Talent show winners with AIA officials
CHICAGO: Keeping up its decades old tradition of celebrating Gandhi Jayanti, the Association of Indians in America (AIA) celebrated the event this year too but with a difference.
AIA used to organize talks and seminars on Mahatma Gandhi’s life and principles he advocated by inviting eminent speakers from public life and academia, and present an entertainment program. This time it decided to do something unique and get second generation Indians involved in its celebration.
Picking up a leaf from American Idol and its prototype Indian Idol TV shows that have been a rage here and in India, the AIA Board headed by Prof Ghanshyam Pandey and Naren Patel picked up a suggestion thrown by Anil Sharma, a past president , and decided to host Music and Dance competition for and by the Indian youth. “The idea is to give a chance to the youth to showcase their talents as also to create awareness about richness of Indian culture in art and music among the second generation Indians. This would be one of the surest ways to get them involved in the affairs of our organization,” said Anil Sharma.
The Youth Talent competition at Lemont Tempe Auditorium in Lemont proved to the hilt that India and Indians abound in talents and can legitimately boast of their huge cultural heritage. Though the attendance was relatively thin, the consensus among those present was that this was easily “the show of the year”. Nearly three hours program starting at 6 p.m. never had a dull moment as one group of Indian youth after another came out with traditional and innovative items of scintillating music and dance with spellbound precision.
There was traditional Bharat Natyam and Kathak, there were folk dances like Garba Raas and Bhangra, there was Bollywood music and there was fusion of Western and Indian music and dance by young artists from schools and universities. One of the eye catching presentations centered around Vande Matram, a song penned by Bankim Chandra during thirties. AIA had announced prizes for difference categories and the four judges had hard time coming to a decision.
Ramesh Soparawala
India Post News Service
Welcoming nearly 350 plus members of the audience and AIA associates, the Chairperson, Anil K. Sharma observed that AIA needs the infusion of young blood to keep the organization alive and serve its mission of promoting Indian culture not only among second generation Indians but the mainstream community at large as well. Naren Patel, the AIA president, in his brief address mentioned that “this year we decided to celebrate Gandhi Jayanti in a special way by involving youth and promoting our culture. ” We designed it to encourage students to participate in this youth competition and also to spread Mahatma’s message of peace and non-violence.”
The talent show had a group of judges – Dr Birendra Sinha, Vandana Walia, Manoj Jakhar and Kiran Chouhan – and had the audience cheer for their favorite performances. This allowed for those who watched to have a say in who would win. As Dr. Sinha put it, each and every group had something to commend and for “us everybody was a winner.” Yet the collective decision of judges and the audience placed Kapapad dance group with thirty participants presenting Vande Matram as First placed winner. The Hot Beatz bagged the Second place while the UIC Bhangra Group came Third. The grand prize for the First place winner was $1000, that for the Second place $500 and the Third place $250. The youth singing groups from Urbana Champaign and North Western had special impromptu recognitions from AIA Board.
Bina Patel, an AIA activist, set the ball rolling signaling start of the function and Anil Sharma rendered national Anthems of USA and India. Prem Mehrotra, AIA office bearer, proposed a vote of thanks. A fly in the ointment was an observation made by a true Gandhian among Indian Americans here. Jodh Singh Rawat who has distinguished himself by capping the heads of many an American and Indian celebrity with Gandhi caps, said that the welcomed the AIA move to stage Youth Talent competition that would not only draw the youth to the Indian organizations but also get them more familiar with our culture. “But the feather in the cap of this type of event would have been a small mention of Gandhiji’s contribution to human society. A mention of what world leaders said of Gandhiji would have been very appropriate,” he told this paper.
