HAPPY TEEJ
Bow to Lord Shiva for his blessings for a happy married life
-SAMAJ WEEKLY, UK
Hariyali Teej celebrates the union of Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati. Hariyali Teej falls in the holy month of Sawan, when rain splashes all over the country and people get relief from the terrible heat wave. The farmers rejoice as crops yield harvest. It brings profitability and thus celebrations.
The festival is a joyous occasion when women get together and apply mehndi on each other’s palm, sing songs, swing on jhula, Hariyali Teej celebrates the divine union of Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati. It is believed that on this day after a long penance and devotion that lasted for several lifetimes, Goddess Parvati finally impressed Lord Shiva and they got married. Celebrated mainly in Northern India, this day holds special significance for married women who observe fasts and pray for their husbands’ well-being and long lives.
In some cases, even unmarried women pray diligently on this day in hopes of being blessed with a good husband.
IIW North India Chapter under the guidance of Sunita Chaubey has been celebrating the Teej festival since last year. This year too they celebrated on 31st August with lot of beautiful performances. The event saw great bonding, fun, laughter among women as they celebrated the North Indian Festival. This event also created great opportunity for the abundance of Talent present. This was an attempt to bring the present generation British Indian Kids closer to the tradition and festivities.
The performers were Aneesha Saxena, Anusha Baranwal, Prachi Tawade, Amrita Dolly Pandey, Neetu Saxena, Ushma Gupta, Ekta Mishra, Avaani Mishra, Yashvita Pandey, Akansha Shukla, Surabhi Srivastava, Manju Shah, Swapna Mukherjee, Seema Shah, Akansha Shukla, Anchal Upadhyay, Shweta Jha, Arti Verma, Sunita Verma, Veena Mehra, Sakshi Chaubey, Ekta Mishra, Aditi Pandey, Bandana Choubey, Vrishti Mishra, Aparajita Chaubey, Siddhant Chaubey. Juhi Srivastava and Shalini Jaiswal Shah spoke highlighting the importance of Teej festival.
This event brought in platform for women entrepreneurs to spread clientele and promote themselves. There were plenty of stalls for shopping sarees, accessories, bed sheets etc.
The crowd just couldn’t control and swayed to the live singing by Sunita Chaubey. From Lavani to Sakalban from Heeramandi there was everything to keep the audience entertained. From Paan khaye Saiyan to Jhoomka gira re the ladies were on the dance floor. Juhi Srivastava made the hall lively with her beautiful subtle decorations for photobooth and backstage. Shalini Jaiswal Shah from Bhadohi near Varanasi kept the 
ladies engaged with interactive games and getting reels made for social media. There was a UP Rickshaw too for clicking photographs on. Ladies were seen posing away. It really added to the U.P feel in London.
The entire IIW (Inspiring Indian Women) North India Global Chapter dream team behind this memorable afternoon were Juhi Srivastava, Ushma Gupta, Shalini Jaiswal shah, Nidhi Mishra Raithatha, Anuradha Baranwal, Savita Singh, Nisha Upadhyay, Bandana Choubey, Nitu Singh, Antara Tallam, Arpita Chaturvedi Sharma. The conceptualisation and execution with the support of Volunteers were carried by Deputy Director IIW North India Global Sunita Chaubey.
The success of the event can be felt with the flooding of photos, reels, videos from the event all over on the social media. The chit chatter of ladies and the rib-tickling laughter from the event still echoes and is etched in our hearts.
