Picture Gallery

 

NH Senator Lou D’Allesandro and Representative Bea Francoeur joined the
Indian-American community in celebrating the Annual IANH Spring Festival. It was held at Merrimack High School on May 7, 2005. This event showcased the cultural talents of New Hampshire's Indian-American community.

More than 400 members of IANH (India Association of New Hampshire) along with their friends and relatives attended the event. Senator D’Allesandro presented awards to the winners of the Education Bee organized by the association in conjunction with the North South Foundation, that was held in March. He and Representative Francoeur were in turn honored with plaques to thank them for their interest and involvement with the association.

There was a variety of quality entertainment, most of it provided by children. In between items our MCs Ashish Jain and Suman Seethamaraju did an admirable job of entertaining the audience through songs, jokes, and mini game shows. There were dance numbers from the films Swadesh, Dhoom, and Kisna, performed by children from the Nashua Balavihar group and the Aangikam Dance Academy. To represent the classical side of India, we had a veena performance, classical singing, and Bharatanatyam items, through which the audience was introduced to a new dance teacher, Neha Parikh, an exponent of both Bharatanatyam and Mohiniattam. She delighted the audience with two pure dance pieces, an Alarippu, and a Kauthuvam.

What was special about this year was the wonderfully balanced blend of classical music, song, and dance, as well as folk and film numbers and Western music. We had skits in English and Hindi, both by adults and children, as well as a pageant presented by the kids from Nashua Shishubharathi. There were many vendors selling a variety of items, ranging from books to delicious food to beautiful jewelry and ethnic clothing.   Gurnam Singh and Indira Shelat, provided delectable foods from both North and South India. To quote Indira, “It was like a Mela, and I had such a wonderful time!”

Senator D’Allesandro of Manchester was very much pleased to see such a large gathering of the Indian American community and the community’s involvement in charitable activities. He exhorted the community to get involved in public service.