BOSTON—Approximately 8,000 people flocked to Boston’s City Hall Plaza to celebrate India’s Independence Day. This was the first time ever India Association of Greater Boston organized the traditional India Day at the City Hall Plaza, and the organizers were quite pleased with the response of the Indian-American community.
“The IAGB team took a bold and brave decision to try out a new venue and programming for this India Day Festival. Both worked out marvelously,” said IAGB President Aditi Taylor. “The energy and excitement was palpable in the City Hall Plaza all day long and the feeling of Indian pride in the heart of our beloved Boston was just amazing.”
IAGB Vice President Sanjay Gowda said there were over 40 vendors and corporate sponsors. In addition, approximately 250 performers participated in various cultural programs and field games.
“We are very thrilled with the overwhelming participation from the performers, sponsors vendors, volunteers and the community members,” Mr. Gowda said. “We have received tremendous positive response from everyone on the new venue, new programming format and logistics. The audience has more than doubled from our estimates, although City Hall Plaza is a new venue. We sincerely thank everyone who made this event a grand success.”
Traditionally, IAGB held India’s Independence Celebrations, dubbed as India Day, at Boston’s Hatch Shell along the scenic Charles River.
Ms. Taylor said this massive undertaking at City Hall Plaza couldn’t have happened without the months of hard work by the IAGB team, volunteers, support from the sponsors, vendors, performers, Boston City officials and enthusiastic audience.
In line with IAGB’s new charter and focus on civic engagement and community service, the following distinguished individuals were inducted into IAGB HALL OF FAME.
Judge Neil Sherring – Civic Contributions
Girish Mehta – Community Contributions.
IAGB also gave the 2018 Community Youth Excellence Award to Varun Lingadal, a rising senior at Nashua High School North, NH, and Rianna Mukherjee, a rising senior at Algonquin Regional High School, Northborough, MA.
The India Day celebrations began with Yoga and Meditation, followed by field games such as good old lemon-spoon race, balloon throw, dum lagake haisha and musical quadrants. The food was provided by One World Cuisine. Sponsors included Harvard Pilgrim Health Care and BMW of Sudbury.
Here is list of program and participants in India Day celebrations:
Meditation and Yoga
From 11:30 AM
Cultural Program
From 3:00 PM
MEDITATION
Dev Lingadevaru
YOGA
Dhanashree Ramachandran
US NATIONAL ANTHEM
Noura Khan
INDIAN NATIONAL ANTHEM
Neha Rathi
Field Games
From 1:00 PM
Balloon Catch Lemon and Spoon Race Musical Quadtants
Balloon Relay Race Dum Lage Ke Haisha
EMCEE FOR CULTURAL PROGRAM
Lata Rao, Mandy Deb Pant, Prag Singh, Sanjay Kudrimoti. Umesh Rao
WELCOME SPEECH
Sanjay K. Gowda, Vice President, IAGB
1. SWAGATAM
Ekal Vidyalaya has been changing the face of rural India, uplifting one village at a time. Working over past 25+ years, it is now running single teacher schools in more than 70,000 villages, bringing basic literacy and holistic development to the villages. The Ekal New England volunteers present the immortal song ‘Swagatam’ written by Pandit Narendra Sharma, music composed by Pandit Ravi Shankar. This song brings the positive vibe with a promise of a warmth, friendship and fun !illed future, reiterating that
change is inevitable! A pleasure to share this composition on Independence Day.
TEACHER/COORDINATOR: PARVEEN MINOCHA
PARTICIPANTS
Anuradha Upneja, Parul Kumar, Subha Sainathan, Ranjani Saigal, Anil Minocha, Ankita Chatrath, Atin Tandon, Jyoti Sharma, Aneesha Karody, Meena Mehta, Amy Koleth, Rebecca Koleth, Pallavi Atale, Nikita Minocha, Parveen Minocha., Sonal Goel, Aadya Goel, Harshini Magesh, Rishith Sai Kasarla, Jairaj Sharma (tabla), Sarala Sharma (harmonium)
2. SPARKLERS AND COWBOYS
This is a unique, multilingual dance, which gives an ode to legendary dancers of Indian cinema like SRK, Allu Arjun, and Prabhudeva. Here dancers are showcasing popular styles of Bollywood dance for iconic foot tapping Bollywood numbers. Please feel free to dance, clap and cheer along with our little dancers.
TEACHER/COORDINATOR: JYOTHI SETTY
PARTICIPANTS
Vidhur Sampige, Aaroosh Bhadkar, Arav Patel, Shaarini Kumar, Hamsini Sriraman, Ritika Vangapalli, Samriddhi Sao, Akshaya Partibhan, Shriya Lal, Haasini Sriraman, Diya Vedantham, Rishab Vedantham, Meena Adusumilli, Aadhya Goel Ishika Pandi, Shlok Gupta, Viraj Karthik, Ritvik Karthik
3. HINDUSTAN KI JHAAKI
In the performance students will show the glimpse of folk dances of Rajasthan and Gujarat
TEACHER/COORDINATOR: EKTA JAIN
PARTICIPANTS
Swapnil Nagarkar, Tejaswini Pitchuka, Abhiram Kandra, Prajakta Baishya, Sriram N Sunkara, Saisha Sharma, Devishi Jain, Ishita Agrawal, Nitya Rajeev Nambiar, Ambika Rajeev Nambiar, Prakshi Jain, Tara Gayatri Chintapalli, Aria Venigandala, Diya Sankar, Srinidhi Rameshbabu, Kaushiki Thatikonda, Preorna Dey, Monisha Pendeti, Ananya Gunti,
Nikita Sareen, Ritisha Choudhury
4. DHAMAAL GROUP
Dhamaal group is ready to do some dhamaal with their fun hiphop bhangra moves.
TEACHER/COORDINATOR: IFICA MEHRA
PARTICIPANTS
Gyan Robinson, Meher Bijlani, Sunehri Jhaveri, Sanaya Sanghavi, Aria Panchmatia, Avantika Mannan, Anoushka Mannan, Rehan, Nikita Mugundu, Priyanka Mannan, Ariana Rampal, Eshaan Bansal, Anya Gupta, Zubin Gupta, Manasa Mahesh, Aadhya Mahesh, Shri Teja, Shrija, Parth, Nikhil Byrapuram, Jayan Byrapuram, Anjali Pasam, Aadhya Kamavarapu, Aadhya challa, Navya Karri, Akshat Gupta, Taruni Peddi, Giana Gulaya, Vivaan Tanna, Samarth Sharma
5. SWAG BY ZHANKAR BEATS JR.
Cutest little dancers in the town performing to the foot tapping tunes from
Sri Devi’s Hawa Hawai to 2018’s hit song SWAG.
TEACHER/COORDINATOR: VAISHALI GADE
PARTICIPANTS
Sana Palia, Naavya Vora, Meera Salunke, Sachi Rasne, Aashmi Arkshali, Kashish Kumar,
Sneha Bhanushali, Hradini Shinde, Shalmalee Kulkarni
6. SHAPE OF YOU
The girls ages 9-13 will be performing a fusion dance on Shape of you,
Swalla sung by Indian Raaga and will be swagging to mash up of Bom Diggy.
TEACHER/COORDINATOR: SWASTI BHARGAVA
PARTICIPANTS
Anya Yaknik, Mahita Susarla, Ananya Mathur, Shreya Ramanathan, Aarya Biyani,
Anoushka Nambiar, Arushi Naidu, Avaanika Nair, Reyna Matrona, Swasti Bhargava
7. VENELLO BRUNDAVANAMA
A beautiful dance showcasing Brindavanam, the mystic dance of Krishna with his Gopikas
in a broad moonlight !!!
TEACHER/COORDINATOR: KIRANMAI JANNABHATLA
PARTICIPANTS
Kiranmai Arava, Aishwarya Rajagopalan, Swetha Rajagopalan, Vrinda Chander, Keerthi Chander, Ayushi Borhade, Kashvi, Jahnavi Bolleddula, Sruthika Macha, Mithra, Tara Shirname
8. TAPORI TADKA
This dance is a Jugalbandi between two kinds of dances – Thumka and Tapori.
We hope you like both and enjoy them equally
PARTICIPANTS
Tara Adusumilli, Avni Mishra, Nikita Mullangi, Bhawna Tyagi, Sansriti Kumar, Anoushka Bhadkar,
Aastha Gupta, Priya Gampa, Priya Vedantham, Anindita Jobi, Sowmya Manjunatha, Purti Gupta,
Sowmya Sampige, Neetu Singh, Shilpa Patel, Mathangi Karthik
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9. A SEMI CLASSICAL FUSION OF THE DANCES OF INDIA
Nivetha’s Dance Crew presents Indian classical fusion of all the classical dance forms of India
which includes Bharatnatyam, Kathak, Manipuri and Mohiniattam
TEACHER/COORDINATOR: NIVETHA RAVICHANDRAN
PARTICIPANTS
Janya Varsani, Rashmi Nandana Konaparthi, Khyathi Nannapaneni, Krutika Solanki, Reva Bijalwan,
Sai Eesha Gunda, Lakshmi Risha Gunda, Latisha Bijalwan
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10. IAGB President’s Address
ADITI TAYLOR
Aditi Taylor has been the President of IAGB since October 2017. She has served IAGB for several years prior to that in various roles. Under her leadership, IAGB has organized itself into !ive key initiatives ranging from civic engagement, community services, senior interactions, youth engagement and culture. Aditi works as the Chief Risk Oficer at MFS Investment Management, Boston, MA. She has been recognized
several times including a recent award by India New England as the ‘Most Versatile Leader’ in 2017, the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce’s ‘Ten Outstanding Young Leaders’ in 2015, Boston Business Journal’s ‘Leaders in Diversity’ in 2014 and Boston Business Journal’s class of ‘40 Under 40’ Leaders to watch for.
11. INTRODUCTION OF IAGB EC
12. YOUTH EXCELLENCE AWARDS
13. MIME BY NATYARANG
Mime performance showcasing pros and cons of using cellphones. Are cellphones a boon or a curse?
DIRECTED BY: MADHU NENE
SOUND HELP BY: SHASHANK NENE
PARTICIPANTS
Aditya Kulkarni, Akash Bulbule, Mihir Acharya, Siddhi Mulgaokar, Sushant Mulgaokar, Eesha Ingle
14. FUSION BOLLYSTARS
FUSION BOLLYSTARS are excited to dance on a fusion dance form on the lastest hits of 2018
TEACHER/COORDINATOR: CENTER FOR ARTS AND WELLNESS
PARTICIPANTS
Diya Shenoy, Kriti Rathore, Shreya Nippani, Alisha Padhy, Nehal Killan, Aryan rampal, Priyanka Mannan, Suraj Sanariya, Shivani Sanariya, Tvisha Bansal, Sampath Kalagarla, Neha Kalagarla, Rhythm Arora, Kareena Mannan, Celina Mannan, Ishika Mandelia, Divya Mannan
15. GHOOMAR
Ghoomar is a tradtional Rajasthani female dance that is highlighted with elegant hand movements and turns. This dance is very special to all of us as some of our daughters are performing for the !irst time on such a big platform. We are so proud and happy that our children are able to keep our culture from India alive in the United States also living as proud American citizen. Their upbringing truly represents the melting pot that the United States is.
TEACHER/COORDINATOR: SHIVANI PATEL AND AMBIKA WALI
PARTICIPANTS
Saatvi Patel, Mahi Patel, Anya Patel, Isha Patel, Aariyana Patel, Rahi Shah, Manya Shah,
Tanisha Patel, Dhyana Patel, Naina Patel, Aashiyana Patel, Jaya Wali Patel, Suhani Patel, Tanvi Patel
16. WESTBORO COUPLES BOLLYWOOD MEDLEY
A few couples will be performing a medley of popular Bollywood songs.
TEACHER/COORDINATOR: SHAILA VERMA
PARTICIPANTS
Sandeep Shah, Neeta Shah, Sanjay Shah, Sharyu Shah, Dilip Jain, Chandrika Jain,
Sunil Soni, Surekha Soni, Puneesh Chaudhry, Bindu Tuli
17. IAGB HALL OF FAME AWARDS
Judge Neil Sherring – Civic Contributions
Girish Mehta – Community Contributions
18. DASHAVATAR – AVATARS OF LORD VISHNU
DashaAvatar refers to the ten major incarnations of Lord Vishnu. God Vishnu incarnates on Earth from time to time to eradicate evil forces and to restore the Dharma
TEACHER/COORDINATOR: JAB WE MET GROUP – PUJA HARKUT
PARTICIPANTS
Puja Harkut, Anagha Phanse, Sejal Vora, Aditi Jain, Gauri Pulekar, Pooja Bihani, Pranjal Shah, Lucky Hoque, Jytoti Sankineni, Shailaja Siravuri
19. SMARTOURS INTRODUCTION AND RAFFLE DRAW
Offering the experience the world’s most amazing destinations at an unbeatable value.
HARVARD PILGRIM HEALTHCARE INTRODUCTION
20. FOLK AND CONTEMPORARY BOLLYWOOD FUSION
DFD Academy presents a fun filled fusion performance by DFD’s junior and senior classes! DFD Academy is a dance school in the Greater Boston Area specializing in precision-based dance training.
TEACHER/COORDINATOR : PRERNA PATIL
PARTICIPANTS
Aryaman Hegde, Avanish Mishra, Prabhav Joginipally, Rayhan Riaz, Rohan Amin, Siddhart Motiani, Suhas Karri, Aditi Palle, Heer Gajjar, Ishani Joglekar, Meghna Joglekar, Nishi Amin, Olivia Adelabu, Pritha Yalakkishettar, Roma Mistry, Ryana Riaz, Shreya Madhu, Amy Koleth, Arya Kurian, Isha Mehta, Neha Chandra, Shruti Gajjar, Suhani Holla, So!ia Binu, Seerat Kaur, Naaisha Agarwal
21. DANCE – LAVANI MASHUP
Lavani, koli, classical, bollywood and western fusion
TEACHER/COORDINATOR: ADITI GAIKWAD, SONAL SHINGARE, POOJA PARULEKAR
PARTICIPANTS
Aditi Gaikwad, Sonal Shingare, Pooja Parulekar, Viprali Bhatkar, Harshada Patil,
Devki Salvi, Bakul Kanade, Samidha Sane, Netra Rajinikanth, Shanu Shah
22. VOTE OF THANKS
Vaishali Gade, Secretary, IAGB
23. NIKITA’S BDA DANCE MOMS AND DIVAS – TRIBUTE TO OUR BELOVED SRIDEVI!
Nikita’s BDA divas will take you to the Bollywood era of songs like Chandani, Morani baga ma, Mere hatho mai – to our beloved actress, Sridevi who left us shocked with her demise.
This act is choregraphed by Nikita Rao and her dancers are honored to dance on her most popular hits of her time and today so put your hands together for the legendary Sridevi!
TEACHER/COORDINATOR: NIKITA RAO
PARTICIPANTS
Ishita Rao, Sithara Sonnathi, Rini Gandhi, Meghan Ullin, Lina Nepal, Stuti, Neha Kodeboyena, Pushp Gandha, Gaurav Jetly, Queenal Vrishni, Rohit Jain, Meenkashi Soni, Jugmi Rao, Smeeta Patel, Ame Patel, Aparna Peddi, Ramya
24. BOSTON BHANGRA
Special performance
