PREETI GUPTA
CHICAGO: Hindi Club of Illinois held a fundraising event, “Ek Kesariya Shaam, Hindi Bhasha Ke Nam” May 19 in Villa Park, a Chicago suburb. A good number of Club members with their families and invited guests attended the nearly three-hour program.
Club secretary Anica Dubey started the event by welcoming all and highlighting the club’s mission, long term objective and activities. She paid tribute on behalf of the club to the Indian security personnel who sacrificed their lives in the tragic Pulwama terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir n February this year. She then introduced the board of directors.
President and Founder Gurbachan Kaur welcomed and invited the chief guest, Consul General of India in Chicago SudhakarDalela, and distinguished guests including Sunil Shah, Hari Bhai Patel, Moon Khan, Kishore Mehta, and Vinita Gulabani among others to the stage for the lamp-lighting ceremony.
Addressing the meet, Dalela congratulated the club for its contributions and dedication. He talked about Hindi language and literature being the medium to connect Indians abroad to their culture and country. He said that he was happy to know that various Hindi teaching programs are already being done all over the US and people are actively involved in various activities, and extended full support to the Hindi Club.
The program started with a beautiful Ganesh Vandana prayer dance by Alokita Dhar and Sindhu Naidu, followed up by a mesmerizing performances, “Rang de Basanti”, by Riya Arora, Mannat Raheja and Nishika Dubey. Mannat Raheja spoke in Hindi about Mother’s Day, whereas Nishika Dubey shared her “nibandh” on Holi.
This was followed by a patriotic theme dance by Aabeer Awasthi, Anjika Awasthi, Agrim Malik, and Shreshth Malik.
Rakesh Malhotra led the “Kavi Darbar” with local poets Vijay Chopra, Sanjay Sharma, Chander Verma, and Savita Bhatia. Gurmeet Singh Dhalwan and Sunil Shah took the stage to say a few words.
The second half of the program started with a speech by guest of honor Malini Vaidyanathan from Air India Limited. As the afternoon rolled on, Padma Mehta entertained the audience with beautiful Bollywood songs interspersed with jokes and shayari. She was ably accompanied by Anil Jha and Madhu Trivedi. In between, there were raffles and a silent auction for an Air India ticket.
Hindi Club team thanked members of the community at large and also the audience for their donations and sponsorship (Chhabria Law LLC, Adbhhut Media, Air India, Regal Jewelers, Vinni’s Salon, Shree Ganesh Temple, and Sunil Shah of FIA) Special thanks were offered to Sanjana (Shonga) Das and her wonderful team of volunteers comprising Nilabh Dubey, Satish Bhatia, Prerna Awasthi, Aruna Raval, Minakshi, Anjali, Nipun Dubey, Vijay Chopra for managing the registration/membership drive. Ashwini Kumar and Anurag Awasthi helped in the Facebook live feed.
Gurubachan Kaur announced that the next program, “Hindi Divas”, will be held September 14.
