BOSTON–Ashraf M. Dahod, a high-tech serial entrepreneur, attended India Day celebrations as the Guest of Honor on Sunday at Hatch Shell in Boston. The event, which was organized by India Association of Greater Boston, known as IAGB, was attended by more than 8,000 people.
“Mr. Ashraf Dahod is known as a brilliant technologist and a very successful entrepreneur. But more importantly, Mr. Ashraf Dahod is a generous philanthropist,” said Syed Ali Rizvi, an IAGB director who introduced Dahod to the audience. “While he avoids opportunities to speak in public, he did speak as IAGB’s Guest of Honor at the 69th Anniversary of India’s Independence day on August 14, celebrated at the Hatch Shell in Boston. His message was in complete sync with IAGB’s focus on preserving and promoting India’s culture. In his speech he hoped that IAGB will continue to do the important work of preserving our culture not only for ourselves but for our children and our grandchildren.”
Dahod talked about fostering and mentoring or adopting a family or a child, or passing on the skill sets that Indian-Americans have acquired to others so they can progress in life.
Dahod is president and CEO Altiostar. Before founding Altiostar, he had co-founded Starent Networks, which was acquired by Cisco Systems in 2009. Prior to Starent, Dahod had co-founded NetCore Systems, Inc, Sigma Network Systems, Inc and Applitek Corporation.
Dahod holds a Master of Business Administration degree from Harvard University, Master of Science in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University, Master of Engineering Management from Northeastern University, Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Michigan and a Bachelor of Science degree in Physics from the University of Bombay. His other activities include: Patron, Saifee Hospital, Mumbai; Patron, Saifee Burhani Upliftment Trust, Mumbai; Member of Dean’s Advisory Board and India Advisory Board, Harvard Business School.
IAGB also recognized the service of Anil Saigal, former president of IAGB and a professor of mechanical engineering at Tufts Universiry. In addition, he is co-founder of community portal Lokvani. The organization gave IAGB Volunteer Award to Jatinder Sharma, who joined IAGB as a volunteer in the early 1970s.
IAGB director Jeyanthi Ghatraju welcomed the guests and American Idol star Sonica Vaid sang the US and Indian national anthems. IAGB President Jayashree Voruganti introduced her executive committee to the audience.
“Our EC members are dedicated to IAGB and its cause. (They are) very hard working as you can see from the amount of work they have placed in making today’s event, an yet another successful event by IAGB,” said Voruganti. “IAGB is the only organization in the Greater Boston and New England area who organizes shows of this magnitude and at this prestigious address. It really feels proud to be an Indian at this events.”
Arth Joshi, Ashna Parikh, Alia Rizvi and Prisha Naduthota served as emcees of the evening. The theme of the cultural program was “fusion.”
Here is a list of cultural programs and with names of participants and their teachers and coordinators:
- Fusion by Titian
A creative fusion of “Imagine,” and “We shall overcome” fused with Hindi songs.
Teacher/Coordinator
Jyothi Sharma
Participants
Janani Sharma, Madison Russo, Alex Naughton, Alyssa Clancy, Kellany Spandaro,
Emily Trubee, Sarala Sharma & Garret Coleman
- Rising Stars by Academy of Creative Arts
Academy of Creative Arts (ACA) is a school founded by Java and Hetal Joshi where 18+ different forms of creative and performing arts are taught under one roof in Burlington. Rising stars of ACA are going to dance on the latest hits of Bollywood top songs of today,
hip-hop is their style.
Teacher/Coordinator
Nikita Rao
Participants
Aarav Mandadapu, Nishika Parakala, Suchi Mathur, Neil Tallamraju, Hradini Shinde,
Pranav Nair, Tia Bhardwaj, Aaditya Bhardwaj, Atulith Podduturi, Siya Shah,
Hansika Tera & Nikhil Byrapuram
- Des rangeela rangeela…des mera rangeela
Fusion of Indian Semi classical and folk dance on the Patriotic song – Des rangeela.
Teacher/Coordinator
Sheetal Lotlikar
Participants
Anushree Lotlikar, Dia Pillai, Arshia Agrawal, Nakshatra Chenna, Pallavi Cherkuri,
Sai Sraddha Chaganti & Eesha Cilukha
- Dancing Feet
Teacher/Coordinator
Shashwati Basu
Participants
Amber Ajmera, Arman Dutta, Aryan Sharma, Krishiv Jayaswal, Manas Agarwal,
Rudro Sekhor Roy, Vedan Sai & Raj Gajjala
- Spirit of India
Young dancers expressing love for Mother India.
Teacher/Coordinator
Sonali Bhargava
Participants
Vedavit Krishna Bharadwaj, Ritvij Sharma, Eshan Khire, Mihir Khire, Angel Arora, Sarayu Kothuri, Kasvi Batra, Ananya Bharti,, Aditi Sharma, Urvi Deshpande,
Shruthi Viswanadha, Shubhang Viswanadha & Reyansh Prashar
- Masti Fusion Medley
Nikita’s Bollywood dance academy kids showcasing their hiphop and folky dance movement to Bollywood hit songs like Blue hai pani pani, Balam pichkari, Taal, Chittiya kalayian
and Selfie lele.
Teacher/Coordinator
Nikita Rao
Participants
Diya S. Dodhia, Nivan Gujral, Aryan Rampal, Arushi Biswas, Sreya Soni, Suraj Sanariya, Arianna Rampal,Vikram Bajaj, Devangi Rathi, Aryaman Hegde, Priyanka Mannan, Anushka Mannan, Apoorva Hegde, Amisha Arora, Advay Nalla
- Cheerleading with Dandia
Teacher/Coordinator
Archana Gorur
- Zamaana
Newton South SASA
Teacher/Coordinator
Newton South SASA
Participants
David Fang, Veer Sawhney, Adin Henderson, Victor Lau, Timmy Hwang, Rhea Dudani,
Ritika Dudani, Isabella Xie, Margaret Zhao & Kaavya Chaparala
- Natyanjali – Harihara
This item is a brilliant choreography combining traditional and non-traditional moves prescribed in Natyashastra describing Lord Vishnu and Shiva. Originally presented as part of Samprati for Vision-Aid in 2015, this item has been modified to fit the fusion concept.
Teacher/Coordinator
Smt Padmini Ravi and Jeyanthi Ghatraju
Participants
Archana Selvaraj, Arya Swamy, Divyashri Prasath, Hamsika Vedavinayagam, Jeyanthi Ghatraju, Kamakshi Pranatharthiharan, Padma Loganathan, Rishika Makkena, Sobha Makkena,
Sreshta Jonnalagadda & Vijaya Swamy
- Let’s Nacho Mashup – A journey from Bollywood to Hollywood
A dance journey where the girls are excited to take you all to a tour from Bollywood to Hollywood, fun and energy packed hiphop dance performance on high heels,
Work, let’s nacho mashup!
Teacher/Coordinator
Nikita Rao
Participants
Shalvi Gupta, Shikar Gupta, Gawri Menon, Anoushka Audi, Keertana Dasari, Rhythm Arora, Mihika Shinde, Neha Kodeboyena, Tia Bhardwaj, Ikshaan Rao, Ishita Rao, Aneesha Mohapatra, Anulekha Sahu, Shravya Sathi, Samarth Agarwal, Arushi Biswas, Arushi Choudhary,
Manvi Vajhallya, Vasu Jetley & Divya Pothula
- Performing Arts of NE
Teacher/Coordinator
Darshana Jani
Participants
Sachi Mehrotra, Sumati Rangraj, Helen Varughese, Dawn Varughese, Sathi Patel,
Mihika Abraham, Nima Chatterjee, Rhea Vyas & Vania Gautam
- Zumbhangra
An eclectic mixture of zumba and bhangra, this is a high intensity contemporary dance forms with foot tapping mix of Bollywood and Latin music showcasing colorful props and innovative costumes.
Anvitha kasar
Pritha yalakkishettar
Shreya madhu
Shanvi kumar
Sansriti kumar
Meditha sinha
Vibha iyer
Kashvi kumar
Suhana mathur
Siya barik
Nitya sunkarapalli
Teacher/Coordinator
Choreographer: Jyothi setty
- Kathak-Bhangra Fusion
Nikita’s Bollywood dance academy Soni Kudiya will present an energetic, beautiful and a graceful performance on a Kathak, bhangra dance fused with contemporary and hip hop moves from the latest top Bollywood songs of 2016.
Teacher/Coordinator
Nikita Rao
Participants
Kareena Mannan, Celina Mannan, Nidhi Mankan, Ahria Desai, Ishita Rao, Neha Kodeboyena, Divya Mannan, Daizy Rampal, Ashima Mannan, Karishma Mannan, Rashi Gujral,
Vibha Vajhallya, Puja Shetty, Meenakshi Arora, Sunita Mosurkal, Neelavani Thumma,
Udaya Sravanam ,Aparna Pathak, Rishika Pal, Anushka Rathi & Seema Gupta
- Chasing Shadows
A fusion piece which is characterized by the dancers dancing in madness to the intricate beats of the mridangam, eternal whistles of the flute, and elegant vibrations of the sitar.
Teacher/Coordinator
Riya Thomas, Sakhi Chitalia, Melissa Uditnarian, Maya Domeshek,
Suma Anand & Anisha Nakagawa
Participants
Riya Thomas, Sakhi Chitalia, Melissa Uditnarian, Maya Domeshek, Suma Anand
& Anisha Nakagawa
- Bollywood Fusion
This dance is a fun energetic entertaining modern Bollywood fusion where we
showcase the north and south aspects of India.
Teacher/Coordinator
Soumya Manikantan
Participants
Vipusha Chandrapu, Gargi Naik, Tanushree Shah, Tanishka Indorekar, Swapna Anantha, Divijisri Anuga & Karuna Gurbaxani
- Dance Spirit – Rola Pe Gaya
Traditional Bhangra beats are fused with a modern style in this upbeat
dance by the Dance Spirit team.
Teacher/Coordinator
Bina Negandhi
Participants
Sarah Semy, Farah Semy, Rayhan Semy, Yamini Bhagadia, Reetika Bhagadia, Radhika Heda
Vrinda Heda, Abhilasha Banka, Aditi Wadhwa, Monika Wadhwa, Deeya Khamesra,
Vaidehi Pathak, Poonam Maini, Daksh Maini, Dharini Kapadia, Smita Kapadia,
Shreyas Hanchinamani, Raghav Rushi Bondalapati, Savarnika Bondalapati, Anusha Kumar, Priya Kumar, Khushi Morparia, Medha Morparia & Devam Morparia
- Total Dhamaal – Academy of Creative Arts
Academy of Creative Arts (ACA) is a school founded by Java and Hetal Joshi where 18+ different forms of creative and performing arts are taught under one roof in Burlington.
Every state in India has its own culture, own identity and its own lifestyle. Today, we are showcasing cultures from the North of India. So let’s sit back and enjoy a complete party with the most energizing songs. let’s ROCK!
Teacher/Coordinator
Dipal Anand
Participants
Niva Pandey, Mira Rath, Nisha Namdy, Heer Doshi, Sama Khara, Anya Patel,
Nilla Bharathan, Laavanya Rasiah, Niti Patel, Diya Patel, Pooja Lonial, Ishika Mandelia,
Pallavi Goel & Pooja Kumar
- Moksh
Fusion of bharatanatyam and mohiniyattam,2 beautiful classical dance forms from South India. Team Moksh is presenting the inevitable stories of vishnu puranam with mind-blowing choreography.
Teacher/Coordinator
Sreeja Puthumana
Participants
Devanjali Senthil, Nisha Pillai, Seema Gopalakrishnan, Sreeja Puthumana & Swapna Putta
-
Dancing Divas of Shrewsbury
Teacher/Coordinator
Dr. Resmi Nair
Participants
Resmi Nair, Srividya Ramachandran, Pratyusha Myneni, Neetu Gupta, Toral Saini, Madhuri Marathe, Kalyani Kanuri & Suchitra Shinde
- Classical Fusion
A semi classical dance describes about lord Shiva the creator of auspiciousness, one who locks the moon in his hair. Husband of Parvathi, all the salutations to you, O lord.
Teacher/Coordinator
Soumya Manikantan
Participants
Soumya Manikantan, Neha Vinod, Kavitha Harikrishnan, Leena Hemachandra,
Sree Lakshmi Rajaboyina & Rohini Sethu.
- DeNaNa DeNaNa by Kip Kop Dancers
Get ready for a power packed fusion dance!!!. These dancers will mesmerize you as they dance and take you to rural India depicting harvest, wealth, glory , good times and bad times and transform by putting their best foot forward to western hip-hop. Dance is choreographed to popular folk song from southern coastal Karnataka, India and catchy western hip-hop song.
Teacher/Coordinator
Aneesh Puttur
Participants
Praveena Naduthota, Aneesh Puttur, Madhu Mattihalli, Kiran Adkoli
Srinivas Gowda, Sathisha Movvar & Madhu Gowda
- “Dee” Dancing Diva Fusion
Teacher/Coordinator
Friends of Winchester Group
Participants
Sowmya Dhar, Rituparna Mukherjee, Archana Swami, Devi Narayanan,
Anjani Swaminathan & Tania Goswami
- Bollywood Couples Medley
Teacher/Coordinator
Shaila Verma
Participants
Sandeep Shah, Neeta Shah, Uma Vinod, Navin Rao, Sunil Soni, Surekha Soni,
Bindu Tuli & Puneesh Chaudhry
