CHICAGO: Though in its relative infancy, the recently established Federation of Indian Associations (FIA) added one more feather in its cap of achievements when it got a Chicago Bulls basketball game start with the singing of Indian anthem, followed by the US national song, and then presenting Indian cultural dances four times during the entire game time at Sears Arena in Hoffman Estate.
This emotionally rich and historic moment for Indian Americans of Illinois was a milestone event for any ethnic Indian organization in Chicagoland and particularly for Sunil Shah, the Founder President of this organization, because it was he who conceptualized and orchestrated the entire project effectively.
The celebration was organized in partnership with the Windy City Bulls that played its game on Friday January 6 at Sears Arena Center in Hoffman Estates. The event was titled as the presentation of Indian Heritage and turned out to be a huge success. The game opened with the Indian and American national anthems by Rehana Haque and Shubha Vedula, respectively.
The Windy City Bulls is the official NBA D-League Affiliate of the Chicago Bulls. On this occasion, Chicago Bulls’ General Manager Gar Forman was also in the house and he lavishly praised FIA and Indian Americans for their contributions. “With this type of program, we are going to mainstream platform to project Indian heritage. This is a real honor for all of us,” observed Sunil Shah.
Over two dozen local artists enthralled the indoor stadium and stole the hearts of the 2,000 plus crowd, said Mukesh Shah, the current president.
The artists who performed on Bollywood numbers included: Neela Bahel, Shaila Bahel, Krisha Thakkar, Gurman Kaler, Shakti Santosh, Ria Kumar, Ananya Patel, Kavya Parikh, Ransher Kaler, Aarsh Patel, Rishin Parikh, Nishil Parikh, Aayush Thakkar, Ankit Rath, Aayan Shah, Nighat Ali, Naimiti Desai, Ritika and Chirag.
Instructors and choreographers were Sweta Bhagwakar, Gemini Bhimani, Rumi Shah, Aahuti Desai, Kajol Topiwala, Ujwal Patel, Aditya Kapoor and Rajeshwari Rawat. The artists came from Junoon and SSS dancing schools.
Son of Sunil Shah, Sahaj Shah was DJ of the festivities and regaled the audience. During the break time, people enjoyed foods available at Sai Saffaron’s concession stand.FIA is grateful to all the members of the FIA executive board for helping the organization to achieve this goal, said Onkar Singh Sangha.
Those who worked hard in making this event successful were Dhitu Bhagwakar Past President; Neil Khot and Moon Khan Vice Presidents; Hitesh Gandhi, Shital Daftari, Ali Khan, Manjeet Singh Bhalla, Khaja Moinuddin; Treasurer: Payal Shah, Joint Treasurer: Jaimini Patel, Secretary: Ninad Daftari, Joint Secretary: Shalini Saxena, Directors: Nirav Shah, Gurmeet Singh, Dhaliwan, Nambirajan Vaithilingam, Ila Patel Chaudhari and Vibha Dave.
On another programming note, the Federation of Indian Associations (FIA), an umbrella organization of the Indian American social service organizations, is hosting a gala event to celebrate India’s Republic Day on January 28th (Saturday), at Meadows Club, 2950 Golf Road, Rolling Meadows, IL 60008. The event starts at 6 pm.
Moon Khan & Hema Shastri
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