Holi ke Rang Sab ke Sang

Friday, April 04 2014 | Vol. 33, No. 14
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Holi ke Rang Sab ke Sang
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INDO AMERICAN NEWS • FRIDAY, APRIL 04, 2014 • ONLINE EDITION: WWW.INDOAMERICAN-NEWS.COM
COMMUNITY
BY IAN CORRESPONDENT
HOUSTON: “Itna mazaa kyun
aa raha hai,” Houstonians reveled
in sheer ecstasy at Masala Radio’s
sun-kissed Holi on Sunday March
30, despite the inclement weather
postponement from the original
March 23 date. 10 days prior,
Facebook and Twitter followers were a flurry with “WHAT?
WHY DID YOU MOVE HOLI?
BUT WE MADE PLANS!!”
The perfect day packed Seabourne Creek Park to the rim at the
7th annual Aapka Colors Houston
Holi 2014, also presented by MTV
India and Tara Energy. Crowds
danced at three different Live DJs
and Dholi’s and rocked as Mercedes Benz of Sugarland presented
pop star Raghav crooning his Storyteller hits “Angel Eyes”, ‘Teri
Baaton Mein” and recent Bollywood hit “Ishq Shava” to a frenzy
of fans both teen and not-so-teenbut-screaming-like-they-wereteens. Youths witnessed for the
first time in their lives a real matkiphod sponsored by New York Life.
Matkiphod, a traditional event in
India where a clay pot containing
maakhand (yogurt) is suspended
high in the air, and dedicated teams
build a human pyramid to break
the matki (as Lord Krishna did in
his childhood to reach the forbidden maakhand). The audience
held their breath when the threetier Masala Crew team – after two
huge falls – finally broke the clay
pot containing color powder. Besides mouthwatering food lineup,
everything was free. Free parking, Free entry, Free brand new
Keemat Kids Rides, Free bags and
spices from Aapka Colors, Free
iced Deep juices and bottle water
from Tara Energy, Free Chat Pat
snacks and balloons from House
of Spices, Sonu Nigam ticket giveaways, 200 Free perfumes thrown
by W Perfumes, and hundreds of
Free T-shirts from Masala Radio,
the movie JINN, and Fiesta, and
Free mesmerizing Bollywood Entertainment hosted by Sunil Thakkar with his “DOSTI KE RANG”
April 04, 2014
Record Breaking Crowd at the
Masala Radio Holi
Masala Radio crew with pop star Raghav (front, center) at the Holi Mela at Seabourne Creek Park on
Sunday, March 30.
themed Bullet Motorcycle entry.
The “FREES” were made possible
by the generous major sponsorships of Alings Hakka, The Dosa
Factory, Amit and Arpita Bhandari, Gopal and Urvishi Savjani,
Jugal and Raj Malani, Keemat
Grocers, Mercedes Benz of Sugar
Land, New York Life, Skai Foundation and Chat Pats. Rosenberg
Police could not define the sheer
number of people, summarizing
the count as “way more than the
17,000 we estimated last year.”
“Tune hava mein bhaang milaya,” Indeed, the God-given
air-conditioning breezes were intoxicatingly distracting from the
Equinox Sun beaming from a clear
sky as thousands reveled in Holi-
madness. And while the ancient
official drink of Holi, bhaang was
clearly missing, crowds feasted on
exotic Dosas like the bean, cheese
and salsa dosa of The Dosa Factory, Golas, Kulfis, and Faloodas
from Baloch, cookies and brownies from Great American Cookies, heavenly chaat from Mirch
Masala and Kurry Walah, Potato
Stix and Indo Chinese from Sagar Indian Cuisine, South Indian
fare from Madras Pavillion, and
Nizam-style cuisine from Hyderabad House and North Indian cuisine from the new Signature India
Restaurant. The Chatpat Jhatpat
eating contest had the audience
rolling in laughter as Sunil T had
six random contestants race to eat
the most Chatpats in one minute.
“Balam pichkari jo tune mujhe
maari” ICC’s sold-out pichkaris,
and the Aling’s Rain Dance crew’s
eight new 6’ high sprinklers added
a new level of water play to Holi.
Of course the natural side effect
was a fresh mud pit which hundreds fell victim to. Amee Patel,
president of the Gujarati Samaj of
Houston ordered double the Holi
colored powder than last year in
six vibrant colors, and as promised
kept the Holi revelers supplied
to the end. Holi Pragtya, the official lighting of the HOLI bonfire started with a stage pooja by
Priest Parimal Joshi with all major
Holi Sponsors, followed with a
Jaganath Chariot procession and
finished with prayers and coconut
offerings to the growing fire. The
5
Chariot held Lord Jaganath, an
incarnation of Lord Vishnu, who
in the story of Holi comes to rescue Prahlad from burning to death
while in the lap of his evil aunt
Hollika. Young ISKCON devotees from ISKCON chanted “Hare
Krishna, Hare Rama” throughout
the festival, and invited all to the
grand opening of their incredible
new ISKCON temple on May 17.
“Haa Jeans pahen ke jo tune
maara thumka,” Masala Radio’s
Sunil Thakkar introduced mesmerizing Bollywood dances by
Houston’s leading dance schools.
3-5 year olds stole the audience’s
hearts. The mesmerizing performances were by Nuppor Dance
School, Bollywood Shake, and
UH’s Jannat. The change of date
prevented two Holi stalwarts
Dancing Starz of Katy and Shivangai Dance Schools for performing.
But Rhythm India wowed the audience with over 65 performers
some in stunning neon costumes
and precision moves. The finale
act by Naach Houston blew everyone away with over 100 performers in non-stop blast of Bollywood
hits with surprise Pichkaris, vibrant costumes, unbelievable energy, and of course synchronized
“thumkas!”. The crowds jumped
from their seats to finally get to
dance themselves as MTV India
presented the Battle of the DJs.
Bollywood (DJ NISH) vs Bhangra
(DJ GEO). MTV India declared it
as a tie as the audience were equally screaming during both sets.
“Toh lattoo padosan ki bhabhi
ho gayi,” Even the most serious
and the seedha saadha caught
Holi Fever. Houston Holi was a
joint community event organized
by Sunil and Sandhya Thakkar of
Masala Radio, presented by Aapka Colors, MTV India, and Tara
Energy, with partnering organiza-
CONTINUED ON PAGE 8
SEE PHOTO COLLAGE ON PG 14-15
Photos: Meedu Photography,
Carlos Pena, and Winston Hsu.
Indo American News (ISSN 887-5936) is published weekly every Friday (for a subscription of $40 per year) by
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8
COMMUNITY
April 04, 2014
Record Breaking Crowd at the
Masala Radio Holi
CONTINUED FROM PAGE
5
tions such as Gujarati Samaj of Houston,
India Cutlure Center, and Hindus of Greater
Houston.
Masala Radio thanks the immeasurable
contributions of over 120 sponsors, 12 restaurants, 55 booths, 20 vendors, and over
115 volunteers from surrounding schools
including UH ISA, Austin High School, and
Hightower. 36 Masala Crew members led
by Event Directors Munira Vejlani, Ruchir
Patel, and Rinku Gosh included: Shah, Charliebhai, Ninad, Chiragbhai, Malav, Sunny,
Amir, Sameep, Devan, Devangi, Shivani,
Shreya, and Sara. Stage Masala Crew managed by Preanka Desai and Dilip Kanabar
included: Rajoo, Pankti, Sandeep, Natasha,
Priti, Krupa, Ina, Mayur, and Keval. MasaMADRAS
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lations
SEE PHOTO COLLAGE ON PG 14-15
r 28 2011
Octobe
Friday,
OF HOU
2011
SprASSO
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Cricket Tou
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all
Taped B
la Radio Jockeys promoting the event for 2
months were: Preanka, Rajoo, Dilip, Alka,
Bijuria, Kashmira, Priya, Naina, Ajay, Sushil, Priti, and Ina.
Indeed, there was a record turnout of nonIndians, from mounting publicity and interviews. Channel 39 News covered the event,
and featured it on their Sunday evening
prime time news.
For photos by Meedu Photography,
Carlos Pena and Winston Hsu visit www.
masalaradio.com, houstonholi.com, or facebook .com/HoustonHoli. Edited Video
compilation coming soon on YouTube under HOUSTON HOLI 2014.
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