There was much to applaud in the performances offered at the Spring Festival celebrated by the India Association of New Hampshire on Saturday, May 17, 2008 at the Nashua High school North, Nashua, NH. About 500 attended the show to witness 27 variety programs by talented young performers. Former AAPI President, Dr. Jay Jayasankar, the chief guest for the evening, presented trophies to the NSF Education Bee winners and certificates to the IANH youth volunteers. The association also presented t-shirts to the youth volunteers in recognition of their hard work.

Dr.Jay delivered a morale boosting speech in which there was a message for everyone. He said, "True learning includes ethics, character, morals, and values that continue throughout life. It is very important to realize our responsibilities -- to participate and to utilize every opportunity and be a role model and mentor to all the people around us. We must believe in ourselves and never give up."

The celebration was inaugurated by Prithvi Kumar, President of IANH with a welcome address, followed by the cultural events that included classical music, Bollywood dance, dance fusion, medleys and karaoke singing. Vineeth Raghuraman, IANH volunteer, emceed the evening with apt introductions and comments, when the participants appeared on stage.

The eminent dance teachers, Neha Parikh and Jasmine Shah, choreographed most of the dance performances of the evening. Both were thoroughly helping their students wear the costumes and accessories and giving them tips that boosted the confidence of the performers to give their best on stage. There was an overwhelming response from the audience when little kids sang and danced.

A carnatic vocal presentation by Madhumitha Sriram, student of Valli Bhamidipati, a dance duet by Pranav Gopan and Sahaja Surapaneni, Karaoke singing and dance by Tarang Saluja and a Bollywood group dance by junior students of Neha Parikh for the song "Yashomati Maaiya Se", mesmerized the audience.

A popular carnatic song "Bho Shambo" sung by Meghna Chandra, a student of Aparna Balaji, was fabulous. Earlier, Meghna also had a great opportunity to sing this song in front of vidwan O.S. Thiagarajan and received appreciation for her rendition.

The Bollywood group dances for the songs, "Little Heroes", choreographed by Mani Eapur, "Sparkling Angels" and "Lockwood Stars",choreographed by Lahari Venuthurupalli, Yahaswini and Siddhartha Moparthi, "Lakdi ki kaathi" choreographed by Preeti Mahey and a dance medley choreographed by Padma Dabbi were very entertaining .

Karaoke singing by Rajesh Saluja was notable as he encouraged all the kids to dance for his song, which made the stage very colorful and lively.

The event was well organized by Prithvi Kumar, Dr.Tej Dhakar, Karthi Chandra, Usha Dwarakanath and the youth volunteers of IANH. Many adult and youth volunteers of IANH very ably supported the organizing committee in organizing the festival.Usha Dwarakanath, executive member of the IANH cultural committee, offered the closing address.

Food, snacks and beverages were sold by Gurnam Catering Service, Merrimack,NH, and Food and Fashion of India. Suresh and Janet Masand sponsored t-shirts for IANH youth volunteers.

Kumon Center of Nashua, NH, sponsored trophies to the Education Bee winners.Shashank Dubey, the owner of the Nashua Kumon franchise said, "It's a very special year for Kumon as we are celebrating the 50th anniversary this year." He also declared that IANH members will be given a 50% discount for enrolling in Kumon.

Beautiful costumes, interesting choreography, and talented performers made this a remarkable event.

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