The United India Association of New England celebrated Diwali on Sunday, November 10th at Newton North High School in Newton, Massachusetts with a rich cultural show, dinner, vendors and awards. The hall was fully packed with an enthusiastic and colorful audience all eager to celebrate Diwali and enjoy the lovely performances. Seventeen beautiful and exhilarating items were performed in just over two hours! The performances ranged from Bharatnatyam to Bhangra, to Kathak,  to Bollywood, to singing and even a whistler with acoustic accompaniment.  About 200 performers were cheered on by an audience of over 500 people!

The evening began with a traditional puja, bhajans and aarti, highlighted by a parade of small children carrying dias and flowers. The stage was opened by the President  Dr. Seema Arora, and then handed over to the Emcees for the night, Rakashi Chand and Nikita Rao. From there onwards it was a non-stop evening of colorful , vibrant and melodious performances. The middle of the show featured two children’s parades in National costumes and fashion wear, followed by an elegant Fashion show featuring 20 models attired in Aalok fashions.  Then President,  Dr. Seema  Arora addressed the audience expressing the mission and goals of this non profit organization that included cultural promotion,  heritage preservation, bringing people of Indian origin together and charity work. After introducing  and thanking  the Committee, she presented three distinguished Committee members with the Lifetime Achievement Award-Mr. Parvin Khetarpal, Mr. Anil Sood , and Mr. Surender Kapoor. The second half of the show the commenced with more energetic and beautiful performances by local students, dance schools and members of the community.  Throughout the Show appetizers and dinner were offered, prizes were raffled, and a small ‘mela’ featuring tables by local artists and vendors was being held. The night concluded with a presentation of trophies to all of the fabulous performers. The United India Association Committee would like to thank all of the participants, audience, committee, volunteers, sponsors and vendors for making this event such a huge success!

UIANE Committee: Dr. Seema Arora, Rakashi Chand, Rekha Palriwala, Rashmikant Vyas, Parvin Khetarpal, Anil Sood, Neeta Datta, Rakesh Soni, Nikita Punjabi Rao, Surender Kapoor, Vikas Selhi, Sapna Aggarwal,Kidar Vaid, Dolly Raja, Jatinder Sharma, Dr. Neela Gandhi, Shobha Khetarpal, Subash Varshney and Suresh Gidwani.

|