View Picture Gallery 1/View Picture Gallery 2

Former US Ambassador George Bruno and NH Senators Lou D’Allesandro and Joe Foster joined the Indian American community in celebrating the Annual Spring Festival at Merrimack High School on April 17,2004 at the Merrimack High School in Merrimack, NH. The festival is organized in the spring of every year by the India Association of New Hampshire  and showcases the cultural talents of the Indian American community.

Students of Sandhya Sridhar sang  beautiful songs in Marati, Malayalam and Telugu. Students of Preetha Arun and Sunanda Narayana performed Bharatanatyam  dances and students of Kiranmayi performed kuchupudi dances. Tejasvi Putcha and Sidhata Pandre danced vibrantly to a duet about Krishna and Gopikas.The students of Angikam dance academy danced to songs from the movie Devdas and other semi classical items. The show stopper was a performance to the old hindi classic  'Jhumka Gira Re' by little Anjana.

More than 350 members of the Indian American community attended the event. Ambassador Bruno gave away awards to the winners of the Education Bee organized by the Association in collaboration with the North South Foundation last month. Senators D’Allesandro and Foster handed out gift certificates to all the participants of the Education Bee and the Spring Festival.

NH Senator from Manchester Lou D’Allesandro was delighted to see such a large gathering of the Indian American community and the community’s involvement in charitable activities. He spoke of his family’s close connection with India. His daughter spent four months in the Northern part of India teaching English as a foreign language. He exhorted the community to get involved in local politics.

NH Senator from Nashua Joe Foster came with his family and enjoyed the festival and the Indian food. He was impressed by the Association’s efforts to promote excellence in children’s education through activities like the Spelling, Vocabulary and Math Bees. He asked the community to work with the local representatives on issues of local and national importance.

After the festival, Ambassador Bruno commented, “All who attended the festival had to be impressed. The dancing, music, speeches, sponsors, spirit, awards, vendor booths, large crowds, many children, raffle, written program, the hall, the website, newsletter, emails – all represented a dynamic organization and considerable coordination.”