The Lokvani Communty and Youth Night was a phenomenal success. Ten community heroes were honored and the Inspire Award was presented to Jaya and Abhaya Asthana and Narain and Vidya Bhatia. Several youngsters were given the Rising Star award to recognize their talents in arts, sports, community service and other areas.  

The event was held on Dec 15, 2018 at Ambrosia Wedding and Banquet Hall in Foxborough, MA. The event was planned and executed meticulously by the organizing team.  Lokvani is grateful for the amazing work done by Anuradha Upneja, Sanjay Gowda, Raksha Soni, Amrit Soni, Pallavi Nagesha, Swathi Subramanian, Ramila Thakkar, Jyoti Sharma, Bipin Parekh and Krishna Kalghatgi to make the event a great success. 

The event opened with a welcome by Anuradha Upneja. Mahathi Athreya, Amritha Pai, (students of Aparna Balaji) , Yash Ravish (student of Tara Anand)  and Pravin Sitaraman presented a beautiful Carnatic classical concert.  This was followed by a brief introduction by Anil Saigal. Ranjani Saigal and Nirmala Garimella introduced the Rising Star awards where youth were recognized for their different talents. Sreshtaa Rajesh,

Itihaas Kommanavancha and Eesha Verma received the award for Engineering. Dia Arora was honored for her accomplishments in sports. Kriti Krishna and

Advay Goel were recognized for their community service which Varshini Prakash was recognized for her work in Environmental Activism. Yash Ravish,Sahana Venkatesh, Amritha Pai and Radha Rao were recognized for their accomplishments in music while Mayuri Venkatesh, Mahathi Athreya, Meghana Palaniappan,Gati Aher,  Sukriti Kushwaha, Shubhangi Mali-Aher, Mukta Kushwaha, Shruti Nanda, Priyanka Nanda, Reba Raviraj, Dhwani Sreenivas, Divya Rajan, Juhi Lalwani, Foram Patel, Sanjana Srinivas, Meera Ramesh, Ashrita Iyengar, Shanthni Ravindrababu, Shriya Krishna, Anika Joglekar and Srujana Tammisetti were recognized for their accomplishments in Dance. Nithya Jonnavithula and Riddhimaa Sinha were recognized for their excellence in visual arts. 

Juhi Lalwani, who had won the first place at the Swaraag competition in 2017, sang a lovely sufi medley. Students of Sridevi Thirumalai presented a beautiful Thillana in the Ragam Shuruti. Usha Verma,  Jyoti Mazumdar, Sneh Jaisingh, Sanjay Padaki, Dilip Gandhi, Manoj Shah, Varavani Dwarki, Jayanti bhai Patel, Nishikanta Sahoo and Rekha Palriwala received the Community Heroes award.  Team Aid Inc was given special recognition for their work in supporting people in the time of need. Sameer Desai, founder of the Desai Foundation helped give the awards. 

Following a beautiful musical interlude by Swetha Siva and Vidhya Sukumaran,  the Inspire Awards were presented to Narain and Vidya Bhatia and Jaya and Abhaya Asthana. 

The event ended with a “Heroes Walk” coordinated by Ruchika Arora where models from the Ms. India New England Pageant escorted the awardees on to the stage. 

“Beautifully visualized and meticulously executed” was the strong consensus from the audience. The event brought together different ethnic, cultural, religious and other organizations. People really enjoyed meeting each other. Students of Sunanda Sahay and Raksha Soni exhibited their art.  For Lokvani it was a true honor to recognize the special people who make the community beautiful. 

Alankar décor provide the beautiful setup, while Sraveo provide AV support. The food from Olive and Mint was par excellence. 

We look forward to the next year’s event that is scheduled on Dec 7 2019!