Diwali Festival of Lights Celebrations in LA, California

India association of Southern California Diwali celebration.
 Cultural show to mark the Diwali spirit brought Indo American community together on October 15th at Sanatan Mandir. Morning started with tea & snack by Ashoka. By 11.30 am, people of So CA who admire one India concept and agree IASC vision to promote Indian rich heritage for next generation came to cheer the young artists.

IASc Committee members name:Chitra passi, Nila parikh, Anjana Patel, Radhika Patel, Shushila Parekh, kamini khare, Atul Makwana, Ravi vishwanath, Dimple Mehta, Charu Shivkumar, Prakash Pancholi,

President of IASC welcomed every one and introduced all executive members of the organization. Nila Parikh co-chair public relation, Charu Shiv Kumar Co chair Cultural Committee,Ravji Bhai Patel Chairperson for community affairs, Sanjay Dighe,  Tech Support, Nalini and Suresh Bhatti lend their support like always for IASC activities. Ravi Vishwanath and Ranjit Vishwanath, Chitra passi, Anjana Patel chair and Co-chair of Ram Leela committee., Harry and Laxmi Shad, Dimple Mehta , Sushila Parikh ,Kamlesh Chauhan,  Aparna Hande and Shilpa Nankani have been consistent Supporters of all IASC events

 Charu shivakumar, Kamini khare and Nila parikh shared high lights of celebration of Diwali in their home state. They all agreed that Diwali is national festival and enjoyed and celebrated all over India with same Hindu mythology which is dated 5000 BC and is written in Hindu Epic, The Great Ramayan. Lighting the Diya signifies arrival of Lord Rama with wife Sita and brother Laxman back to the kingdom of  Ayodhya after fourteen years of exile and winning the war. King of Lanka Ravana and his sons were killed in the war because Ravan had kidnapped Sita and kept her as a prisoner

After many request By Lord Rama to let Sita come back to her family but King Ravan choose the war and they all were killed. It signifies good over evil will always prevail. Program started with Lord Ganesh and Goddess Laxmi puja by committee members and guest. Puja was performed by Prakash Pancholi followed by Ganesh Vandana by Laxmi Shad.

Classical dance was rendered by Jasmin Shivakumar in veneration of Lord Ganesh Ji and Goddess Laxmi.Aparna Hande presented slide show of five days of Diwali celebration. It was very educational for young audience to understand the importance of each day of festivities.

The students of Deepa Anand from Letz dance school presented two dances full of energy of Bollywood. Participants were Disha Anand Janya and Neha Jakan, Netra Raj, Hirani Vijai. This group has won second prize for overall performance presented by Jagriti.  First price was won by students of Rachana Srivastava. Palak Tondon, Jasmin Shivakumar, Sadhana Uma Shankar and Navya Kannan danced on the famous movie song Bichuva

Sunaja group and Alpana Sreedhar’s Bollywood and bhangra had a tie for third price. Bhangra dance number was presented by Meera Parikh, Aagna and Kisha Mehta and Aditi and Diya Lakshman

Bollywood group was full of fire cracker and presented by Tarini Siram, Sloka Nalluri, Naitik Verma, Atharva Mishra, Srishubhav Pinjala and Srihith Potturi.
Brother and sister team Meera and Jay presented nice dance. Young Shukhmanjot singh came from Buena park Gurdwara to share his talent of Dhol playing which spontaneously brought People to stage to dance.  After the dances, Sabari Girish took the stage and sang many old and new songs.  Classical fusion was presented by well-known dancers Indu Pillai & Meera Nair on live music by Sabari. Deepti Mantha joined Sabari Girish to entertain the audience by their melodious singing. Program ended by 2.30 pm.  Ravi Vishwanath gave vote of thanks and extended best wishes for Diwali on behalf of Dr. Krishna Reddy, Sunil Tolani and Kusum Gupta. Due to prior engagement they missed the program. Mr. Ramesh Mahajan sponsor the lunch for participants. Longtime supporter and active member Mr. Harkishan Vasa Dr. Dhamija and Amarjeet Dhamija and many more were proud to sit in the audience and enjoyed the program. It was almost lunch time. Every one rushed to lunch line visiting with friends and shopping on various booths. Most of the audience were delighted with total package of Diwali program and were wondering How India Association of So CA arranges this kind of mega show where more than 40 young artists take part at a very reasonable ticket price of only $ 10.00 for adults and $ 5.00 for children with Tea & snack and lunch. All committee members had one voice that the secret of success is the valuable time commitment by the IASC committee, consistent community support, our dedicated sponsors and the everlasting support from many dance teachers and singers for all the events.t

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