The crisp summer day dawned bright and sunny, a light breeze wafted over the hills of Wellesley. This alone was enough to make one sing for joy, but wait! July 9th was no ordinary day. The Indian-American community was abuzz with anticipation and excitement! The very special musical event that people had been waiting in eager anticipation for over a year was shaping up at the Massachusetts Bay Community College in Wellesley where NEHM (New England Hindi Manch) was presenting their second Hindi Manch SaReGaMaPa competition. This is a competition featuring Bollywood songs presented by local talent where 3 age categories were represented. There was a buzz of excitement in the air, contestants were rehearsing in earnest, judges were gathered and a large crowd of over 500 music lovers made their way to attend this event. And what an event was in store for them! The glittering palette of dances, solo and group songs and qawwali that was presented was made even more dazzling through performances by contestants and even by the acclaimed judges. After the show, everyone, with one voice, rated the event as the best singing competition in the area, commended the extraordinary quality of performances, and lauded the very noble social cause of the organization.

This prestigious event organized by Hindi Manch to encourage, showcase and promote local talent was conceived in 2010, by the NEHM President Preetesh Shrivastava and founding members. Little did they know that after their successful debut in 2010, their second year would turn out to be such a resoundingly well-attended and well-appreciated event. Earlier in the afternoon, semifinalists in various categories belted it out to qualify for the finals. Auditions had been held over 4 sessions in the preceding weeks in various locations including Mansfield, Chelmsford, Framingham and Waltham.

The Hindi Manch SaReGaMaPa finale program’s proceedings started on time at 5 PM with a short movie showing the activities of Hindi Manch over the past year including ‘Hindi play’, ‘Bal manch’ and ‘Ek haseen shaam, hasne- hasaane ke naam’. Enter emcees Chaitanya and Mughda Godsay, who led the audience into the evening’s activities in their inimitable style.

Two group songs followed featuring over 40 SaReGaMaPa participants. They regaled the audience with power-packed renditions of “Chale Jaise Hawayein” from the film Main Hoon Na and “Jai Ho” from the blockbuster Slumdog Millionaire. They were mentored by Shri Pradeep Shukla, Shraddha Agrawal and Meena Sundaram. Siddharthji, a distinguished philanthropist inaugurated the event as Chief Guest with a Lamp lighting ceremony. Students of Jasmine Shah from the Aangikam Dance academy presented group dances and enthralled the audience with their graceful moves and beauty.

Preetesh Shrivastava, the erudite and dynamic President of Hindi Manch took the stage and spoke about Hindi Manch’s purpose and mission as an organization that aims to bring together people who know Hindi or who want to know Hindi together by cultural, social and educational programs and activities and to propagate Hindi language and culture in the future generations. This organization is not related to any caste, religion, region or area. This organization welcomes people from all religion, region and languages. He also thanked the volunteers and members of NEHM for working as a cohesive team and making this event possible. All the semifinalists were honored and audition judges were applauded.

The finalists were announced, there were 5 finalists in the adult (Age 23+ category), 3 in the children’s (Age 8-13 category) and 3 in the Youth (Age 13-22 category). The finale judges were well-respected legends in their own rights and included Smt. Minoo Purushottam, the renowned playback singer, Jawed Raza, a celebrated composer and vocalist and Ramchandra Joshi, a famed classical artiste. They were introduced and the competition began.

The participants demonstrated poise, grace and resolve and performed at their best. They mesmerized the audience and judges with their talent and tayyari. Nuanced feedback from the judges was patiently and respectfully received. In addition to awards based on the learned judge’s decisions, a people’s choice award was also instituted so that the discerning New England audience could have their say.

As the tension built up, there was a short break with delectable dinner served by “Madras Grill”.  The NEHM Qawwali team with 16 singers led by Shirish Nimgaonkar and Meena Sundaram bewitched the audience with a Qawwali medley and Mohan Subramaniam and Shraddha Agrawal sang a melodious duet. Winners of the Hindi Manch SaReGaMaPa 2010 competition Roshni Narasimhan and Shirish Nimgaonkar were invited to sing before the audience and delivered flawless performances. NEHM founders (Shri Mohan Dali, Shri Pradeep Shukla, Smt Shubha Chungi, Chaitanya Godsay and Preetesh Shrivastava), Directors (Saujanya Pangrekar, Anish Khanzode, Jawed Wahid and Meena Sundaram) and volunteers were thanked and presented on stage.

This year, the audience also had the privilege to listen to our judges perform. Minoo ji presented the lovely folk number “Pital ki meri gaagri” among other hit songs, Jawed Razaji sang some Rafi evergreen numbers like “Pukarta Chala Hoon main” to Udit’s “Main yahan hoon” from Veer Zara and Ranchandraji sang a classical piece.

Finally the pinnacle of the evening arrived and the winners of the 2011 Hindi Manch SaReGaMaPa were announced and the Judge’s and People’s choice awards were ceremoniously handed out. Kumkum Sanyal, a remarkable teacher in the New England area, Siddharthji the Chief Guest and Dattatreya Velankar, a well-known classical singer presented the people’s choice awards. Hindi Manch founder Chaitanya Godsay says “We congratulate our winners who are the recipients of these prestigious awards and have shown their mettle in this challenging competition. The winners will be promoted and given several opportunities by Hindi Manch including airtime at the radio show: Sounds of India” (courtesy Shri Harish Dang), Opportunity to perform the Indian and American National Anthem  at the India Day celebrations at the Hatch Shell in Boston on August 14th and other forthcoming events.” Mohan Dali, one of the founders commented “ It is heartening to see people of all ages and musical backgrounds take the effort to participate, not just with the purpose of winning but for the learning that accompanies this endeavor.”

The excellent sound was provided by Jawed Wahid with assistance from Anish Khanzode, Uday Tembulkar and Dilip Pai. Lights were managed by Hetal Joshi and Sujit Potdar. Dazzling stage and Lobby decorations by Pratibha Krishanmurthy, Ruchika Arora and Meena Sundaram (Sp thanks to Shobha Shastry and Alankar)

Here are a few comments from the delighted attendees:

“I have been in the Boston area for 32 years, and this is the best cultural event I have ever seen here…. I would have attended this event even if I had to pay $100!! ….the purpose of Hindi Manch is very appreciable.”
 
“You and the team have sparked a desire amongst a huge group of "similar-minded loving people and have made NE Hindi Manch a "connector". The strength of Connectors is that they help keep in touch with many people. Because of NEHM's rich network of volunteers, it is now a trend-setter and will help create and maintain long-lasting friendships.”

“I'm glad I was part of it and would love to share many more together. “

“I am writing to you from Hyderabad, India. I heard "praise and only praise" from my family and friends who attended the NE Sa Re Ga Ma competition. Marketing and publicity, event management, sound, compeering and more....everything was apparently outstanding....”

“In my opinion this was the best Indian cultural event that I have attended in the last 10 years of being here in the US.”

“It was a pleasant surprise that the young generation born though in this country and surrounded with the western culture, has showcased their grassroots, their passion and love for the Indian music. The evening very successfully highlighted this on the Sa re ga ma pa platform. We enjoyed the evening a lot!”

Thus ended a very successful event for Hindi Manch and an event to remember for the New England community. Watch out for more such events from Hindi Manch. Please check out www.hindimanch.org  for membership information and information regarding future events.

Success is not something one can rest on, and I quote:

Zindagi ki asli udaan abhi baaki hai,
Zindagi ke kai imtihann abhi baaki hain
Abhi to naapi hai muthi bhar zameen humne,
Aage abhi saara aasman baaki hai….

Here is the complete list of the winners:
(For more information visit www.hindimanch.org)

 Category

23 years and above
Winner - Sowmya Shri Sudarshan
First runner up - Adhiraj Ghoshal
Second runner up - Nidhi Tare
People’s choice: Soumya Shri Sudarshan

14 to 22 years
Winner - Raagini Jawa
First runner up - Radhika Jangi
Second runner up - Minerva Teli
People’s choice: Raagini Jawa

8 to 13 years
Winner - Anusha Kulkarni
First runner up - Selina Banerjee
Second runner up - Juhi Lalwani
People’s choice: Selina Banerjee

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