The India Association of New Hampshire organized a grand variety fete to raise funds for their public service activities on Saturday, March 8, 2008 at the Merrimack High School auditorium, Merrimack, NH.

"The idea behind organizing such events are to help serve the needy at the Nashua and Manchester Homes", said Mrs.Barinder Ahluwalia , IANH public service chair, in her welcome address. Snow or shine, the association had been cooking and serving food to the Nashua and Manchester Soup Kitchens once a month regularly.

The cultural fete commenced with a classical Bharata Natyam by Lasya Thilagar and Mahima Balraj, students of Neha Parikh followed by classical Bhajan by Mrs. Jyoti Sharma.

Bhajans by Amritha Mangalat and Roshni Narasimhan, students learning Indian classical music from Mrs.Sandhya Sridhar and a classical rendition by Meghna Chandra, a student of Mrs. Aparna Balaji were distinct. They were well accompanied by Akshay Navaladi on the Tabla. Soon the program moved on to the bollywood numbers and dance on skates.

Swaying and swirling on the roller skates Lakshmi Manasa, a skating champion who has won 789 gold medals from her national and international skating competitions, stunned the audience with her amazing dance on roller-skates for bollywood medleys. "I performed in front of Hillary Clinton and Dr. A.P.J.Abdul Kalam, the former President of India and they were very appreciative of my dance on skates, which I consider best of all honors I received so far," said the 23-year-old Manasa, who has represented India 4 times in USA, Hong Kong, China and Australia. She has also given more than 2500 dance performances on skates in India and is also a recipient of the Ugadi Puraskar awards.

"Nobody does Indo-Western or classical dance on skates. We have break dance on skates in the United States. Since I was good at dance I fused skating and dance and started giving shows", explained Manasa who began taking skating lessons when she was 4 and started dance-skating at the age of 6. She has come to the United States to do her masters degree and enjoys giving performances at the cultural shows in the New England area.

Traditional Bhangra dance by the famous Boston Bhangra troup led by Rohit Bambi was yet another highlight of the evening. As soon as the Bhangra team emerged on the stage, the audience began cheering them up by blowing whistles and constantly kept showing their enthusiasm by shouting, "Balle Balle", "Hoi, Hoi",for the Bhangra beats on the dhol.

"Krishna Nee Begane Baro," song by Lekha Nair ,a student of Mrs.Sandhya Sridhar was musical and won the hearts of many.

The Marathi dance medley performed by Meghna chandra, Sathvika Reddy, Lekha Nair, Anju Balaji, Aishwarya Ravi and Nivera Dar and a bollywood dance performance for the song "Apalam Chapalam", by Shravani Balaji and Kuhu Wadwa, wowed the audience. Ms.Parikh's choreography for both performances were rich and innovative depicting different styles.

A fusion of Kathak and Bharatanatyam dance styles presented by the students of Jasmine Shah was a mind-blowing performance. The dancers demonstrated both styles efficiently without losing the originality of both. Mrs. Shah herself designed the costumes for her students which grabbed the attention of the audience.

The Tap dance performance by Madhumitha Sriram was unique of its kind and she impressed the audience by rhythmically striking the floor with her tap shoes for the song "Pajama time."
 
Neha Parikh's dance for the bollywood song "Juthi Muthi" was yet another notable performance of the evening. Her graceful expressions, spiral movements and striking gestures appealed to the audience. Ms.Parikh is an accomplished exponent of the Indian classical dance Bharata Natyam,in the town.

A bollywood dance by the Mangalat sisters, Amritha and Anjana was enjoyable. Piano recital for a classical piece by Sucheta Tamragouri was well appreciated.

The event also included exciting Fashion Parade by the ladies of Nashua, "Best dressed couple" contest and exhilarating folk dance performances.

The IANH youth group president Pratheek Kalyanapu emceed the show. The program was well planned and executed by Mrs.Usha Dwarakanath, IANH cultural Chair. Dr. Tej Dhakar, secretary of the association delivered vote of thanks at the end. He expressed his sincere thanks to the audience who made it to the event despite heavy rainfall. The association also recognized the volunteers who helped make the event a grand success.

Food, snacks and beverages were provided by the Global Flavors and Food and Fashions of India, Nashua, NH and Gurnam Catering Service of Merrimack, NH.

It was a very delightful evening from the young to the old alike.

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