For the first time in ten years, pouring rain forced the India Association of Greater Boston(IAGB) to interrupt its India day celebrations half way through the program and cancel the second half of the program. The inclement weather did not deter a crowd of nearly 3000 from attending the event. Many came prepared with umbrellas and raincoats but had to return disappointed when the rain forced a cancellation.

At first , despite the worries about the weather , IAGB optimistically decided to go ahead with the event  The event opened with a welcome address by Amrit Soni and an inaugural prayer by Vinod Chungi, both directors of IAGB. This was followed by the singing of the national anthem by Akash Majumdar, Amrita Saigal, Arun Saigal, Gaelyn Almaeida, Vinisha Patel, Komal Patel, Maya Shah, Monali Gidwani and Abritee Dhal.

Amit Dang and Sutanuka Basu served as master of ceremonies for the event. They were ably assisted by Sanjeevani Kukreja, Sunita Malhotra and Ranjani Saigal who served as co-anchors. 

The cultural program opened with classical musical presentations by students of Sangarika Kanjilal and Swathi Panda. This was followed by a dance drama â€œBhakta Prahalad” presented by the Vrindavan Preservation Society.  Lasya Priya under the direction of Meena Kadaba presented Ashta Lakshmi Stotram.

 Lt Governor Kerry Healy who was the guest of  honor arrived just as it started raining and she addressed the crowd. She was very appreciative of the contributions that Indian Americans had made in the state of Massachusetts. She had the audience cheering when she declared that her technically inclined thirteen year old son wanted to go to IIT rather than MIT to get his engineering degree.

When the weather showed no respite , President Anupam Wali in conjunction with the MDC made the difficult decision to cancel the show. “I am very sorry to cancel the show, though I am glad that we could at least present two hours worth of programs” said Wali. Unfortunately the Hatch Shell does not allow for rain dates and hence the event cannot be rescheduled.

While many performers were disappointed, they were very appreciative of IAGB's efforts.  â€œEven though the rain did end up canceling the show, IAGB did a great job, and still had a good attendance considering the weather conditions were very bad. It was disappointing that the show got cancelled. IAGB put on a class act in the way you did everything. Hopefully everything works out better next year.” said Rohit Bambi who is the coordinator for  Boston Bhangra.

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