Diwali, “festival of lights”, represents the victory of good spirit over the evil soul.  On Saturday October 30th 2010, the IANH organization held its annual Diwali Festival at Nashua High School North, where over 600 people attended.  As part of the food drive IANH Youth Group collected $200, which will be donated to the Nashua Soup Kitchen. The MCs Jharna Madan and Vineet Bansal began the proceedings in style. The festive night started with IANH’s famous “cultural hour”, where artistic youth and adults showed the audience their talent and expertise on stage. From dance performances to vocal renditions, the “cultural hour” allowed audiences to enjoy and celebrate the spirit of Diwali. One member of the audience said “The performances were great and were really fun to watch. I wish I had gone to the festival last year!”. Another member of the audience agrees, saying “The decorations, lights, music and stage, all contribute to the significance of Diwali.” An ongoing audience questionnaire took place with the winnings of free CD’s by DJ Tejinder and exclusive dance lessons.  IANH would like to thank teachers Jasmine Shah, Neha Parikh, Amulya Deepak, Sandhya Sridhar, Jyoti Sharma, Shital Botadra and Sheethal Dwaraka for choreographing and presenting some amazing performances. We would also like to thank our special guests Anuradha Palakurti, accompanied by youngsters Ullas Rao, Pranav Ghatraju and Rasika Murali who held the audience spellbound with their music.

Following the performances, the audience and performers had a chance to socialize in the Nashua North Cafeteria where delicious food and drinks were served. When interviewed, one person exclaimed “The food is very good, as well as the service. I really like how IANH coordinated all this”. IANH committee and volunteers would also like to send a special thanks to all the sponsors and contributors which included Food and Fashion, Gurnam Catering Service, Mehmaan Restaurant, Ameriprise Financial, and Citibank NRI Services among several others who made this event possible.

After everybody had a chance to catch up with their friends, enjoy the food served, kicked off their shoes for a Dandiya night, and danced their hearts out to the traditional Dandiya music, played by DJ Tejinder Singh.

Packed with fun, laughter and tradition, the IANH Diwali festival was indeed a night to remember.

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