The United India Association of New England Inc. (UIANE) organized a grand program of Deepavali, the festival of lights at Newton South High School, Newton, MA on Sunday, November 3, 2024, afternoon with a gallery full of enthusiastic spectators and many talented performers.

The program started with Lord Ganesh Pujan while chanting Mantras followed by singing of a melodious Bhajan by Madhu Mathur, Dr. Prabhakar and others. Rakashi Chand, Vikas Sethi, Raghav Verma, Madhav Verma, Ishana Bali, Manya Sharma, Sarina Chand, Amisha Arora as diligent Emcees presented an entertaining cultural program coordinated by Dr. Neela Gandhi, Aanch Jain, Shobha Khetarpal, Veena Kapoor, and Hemant Sharma to the viewers. Young children to adult participants displayed their classical dances to Bollywood dances with fusion and remix trends. A special singing performance was given by Rushi Patel, Ryan Giri by using Harmonium and Table respectively under the guidance of Bhuwan Giri, the well-known choreographer in the Greater Boston area.

Many beautiful adult women in the gorgeous sarees displayed a unique presentation named ‘Nari in Sari’. They walked and swirled like butterflies to the tunes of music. Manisha Chowdhary delightfully choreographed this piece. Another mind catching performance was Lavani Dance by Heena Bhatt, Ketki Tipnis, Mari Muthuswamy, Sangeeta Benjwal, and Sumana Hatwar. Mona Mitra brilliantly choreographed this dance for the song, ‘Mala Jau dya na ghari.’

UIANE’s president, Neela Gandhi introduced the executive committee officers, Board members, Advisory Board members, Organizing team members and volunteers to the audiences and thanked them for their exemplary works. She thanked the cultural team members namely Aanch Jain, Shobha Khetarpal, Veena Kapoor for putting the show together. She humbly acknowledged the efforts of Manisha Chowdhary in organizing the Children’s Parade. She also thanked Amit Dutta, Vikas Sethi, and Parvin Khetarpal for consulting vendors and sponsors. She took few minutes for praising different small-scale business and service vendors who set up tables with their marketing and informational materials and educated people about their services. UIANE’s team members also honored some primary sponsor of the event namely McDonald’s, British International School of Boston, Platinum Insurance Agency and Russian School of Mathematics, and Ahluwalia Law Group. Many other sponsors were also received great recognition by the UIANE team.

Food vendors – Veenita Srivatsav, Grand India, and Boston Chai served delicious snacks and tasty masala chai to the participants. All the children and every participant of the event enjoyed the joyous and prosperous Diwali filled with love, laughter, and light. 

“We find that Diwali holds our Dharmic significance and a reason for celebration of hope and the victory of goodness over evil” one of the participants said.

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