India Association of New Hampshire celebrates Diwali

Published: Monday, October 26, 2009

Dancers perform at the India Association of New Hampshire's Diwali festival Oct. 10 at Nashua High School North.

Dancers perform at the India Association of New Hampshire's Diwali festival Oct. 10 at Nashua High School North.

Chief gues, Dr. Katrina Swett, president of the Lantos Foundation for Human Rights and Justice, gives a speech while Prithvi Kumar, presiden of IANH, and Manoj Chourasia, chairman of public relations for IANH.

Dancers perform at the India Association of New Hampshire's Diwali festival Oct. 10 at Nashua High School North.

NASHUA – The India Association of New Hampshire held its annual Diwali festival on Oct.10 at Nashua High School North.

More than 700 people celebrated the event, which featured music, dance and food that showcased Indian culture. The festival included vendors selling Indian clothing, authentic Indian food, jewelry and art.

The cultural portion of the evening featured 27 performances by talented youth, including Bharatanatyam, Carnatic vocal recitals, Bollywood dances and even a magic show. The Bollywood dances were choreographed by teachers Neha Parikh, Shah and Sujatha Meyyappan.

This year, in honor of the 20th anniversary of the founding of IANH, President Prithvi Kumar presented a slide show about the first 20 years of IANH. He described how the organization was founded, some of the highlights of the organization’s history, and its growth over the past 20 years. Dr. Tej Dhakar, secretary of IANH, also introduced the association’s founders, who are still active members of IANH, including Dr. Padma Mathur, Dr. Bijoy Kundu, Dr. Suresh Mathur, Kumar, Manoj Chourasia and Jasmine Shah.

Chetan Chaudari, vice president of IANH, presented a slide show about the IANH’s Bhutanese Refugee Empowerment Project, which is helping New Hampshire’s many Bhutanese refugees to find jobs and become self-sufficient within the community. Kumar presented the keys and title of the car donated by Dr. Yogeshwar Dayal to one of the refugees. The car will help the refugee obtain a job and support his family.

Manoj Chourasia, chairman of public relations at IANH, introduced the chief guest, Dr. Katrina Swett, president of the Lantos Foundation for Human Rights and Justice. Chourasia emphasized the importance of Indian Americans to be politically active. Swett congratulated IANH for all its various public services that it provides for New Hampshire communities.

For more information, visit www.ianh.org.