ST LOUIS: Holi is a major spring festival for Indians around the world. Bal Vihar of St. Louis celebrated the Holi festival jointly with Hindu Temple of St. Louis on March 15 at Mahatma Gandhi Center.
Holi is first major outdoor event of the calendar year for community families to meet and greet each other and have some colorful fun. The event started at noon with lunch for all. Sudhir Brahmabhatt kicked off the event and introduced Juhi Nayak, a youth student at Bal Vihar who talked about historical and cultural significance of Holi.
Children were very enthusiastic about playing with colors and their friends. They quickly finished their lunch and eagerly awaited distribution of colors.
As soon as the first set of packets opened, the colored dust started filling the atmosphere. One could see the enthusiasm in the environment as children were running around throwing colors at their parents, friends and anyone they knew. The surrounding started filling up with green, blue, pink, yellow and purple colors.
Adults could be seen applying colors to faces and greeting each other. Within half an hour, most of them were covered in multiple colors from head to toe.
It is the volunteers of Bal Vihar that make the organization so great. The selfless service put in by the teachers, administrative staff and all other parent volunteers make Bal Vihar the organization what it is today.
As Bal Vihar nears completing 22 successful years, the popularity has grown with over 350 students now attending classes every other Sunday. Classes are focused on overall development that includes Bhajan, Yoga and regular curriculum that includes teachings on India, its states, history, culture, neighbors etc.
Center for Indian Cultural Education – Bal Vihar of St. Louis is a non-profit organization. Since its inception in 1992 has been serving the Metro St. Louis Indian community. The primary focus of this organization is to provide Indian cultural education to students age 5-18, its application and integration with the global multicultural and multifaceted society.
Ashwin Patel & Raj Iyer
