Deepavali festivities for Riverside’s Shri Lakshmi Narayan Mandir were celebrated over a two-week period with Chopda Puja, Annakut/Govardhan Puja, Lakshmi Puja and the Annual Deepavali Cultural Program and were organized by Chairperson Hema Nakka with the help of the ladies of her Festival’s Committee.
50 business owners from diverse establishments sat for Chopda puja, complete with their accounting books and laptops. Over 1200 bhaktas attended Annakut/Govardhan Puja, which took place the following evening. 151 food items were lined up in rows before Shri Lakshmi Narayan for Annakut. Swami Paripurananda gave a pravachan telling the story of the raising of Mount Govardhan with one finger by the 6-year old Krishna.
The next morning, Deepavali was celebrated with a Lakshmi Puja. During these events, all three Mandir pujaris attended including Head Priest Dr. Shukavak Dasa, Pandit Vipul Jani and Pandit Seshacharya Samudrala.
For the fourth year the Annual Deepavali Cultural Program was held at UCR’s University Theatre. Attendance was high and over 800 came beautifully dressed in traditional costume. The program began with a welcome from Chairman Surendra Sharma and Vice President Lakshman Koka.
Sumathi Shaker, acting Festival’s Committee Chair introduced the program. Once the diyas had been lit, Sraboni Mukherjee sang an opening number. MCs Anika Patadia and Meghana Verma introduced the items which included a dance by the Geetika Group followed by “Nandakumara Krishna”, a dance choregraphed by Ragini Iyer and performed by Aarti Patel, Aditi Patiola, Anisha Prasad, Arpi Patel, Khushi Nakrani, Neha Bandaru, Priya SR, Priyal Saretha, Shalin Banerjee, and Vaishnavi S. The next item was a Bharatnatyam based on verses from the Hanuman Chalisa. Paulomi Pandit choreographed and her students Anika Desar, Simrina Desar, Naneeta Desar, Sachi Murdeshwar, Vibhuti Purohit, Arya Anand, Elisabeth Paul, Kanak Das, Swarna Das, Manasi Kademani and Richa Shah danced.
The Dance Masti group performed a mix choreographed by Aarti Vasisht. Sapna Nimish Thaker, Sneha Jindal, Natasha Patel, Riya Mehta, Millie Mehta, Sahibaan Sondh, Harleen Kung, Eera Madahar, Shaurya Mehta, Vatsal Jain, Manbir Sandhu, Karran Nimish Thaker and Nikhil Jindal danced to a medley of film songs. he ladies of the Festivals Committee performed a Kuchipudi dance choregraphed by Usha Rajesh. Archana Ganta instructed and danced with Raji Chakrapani, Suma Hareesh, Rita Mishra, Lopa Patel, Padma Prabhakar, Varsha Shah and Sumathi Shaker in the Raja Rajeshwari Ashtakam. Item six, Urugiduvay Manamein, was choreographed by Ragini Iyer and performed by Maya Singh and Shivani Kapu. This was followed by a Kuchipudi dance, Ganesh Pancharatnam, choreographed by Usha Rajesh and performed by Shriya Samudrala, Ramya Samudrala, Abinaya Ramji, and Sanyutha Maradani.
The Rangtaal Group consisting of Shifali Patel, Ayush Patel and Slok Patel danced a Bollywood fusion number choreographed by Dipa Patel. Immediately after intermission Neelam Gupta and son Nilesh offered one song. Item number 10 was Ramayana Shabdam choreographed by Ragini Iyer and danced by Kanak Prava Das, Swarna Prava Das, Tulsi Patel and Vaibhavi Shah. A Bollywood mix by Vishal Tandon and Vihar Naik followed.
The next item was Jaydev dance choreographed by Dhruti Patel and performed by Dhruti, Anika Patadia and Mickey Patel. The Rangtaal Group consisting of Dipa Patel, Sheetal Patel, Nimisha Patel, Nitesha Patel, Nital Patel, Vibha Patel, Nutan Sony and Hema Lavingia danced a Gujarati Garba.
Another Bollywood dance, performed by Krishty Mukerjee and Proya Mazumdar, followed. Everyone agreed that the last item, a surprise, was the best of the 15 offered. Pandit Shukavak Dasa, dressed as a sannyasi stood center stage while Usha Rajesh performed a seductive Kuchipudi dance, during which she showed respect to the sannyasi. The traditional raffle offered over $1200 in cash prizes with $251 as the grand finale prize.
At the end of the program, 100 trophies were distributed to all of the performers and plaques were given to the Mandir officials for 2010. One mother explained the importance of this function when she said, “This program allows my children to be in touch with their culture.” Vice-President Lakshman Koka said, during his closing speech, “This is one of the most important events of the year because this program allows our children to showcase their talents. It is so important for Mandir youth to learn about their culture and the Deepavali Cultural Program is the one time they can show us what they have learned duringthe past year.
The younger children see the older children on stage and it instills in them the desire to also take classes so that they can perform next year. Shri Lakshmi Narayan Mandir is a learning center where cultural classes are offered to benefit our children. As the Mandir continues to grow and prosper we hope to involve our youth more because our children are our greatest asset and our future.”
Victoria Truver
