Independence Day event

Every year on 15th August, FOI celebrates Indian Independence Day by hoisting the Indian flag at the State Capitol. This year, in celebration of 75th anniversary of India’s independence, the honorable Governor of Arkansas, Asa Hutchinson graced the event with his presence. The Governor was welcomed to the stage with traditional sounding of the conch, garland and tilak by FOI President Roopa Ram and Mr. Rajesh Chokhani. This was followed with an address to the community by Mr. Chokhani and then Mr. Yogesh Asudani conducted the ceremony. Flag hoisting by the Governor was followed by rendition of the Indian national anthem by Mahek Pabani and US national anthem by Diya Chakraborty. The Governor addressed the audience and said that while the US and India had attained freedom in different ways, the two countries were united in celebrating their democracies. He added that the ties between the two countries were critical for maintaining peace and stability in the world. He ended his speech applauding the valuable contribution of Indians in Arkansas in the fields of medicine, technology, business and entertainment.  The FOI community thanks the Governor for making the time to celebrate the event with us. Later, FOI member Mr. Ramesh Tandon, who had witnessed India’s first Independence Day as an 8 year old, shared his fond memories of that day. This was followed by several performances. Akshaj Kanaskar and Pranjal Arekar rendered the Indian national anthem on the violin and cello. Aarya Godbole played “Vande Mataram” on the piano. Arpita Roy performed an Odissi dance. The event closed with breakfast boxes organized by FOI. In commemoration of the event, all attendees were given a tulsi plant. The video recording of this event can be seen on FOI facebook page-thanks to Ruchira for the recording.

Mother’s Day Picnic

This Mother’s Day FOI organized a picnic for the families. All ladies were presented with beautiful red roses. A cooking competition was conducted- men cooked for the ladies, and the ladies got to sample and judge. Tables turned indeed! A variety of dishes were prepared by our competitors: kulfi, rasmali, besan burfi, fried rice, mung halwa, besan halwa, egg puffs, etc.  All women who tasted the food were reported healthy and fit the next day! Kudos to all the men for their excellent culinary efforts! A shout out to Indu Soora for the suggestion and a hearty applause to the winner Anindya Ghosh for preparing delicious rasmalai. 

Neelima and Soni organized fun games for kids and adults. Later a sumptuous lunch of vada pav, biryani, pani puri, watermelon and ice cream was enjoyed by all members. Catering provided by Rang Kitchen.

Thanks to Nairuti for capturing memorable moments of the event. 

Charity Events

FOI supported a charity cause “3P Project” driven by FOI youth member Tarini Eswaran and her friends. This was to support the Arkansas Period Poverty Project Drive which strives for menstrual equity, in schools in underprivileged communities. The founder of this project started this cause because many girls miss school days due to periods. FOI helped support 176 school girls from underserved communities.

School Uniform Drive: FOI youth volunteers Akshaj Kanaskar and Pranjal Arekar collected gently used uniforms to redistribute them to kids in need.

Artists’ Corner

Aditya started learning harmonium when he was 10 years old. After playing the violin for a couple of years, he wanted to play the harmonium because he says had never seen any instrument like the harmonium and that is what got him interested in playing this instrument. He has learned from three gurus. His first guru was Keyoor Joshi who lived in Conway but moved out of Arkansas a few years ago. Then he learned from Pramod Marathe and presently, his guru is Mr. Raju Sutar who is from Pune. He really enjoys playing slow songs because they are soothing and relaxing. He wants to keep playing for his friends and family, to stay in touch with playing the harmonium. In future, he also wants to work on getting his Sangeet Visharad, which is similar to obtaining a Bachelor’s degree in music. He enjoys accompanying vocalists. He also loves doing jugalbandi with tabla players and other instrument players and vocalists. In the video, he is presenting a famous Hindustani classical raag, Pahadi, and the taal is teentaal.

Siddharth has learnt Mridangam for 9 years. Siddharth started his lessons with Dr. Meenakshi Sundaram at the age of five and became the disciple of the well-known and popular  Mridangist Vidwan Shri. Neyveli Narayanan at the age of nine. With careful nurturing by his Guru together with his own flair for the rhythmic art forms and dedicated practice, Siddharth had his Mridangam arangetram at the age of eleven. Siddharth is aspiring to become a great Mridangam player in the near future. Bhavana is learning carnatic violin for the past 5 years. Bhavana started off with western classical violin at the age of 7. With her carnatic background, she tried the Indian carnatic violin notes and was able to pick them up very easily. Currently, she is the disciple of  the famous well-known violinist/vocalist Vidwan Shri. Delhi. P. Sunderrajan. She also plays western violin and is a member of Arkansas Symphony Youth Orchestra. Bhavana is playing the Varnam in raag Kalyani accompanied by Siddharth on the mridangam playing Adi taal.

Youtube link of the performances by Aditya, Siddharth and Bhavana can be found at https://youtu.be/r0etSkDb4SM