HARI Vidya Bhavan, Rhode Island’s only Hindi language and Indian culture school, held a Diwali Mela on Sunday, Nov. 10th at Alumnae Hall on Brown University Campus. HARI School organized the event in mela style for the first time.

The school’s 75 students worked on a number of projects; they prepared posters and exhibits on a wide range of themes comprising history, geography and culture. These were displayed in six stalls. Parents, family and guests visited stalls, appraised the exhibits, and engaged in conversation with children.

Parents were impressed with the displays and thrilled with the level of knowledge and confidence of their children.

Vinod Israni, HARI School coordinator said, “The culture stalls were very well done and it was impressive to see our students engaging with parents and presenting their material with excitement and passion.”

The language classes presented the stage performance in the three groups. These comprised of poems and songs by the students according to class level.

The mehndi stall managed by volunteer Sylvia Deodas was a big attraction.
This was followed by aarti and garba where everyone danced to the tune of the music

A sumptuous dinner rounded up the evening.

Founded in September 1996, HARI School was formed through the efforts of four organizations:  Hindi Association of Rhode Island (HARI), India Association of Rhode Island, Third World Center, and South Asia Students Association of Brown University.

Founding members were Dr. Ram Gupta, Dr. Rajesh Mishra and Hans Maheshwari.

The goal was to provide Hindi language instructions and to foster the secular understanding of India’s diverse cultural heritage among the New England Indian-American community.

In the first year, 40 students were enrolled in the school. In 2013, the school has an enrollment of 75 students.

HARI School is located on the campus of Brown University in downtown Providence. For more information visit the school website at http://www.harischool.org/.

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