The India Association of Greater Boston celebrated the fifty-ninth anniversary of India’s Republic Day at the Lexington High School in Lexington, MA on Jan 26, 2008.  A colorful extravaganza, it was the first event held under the presidency of Rita Shah.  Rep Charles Murphy served as the chief guest for the evening.

The event opened with a prayer and a welcome address by Rita Shah and the singing of the US and Indian national anthems by Kumkum Dilwali and Sadhana Upadhaya.  Sandip, Anjali Wali served as MCees for the evening.
 
The musical section opened with a Kannada Patriotic Songs coordinated by Shobha Hiremath. Sangeetayan presented Tarana in Raag Vrindavani Sarang under the direction of Sagarika Kanjilal.

 â€œDharti ka Veer: Prithviraj Chauhan”, a play about the brave Rajput king Prithviraj Chauhan and his struggle against the Mughal oppressors was presented by Takshashila Bal Mandir under the direction of Jaya Asthana. Noopur Dance Academy under the direction of Jayashree Mohapatra presented ‘Namami Vighna Raja Twam’ in Odissi style

Newton Balvihar presented Sita Swayamvar under the direction of Kiran Kuchroo. This was followed by Om Namah Shivaya by the students of Ranjani Saigal.

Satsang Center presented “The Heart of Hindustani”s coordinated by Jayashree Mohapatra and Kruti Thakkar.  Bharathakalai School of Dance under the direction of Jayshree Bala Rajamani presented Kuravanji Dance.

“Chalte Chalte” from Pakeezah was presented by students Sreyashi Kanjilal. Jeyanthi Ghatraju’s students presented. Bharatanatyam for Instrumental Music. The IndusKidz group presented India – A Land of Dances while the students of th Triveni School of Dance under the direction of Neena Gulati presented a Kucipudi dance.

Students of the Chidambaram Nritya Academy presented a Bollywood medley   under the direction of Neha Parikh and so did the Leherein group under the direction of Netra Rajinikanth, Sunita Malhotra, Neela Jangi, Prachi Pendharkar and Monisha Rajinikanth.

Shivani Shrivastava's group Taal presented Aaja Nachale while the student of the Aangikam Dance Academy presented a fusion dance under the direction of Jasmine Shah.

Karishma Soni’s students presented  Breathless – Manmohini which was a  medly of two unique songs, choreographed in contemporary style while  Sunita Malhotra’s group presented the famous number from “Mughal-e-Azam” Pyar Kiya to Darna Kya. New England Marathi Mandal
 under the leadership of Vijay Shriwardhankar presented Gondhal  which is a fast paced, rhythmic folk dance from Maharashtra performed to worship Devi Tuljabhavani during Navratra

Bhangra Beats under the direction of Reshma Singh presented four genres of dance including Dandiya, South Indian, Bollywood and Bhangra and students of Darshana Jani presented a folk dance. Nashua Boys under the direction of Lakhsmi Manasa presented a medley of hit Telugu songs while the students of Amulya Deepka from the Vividha School of Dance presented Aaja Nachle.

Mitali Biswas presented a Rajasthani Folk Dance followed by a  presention by the Jhumka Dance Company choreographed by Ambika and Anjali Wali and Suparna Banerjee.  Next came a presentation by Lexington Bhangara under the direction of Ann Thomas, Kush Sharma and Hermen Luther while the Medway Group presented  “Mera Dholna” choreographed by Puja Mehta and Manjri Mehta.

“Dhola Aayore” a choreography by Bharati Biswas was followed by another presentation by the Marathi group again coordinated by Vijay Shriwardhankar which brought the celebrations to a fine conclusion.

IAGB organizes two major celebrations each year and after the Republic Day event we eagerly look forward to the Independence Day event to be held at the hatch shell in August. For more information about IAGB please checkout their website at http://www.iagb.org.

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