CHICAGO: Brainchild of former president of Hindi Lovers Club (HLC) Gurbachan Kaur Neelam, the Hindi Kavi Manch will have its first meeting on Tuesday October 15 in Arlington Heights.
The start will be at the residence of one of the HLC members, Kamal Gupta and all the local Kavis who would like to participate either for reciting their poems or listening to the work of other poets are invited to attend this event and give a boost to HLC bid to promote the Indian national language in this part of the world, says Gurbachan Kaur.
In a talk to this paper, Kaur said that the response is really good as over 10 local Kavis have agreed to come to the event and recite their poems while many more are expected to be present to encourage them. “We plan moving to a bigger space for our once a month meeting once we garner a consistent and good response,” she said.
Hindi Diwas
HLC had earlier celebrated Hindi Diwas Day and 150th Anniversary of Swami Vivekanand on 15 Sept at Ashyana Banquets in Downers Grove, a southwest suburb of Chicago, with Indian Consul General Dr Ausaf Sayeed as the Chief Guest.
Interestingly, it was on September 14 that India officially announced Hindi as its national language and Hindi Lovers Club has been celebrating this declaration annually as Hindi Diwas for the past few years.
Vinita Gulabani, President of the Club, welcomed guests and in her unique poetic style introduced Jassi Parmar and Ankit Mahajan as MCs of the evening. To their great credit, they did the job gracefully.
Vandana Jhingan, one of the pillars of the Club, briefed all those present about its activities and acknowledged services of Gurubachan Kaur. She then welcomed Vinita Gulabani as the new incoming President. Introduction of the New Board was done by Vinita Gulabani as she invited them to the stage.
Hindi Lovers Club Board 2013: Founder/CEO: Gurbachan Kaur Neelam, President/Secretary: Vinita Gulabani; Joint Secretary: Beena Patel; Treasurer: Praful Rami; Editorial Committee: Jodhsingh Rawat, Kamal Gupta, Rajeev, Kusum; Public Relations: Pratik Tanna, Ambika Jamula; Chief Advisory Board: Sohan Joshi, Vandana Jhingan.
Advisory Board: Rohit Joshi, Dr Oranga, Rita Sunil Shah, Santosh Kumar, Naren Patel, Kamal Gupta, Subhash Pandey, Sudaksha Kapoor, Manmohan Sharma, Srikant Modi, Dhiren Shah, Jia Jassi Parmar, Renu Sood.
“My dream is for us and our future generations to realize the true potential of our traditional values, or “Sanskars”, read our scriptures, the way they were meant to be so that we may glean from them those words of wisdom which would otherwise have been lost in translation. I would like to make an appeal to everyone in this organization to join me in this noble endeavor of keeping Hindi alive in our Karmabhoomi” observed Vinita Gulabani in her Presidential address.
Chief Guest Dr Ausaf Sayeed, Consul General of India, Guests of Honor Naren Patel CEO of MedStar Group, Dr Virendra Bisla and Dr Birendra Sinha, Dr Subhash Pandey, Sunil Shah and Dr Upadhyay were invited on the stage and were presented with garlands. The ceremonial lamp was lighted with traditional puja by Rohit Joshi and befitting the occasion, a prayer was sung by two kids, Sudit and Arush. Devi Stuti – Invocation of Goddess Durga was performed by Aadya Verma, Muskan Bhatla, Simran Mahajan and Shreya D. Patel
Chief Guest CG Dr Ausaf Sayeed emphasized the need to enlighten the world with the importance of Hindi. He also urged politicians, social and religious leaders to engage in the spread of Hindi at the highest level.
Vandana Jhingan urged all those present to celebrate the150th Anniversary of Swami Vivekananda on a grand scale and invited all to attend the two days celebrations at the end of September in Chicago land. A small play was performed by group of small children depicting examples of Swami Vivekanand’s early life.
Bollywood dance was performed by Aloki Pandya followed by Bollywood Act by Laksh Mehta, a small kid in a wonderful style of his own. This was followed by poetry from Shanu Sinha, Solo Performance Mujhe Rang De by Jigna Sheth, Amithab Bachchan poem by Vishnu Panjwani, Guitar performance by Dr Saurabh Agarwal, Group Dance (Hum Hain Hindusani) by Balodyan Group – Sauruv Garg, Ria Sharma, Sharen Gonsalves and Aahana Shedge, poetry by Shikha Tandon, Bhajan by Bhamini, classical dance by Urja Patel, Skit by Pika Munshi, Bollllywood Dance, Kathak Performance by Medha Bhargav, an act by Ranjoy Ganguly and Tabla performance by Raju Deshmukh.
President Vinita Gulabani finally proposed a vote of thanks.
Ramesh Soparawala & Asian Media USA
