Los Angeles 3 Associations- SMAP, ICS and CIAS Celebrated Diwali
Special Guest of Honor was Bollywood Celebrity, Boby Bedi who dressed as Chhatrapati Shivaji Manaraj

Los Angeles, Nov. 03, 2018
NRIpress.club/Roshan Khandpur/ A.Gary Singh

CERRITOS, CA. — Shivaji Maharaj America Parivaar (SMAP), Indian Cultural Society of Los Angeles (ICS) and Cerritos Indo American Seniors (CIAS) celebrated Diwali at Pat Nixon Senior Center on November 3th, 2018. This joint community event was attended by over two hundred attendees, dignitaries and guests.

Following the lamp-lighting by the Guests of Honor, Dignitaries and the event’s Organizing Community, U.S and Indian National Anthems were sung by the audience. Emcee Jay Naik and Vedanshi Bhojak wished Happy Diwali to the audience and highlighted the significance of the ‘Festival of Light’. They invited Dr. Sinduri who explained the rationale behind Mantra Pushpanjali and Ganesh Vandana. Students of Savithri Arts Academy then performed Ganesh Vandana.  

Next, Mr. Jashbhai Patel, President of Cerritos Indo American Seniors was invited on stage to welcome the audience and summarize the activities of CIAS. PK Nayak then extended his Diwali wishes to the attendees. “Diwali signifies celebration of the victory of light over darkness, good over evil, and knowledge over ignorance,” said PK Nayak, “the joint celebration today, represents the unity that we have here.”

Vijay Patil then described the mission and activities of ICS and SMAP. He claimed that Indian Cultural Society has been celebrating Diwali activities in the community for a decade. “To promote our culture in local community, we have celebrated Diwali with children, with celebrities like Priety ZInta, Pooja Batra and offered ‘champions of Indian culture’ awards to local leaders in the past’ he said, “this year we are seeking blessings from senior citizens of India heritage”. Mr. Patil also summarized the objectives of Shivaji Manaraj Parivaar. “at SMAP, we are celebrating the life and legacy of Indian National Heroes who preserved our culture and protected our way of life”, he concluded.

Parimal Shah, past president of Artesia Chamber of Commerce then introduced the Guests of Honor for the evening. The list included, Bob Archuleta, California Senator, Cerritos College President Dr. Jose Fierro, Dr. Shin Liu, Cerritos College Trustee, and Hollywood Fashion Designer, Dr. Shekhar Rahate. Mr Shah also distributed the Certificate of Appreciation to the organizers that were provided by Assemblywoman, Christine Garcia’s office.

Most of the cultural program was highlighted by a variety of traditional and modern dance routines.

Boby Bedi: The special Guest of Honor was Bollywood Celebrity, Boby Bedi who has performed with Bollywood’s top artists like Ajay Devgan, Rani Mukharjee, SRK, and Amitabh Bachhan. Mr. Bedi, dressed as Chhatrapati Shivaji Manaraj, performed an high-energy dance sequence on an inspirational song on the life of Chhatrapati Shivaji Manaraj.

A group Diwali Diya Dance, Choreographed by Rachana Srivastava, was also performed to entertain the audience. Aparna Hande described the importance of five days of Diwali to the audience.

Savithri Arts Academy also presented various classical dance performances that depicted the importance of Diwali and highlighted traditional Indian Cultural values. The performance also included a Nepali dance routine.

Mr. Subhash Tolia then mesmerized the audience with his soulful voice, bringing popular Bollywood and Indian Folk tracks to life during his two-part solo performances on stage. He demonstrated the breadth of Indian culture through genres such as garba, classical dance and pop. The audience also showed high level of enthusiasm and energy by dancing to the tunes of Garba Dances.

The event was organized by Jashbhai Patel, Parimal Shah, PK Nayak, Vijay Patil, Vilas Jadhav, Aparna Hande, Ashutosh Khisti, Vasundhara Pawar, Yogi Patel, Pranav Desai, Jagdish Gaikwad, Kanaksinh Zala, and Dr. Sinduri. The media/photography was handled by Anshuman Sinha and the cultural was managed by Charu Shivakumar. A Sumptuous complimentary dinner was also provided by the organizers to the attendees. The event ended at approximately 10 pm.