March 21st, 2014 was quite a special day for India Association of New Hampshire (IANH). Twenty-five years ago a handful of Indian Americans in New Hampshire had an idea, a dream. They put their faith and energy behind this and inspired others to bring this dream to fruition.

The association was incorporated in the State of New Hampshire on February 22, 1989.  IANH started small with only 15 families and a vision of public service to the community.  Today IANH has a strong 400 family memberships, enthusiastic group of volunteers and a great public service history.

IANH is an umbrella for many American Indian groups that are part of the New England region, who contribute to the local community through public service, promoting culture, education and seek an active participation from the youth members for a positive involvement to the society.

IANH’s Silver Jubilee celebration was held at Crown Plaza in Nashua, NH, a beautifully decorated venue, and a sold out event!  The caterer for the event, Gurnam Singh of Nashua had laid out variety of Indian delicacies, starting with finger licking appetizers followed by entrée’s and of course the mouthwatering desserts.  
 
No details were overlooked to make IANH Silver Jubilee a grand success by the Silver Jubilee committee along with the help of community volunteers.  

The celebrations for the evening started with an invocation song, followed by IANH Youth Service Awards, given to outstanding youth group members for their public service in the community.  IANH secretary Dr. Tej Dhakar and Mr. Balaji Radakrishnan along with other executive members handed these awards to the winners of this year.  The winners were Elisha Shah, Ashish Welling, Jayanth Dabbi, and Ruthrajeev Govindaraj.  Indeed very well-deserved recipients. 

IANH invited teachers & students from the local area to perform classical dances that represented various regions of India.  The student dancers enthralled one and all with their costumes and performances.  We would like to thank the teachers Sandhya Sridhar, Neha Parikh, Suja Meyyappan, Jeyanthi Ghatraju and Nikita Rao and their students for their time and support on this day and over the years to IANH.
 
For the main event of the evening, IANH was quite honored to have Anuradha Palakurthi, often referred to as New England’s own Nightingale, who with her charm and mellifluous voice entertained the guests with current and classic Bollywood melodies.  The guests could not resist but came to the dance floor on some foot tapping numbers sung by Anuradha.  There were special dance performances by Amritha Mangalat and Anjana Mangalat, who enchanted the guests with their perfect performances with live music.  IANH would like to thank Anuradha Palakurthi for making the evening absolutely a perfect one.  We would also like to thank Sahana Srinivasan who accompanied Anuradha for a brief singing session.

The show did not end there.  The IANH Youth Group members did a stunning fashion show with some of the most colorful and trendy Indian wear.  They were aptly followed by the adults on the ramp with a well-choreographed walk by Kruti Shah.  IANH would like to thank Ambika Mangtani of IndoFashionz, for sponsoring most of the outfits that were worn by the ramp models. IANH unveiled their new banner which was designed by Rahul Vaswani, IANH Youth Group member.
 
IANH President Mr. Prithvi Kumar gave a brief speech of IANH’s beginnings and how IANH looks forward with its continued support in serving the community.   This was followed by a quick look back at IANH by Nagendra Bhanu and Barinder Ahluwalia who thanked all the founders who graciously attended the event.  Later Deepa Mangalat, Chair for IANH’s Youth Affairs, gave a brief update followed by Chandana Karthik who took the opportunity to acknowledge IANH’s Silver Jubilee committee members and volunteers for their endeavors to make this an evening to remember.  The Silver Jubilee planning committee consisted of Barinder Ahluwalia, Deepa Mangalat, Rajany Akhil, Chandana Karthik, Pushpa Gopalakrishnan, Sarita Vaswani, Nagendra Bhanu and Sanyukta Bhansal. 

IANH sincerely thanks the sponsors of the evening, Ambika Mangtani, Rashdas Beauty Salon of Nashua, Kumon Math and Reading Center of Nashua.  IANH also wishes to thank the anonymous sponsors for the event, without whom this would have remained a dream.  Jasmine Shah also has kindly donated $250 towards Nach Night, which is being held on March 29, 2014.  Thank you all!

IANH would like to thank MC for the evening Sneha Jacob, DJ Nitin for the music, Jawed Wahid for the sound system and Deepa Jacob Photography for capturing some wonderful moments of the evening.
IANH, as an association offers opportunity to the youth members in cultivating leadership and civic responsibilities through a group of their own. The Youth Group is fully incorporated into an association. Experts are invited to address the youth members in providing guidance on various subjects.

IANH volunteers are sincerely committed towards its public service activities. IANH started with sandwich deliveries to Manchester Soup Kitchen.  Soup kitchen service has now expanded to eighteen services each year, at both Nashua and Manchester Soup kitchens.  Regular activities also include entertainment of Nursing Home residents, Holiday giving with Angel Tree program at Nashua Children’s Home and Salvation Army’s Teenage Gift program. Thanks to Dawat, an annual fundraiser event and Nach Night (organized by the Youth Group), IANH has been able to raise and donate substantial funds for worthwhile community service projects. The fundraising reached its pinnacle in 2013 resulting in cash donations of over $25,000 by IANH to New Hampshire and Indian charities. Last year IANH contributed a total of $27,875, which represents 67% of its year’s proceeds. A breakdown is New Horizon: $7500; Nashua Soup Kitchen: 5401.67; LSS: $1354.54; BCNH (Unclaimed): $200; Cure with Hope: $2500; Udavum Karangal: $6500; Nashua Children's Home: $2850 plus gifts donated; Salvation Army: $1559

IANH has partnered with North-South Foundation in Illinois in offering educational contests from Essay Writing to Spelling Bee. These contests are intended to promote education excellence in the community. Some of the funds raised from these contests are used for higher education scholarship program for economically disadvantaged students in India. IANH now offers workshops to train students for various education contests and are pleased to announce many of these children have excelled in Scripps Spelling Bee, Math Count, and National Geography Bee.

An example of the powerful results of this form of human spirit and community coming together is that today India Association of New Hampshire is recognized by Governor of New Hampshire and many local nonprofit and community as an organization with great volunteers and community service.

If you missed this amazing event, please mark your calendars and join IANH on their annual fundraiser event “Dawat 2015” to be held on March 28th 2015.

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