Dr Romesh Japra (Chairman) introducing the new priest to the people,Ex left Leela Mathur (Religiuous Chair), Veena Birla and Manorma Joshi both Trustees Ex right
FREMONT: In spite of bad whether, Holi festival was celebrated with great joy at the Fremont Hindu Temple by devotees, priests and the Temple management and staff. People were meeting, greeting and hugging each other and dancing to the tune of cultural program or at the beats of dhol by Sardar Lal Singh Bhatti.
Holi is really a peculiar kind of festival. Instead of celebrating it, we play it, enjoy it and that is what actually the participants did it at the Fremont Hindu Temple. Dry color Gulal in different shades was being thrown in the air and on groups of Holi players. But the Rain God (Inder Devta) was there too, off and on, for the watery contribution to make the colors more prominent on the faces of all and sundry.
Rain intervened to delay the festivities by half an hour on 20th of March. The festival started at about 11.30 am. In the beginning people feared the rain would spoil all the fun. But gradually it started gathering pace as little kids began their power packed performance on the stage before people sitting under the tent hiding from the rain. Even as Bolywoodmasti songs were creating dhamaal on stage, the younger generation started painting the faces and bodies as well with the different colors. Some faces were piled with so much color that even their known people had a hard time recognizing them. As the music beat started floating in the air, the audience sitting in the tent started coming out and dancing in their own style and creating the atmosphere of fun and amusement.
Management team of the temple had already erected the tents in advance so that cold and rain do not spoil the fun of Holi players. Throughout the day the kitchen was busy making pakoras, tea, snacks and then lunch for the visitors and this whole credit goes to the sponsor, the owners of Renu Auto and the team of temple volunteers. There were stalls for colors. The thandai (spicy and sweet drink with the extract of almonds and cardamom) was being served to visitors. Over 20-30 people registered themselves on stall of the Brahamkumaris who displayed their teachings and programs. On another stall, about 70 registrations were made for the bone-marrow program. Inside the main temple, regular Aarti was performed after the Bhajans by the DivyaJyoti (Mata Shatrupaji fame) Group of devotees.
There were thousands of visitors and devotees who were present to celebrate and enjoy the Holi. Most of the board members were there with their families. Prominent among them were Dr Romesh Japra, Chairman, Rajesh Verma, Co-Chairman, Manorma Joshi, Treasurer, Veena Birla, Asst. Treasurer, Madhu Shahani, Youth & Sports Chair, Leela Mathur, Religious Chair, Deepak Chhabra, Event Chair, Dharminder Dewan, Education Chair, Vijaya Aasuri, Cultural Chair, Rekha Malik, Preetibhoj Chair, Sudesh Kumari, Kitchen Chair, Amrit Chugh, Seniors’ Coordinator, and Vijay Thapar, Publicity/Media.
All the priests such as Pt. Govind Srinivasan, Pt. Ranganath Sharma, Pt. Brij Bhushan and Pt.Visham Krishtipatiall and Administrators Rakesh Kapoor, Trilok Kumar, Govind & Anitha Paumarthi and Arvind Kotah.
The celebrations lasted for almost six hours continuously and there were seen some people saying that they have never seen such a nicely organized, joyous and playful Holi in Fremont.
Rakesh Kapoor
Rakesh Kapoor is Administrator, Fremont Hindu Temple
