2012 - Houston Holi

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Friday, March 09 2012 | Vol. 31, No. 10
Indo
American
News
Holi Hai with Masala!
www.indoamerican-news.com
Published weekly from Houston, TX
7457 Harwin Dr, Suite 262, Houston, TX 77036
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on Page 14
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INDO AMERICAN NEWS • FRIDAY, MARCH 09, 2012 • ONLINE EDITION: WWW.INDOAMERICAN-NEWS.COM
14 M
arch 09, 2012
S
HO U STO N : F acebook posters are calling
it the Holi “ R ave. ” A manda Hernandez of
Sam Houston State U niversity described the
event with “ Colour flying all around, dancing
spirits and high energy allowed the students
to be free, let loose and j ust be happy. ” A nd
the almighty sent down the perfect weather
for it, 72 degrees and a cloudless sk y, so
that the light showers transcending from
the fommy. com R ain M achince signaled the
last hour of Holi 2012. O ne M asala R adio
listener said the R ain Dance Party was “ so
romantic. I danced for an hour with my
husband in the rain, surrounded by all our
friends, it was lik e a Bollywood M ovie. ”
Y es, by all the positive comments pouring in the following M onday, Sunday’ s Holi
2012 organiz ed by Sunil and Sandhya Thak k ar of M asala R adio was a spectacular hit.
The R osenberg Police gave the attendance
at between 13,500 to 15,000. 15,000? That
would mak e it by far the largest South A sian
F estival attendance in Houston’ s history. O f
course there is no real head count, as the
organiz ers charged no entrance or park ing
fee, thank s to the generous support of Grand
Sponsors Tara Energy, A apk a Colors, Z ing
( Z eeTV ’ s new 24/7 Bollywood Channel) ,
Jugal & R aj M alani, and nearly 70 sponsors.
N aushir and Pervez M erchant exclaimed,
“ O nly Sunil can pull this k ind of crowd. ”
Bak ul Thak k ar ( leading actor in Z eeTV Serials lik e K usum) was in town for a drama,
and emphasiz ed, “ I don’ t see these k ind of
crowds for Holi in I ndia. This is spectacular. ” Co-associates Guj arati Samaj of Houston sold an endless supply of 6 colors of
Holi powder and ceremonial coconuts and
managed the Holi Pragatya ( Bonfire) , while
Hindus of Greater of Houston warmly invited all Hindu organiz ers to j oin in the melee.
Sonal Bhuchar exclaimed “ I love the colorful Holi booths, the firecrack er balloons; it
truly feels lik e a F estival of Colors! ”
The spirit of Holi drew in Holi revelers
of all ages and k ept them entertained for
hours, not an easy task for the discerning
I ndian with new age electronics to distract
them daily. F amilies enj oyed the non-stop
stage entertainment emceed by Sunil T
and Preank a Desai. The Chik na Chamela
Dance Competition was the highlight on
stage, with four guys drawn from the audience dressed lik e women and strutted their
inner feminine side to the hottest I tem Girl
dances. M asala R adio host and Choreographer Priya Chok si directed the mak eover,
and even showed the guys a few curvy steps
before their performance. A nand Patel
dressed lik e an a harem girl and danced to
Sheila Ki Jawani, Dhuval Patel dressed in
a hot pink and green Chunia Choli, complete with curves, and danced to Munni
Badnam, M alav Desai was more a Hidimba
than Chik ni Chameli, and A nil R ana look ed
the demure but un-endowed fisherwoman
dancing to the brand new Channo. Judges
N ik hil Shuk la of A apk a Colors, M alik Jamal of Tara Energy, and A ltaf and N eelofar
A li of K ohnioor Diamonds awarded first
priz e to Dhuval Patel and second place to
A nand Patel, both received F endi Watches
valued at $800 each. Chik na Chameli was
created over a lunch meeting among the
creative M asala R adio management team.
“ We have to k eep it new, k eep it fresh, k eep
it changing,” said Sunil Thak k ar. “ I want
there to be a surprise element every year! ”
A nd surprise it was when A lings Hak k a
Cuisine – the new affordable upscale I ndoChinese restaurant in Sugarland presented a
Bollywood Dragon Dance as nearly 30 Chinese performers and 4 10 foot high Dragons
H
R
CO M M U N I TY
F
C
Sunil Thakkar addressing the crowd at Holi 2012 Photo: Nadirali Patel NP Photography
danced to “ Dhoom A gain. ” R ay K han of
Sk y Productions has captured the Stage and
spirit of Holi which will be aired in the next
few week s on A apk a Colors.
DJ Z ee rock ed the audience for five
hours straight, from managing the dance
act music and sponsor mentions, to a one
hour stage dance party that could be heard
through the rain and all the way to the food
booths with an innovative surround, delay
sound system by A li Durrani of A D Sounds.
Dance Schools were in their colorful best,
with sweet traditional and Desh Bhak ti performances by Shiva M athur’ s Shivagini
School of Dance, red hot numbers by A nu
Shrivastav’ s Hybrid R hythms, N eon pulsating beats by the troupe directed by M ahesh
M ahbhubhani, and crisp movements by A rz an Gonda’ s R hythm I ndia. O ther vibrant
performances came from ( in order of performance) M asti Express, Swaybody, Sugar
Pear, N achle Dreams, Desi Beatz , N upur
Dance School, Pallavi Dance A cademy,
Shingari’ s School of R hythm, and I nfused
Performing A rts. A j ay Chuchu of Top Ten
Thursdays on M asala R adio sang a medley
with Jai Ho along with the top ten R odeo
R ock Star K omal A garwal. A s a finale act
M aster Z ulfi of Bushi Ban M artial A rts presented champions who even managed to
break a board on Sunil’ s head. Daya spok e
briefly to remind all of the audience that
they are available 24/7 to help any familes
with a domestic violence situation at dayahouston. org.
While the crowd in front of the stage was a
sea of colored families, a smaller but distinct
crowd of teens and young adults formed in
front of DJ N ishad and DJ R iz z ’ s booth
and danced all afternoon. Some found the
teenager inside them and j oined in. Govind
K amnani of I ndia Jewelers shouted “ with
all this color, no one can recogniz e me or
Chandani, A shish and Ek ta M alhotra, so
Y es we are partying in the middle of this
crowd! ’ Bombay Piz z a Company supplied
4000 16 O Z sturdy plastic cups, a souvenir
q uick ly snatched up and used soley for the
purpose of collecting water and dousing
friends. Even though 2 non-stop supplies
of water were available from the Water
M onsters with 10 taps each, it wasn’ t fast
enough for the k ids who q uick ly found water from the leak ing R ain M achine hose, and
found bigger buck ets as well. M omemtum
BM W provided plastic seat covers as guests
were leaving.
What is an I ndian event without food?
Every imaginable variety of I ndian Cuisine was available from the Holi food
court. F resh Dosas spewed from the grills
at M adras Pavilion and U dipi Café Hilcroft.
A lpahaar sold fresh K asta K achoris and
chaat while M irch M asala’ s Pani Puris became an instant hit. M asala I ndian Cuisine
provided N orth I ndian Cuisine while N eeta’ s attracted die-hard Guj aratis in search
of earthy K ichdi. A nd the warm clear sk y
caused an insatiable thirst for Baloch’ s
K ulfi’ s, F aloodas and F resh q ueez ed Sugar
Cane Juice and N atura’ s rainbow flavors of
I ce Cream. K ids flock ed lik e bees to Three
Peppers Piz z a, While Sank alp Tast of I ndia
lived up to its name with over two doz en varieties of I ndian cuisine.
M asala R adio organiz ers cannot thank
enough the unwavering efforts of their team
of managers, from the O ffice Crew N imi,
A misha, R ink u, and Sharmi, to R adio Crew
Preank a, R aj oo, Dilip, A lk a, Bij uria, K ashmira, Priya, Priti, and A j ay, to the Holi Crew
Shilpi, Shreya, K rupa, Sandeep, and N inad.
Special Thank s to Philip Thek k ek ara and
U H’ s Delta Psi Epsilon and N eal Bhak ta
and the crew from U H’ s Phi K appa Psi for
S
E
SA
O
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HO U STO N : A s more and more A merican college students are opting to work in
I ndia to get a closer look at this emerging
giant, Sewa I nternational U SA is offering
an exciting internship opportunity to experience I ndia from within.
“ Y uva ( Y outh) F or Sewa” ( Y F S) , a 10week long summer internship offered by
Sewa, provides students a great opportunity
to work in I ndia’ s nonprofit sector. I nterns
will work with some of the highly energetic
social service organiz ations in I ndia.
Transformative Experience
I nviting students to submit an application,
Professor Sree Sreenath, President of Sewa
I nternational U SA called the internship a
‘ transformative experience’ . “ I nterns are
immersed in the community they serve and
they love it” Prof. Sreenath remark ed.
“ Y F S started in 2006 and 44 students
have served so far in various proj ects
based on their interest and academic training. Health, education, environment and
woman and child empowerment are four
broad proj ect categories,” Prof. Sreenath
elaborated.
“ Having seen the positive impact of their
work and moved by the love and hospitality of their hosts and the people they serve,
Y F S interns return home with a longing to
go back and a resolve to mak e selfless service a part of their being” Prof. Sreenath
explained.
Application Process
“ A pplications should be submitted online ( http: //sewausa. org/application-form)
by M arch 31. Y F S interns can also opt to
work in a Caribbean country. We select interns through a telephone and an in-person
interview” , Darshan Soni, Sewa’ s V ice
Rep. Pete Olson joined thousands of Fort
Bend county residents and Indian Americans for the 5th annual Holi Festival. As a
first-time participant, Congressman Olson
was delighted to join in the festivities including having some color thrown his way.
providing all the muscle for setup and security. Thank s for the amaz ing efforts of
nearly 150 High School volunteers from the
V illage School, A ustin High School, Dulles
High School and Bellaire High School. Holi
2012 was captured in a myriad of colors by
the excellent photographers N adirali Patel
of N P Photography and N oman K howaj a of
Golden Dream Productions, as well as SBR
M agaz ine.
Visit MasalaRadio.com or Facebook.com/
Houston Holi to get a glimpse of the action.
Look for more Holi 2012 pictures in our
next issue dated March 16
Cover page photography: Nadirali Patel
NP Photography, Navin Mediwala, Noman
Khowaja Golden Dream Productions, SBR
Magazine
I
W
President for Development outlined the selection process.
“ Successful applicants will be high
school graduates and 18 years or older.
They are residents of U SA or Canada and
able to participate in the full 10 week program. A bove all, they are enthusiastic and
willing to serve people” M r. Soni summariz ed program req uirements.
“ Chosen applicants will be notified by
email or phone. U pon accepting the offer,
they need to pay a $450 application and
administration fee. They will begin their
internship on June 4 with a week -long orientation” Darshan explained. Boarding,
lodging and local transportation are covered by Sewa during the 10 week period.
Travel expenses to I ndia are borne by the
intern.
Cultural Orientation
O rientation covers general proj ect training and cultural information. F rom second
week , interns will focus on specific proj ects and work with other volunteers. F or
detailed proj ect descriptions, visit: http: //
sewausa. org/proj ects.
For more information on Yuva For Sewa
(YFS), visit http://sewausa.org/yuva-sewaappeal. Read about past YFS interns at
http://sewausa.org/yuva-sewa-fellows or
watch YFS videos at http://sewausa.org/
latest-videos. Email any related questions
to yfs@sewausa.org.
About Sewa International
Sewa I nternational is a 501 ( c) ( 3) Hindu-faith
based charitable non-profit service organiz ation that work s with communities in need. Sewa
U SA believes that “ Service to humanity is service
to God” . Sewa can be contacted at ( 708) U SA SEWA , or at info@ sewausa. org and http: //www.
sewausa. org.
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