Friends of Indian Senior Citizens Organization, (FISCO) Burlington, MA held their 8^th get together Diwali Dinner Celebration on Saturday, November 10th at Belmont Council on Aging, 266 Beech Street, Belmont, MA.

The program was designed to bring together its members and other senior communities along with their families, children and grandchildren, providing unique opportunity to get to know each other. The hall was jam packed with about 250 guests attended from various towns. The program started at 4:00 PM with light appetizer followed by a prayer by Rakshit Mazumdar, an introduction by FISCO’s vice president Mr. Raman Gandhi, a welcome speech by FISCO’s president Dinesh Shah and Belmont Center’s Director Ms. Nava Nev Vogal.

This year FISCO honored 3 of their members who were recognized by community leaders for their outstanding services to the community. And they were:

·         Ramesh Naidu –  â€œHall of Fame” by Massachusetts State Cricket League for his lifetime passion for Cricket sport (Former President FISCO)

·         Jyoti Mazumdar – “Community Hero” by Lokvani e-magazine for her tireless volunteering for 22 years at Chinmaya Mission, Andover (Wife of FISCO’s Treasurer Rakshit Mazumdar)

·         Jayantibhai Patel - “Community Hero” by Lokvani e-magazine for his passion for helping people in their critical time at Indian Circle for Caring at Waltham (FISCO’s Secretary)

Raman Gandhi, Vice President of FISCO also described various activities of FISCO during the year, saying, “FISCO is a nonprofit organization and does not have any charitable, religious or political agenda. Our mission is simple “share and care” of seniors and would like to inspire all elders around the world to organize such a group whereby they can lean on somebody’s shoulder and vent out. He stressed that isolation and loneliness is a root cause Depression, Dementia and many mental diseases. All seniors should avoid isolation and enjoy remaining life in the best possible way.

The night got more colorful with opening of a dance floor for Garba and Dandiya Raas for all ages. Everybody enjoyed playing Garba-Raas!

The program ended with delicious Indian vegetarian dishes catered by BAPS Shayona, Lowell, MA and a complementary Indian style ice cream provided by Sonalben Khakhar.. We thank many of our community leaders for sponsoring and contributing to this event enabling us to offer a fun filled dinner at a very low cost of only $10.00 per person.

Utpal Gandhi captured entire event in photo shoots and can be viewed on You Tube by clicking on: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qdARQHQ3OA4

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