The UIANE holi event at Masala Art Restaurant in Needham was the place to be on Sunday 3/11/12.The event was sold out for the second year with over 250 people attending the event and many people still calling looking for tickets. People enjoyed three and a half hours of entertainment which included karaoke, performances, DJ dancing and playing of dry holi colors under a tent.

The event started with a welcome by the President of United India Association of New England, Dr. Neela Gandhi who thanked everyone for coming and supporting the event. She stated that holi, a festival of colors is one of the most popular festivals in India. Holi celebrates beginning of spring, good over evil, breaks down all obstacles and brings people together. It is a holiday of harmony, wealth and prosperity, happiness and brings joy to everyone young and old. Dr. Gandhi thanked the sponsors DJ Shah from Metlife, Gope Gidwani and Peabody Essex Museum for their generosity, the karaoke singers, children and bhangra team who gave a performance and all the committee members for their teamwork to make the event successful.

There were many activities to keep people engaged and entertained during the whole event. The co-chairs for the event were Rashmikant Vyas and Rekha Parliwala.

The program started with Karaoke coordinated by Dr. Seema Arora, Vice President of UIA. Songs were sung by Kumkum Dilwali, Amal and Ragini Jawa, Paresh Motiwala, Gauri Chandna, Manish Arora, Neeta Datta, Bina Patel, Dr. Amrut Patel and Dilip Jain.

A children’s Holi dance performance was choreographed by Serena Arora and coordinated by Neeti Jaggi and Seema Arora. Participants were Serena Arora, Neil Arora, Aditi Jaggi, Karina Mannon & Selena Mannon.

This was followed by a vibrant Bhangra performance by Fauj Bhangra led by Cherag Sehli and Ankit Sood.

There were craft activities for children organized by committee members Rakashi Chand and Neeta Datta.

There were several raffle prizes to be won including gift cards from Masala Art, Mantra, Staples and Whole Foods.

Mouthwatering appetizers followed by lunch were served by Masala Art Restaurant.

The afternoon continued with rocking music on the dance floor by DJ Tej Singh and people were enjoying the music and would not leave the dance floor.

As the festivity continued, people moved to the outside space under a tent to play dry holi colors and dhol led by Cherag Selhi .As people threw colors on each other, there were serving of thandhai to go along with playing of the holi colors.

Gift bags of gujia and namak pare and gifts for children were distributed towards the end of the event.

UIANE is a non-profit organization whose mission is to preserve, promote and nurture the values of our Indian heritage by planning, developing and executing programs which bring our community together. To get more involved with the organization and for event details, please contact us on www.unitedindia.net.

|