Indian Republic Day celebrations by IIW– Connecting British Indian Kids to their roots
(Samaj Weekly)- To work that extra mile, take out that extra time and that extra travel for ‘India’ simply because you love your Incredible India and find it an honour and pride to be part of it. More than 300 attended IIW (Inspiring Indian Women) celebrations of Indian Republic Day. Being organised since 2017, this is one of the first and most popular among British Indians as it brings opportunity for British born Indian Kids to express their love for the country of ethnicity. This year it was organised at the iconic Zoroastrian Centre at Rayners lane on the 28th January.
IIW Inspiring Indian Women ‘Hum aur Hamara Desh’ – was a sincere effort to get all the little ones on stage and show their talent. There were absolutely no auditions, all who had ‘India’ in their hearts were there. It was amazing to see the enthusiasm amongst the parents more than the children. The patriotic atmosphere was captivating as parents and children all sat enjoying the performances.
The Distinguished Guests who could make it were, Chief Guest His Worshipful Mayor of Harrow Cllr Ram ji Chauhan, Guest of Honours MP Bob Blackman CBE Padmashree and Respected Nandita Soni Sahu Attache Hindi and Culture represented High Commission of India, London. Others who graced were Mr Kuldeep Shekhawat, Ms Sonoo Malkani, Mr Suresh Kumar Gupta, Mr and Mr Bharat Parmar and Smita from Eshadoot, Sister Harika from Brahmakumari org, Ms Purnima Raval Former Met Police Officer, Warrant Officer from British Army Mr Ashok Kumar Chauhan, Councillor Kaza, Kuldeep Kaur Gill, Cllr Anjana Patel.
The programme was hosted by Darshini Joshi and Madhurima Dass. The entire project was led by Nilanjana Paul from Indradhanush Kids. Other who worked hard behind the scenes were Sarika Handa , Rupali Ravi, Heenaba Zala , Nilanjana Paul, Priya kainth, Betania Francis, Pushpa Makwana, Darshana Shah, Shillpi, Shilpa Choudhary, Geeta Choudhary, Shalini Jain, Gayatri Shenoy, Seema Khandelwal, Shital Kamdar, Shweta Khanna, Kalpana Doshi and Dharti Vasani
Absolutely free workshops were organised to keep the kids engaged, Soniya Joshi (Glitter Tattoos), Samarpan Arts by Smitha Sonthalia, Kite Making and Saree Draping by VTSUK. Beautiful tricolored balloon decorations by two dynamic girls who recently started their balloon decoration business brought in the festive feel and added to the joy. Many new Entrepreneurs got opportunity to promote and increase client.
From cute kids in Fancy dress as Subhash Chandra Bose, Bahubali , Shri Ram or Nari Shakti to instrumental violin recital, Piano etc to singing patriotic numbers to speech and dances all made the entire celebration very memorable. Students of Esha Ramesh ( Vedika Academy), We are one Group dance : Nithya Sowmy, Yoga by Prodigy Ishwar Sharma and team , Sambalpuri Dance by Rupali Ravi and team, Gondi Dance of Maharashtra by Dancerrians group , Punjabi Folk by Shilpa Chowdhary and Meghna Shah, SAM dance group were some of the highlights of the entire programme.
This report would be incomplete if we don’t mention the names of all these children who made special effort to show their love for India – Vishvadhika singh, Aditi Angadi, Khrivisha Manikandan, Reyansh Mangu, Aryahi Kandukuri, Jasroop Kaur, Jaiteg Singh, Riya Shah, Siya Shah,Daviksha, Suryahkumar, Navya Goswami, Aarna Prajapati, Prachi, Saanvi, Ariana, Navya, Devika, Trishika, Reyansh Sharma, Rupali Ravi, Aaradhya Garg, Anay Garg, Yasya Vishwanath, Vihaan Pandey, Kriyan Manikandan, Ishwar Sharma, Gaanavi shetty, Dhruv Diwan , Shakti Sathyan, Jasroop Kaur 9 years, Samar panwar 5 years, Riya Panwar 9 years, Sahana Alooru 10 years, Sagarika Barua 8 years, Krishiv Alooru 5 years, Tanvika Barua5 years, Jaiteg Singh 3 years, Vallabh Vijay Kumar, Vedaanshi Srivastava, Riyaanshi Srivastava, Gauri khanna, Isha Amar Yadav, Aroop Mitra, Prisha Ghimire, AryaaJoshi, Erine Ghomes, Shreya Paul, Sneha Paul, Reyansh Mangu, Viraat Mangu, Piya Roy, Yuvraj Choudhary, Akshaj Garg, Akash Narayanan , Thiya Sharma, Maanvi Lalwala, Yash Nadhavajhala, Aavya , Mayra, Anaisha, Anukriti, Naryani, Ridhima, Saanvi and Sara, Dhriti Kalra, Ridhima Saha, Agniv Sen, Arinjoy Pandit, Srinjoy Pandit, Saanvi Chandak, Shlok Chandak, Shanaya Mookerjee , Samridh Mookerjee, Tanush Kumar, Nishka Badri, Anisha Badri, Smruthi Dev, Anjana subash, Anirudh Vimalkumar, Akshara Vimalkumar, Saimridhni Senthilnathan, Adhiti Gopinath, Aarnav, Akash, Ashwin, Anvi, Punyakeerthi, Rithanya, Sahana, Sinchana, Shivaksha, Saranya Patil, Ganveer Jain, Adinaraian Singh, Kiaan Kapoor, Arjun Kapoor, Shaurya Patil, Krishaa Kanodia.
The mood was upbeat as everyone saw a ‘Little India’ at Rayners lane. Everyone in tricolours had their eyes gleaming with a sense of missing India. It was indeed a great community cohesion with happy faces. ‘Hum aur Hamara Desh’ has become the much awaited annual event by IIW.
