By- Chella Krishnakumari
- Freedom in the Mind, Strength in the Words,
- Pureness in Our Blood, Pride in Our Souls,
- Zeal in Our Hearts, Let’s Salute Our India on Republic Day
With these thoughts Inspiring Indian Women organized, republic Day celebrations,
’Hamara India and Hamari Hindi ‘
A long day, but worth it! Floating Crowd of almost 500 attended the now very popular Inspiring Indian Women initiative-’Hamara India and Hamari Hindi’!!! The team worked tirelessly the whole day trying to ensure each of the little ones get due importance for the effort they made and for the parents who stood by waiting to see their child, say a few words for India!! Words are just not enough to describe the happiness around.
Sunday, the 27th of January was a day to remember, rejoice and celebrate the legacy of India at the prestigious Zoroastrian Centre at Harrow. The magnificent show had a huge response among the public. The entire place was abuzz with passionate parents visiting the event comprising of activity tables, retail stalls and more than 140 spirited performers.
The occasion was graced by the presence of Her Worshipful Mayor of Harrow Ms Kareema Marrika. India in UK (High Commission of India, London) was represented by Ms Kiran Khatri,( Second Secretary (POL and ECO ) and Mr Tarun Kumar (Attache Hindi and Culture ) Other special guests were Ms Purnima Raval, Mr Satya Minhas, Ms Lakshmi Kaul CII UK, Ms Sonoo Malkani, Ms Bharti Sethia, Ms Kirti Soni, Mr Chirag Tyagi, Ms Sulochana Sethi, Ms Simi Arora, Mr Kuha, Mr Guniraj Vyas and Ms Sudarshan Vyas.
The event began with Ms Anasmitha Saha’s acclaimed dance performance for Vande Mataram followed by a wide variety of talent portrayal such as singing, dancing, fancy dress, sloka rendition and musical instrument performances. These high energy performances followed one after the other and never had a dull moment. This presentation of immense artistry by all ages of life was a pleasure to watch and is commendable. Zealous participants from kids to mums and dads filled the event with more color, dance and music. The entire event was patriotic and oozed Indian spirit.
The patience and support from each and every participant needs a special mention here. The proud faces of every parent when their child performed was a delight to watch. It was a great honor to perform in front of such dignified personalities.
It was indeed a proud moment for every IIW member and volunteers who were constantly available. Starting from the welcoming, organising, stage decoration, sound systems coordination and certificate distribution everything was handled with easy by these active women. The team IIW members such as Ms Pavithra Venkatesh, Ms Shital kamdar, Ms Shipra Gomes, Ms Deepa Vaswani, Ms Seema Khandelwal, Ms Pooja Nikhil Patel, Ms Vaishalli Nagpal, Ms Nisha Upadhyay, Ms Neetu Saxena and Ms Priyanka Bhargava, Ms Jyoti Vekaria, Ms Srividya ,Ms Radhika Maya and Ms Gayatri Shenoy need special mention for their constant effort and willingness to make this event a grand success. IIW has been hosting this event every year for the past two years. Each year the number of attendees has grown in a massive scale that they had to hire a bigger venue this year. The event was compered by Sneha Jain and Gita Sharma. A huge congratulations to the entire team of IIW who have already started prepping for the next event.
The event hosted several fun filled activities for children to keep them engaged such as Mandela Expressions by Ms Lavanya P Chezhian, Henna art by Ms Sneha Dave, Face painting by Ms Kavita Sonaiya KA Arts, Cupcake and cookie decoration by Ms Chella and NGO Saksham- Mohiva representative Bhawana Sharma;s Art and craft activity. The entire stage and hall was decorated with tri colors by ‘Aabhash’, a venture started by Ms Shalini Jain, Ms Aanchal Goyal and Ms Bhawana Sharma. Healthy bites stalls like Swapna’s Beebs and Jankhana Shah’s Sprightly gave a tough competition to fast food stalls JP Caterers and Khau Ghar. Ladies thronged to DJ Creations, Ethnic Stopshop and Dimple Designs.
Jeevan Organ donation camp, a part of NHS was set up by Kirti Soni at the venue to create awareness among Indian donors. We all also remembered little Kaiya who lost the battle against cancer.
Violin, Harmonium, Guitar, Keyboard and Veena recitations, young singers singing Vande Mataram, Maa tuje salaam and many more Indian songs, solo dance performances, oration on Indian independence and Shloka rendition were performed on the stage. Some of the participants were Thaathvi ,Vanishka, Vidhi, Aarya, Niva, Anvi, Yuvi, Smriti, Devansh sahu, Ronan , Karvir,Krita Dhabalia,Vriddhi Sharma, Kiana , Aprajita chaubey, Aneesh majumder, Soothing Violen was played by .Smrithi Venkatesh
Others displaying their talent were Vaishnavi , Vaibhav, Akshaya , Arohi, Kiyansh, Nidhi, Meha, Kiana, Vaneesa,Varshini, Samyuktha,Ekaa, Mishika, Tatva Somaiya.Tanvi Santha kumar, Stuti Palthur. Delisha Vora, Varsha B, Junainah Husain, Nishka, Delisha, Kanishka, Aanya, Samriddhi, Khushi, Prachi, Aaliya , While Aarav Adholiyasang, hum honge kamyaab, Akshaansh Sharma played the national anthem on guitar , patriotic dance was performed by Sowmya Seshadri, Baani Nagpal, Nishka Mithare. The ‘Josh’ was high amongst the talented kids, Shiv Patel, Varsha, Shreya, Snigdha ,Alisha, Isha ,Swarnima, Riyaan, Aira, Prisha, Rajvika, Shambhavi, Renisha, Vaishnav, Vaishnavi Patel, Neha, Mishikaa, Aditi, Sheekha, Mahi, Kritagya Chauhan, Harshith Karthik Parthiban, Rupal , Sumant Rathi , Sneha Chaubey, Aarya Rastogi, Nishtha Chezhian, Rahul, Manoj Kumar, Jia Sood, Parth Marathe, Nitish Chezian, Srishti Bhagwatkar
Cute fancy dress participants were Palesa Thakkar, Dhyan Raval, Ishaan Vajani, Ashvi Pandya, Sashwath Venkatesh, Reyansh, Shirish Khodke, Mansh Mehta, Akshaansh, Krishna Kailash, Saranya, Vriddhi Sharma.
These high energy performances followed one after the other and never had a dull moment. This presentation of immense artistry by all ages of life was a pleasure to watch and is commendable.
Each and every participant was given a chocolate, a certificate and a toy Spinner. Gairika Mathur, Priya Kushwaha , Rashmi Chaubey, Hima Devaraju, Smitha Sonthalia, Heena Jain, Mansi Raval, Manasi Adholiya, Nehal Vajani and several others put lot of effort in bringing the best amongst children, thus making it even more spectacular!!
The event concluded with the teen dancing sensation Ms Mirava Vekaria’s famous dance performance.
The celebration beautifully conveyed the message,
Aao bacho , tumhe dikhaye jhanki Hindustan ki ,
Is mitti se, tilak karo, ye dharti hain balidaan ki,
Vande Mataram, Vande Mataram
(Come children; let us show you a glimpse of India which is the land of sacrifice,
Bow to her, bow to this mother)
Let new India rise, swelled with pride of its achievements. Thus mission IIW accomplished!!! Jai Hind!!