Spectacular Janmashtami Celebrations by the Hindus of Greater Houston

Phoolo Ki holi  group

HOUSTON:   Hindus of Greater Houston celebrates Krishna Janmashtami (birthday of Lord Krishna) at the George R. Brown Convention Center on Saturday, September 12, 2015 from 6pm till midnight. It is the largest community-wide gathering celebrating a Hindu festival in the United States.

The event is free and open to all; and presents a perfect opportunity to invite neighbors and colleagues to showcase our rich Hindu culture. HGH, which strives to bring all area Hindus together, has planned special programs for all ages to make this event a grand success and enjoyable for everyone.

This year also marks the 50 years since Swami Srila Prabhupada, founder of the world -renowned International Society of Krishna Consciousness- ISKCON Foundation. Hindus of Greater Houston will be celebrating this milestone this year.

A unique eye-catching “Rangoli” – the sacred welcoming designs of art will be displayed at the entrance. The hall will be adorned with specially decorated booths, temples and special exhibition on Swami Srila Prabhupada.

The evening will commence with costume contest for children in which about 70 kids participate every year. This will be followed by a cultural program presented by many different Indian dance schools. The theme for this year is “Lord Krishna’s birthday celebration in different parts of India”.

Houstonians will be delighted to have in our midst Alfred Ford, the great grandson of Henry Ford, who will be the keynote speaker at the festival. He is known by his Hindu name Ambarish Prabhu, well revered for his philanthropy and accomplishing his mentor’s dream of building the Temple of Vedic Planetarium in Mayapur, India. His presence will be a great inspiration to all, especially the young professionals.

The Garba and Dandiya Raas is the ever-popular traditional folk dance that opens the floor to all to participate. This is an extremely popular group dance with the young and old alike dancing to the beat of a live band. This will commence after Akhil Chopra Award ceremony for recognition of the unsung heroes and presentation of Lifetime Achievement awards to those for their invaluable contribution and dedication in serving the Hindu community.
There will also be an art contest and rides for children and popular Matki Phod.

The most spectacular special feature of the evening is Vrindavan Style “Phoolon ki Holi” which will be played with more than a million rose petals. These flowers will be specially flown into Houston and will be used in place of traditional powder colors. The organizers are also planning to add aroma to this by adding jasmine flowers! Playing with flowers will positively bring smiles in the face of the visitors and relax them after the fast dancing. The shower of flowers will be another great picture of the evening to make it memorable.

There will be food booths serving mouth-watering Indian vegetarian food. This celebration is brought to you by Hindus of Greater Houston whose mission is to bring Hindus and the whole community together.

Ambraish 1in

Ambarish Das
Ambarish Das or Alfred Brush Ford, great-grandson of the legendary Henry Ford—founder of the Ford Motor Company, first met A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, founder of the Hare Krishna movement in Dallas in 1974 and soon became his initiated disciple. He has been involved in several ISKCON projects worldwide, including the Bhaktivedanta Cultural Center in Detroit, the Oxford Center for Hindu Studies at Oxford University & the Srila Prabhupada Pushpa Samadhi Mandir in Mayapur, India. Ambarish sits on the boards of several businesses, charitable institutions and foundations . He has received awards from around the world for his charitable works and support of Vedic culture.
In recent years Ambarish has donated $25 million dollars for the “Temple of the Vedic Planetarium” and has been traveling around the world to fundraise for the project, whose completion is planned for 2022.
Ambarish, now lives in Alachua, Florida, with his Indian wife. Svaha Ford, PhD, and their two children.

Please visit www.hindusofhouston.org  for more information.