Holi is a celebration of the triumph of good over evil, a carnival of colors, a tradition of ancient spring rites, and is a community festival that bridges the social gap. Though Holi Hangama, the Holi function produced by the IAMV, didn’t feature the physical throwing of colors that usually characterizes Holi celebrations, it more than made up for it with bright decorations, artful displays, and a colorful spray of cultural items. Archana Singhal, who was in charge of the decorations, sought to bring color to every aspect of the function. There were glittering posters and color splashes, saris in an array of shades on stage, covered tabletops in bright hues, and balloons in varying shades. Mrs. Singhal also designed an artful display, which included an intricate rangoli and two kalashes with pichkaris sticking out of multi-colored sand. Many people commented on the elaborate decorations, which were said by some to be the best ever in the history of the program.

“It is a very family oriented organization and promotes unity as a family and urges our kids to come forward and take pride in their Indian heritage and remember their roots by taking part in all the activities in our ethnic festival functions in any which way you can.” Stated IAMV president, Sangeeta Jain In this, the organization did succeed, at least in regards to the Holi function. Having been there for the preparations as well as the production, I got to see firsthand just how much work and effort everyone put into the creation of the event aptly called Holi Hangama. I was especially impressed with the amount of help and involvement by the younger generation, who had a part in just about every facet of the show. For example, they helped in the making and the set up of the decorations and other equipment, with the running of the games, they performed, and they even played a large role in the presentations, as a recent college graduate was the MC and a college student did the raffle drawing.

The fact that Holi Hangama was going to be new and exciting could be seen throughout the function, starting with the initial part, which for the first time had corporate sponsorship and thus more professional games. Committee member Vijay Basra was in charge of the event, and brought in new and exciting games, which included golf, basketball, ring toss, and Tic Tac Toe. The impact of this new variety of games was very apparent as children from all age groups and even some adults participated in the games, particularly golf. It was nice to see everyone having such a good time, as even my brother, who is usually bored out of his mind at these type of events, was laughing, playing games, and later helping run some of them. It was not too far into the program that the children had taken over the running of almost all the games. It really filled me with a great sense of happiness to be in the midst of such a lively celebration of life and color.

The Master of Ceremonies, Anjali Kumar did an excellent job introducing the various performers in the cultural program. The highlight of the function for most people was the rousing performance by two young girls, Shefali Lohia and Dharika Dhavan, to the popular upbeat Rajasthani folk song Rangilo mahro dholno. The entire experience was incredible, not only was the performance very lively and the performers vivacious, but the response of the crowd, the clapping and whistling and energy the dance induced, that was what made the dance truly one of a kind. The rest of the dances, which were also enjoyed by all, were performed by groups that consisted of men and women of all ages.

One thing that was different here compared to other such programs, was that there were not only younger, female groups and veteran performer Kunal Sharma, but older boys and girls as well. There was an exhilarating and enthusiastic rendition of Sham Hai from the movie Yaaden by high school student Amita Basra, and Pyar re dil maange from the film Mujhe Kuch Kehna Hai was brought to life by high school students Rohit Malhotra and Nevin Bhardwaj. Nisha Balsara, Vivek Bhatia, Tina Dalal, Nimesh Patel, Reena Patel, and Ruchir Shah, who were named as the next Hritik Roshans and Kareena Kapoors, did Bolein Churiyan from Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham. The cultural section ended with a beautiful and graceful dance by Ambika Wali and Sumit Widhani to the ever-popular song Radha kaise na jale from the Oscar nominated movie Lagaan, an appropriate choice as Holi is also a celebration of the love between Lord Krishna and Radha.

The program ended with dinner and dancing thereafter. After enjoying the food and yummy deserts, I headed over to the dance floor with Anjali, the MC, and a few other people I knew, to join in the dancing. I was pleased to see a greater representation of the younger generation on the dance floor among the adults who were really getting down to the music. The DJ for the music was Ravi Singh from Cee Gee Sounds, and he provided a continuous flow of upbeat music to keep people up and dancing the night away. All in all, a great time and if you missed it, be sure to check it out next year.

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