A Quarter Century of Houston’s Hindu Heritage Meld Together in Janamashtami Celebrations
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By Jawahar Malhotra
HOUSTON: It was a jumble of colors and commotion in the air that overtook the senses as you entered the George Brown Convention Center downtown, across from Discovery Green. A youth group greeted you and placed a vermillion tilak (forehead mark of reverence) at the entrance arch, just a few steps away from the in the large, 25 foot diameter rangoli (multicolored floor design) floor pattern designed again this year as in the past five years by Sangita Bhutada, in the center of which was a six foot tall ice sculpture of Lord Krishna, playing his bansuri (flute), standing on one foot, resting against a beloved cow, which even the local daily, the Houston Chronicle took notice of the sculpture in the previous day’s edition.
To the other side, as in past years, a large contingent of volunteer teenagers and some older people took the shoes you removed – for the entire hall was sanctified as a holy place for the duration of the evening’s festivities, placed them in a clear plastic bag with a number in it and handed you the duplicate number to retrieve them later. The shoes went into an alpha-numeric matrix that conveniently served another purpose too. “We are able to tell by the shoe deposits,” explained Vijay Pallod, one of the key organizers of the event, “just how many people actually attend.”
And this year, attendance at the premier, non-profit event marking the birth of Lord Krishna – on 17 August, 3228 BC, according to the Bhagvata Purana – was at an all-time high of 8,000, reversing a decline over the past few years that had concerned the organizing group, the Hindus of Greater Houston. This year, the HGH had pulled out all the stops, it seemed, and made some fundamental changes that generated the enthusiasm among area Hindus to attend in large numbers as the Janamashtami event was held this past evening Saturday, August 23.
Sharad Amin, the outgoing President of HGH was elated as were other sponsors and supporters by the turnout. “We are very happy to have recognition from the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi with his best wishes for Happy Janamashtami to all in Houston community”, he said of the letter of felicitation that Modi had sent earlier in the day. Added Ravi Sharma who coordinated and edited the excellent 25th year event souvenir which was unveiled on stage by the visiting Swami Mukundananda, “The turn out by Houstonians Hindus in such large numbers was an endorsement of the faith and the vigor with which the whole HGH team concentrated their efforts”.
Since its inception in 1990 as a venue for bringing the celebration of life and wisdom of one of the two major divinities in Hinduism, Lord Krishna, the Janamashtami festival has sought to bring together all the temples and other Hindu organizations under one roof to show not only the unity among these groups in the metropolitan area but also bring the culture and beauty of Hinduism – and by extension, India – to the Houston community.
Each year HGH has sought to bring expand its concept of the celebration, with pledges from donors – and especially the largest coming from Ramesh and Kiran Bhutada and Raj and Jugal Malani – to support the event, held each of the 25 years at the GRB Convention Center. “My wife Raj and I were very impressed with the organization of this year’s Janamashtami celebrations”, Malani said, “We would love for this tradition to continue in Houston, grow and evolve each year by blessings of All Mighty Krishna.”
Also since its inception, entrance to the event has been free to the public, with their only cost being the parking across the street and the money they may have spent at the food booths or the triple-wide Unique Touch booth which sells framed pictures of divinity and other art objects at major events like this every year. The four food booths – Mirch Masala, Madras Pavilion, Maharaja Bhog and Vishala – had not a moment to rest with long lines stretched out in front as people had decided to have their dinner while the evening’s program went on, concluding with the dandiya ras-garba which is always one of the highlights of the event.
This year nearly 70 booths displayed their products and services, including the area restaurants, and for the first time, 15 commercial booths were allowed to locate to the other side of the booths with religious affiliations, which still formed the colorful majority of the booths towards the center and right of the elevated stage in the back of the cavernous hall. “Hindus of the greater Houston area celebrated the birth of Lord Krishna in a truly grand style at this Silver Jubilee celebration,” said Thara Narasimhan, a Board member and longtime supporter of HGH. “True to tradition, it was a celebration of many accolades, celebrities and achievements of the past and present community Hindu leaders.”
Also in a departure from previous years, the HGH moved the event to the first floor rather than the more difficult to reach third floor which had stadium seating to the sides. Instead, floor seating was laid out on the sides and the ones in the center (which were quickly disassembled after the stage events and taken away by GRB staff to make way for the circling garba dancers). Dharshak Thakkar of Krishna Sounds oversaw the excellent sound system put together especially for the event and Bijay Dixit of Unique Photo Images covered the entire stage show and event photography.
There were other changes too. A record twelve area temples took part in the event, each booth beautifully decorated and laid out to show the magnificence of their buildings and programs. The large stage was set with a more powerful and clearer sound system and two separate performers were the special guests for the evening – the well-known Mayapuris, a Hindu dance and kirtan and chant singing group and Saurabh Raj Jain, the actor who plays Lord Krishna in the current television serial, Mahabharat (the channel it is on, Star Plus had a booth that took pictures of people superimposed on a poster of the Krishna character: the lines were non-stop and long!). Setting the event off was the Meenakshi temple Society’s rath (chariot), which was pulled from Discovery Green to the GRB by the faithful and led by a procession from devotees of the ISKCON temple followed by a pooja.
The ever popular Krishna-the-child costume contest which has brought in many young children dressed in look-alike clothes and head dresses in years past was expanded to the Dasavatar contest which featured over 110 contestants dressed between the ages of 9 months to 12 years in the costumes and make-up of a variety of Hindu Gods and Goddesses and was met with huge applause. The contest winners were: Group A: Alesha Jariwala, Aananthan Nair, Saumya Gupta and Avika Agarwal; Group B: Arunima Para, Kalyan Nair, Ridit Gupta and Anjali Polance and Group C: Keshav Ravi, Sukanth Shankar, Surabhi Subash. Additionally, a prize was given for the best Jhanki (scene from the period) to the Krishna Leela and Bhism Pitamaha Zahaki (by kids from the Maheshwari Mahasabah of North America; team leaders were Madhuri Mantri, Deepti Biyani and Deepali Laddha). Other children who won were for the Ashirwad A Blessing’s “Xpress Urself 2014” art contest and for the Aarthi Thali decoration competition, won by Sroothi Chittory and Priya Ravi.
A musical interlude was provided with bhajans by the Hum A Capella group from the University of Texas, Austin and by dances themed around Krishna by local performers. The energetic touring group affiliated with ISKCON, the Mayapuris, brought the crowd to their feet in inspired dance with fast-paced rhythm, dholuk and cymbal playing and carefully choreographed foot work. Their lead singer, Visvambhar kept the kirtans flowing as his wife, Vrinda Devi Sheth kept tune on the cymbals and dholuk players Krishna Kishora and Balarama Tirtha did leaps across the stage (see the video on IAN’s website). An aarti with leaders of the community raising thalis on stage followed as the entire hall stood and participated in the prayer.
Saurabh Raj Jain made his way to the stage on the chariot but though the audience and the promoters were keen to see him dressed as he is seen as Lord Krishna on TV, he disappointed them by appearing in a plain pajama-kurta with a sleeveless Nehru jacket. He was uncharacteristically speechless when addressing the crowd, leaving moments of silence that had the audience longing to hear more.
Jain did however, with the help of the Indian Consul General Parvathaneni Harish, present the Lifetime Achievement Awards plaques to Raj K. Syal who conceived of the Janamashtami event 25 years ago and to Dr. S. G. Appan, both for their outstanding service to the area Hindu community. They also gave out the Akhil Chopra Community Service Awards (named after the slain Star Pipe Products employee and Hindu activist) to Radha Dixit, Dr. Rahul Pandit and Rishi Bhutada. Advisory Board members of the HGH were also recognized for their service.
Finally, as the chairs in the middle of the hall were cleared away, the Indian musical group Man Pasand, which tours the US for a few months every year and has been here during various celebrations in the past, most recently at the ICC Independence Day IFest; took to the stage and played some lilting music that the eager crowd could dance the dandiya ras-garba to, in small and then ever-widening circles. The dance has become a Houston tradition at many occasions and brings out the young and the young-at-heart crowd wishing to indulge in some carefree merry making. They certainly did so until midnight, when a maha aarti heralded the birth of Lord Krishna.