Color and Music, Fun and Devotion:

Vedic Heritage Inc. continued its tradition of encouraging Indian classical dance and music amongst the next generation Indian children. A record entry of 3o items proved that our rich and ancient culture was well and living even thousands of miles away from the motherland. The credit goes to the parents, the teachers and teaching academies which have sprung up throughout the US, the children who learn classical art and music despite being less popular than Bollywood style dances, and finally, organizations like Vedic Heritage Inc which is trying to keep these traditions alive. The cultural administrators, Smt Rachna Sarang and Smt Renu Jain led the organization of this event. Smt Renu Jain took the lead given Smt Sarang’s unexpected departure to India due to family sickness.

An illustrious panel of judges made it even more credible. Smt Marina Aalam, a disciple of none other than Pandit Jasrajji, Smt Satya Pradeep, Smt Meena Mani and Shri Nitin Mitta had the difficult task of ranking the items under all the different categories. They found it really difficult due to the high caliber of the participants even at this young age. It was heartening to see a future Zakir Hussain in a young tabla player (child wiz) who moved his hands like a maestro, and many dancers had the potential of reaching the top. All that will be necessary will be continued training, practice and grooming. The guest of honor for the evening was Smt Tripti Mukerjee, famous vocalist and a prime disciple of Sangeet Martandya, Padma Vibhusan Pandit Jasrajji.

Tejas Tope won the first prize in the instrumental category with his impressive handwork on tabla. Roshni Samlal was close behind with a second prize on tabla again, while Devika Gupta won the third prize by playing Sitar with such alacrity. The young classical vocalists were led by Priyanka Tope who rendered Raag Malkauns, followed by Anupam Sadananda who won the second prize by singing Raag Darbari and Neel Nadkarni won the third prize with Raag Bhimpalasi. Keya Patel, Rhea Mankikar and Surina Diddi were also very impressive.

The dance competition was colorful and even more difficult to judge. The Bharat Natyam group dance of Dimple Shah, Veena Viju, Radhika Vishvanathan, Taseen Ferdous, Reema Shah and Alexia Banot was outstanding and won the first prize. The first prize was shared by Sonia Joshi who performed a solo dance. Heena Khanijou who has been winning prizes since a young age is becoming an outstanding Kathak dancer, and ended winning the 2nd prize. Pavitra Badami, Kruti Sanghavi, Nisha Parikh, Sonali Patel, Shefali Patel, Reena Shah and Tejal Desai won the 3rd prize with another great group Bharat Natyam dance performance. There was one more group of Bharat Natyam dancers, which was close behind. This group was led by Stuti Dixit, Kajal Parikh, Bijal Patel, Flora Patel, Kanchi Rajput, Krishna Thakkar, Ruchi Raval and Puja Patel.

This year we also had a folk dance competition. Forum Shah and Shivani Kapadia did an outstanding Sri Ganesh Vandana and won the hearts of the entire audience, besides the first prize. The ever popular dandiya with the performers wearing original Kathyavadi costumes brought a lot of energy on the stage. This group consisted of Sonia Rani, Kumpal Mehta, Rinkal Patel, Nitu Purba, Priyanka Shah, Sayeli Talati, Durva Bhanda and Vidhi Shanischara, and won the second prize. The 3rd prize was won by Purti Parekh and Tarang Jain who rendered the popular, ‘Radha Kaise Na Jale’. The only missing element in the dances was boys!!

Last but not the least; we had some amazing performances in the light vocal categories. Nidhi Purohit sang soulfully ‘Sumiran Kar Le’ and won the first prize. Anjali Purohit rendered ‘Mai Sanware’ to get the second prize, and the third prize was shared by Rachit Jain and Suchint Sethi. Melissa Shah and Nipun Marwaha also sang really nice bhajans.

The crowd was very impressive, and impressed by a well organized event. Everyone left the event with a new confidence that our culture will not only survive but flourish in USA!!

After the entertaining competition, the congregation of nearly a thousand performed Aarti at Sri Hanuman Mandir and Sri Shiv Shakti Mandir. Moreover, the faithful were waiting patiently for Sri Holika Dahan and lit the sacred fire, performed parikrama and offered prayers and coconuts. However, the children were eagerly waiting for the climax – playing with Gulal to welcome spring. All the brave hearted souls who wanted to experience holi the Indian way, stayed and sprinkled gulal on each other with fun, devotion and love. If only, we could live with each other this way, we could have world peace all the time!

Jai Sri Hanuman!!