Evening of Color, Words & Poetry in Hindi

Holi-3

Photos: Rishikesh Sohoni

By Swapan Dhairyawan

HOUSTON: International Hindi Association Houston Chapter (IHA) partnered with India Culture Center (ICC) and Jain Vishwa Bharati Preksha Center (JVB) on March 1, Sunday and held its Annual local talent event at the JVB Center.

In the serene premises and extremely pleasant weather on Sunday, IHA held its Holi ke Hindi Bol event. It was an event of Hindi poetry and was presented by 12 local poets. The theme was on Holi related poetry, incidents and story which was presented by all the poets through Veer Ras, Bhakti Ras, Vyang Ras and Shringar Ras.

Over 160+ people attended this free event to enjoy for the 2nd time since it was conceptualized in 2014 by the IHA Chapter President Swapan Dhairyawan.

The program started on time with the Event Coordinators and Emcees for the evening Mahesh Derashri and Saundarya Sohoni welcoming the gathering and explaining as to what to expect. Thereafter they invited Shri Swatantra and Bimla Jain to light the lamp for commencing the event. The Jain’s are avid lovers of Hindi poetry and have been very supportive to the Hindi cause.

Holi-2

It was followed by a Hindi short poetry by kids Siya Derashri and Eesha Dhairyawan. The emcees invited JVB Ambassador Pramod Bengani to present the mission of JVB and recent update about their activities. ICC President Charlie Patel thereafter spoke about the long standing relationship with IHA and JVB and the necessity of sharing resources. Swapan Dhairyawan spoke about the mission of IHA and its resurrection since 2008. He credited the growth of the organization and the adding of events to the strength of his core committee members. He spoke about the passion and dedication of his team members whose mother tongue though not Hindi, have come together for the passion of Raj Bhasha Hindi. He explained that these team members though Kannada, Gujarati and Marathi speaking were making efforts to write poetry in Hindi and hence it was a good idea to provide a platform for this versatility. Also the mission of language is to bring people together rather than being divisive. He thanked all the poets, supporters and coordinators for this event.

The artists and presenters at this event were Manglesh Mujmer, Krishna Sharma, Dr KD & Saroj Upadhyaya, Col Vipin Kumar ( on behalf of his wife Neera Vipin), Dr Sarita Mehta, Sangeeta Pasrija, Devika Dhruv, Dr Khalid Razvi, Dr Nik Nikam, Parul Fernandes, Mahesh Derashri and Saundarya Sohoni.

The presentation skills of each and every one was incredible. Though first timers Col Vipin, Parul Fernandes and Dr Nikam, all them excelled and won immediate applause from the audience. The presentation ranged from Mathura brajbhoomi Holi to “sukh” and how that can be related to a joyous occasion. Almost 2 hours passed very swiftly and none of the audience wanted the program to end.

Holi-1

The fillers and introductions to all the poets and their poetry was beautifully weaved in with satire by Mahesh Derashri which kept the audience involved.

The program ended with presentation of token appreciation to all the artists. The honors for this was done by Ashok Garg, Manohar Gidwani and Arvind Patel.

The hot refreshments and cold Thandai was a delight to all the attendees. The kitchen coordinators were Nisha Mirani, Kirti Sohoni, Ajit Patel, Rajiv Bhavsar, Pallavi Dhairyawan, Banke Bihari Parivar and Sangeeta Derashri.

The entire program can be watched on You tube “ Houston Holi ke Bol 2015” courtesy and coverage by Dr Nik Nikam.

The next program Hasya Kavi Sammellan is slated for May 9 Saturday at India House. International fame artists Arun Gemini, Ved Prakash Ved and Ritu Goel will be the esteemed guests.

For more information/ tickets call 281-3820348 or visit www.icchouston.org