Picture Gallery

The India Association of New Hampshire held its annual Spring Festival event on Saturday May 6, 2006 at the Merrimack High School, in Merrimack, New Hampshire. Close to 350 people attended. 

The event began with a Kauthuvam on Lord Ganesha, performed by Shravani Balaji and choreographed by Neha Parikh. This was followed by solo vocals: “Gayatri Mantra,” by Karishma Manchanda; “Sriman Narayan,” a song in Bowli ragam, adi talam by Sneha Prasad; and “Itni Shakti hame dena data,” by Tarang Saluja.  

The next items in sequence were: “Folk Dance,” a Telugu folk dance by Aamuktha Porika; a solo dance from the ballet “Sleeping Beauty,” by Juhi Gupta; “Brahmam Okate,” a solo dance by Madhumita Sriram; a Kuchipudi group dance by Aishwarya Ravi and Akashi Ravi; “Ghanshyam Sundara,” a song of Lord Krishna by students of Sandhya Sriram, Pragnya and Shivani with Ashish on flute; “Bhagyathalakshmi,” a slol vocal by Neha Lakshmi; “Alarippu,” a group dance by students of Sujatha Meyyappan, Jahnavi Raparthi, Keerthana Vellapan, Kuhu Wadhwa; “Thaye Yashoda,” a solo vocal by Meera Nair with Lekha Nair on the keyboard; and “Vara Veena,” a solo vocal by Janaki Ramchandran. 

Several dance items were next: “Right Here, Right Now,” a group dance choreographed by Amritha Mangalat was performed by Nitin Jain, Nishant Iyengar, Akshay  Sundaram, Varsha Gopal, Sree Gopal, Tejaswi Sakhamuri, Harshita Janardan, Shreya Eapur, Smriti Rao, Shravani Balaji; A medley choreographed by Gayatri Tadi and performed by Mounika Talluri, Harika Talluri, Varsha Pagidi, Sahaja Surpaneni; “Piya Piya,” a dance choreographed by Neha Parikh and performed by Anjana Mangalat, Anusha Gopal, Anjithaa Radakrishnaa, Anupama Rao, Ranjana Sundaram, Lahari Venuthurupalli, Yashashwini Moparthi, Meera Nair, Pragnya Iyengar, Ilina Shah; “Akh Ladiye,” a group dance by Kuhu Wadhwa, Amukta Porika; and “Murugan Kauthuvam,” a Bharatnatyam piece by Meera McKenna, Neha Bhatia, Poornima Patel. 

A mix of solo vocals and group dances followed: “Vaishnava Janatho,” solo vocal  by Anushya Raghuraman; “Kannada Bhava Geethe, ”a solo vocal by Prayuth Nadhuthota;

“Kehna Hai Kya,” a group dance by   Lasya Thilagar, Anju Balaji, Ambika Menon, Mahima Balraj choreographed by Neha Parikh; “Hari Hari Rama,” a solo vocal by Aishwarya Ravi; “Ethee rugananu,” a solo vocal by Bharadwaj Parakala; “Chaiyya Chaiyya,” a group dance by            Meghna Chandra, Amritha Mangalat,  Lekha Nair, Saathvika Reddy choreographed by Neha Parikh; “Ye Kisna Hai, ”a group dance by Janki Patel, Krishna Patel, Poornima Patel, Tanvi Wattal, Anishi Shah, Reena Shah choreographed by Jasmine Shah; “Gopala Gopala, ” a group dance by Nisha Devasia, Ankita Devasia, Bhoomi Shah, Aditi Kulkarni, Shefali Mangtani, Tamana Aasarpotta, Sumanya Kumar, Shivani Patel, Saniya Singh choreographed by Jasmine Shah.  

Next in line were the following items: a Medley, a Telugu Basha & Rock, Roll group dance by Roshan Tadi, Kaushik Korrapty, Rsihi Tadi, Vijay Balabhadrapatruni; “Tumse Milke,” group dance by Anisha Mistry, Ashruti Patel, Chahiti Asarpotta, Siddhi Salvi, Monica Gandhi, Tamanna Gandhi, Sarina Patel, Samta Patel choreographed  by Jasmine Shah; “A Colorful Medley,” a group dance by Aishwarya Agrawal, Anant Agrawal, Pooja Kher, Nihar Sheth, Moova Vangapalli, Maanas Nukala; “Maiyya Yashoda,” a group dance by Pradhi Patel, Avni Agrawal, Meera Patel, Nidhi Bhagat, Alisha Patel choreographed by Jasmine Shah; “Rahathula Rahathula,” a solo dance by Anjithaa Radhakrishnaa, choreogaphed by Sheetal Bhuvanendra; “Chori Chori,” a group dance by Aayushi Patel, Maya Dave, Sama Kadakia, Sesha Kadaka, Janki Patel, Niti Patel, Vibhuti Patel,  Pooja Malvia  choreographed  by Jasmine Shah; “Nach Baliye,” a group dance by Shyna Patel, Rajal Schrubb, Reena Schrubb, Nikita Yarram, Nikita Sachde, Sateja Paradkay, Saniya Shah, Alisha Shah   choreographed by Jasmine Shah; “Phoolse Hum Hasna Sikhe,” a group vocal sung by   Janani, Ashi, Pooja, Ilina, Niel, Rahul, Mayank; “Suraj ki Garmi se,” a group vocal by Pankhuri, Ishita, Kritika, Amrita;  “Ayo Re Ritu,” a group vocal by Pankhuri, Ishita, Kritika, Amrita;  “Venello Adapilla,” a group dance by Spandana Parakala, Manasa Parakala, Pranathi Khaki, Sahiti Surapaneni; “Aarabhi Manam,” a solo vocal by Uma Sankar; “Pukarta Chala Hoon Main,” a solo vocal by Sankar; “Barase Badariya Sawan Ki,” a group vocal by Jyoti Sharma, Swati Nawathe, Vibha Bhatia; “Cultural Dance,” a group dance by Padma Parakala, Satya Parakala, Babitha Tadi, Padmanjali Khaki, Rupaali, Kavitha Khaki, Swathi Voora, Prakash Venthurapalli, celebrating Ugadi Uthsavam; “Ye dil diwana,“ a solo vocal by Rajesh Saluja; and “Kajrare,” a group dance by Manasa Parakala, Spandana Parakala, Lahari Venthurupalli. 

This year’s event was marked by participation by Saheli, a non-profit organization; a medical camp organized by physicians from NH and Massachusetts representing the Indian Medical Association of New England (IMANE); members of the NH Dental group, and a booth manned by volunteers from South Asian Marrow Registry (SAMAR) the bone marrow registry.  This is the first instance when a medical clinic was held to benefit the Indian American Community in NH Literatures on nutrition, domestic violence, and oral hygiene was distributed to the attendees.  Dr. Ramdev of seacost said, “This is the beginning of much more to follow.  I will try to bring in volunteers from my hospital and add many more services.”   

The food court vendors Gurnam Catering and Nala Foods served mouth watering home cooked dishes from the North and the South India.  Then there were Mehendhi, sale of clothing by Pardesi Fashions and Shilpa Desai, and display of investment products from Morgan Stanley represented by Mohan Giri.   

The function concluded with a speech by Sen. Martel and Rep. Bea Francour.  Sen. Martel and Rep. Francour distributed prizes to winners at the Education contests held on March 19 and 25th.  Additionally, trophies were awarded to Anjithaa Radhakrishnan for securing the first rank at the contest held by the North-South Foundation last August, and Avvinash Radhakrishnan for winning the first place in the 2006 Northern Middlesex Spelling Bee competition.   

Senator Martel said that he was happy to be with the Indian American community at the Spring Festival.  He praised the fine entertainment program that included a variety of Indian dance and music. He quickly learnt how to greet with folded hands and was seen greeting everyone he met the Indian way.