By Yogita Miharia
BOSTON—Hindi Manch, a Boston-based non-profit organization with the mission of bringing together people who know Hindi or who want to know Hindi and propagate the language and culture in the future generations, announced that it will host a 3-day National Hindi Convention, or Rashtriya Mahotsav, in Boston this year.
The organization, which has organized a number of musical programs, plays and hosted Bollywood singers, is also celebrating its 10th anniversary this year. Since its inception, Hindi Manch has organized 64 Hindi/Urdu events, while providing a creative platform for over 1,000 artists including more than 300 children.
To commemorate its 10th anniversary, the organization will host a national gala, Hindi Manch Rashtriya Mahotsav, from November 30 – Dec 2, 2018 in Boston.
The 3-day national event will provide a variety of entertainment as well as plenty of opportunities to network, engage, and relish the language with other Hindi and Urdu language enthusiasts. For more information and details, keep visiting www.hindimanch.org.
Preetesh Shrivastava, founder and president of Hindi Manch, said that the organization’s continued engagement and effort to leverage Hindi to connect people with Indian heritage and culture caught attention of Consulate General of India in New York.
“We were encouraged to build nationwide Hindi forum by the Consulate so what better way to make our 10th anniversary memorable than scaling the celebration to a national level,” said Mr. Shrivastava, who has been nurturing and growing Hindi Manch for the last 10 years. “It is a proud moment for the Hindi Manch team to celebrate its 10th anniversary, and mark it with a national event with guests from all over the US to bring synergies and celebrate our language, culture and heritage.”
Hindi Manch Rashtriya Mahotsav will see participation from other organizations across US with similar Hindi language initiatives. This national 3-day fun-filled fiesta is expected to attract over 1,000 families from all over the US. The program will feature Hindi Manch’s events that have been appreciated and well-attended in the past like – Sa-Re-Ga-Ma-Pa, Sahitya Sammelan and Naatak with participants from all over the country. These features will be adjudged and graced by established celebrities in these areas.
To plan and execute an event of this magnitude requires a lot of hard work from hundreds of volunteers, and to guide and support this national festival, a steering committee has been setup, whose members are Mr. Srivastava, Ajay Jain, Anish Khanzode, Jharna Madan and Raksha Soni.
Here are brief bios of steering committee members:
Ajay Jain
Mr. Jain is very excited and humbled to be part of Steering Committee of Hindi Manch Rastriya Mahaotsav, the first ever 3-day festival in USA dedicated entirely to Hindi Language to celebrate 10th anniversary of NEHM. He first joined NEHM to act in a Hindi play but soon it became part of his extended family as he realized how important it is to remain connected to language, culture and roots when you live in a home away from home and you have a responsibility to pass on that heritage to your kids who are growing in a different culture than yours. A team of 150 volunteers are working really hard for the success of this festival that will bring people from all over US, Canada and India to celebrate the rich culture and heritage associated with Hindi language. It will be fun-filled 3 days with literature, music, plays, children’s performances, and host of other activities and of course cuisine from all over India. Ajay grew up in Kolkata, the cultural capital of India loves theatre and acting but to pay his bills he manages operations of an IT consulting company in Boston area.
Anish Khanzode
Mr. Khanzode says “Hindi language, culture, and art have been close to my heart. It was an easy choice for me to join Hindi Manch 10 years ago. Hindi Manch has done truly remarkable work to bring the community together while fostering Hindi language affection among young generations. In the 10 year celebration do join us which is first north America national convention where along with you we hope to
bring like-minded people all across America.”
Jharna Madan
Ms. Madan is a senior interior designer and project manager and a TV Asia correspondent in Boston. Involved in several community and charitable organizations in the Boston metro area, Jharna feels that her involvement with Hindi Manch grounds her culturally. She finds that her active participation also has a positive influence on her daughter as well.
Raksha Soni
Ms. Soni is a software engineer and recently decided to embrace art as her full time profession. She is a key member of many charitable and cultural Indian organizations, and feels joy and satisfaction in serving the community. In her own words “Hindi is the first language, which I heard from my mother’s lullaby, in which I learned to speak. It is like the
first drops of rain nourishing my soul and spreading the fragrance of wet soil into my heart. I learned different languages, but I feel Hindi is still my identity even today. Hindi Manch is an organization where I find myself connected with language and culture. I feel inspired and motivated by their efforts and successful attempt to provide a common platform to Hindi lovers, the plausible endeavor to connect next generation with Hindi and Indian culture in effective ways. Hindi is our pride, culture is our honor, and we can make a difference together. We request you to extend your hands in lifting the torch of pride and honor of Hindi and join the 10th year celebration, and national convention.”
