India society of Worcester hosted a fundraising event on September 16th at the India Center in Shrewsbury, MA. This was a ticketed event with funds to benefit the India Center. Shaam-e-Rangeen, as the name suggests was an evening of social interaction, food and music hosted by the executive committee of ISW and the board of trustees.

      On a cool fall evening, the India Center was abuzz with activity and formally attired guests. Meera Gupta, the President of ISW personally greeted the guests along with the VP Ragini Seth, Vijay Jain (general Secretary) and Sahdev and Caroline Passey.The India Center (built in 1994) was bedecked with lights and flowers. Shobha Shastry of Alankar set up the banquet room with delicately embroidered silk panels, gold tissue screens and satin curtains. The whole effect was royal and warm.

      Dr Passey, one of the founder members of ISW filled me in on the history of the organization. ISW was initially formed in 1963 as a student organization by students of Indian origin from Holy cross, Clark University and WPI. In 1986, it was rejuvenated and focused on creating a showcase for the cultural heritage of India and a beacon of community service as its missions. Current activities include ISW’s cultural school which focuses on language classes for children, Yoga classes, a Youth group, Humraahi (a seniors group), cultural fetes and celebrations and a free health stop held at the India Center, innumerable community programs locally and fundraising for many social causes both locally and in India. Dr. Passey summarizes ISW’s goal as “providing a view of India and Indian culture to the youth being raised in the New England area”.

            I spoke to the Punjabi family who are intimately involved with ISW. Their sons attend Hindi language classes every Sunday morning and Dilip Punjabi, their dad is a volunteer Hindi teacher (other languages taught in the center include Bengali, Tamil and Gujarati). Amol Punjabi, the younger son, is visibly enthusiastic about his experience in the cultural classes on Sundays. After the language segments, he says, there is usually a musical or cultural session as an added bonus!

            Dinner was catered by Bollywood Grill who presented a sumptuous menu presented in a classy buffet. The wines were donated by Mass Discount liquors of Auburn (The Bhavsar family) and the flowers were provided courtesy of Perro’s florist.

Meera Gupta in her speech thanked all the guests and indicated the funds would be used for maintenance of the India Center and fund future expansion of the facilities.

      Now it was time for musical entertainment by “Saptaswar”, a music group of talented vocalists and instrumentalists spearheaded by Mohan Somasundaram. A very soft-spoken man, Mohan describes his group as “a music group with a cause”. The artistes of the group combine their passion for music with a mission to preserve and nurture Indian values by partnering with non-profit organizations to promote their goals.

      This passion was evident in the professional quality and performance of all the members of the group who rocked the audience with popular numbers spanning the musical heritage of Bollywood. The members of Saptaswar, who come from various professional backgrounds and interests include Christy Mathew( Keyboard), Hiral Parikh ( drums), Raj Alur( Guitar) , Karthik Krishnan( Guitar), Mahesh Lachyankar( tabla). Roshan Alur( saxophone), Sudha Rao(vocal), Raghu Saranathan(vocal), Vinay Mishra( vocal), Vitthal Bhaktha(vocal) and Manav Shah(vocal). Audio was provided by Kurian music of Worcester

      The night was filled with the sound of music and melody. As the beautiful music wafted through the room, a number of audience members took to the dance floor and boogied along. Notable numbers were “Kaisi Paheli’ from the film Parineeta by Sudha Rao( sultry vocals!!)  with excellent accompaniment by Roshan Alur on the Sax (He is the youngest member of Saptaswar and is a student at Worcester Academy),  Mera jootha hai japani” by Vitthal Bhakta( red topi et al), “ Kajra re” by the whole ensemble and “O meri Zohra zabin” sung with gusto by Vinay Mishra. The show  proceeded to a rollicking finish with a medley of numbers including Dum maro dum, Mera naam chin chin choo, laila o laila which got the audience up on their feet.

      Shaam-e-rangeen was just that, a beautiful evening with friends, food and music and I was sorry to see it end. However, ISW has many activities lined up in the next month or so, including Navratri garba on Sept 23 and Diwali function on Oct 14. Please go to ISWonline.org for details and tune in for more concerts by Saptaswar. As I left the India Center, the words of this song wafted through  my ears: Kabhi alvida na kehna……”

--Meena Sundaram

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