Satsang Center in Woburn hosted a fabulous Diwali Celebration on 26th/27th October including Rangoli Competition and colorful dance performances from various local groups organized by Jigisha Pandhi and Bina Negandhi. This event was enjoyed by approximately 250 people and was very well received by all with comments such as..."it truly feels like Diwali here in the mandir", "we attend several diwali parties with good food and all, but this rangoli and colorful dances definitely bring the authenticity that we experience back home...".

What a fun event it was with kids and adults enjoying the colors like they had not used before. Lot of creativity echoed in the hall and definitely created a diwali atmosphere where many kids who had first hesitated asked questions later like "what is a rangoli?, "we have never done that before", "you can't do patterns with sand powder?", They all ended up  engrossed and discovering what they could create with a simple colored powder, grains, lentils, rice, etc. It was sheer joy for parents not only watching their kids sit quiet for 4 hours, but also see their final product.

Rangoli competition was judged by well known local artist and art teacher Java Joshi from Lexington. Competition Results were declared on 27th October 2013 at Satsang Center during their Diwali Appreciation Dinner and Celebration. .... "Rangolis from children and adults were not only colorful but were very creative and artistic - no less than work by professional artists" said Java.

1st Prize winner: Seema Masalawalla

2nd Prize: Pratiksha Badariya, Uma Purohit and Manisha Patel

3rd Prize: Mamatha Raokontham

Viewers choice - Gati Aher, Sachi Joshi and Sukruti Kushwa.

All participants also got awarded a token prize from Satsang Center. Kids who participated were Disha Sankolkar, Medha Morparia, Megh Pandhi, Malhaar Pandhi, Tanay Dalmia, Sonia Purohit, and Anik Patel.

Thanks to all the volunteers at Satsang who organized such a simple yet wonderful event with minimal publicity, providing a platform to many young artists who had never performed nor created artwork in the Rangoli form. Many young kids were inspired and ended up doing rangoli in their own homes.

Looking forward to yet another grand celebration at Satsang in 2014.

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