More than 600 people very present at Billerica High School on Saturday, September 25th to celebrate Ganeshotsav or "Anandachi Dohi" organized by New England Marathi Mandal (NEMM) . Anandaache Dohi literally means “In the lake of happiness..." is an excerpt from a popular 'Abhanga' by Saint Tukaram.

The program began with traditional Pooja and Aarti of Lord Ganapati or Ganesha. Lord Ganapati was seated on a well decorated platform in the lower level of the Auditorium. Devotees were given Prasad after the darshan.

The entertainment and cultural program began with bhakti songs and prayers. Super hit of Song of 50s “Ghanashyam sundara shridhara, arunodaya jhala aa,” , the song to wake up Lord Shridhara or Krishna took audience back to India. This followed by set of traditional songs and performances of different periods and regions of Maharashtra. The dance of Vasudevs, the wandering minstrels of Maharashtra was very well received. The show included songs of Vasudevs, the wandering minstrels of Mharashtra; Abhangas, devotional songs; Jogava, song of devadasi; Natya geet, songs from traditional marathi plays; Powada, eulogy; etc.

The program included a variety of dances ranging from popular folk dances to tribal dances and dances of fishermen. “Govinda” was a big hit among the audience. Traditionally, “Govinda” is performed during the Gokulashtami( the birth anniversary of Lord Krishna) in which pots of curds tied at breath taking heights are broken by human pyramids. Similar setup was arranges on the stage in which the dancers formed a small pyramid to reach out the handi or pot.

"Just that we all had a lot of fun organizing, participating. We are glad that we could put a smooth and well-executed show... and we would love to do it again.... we are already looking forward to the next endeavors by NEMM," said organizers of the program.

It is clear that performers had put in a lot of effort for the show. Planning and practice for the show had began in March and some of the costumes such as nauwari sadi, dhotar etc. were ordered from India. The program was outcome of planning and efforts of lot of people. Following is list of all the people who made the program possible. Participants: Rajiv Agarwal, Hazel Almeida, Hemangi Apte, Rajesh Bachwal, Poorva Bhade, Shravani Deshmukh, Rucha Deshpande, Yashoda - Vrunda Dhole, Abha - Ajay Gallewale, Priya Gandbhir, Vinayak - Rajeshwari Godbole, Parag Gujarati, Jayashree Gunda, Radhika Jangi, Makarand Joshi, Mukta - Rutuja - Manoj Joshi, Nirmit Kacharani, Pratith - Samita - Vikas Kadam, Shilpa - Sunil Kadam, Amrita Karambalekar, Neha - Rohan Kashalikar, Anushry Kothare, Isha - Sheetal - Raj Laad, Sharayu - Varsha - Bal Mahale, Siddharth - Anjali Mainkar, Saumil - Sharang - Varsha Mhaskar, Aditya Nadkarni, Nikita - Sandhya Nadkarni, Neeta Naik, Ajinkya - Madhu Nene, Hirkani Padhye, Saujanya Pangrekar, Ashish Panke, Sateja Paradkar, Isha Parulkar, Abha Patil, Nitin - Monisha - Netra Rajinikanth, Gauri Salgar, Siddhi - Sandhya - Santosh Salvi, Vanashri Sarode, Shiwani Shendye, Lalit Shinde, Vaishali - Vijay Shriwardhankar, Poorvi - Nayana Thigale, Sumeet Toprani Comperes: Piyusha Paradkar, Rahul Joshi Singers: Vivek Joshi, Ashwini Hate, Prajakta Joshi, Madhavi Marathe, Sarita Deshpande, Yatin Manjrekar Musicians: Sarita Deshpande (Keyboard), Anshul Parulkar & Neil Tembulkar (Tabla) Choreographers: Vijay Shrivardhankar, Netra Rajinikanth, Rucha Deshpande, Neela Jangi Gan-GavlaN writer-director: Rahul Joshi Original Proposition: Rahul Joshi Creative Director: Madhu Nene Sound: Anish Khanzode Lights: Rajeev Dixit Video Content Recording and Editing: Bal Mahale, Shashank Nene Stage Décor & Props: Sau. Deeparani Sahasrabudhe, Madhu Nene, Manoj Joshi, Prasad Deshpande, Shri. Ramesh Khanzode, Dr. Rohit Jangi Costumes: Madhu Nene, Netra Rajinikanth, Rutuja Joshi, Piyusha Paradkar Green Room Assistance: Lekha MoroNe “Backstage Moms”: Vrunda Dhole, Varsha Mhaskar, Varsha Mahale, Varsha Gujarati, Neela Jangi, Deepali Deshmukh, Vanashri Sarode, Samita Kadam Music Coordination: Ashwini Hate, Sarita Deshpande Coordination: Rutuja Joshi Coordination Assistance: Bipin Chaudhari, Ajay Gallewale, Santosh Salvi Special Thanks: Abhijit Kelkar, Suyash Patwardhan, Shri. Pradeep Bhende (all Mumbai), Sau. & Shri. Awati (Pune), Sau. & Shri. Mahale (Nashik), Milind & Madhura Gokhale, Prasad Dixit (San Fransisco), Scott, Deanna, Jack, Steve Correia (Billerica High School), Arun Manerkar Generous hosts for numerous day-long practice sessions: Rajinikanth family (Wayland), Mahale family (Ashland)

Ganeshotsav is one of the major events organized by NEMM. Since 1975, NEMM is serving the Marathi community in the greater Boston and New England area by arranging various social and cultural events. More information about activities and upcoming events is available at NEMM’s web-site http://www.nemm.org.

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