The India Association of New Hampshire held its annual fundraiser on Feb. 18 at the Merrimack High School. Close to a 100 people attended. The MCs of this event were Usha and Anirudh Dwarakanath.

The event, billed as the “2006 Grand Variety Entertainment Fundraiser”, began with an invocation to Lord Ganesha by students of the Nashua Balavihar. This was followed by a brief note by Prithvi Kumar, president of the association, in which he recounted some of the association’s activities during the previous year. Then the entertainment segment, comprising of 34 different performances, began.

The items during the main event were a mix of dance, vocal and instrumental presentations. Among the dances were solo performances by Varsha Gopal to the song “Tu Cheez Badi Hai Mast Mast”, Anjana Mangalat’s performance to “Nimbuda, Nimbuda”, Tejas Shroff’s moves to “Bunty Aur Babli,” and a couple of Bharatanatyam items by Pia Banerjee and Amritha Mangalat. The group dances included “Dholna” by Saniya and Elisha Shah, “Medley” by Lekha Nair and Sathvika Reddy, and “Nach Baliye”, performed by Anjali Krishnaswamy and Amritha, which was the finale to the event.

Vocal performances included “Tujha Maga Tho Mee Atha,” a Marathi bhajan sung by Shivani Dixit, “Jayathi Jayathi Bharatha Matha,” performed by Pragnya Iyengar accompanied by Anirudh on violin. Hindustani vocal items included a bandish in raag Durga sung by Amruta and Krutika Hosur. Meghna Chandra and Aishwarya Ravi performed “Amma Anandayini” and a Ganapathi Stuthi. The instrumental performances showcased “The Phantom of the Opera” on keyboard by Sucheta Tamragouri, and “Chau Taal” on the tabla by Pranav Ghatraju.

There was a display of paintings outside the main auditorium by Raj Pattanam, 17, of Nashua, and stalls offered mehndi decorations, Sahaj Yoga meditation information, and a variety of food items.

The evening of performances was capped off by a rendition of Hindi movie songs by the group “Yaadein”, and finally concluded with a vote of thanks by Tej Dhakar, vice president of the association and with the national anthems of India and the USA.

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