 10 hours a week tracking the various projects. They gather information from the coordinators and publish a newsletter with details of the projects. Thus, donors can constantly be in touch with projects. AID seeks not just money but volunteers as well. If there are people with a certain type of talent, AID will work on connecting you with or creating a project that is right for your talent.

The program was extremely well organized. Little details from printing a complete program, having a good master of ceremonies to organizing the flow of traffic was attended to. If the positive energy of volunteers is any indication of the efficiency of a non-profit organization, AID Boston defintely deserves credit.

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