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he whirling dancers, clapping hands, distinct sound of wooden sticks struck together, toe tapping music and people wearing colorful clothes marked the Navratri celebration at the Garba & Dandiya Raas dances held all over Florida. This is part of the worship of Durga Mata who symbolizes the victory of good over evil; the Navratri celebration marks a festival of nine nights during which Hindus worship goddesses Durga, Lakshmi and Saraswati, the goddesses of health, prosperity and knowledge, respectively. While Navratri and Dussehra (the 10th day) are celebrated by Hindus with regional variations, the most famous one is from the state of Gujarat in India.
In Central Florida, Gujarati Society of Central Florida and the Hindu Temple in Casselberry/Orlando celebrated Navratri with great enthusiasm. The Gujarati Society had rented the gymnasium of Lyman High School in Longwood and transformed it into a shrine decorated in traditional manner with fabrics draping the stand and Deity of the
Goddess decorated with flowers to recreate the atmosphere is a Navratri venue in Gujarat. The event started and ended with prayers and bhajans to the Goddesses. While many took to the floor dancing until the wee hours of the morning, some sat on the bleachers either taking a break or just watching the energetic and graceful dancers. Near the entrance were stalls were set up to sell jewelry, clothes and decorative items.
According to Mr. Neelkanth Kapadia, president of Gujarati Society of Central Florida (GSCFL), more than 3,000 attended each day of the weekend events of October 8, 9, 15 & 16th. He added that this massive celebration was successful because, “Preparations start six months prior to the event as decisions regarding the venue, music group, etc. had to be made well in advance for a successful event. Closer to the event regular weekly meetings were held to ensure that the event runs smoothly. We had the help of about 35 volunteers.” Previously the Navratri festival was held at Dr. Phillips High School and moved to the current venue in 2008.
It seems appropriate that the GSCFL held its Navratri fests in high schools for the past 20 plus years….it indeed was packed with youth who participated in the dances like it was a scene from a Broadway musical…many were dancing in groups within the Garba and Dandiya Ras circle. The musicians came all the way from India - Lakhiya music group from Ahmedabad and a Kentucky based group led by Raj Pandya ensured that the music was traditional as well as more upbeat with a touch of Bollywood. The attraction of Garba & Dandiya Ras for the younger generation was voiced by Neal H. Patel, a recent college graduate, who attend all Navratri dances at the Hindu temple and at Lyman “For me, Navratri is one of the best times of year; you are with friends and family for an auspicious occasion, but at the same time you also enjoy doing garba. The Gujrati Samaj did a great job hosting garba and trying to get the younger generation more involved.”
The music and the colorful dancers made 6th grader Niyati Shah feels like “There is something in the air that keeps me dancing. And that something is the excitement and energy from Durga Maa, the goddess of Shakti (which) helps me in everything I do, from Bharatnatyam to schoolwork. Thank you Durga Maa!” Parents and grandparents who migrated from Gujarat will be proud to see that this somewhat rural and folk dance is kept alive and now the youth have found it to be cool and exciting to honor the divine energy with each one. “This was the best Navratri I ever had, said Akash Patel, age 14; he added “I learned garba from my mom just because I love the music and have fun with friends and family. The best part was …Disco Dandiya, that’s what majority of the teens want. We love Gujarati Society for organizing this event.” These youngsters give a broad spectrum of the celebration – devotion and dance.
The volunteers and the officers of GSCFL ensured that the 4 days of Navratri celebration was excellent. Mr. Tino Patel said, “All the people from 2 yrs old to seniors loved the vibrations generated by Goddess Amba (another name for Sri Durga). The energy was very positive and all left with smile. We are very fortunate to have good volunteers that provided selfless service to the community”. This was echoed by a very happy attendee Mr. Chaitanya Patel who described the event in ecstatic manner: It was an excellent, enjoyable, exceptional event presented by GSCFL Team. Volunteers, organizing committee and all participants deserve great compliments.
At the Hindu temple community hall the Garba and Dandiya Ras was celebrate all nine nights with a mix of traditional pujas from different regions of India . The hall was packed every night with families and with overflowing crowd during the weekends. An interesting aspect was the participation of people from the different states, people who had never seen or danced the garba; they joined in circular dance and picked up the steps by watching, and for some of the nights local college students were given free entry as many had never seen Garba dance. The temple organizers led by Mahendra Kapadia, Hasmukh Mistry, Dr. Rajesh Patel, Bhupendra Nayee, Srinivas Jaragula, Ganesh Ramachandran and many other volunteers who worked very hard to ensure the success of the temple Navratri event.
The HSCF temple community hall was livened up with music by Rawal Brothers and the center shrine to the four Goddesses gave it a devotional feel. Amongst the dancers at the Hindu temple were the mother and daughter team of Leena and Trisha Chhaganlal who transformed a simple garba into an artistic performance.
The highlight of the dances at both venues was the Dandiya Ras, where dancers use brightly decorated wooden sticks to tap in a duet like manner with the other dancers; it can become very energetic and is performed by men and women together as the music is fast and generally includes dhol – a traditional percussion instrument.
At the Hindu temple, Navratri was also celebrated by the Telegu group with a traditional puja performed during the nine day festival, it honors the “life giver” Bathukamma Panduga. More than fifty women performed a special puja on the eight day and sang and danced in a circle around the deity made of flowers. It is a cone shaped symbol made of seven concentric circles of vibrantly colored flowers to signify life, eternity as well as impermanence. The eighth day is known as Durga Ashtami and was also celebrated at the Hindu temple with a Chandi Havan and a Mata ki Jagran where the devotees played musical instruments like the harmonium, tabla & dholak and sang bhajans till midnight.
On the tenth day is the celebration of Dussehera, and there was Saraswati puja for youth at the Hindu temple and all four priests helped the youth perform the puja understand the meaning behind the ritual. More than 90 children ranging from ages 5 to 15 were gathered inside the temple to perform the pujas to ensure academic success, and Priest Shuklaji emphasized that “While Sri Saraswati helps students; it also means the students must study hard and listen to their parents to achieve that goal, and just praying will not be enough. But praying to Goddess Saraswati will remind you of this goal and the process”. Sri Saraswati is always depicted with Veena a musical instrument and the reason is that music is an important element in extending the limits of the mind, tapping it to the universal consciousness and gaining knowledge.

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The Indian-American community across Florida turned out in large numbers and enthusiastically celebrated the country’s 64th Independence Day by hosting the Indian flag and organizing a series of events such as cultural events, songs and speeches. Amongst the Florida cities celebrating the day of liberation were Fort Lauderdale, Melbourne, Orlando/Casselberry, Tampa Bay tri-cities, Tallahassee, Jacksonville and Gainesville. The general themes everywhere was to honor the freedom fighters by holding parades, dance performances and of course with plenty of food stalls at each venue to highlighting the contribution of the Indian-American communities.
In Central Florida, India’s Independence Day celebration was held at the HSCF temple community hall and grounds on Sunday August 15th 2010. A feeling of celebration filled the air, the Tricolors and the Stars & Stripes flags, decorations, and the tents gave it a mela like feel, but inside the hall the day began at 8:00AM with a volunteer effort by the members of CAPI (Central Florida Association of Doctors from India) who held a health fair that offered free services, consultations and seminars. “This is an annual event since 2003” said Dr. Pillai, CAPI member who coordinated the health fair.
Hundreds of people came to get their blood work reports and discuss health issues with the volunteer doctors. Dr. Rajesh Patel, chairman of the Board of Trustees at HSCF said the “Temple partners with CAPI to offer free medical, dental, vision and EKG checkups for anyone and I heartily thank all the participating physicians, medical staff and volunteers.” Dr. Mahendra Shah, president of CAPI remarked it is “a tradition of the association to offer free medical services to community members two times a year.” Along with the medical booths, several talks were given by CAPI members on subjects ranging from Cardiology to healthy lifestyles.
By mid day the temple hall was in a festive mode with the start of the cultural program which began with a parade of more than 50 children dressed in costumes to depict historical characters from Indian history ranging from Jhansi ki Rani to Subhash Chandra Bose to Mahatma Gandhi. The program started with the Indian & US national anthems and then there were 35 dance, music, and vocal performances. The hall was full to capacity with more than 500 audience members, and more than a 1000 came to enjoy the rides, shop and eat.
Alka Shukla, HSCF’s cultural committee chair with her team of Minal Saoji, Anjali Palsule, Dipti & Rikti Smart along with local dance teachers came up with the theme of Indian Historical and Patriotic Dress Parade for the children. Alka said, “Some of the characters were Gandhiji, Jhansi Ki Raani, Jodha Bai, Jawarherlal Nehru, etc. All these children did a wonderful performance. They had to research the character and perform a monologue. This way learned about Indian history which was my purpose for Independence Day celebration.”
Anjali, one of the team members remarked, “For the past few years I was in the audience, and now I realize how much hard work goes into putting up this kind of show. With involvement from groups like Lakshya, (Rakhi Sharma), Bollywood Masti (Minal Jajoo) and others, we were able to put together this cultural program. The credit goes to the hard work of choreographers and all the participants and Ashish Smart did an excellent job managing the sound system for the event.”
Most of the cultural program items were performed by youth – about 150 participated, even the emcees were youth. Minal Saoji said: I have been coordinating parades and skits for our young performers for many years and working with them is amazing. However, my main goal is to teach them our culture. I must say working with little ones isn’t easy, but I love kids so it makes everything fun”. All the youth performers were top notch; a pair of young girls - the Kannan sisters - wowed the crowd with their Bharat Natyam dance while doing the hoola hoop. And the audience was spellbound by an awesome Kathak performance by the Chagganlal mother and daughters team. The program ended with a raffle drawing conducted by Sreenivas Jaragula, president of the HSCF executive committee that organized the program.
Outside the hall with the shade of the trees and the tents, people had a cool place to browse thru the merchandise and service stalls and enjoy their favorite snacks form the food vendors. The most popular stall was the one selling freshly made crispy masala dosas, and all the workers there were temple committee members like Saraswati Sampath, Jaya Swami, Ganesh Ramachandran and many more. Vignesh, a graduate student at UCF said it was a day to rejoice but at the same time one to remember the sacrifices made by many which led to Freedom. He said the “Event show and food, make me feel like I am back in India to our roots.”

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nternationally acclaimed yoga guru Swami Baba Ramdev spoke on Bharat Swabhiman Movement, meditation and Yoga Philosophy June 30 at the India Cultural Center in Tampa. More than 800 people attended the event, which was organized by the Federation of India Associations of Tampa Bay (FIA), AACSA, Gujarati Samaj of Tampa Bay and India Cultural Center.

The program began with the lighting of the lamp by Swamiji, along with Braham Ratan Aggarwal, Satya and Rajshree Shaw, Sunita and Srawan Poddar, ICC President Dr. Mahesh Amin, Chandrakant Patel, and Chetan Shah among others. This was followed by the rendition of Vande Mataram.

The program coordinator Chandrakant Patel welcomed the audience and said, “We are very fortunate to have Swamiji back among us so soon, he was in Tampa last year in October.”

Chief Guest Braham Aggarwal of Orlando thanked Baba Ramdev for visiting Florida twice in less than a year. “He has a great vision, to make Bharat great for the welfare of the world,” said Aggarwal. “Just as Gandhiji was the man of the 20th century, Swamiji will be the man of the 21st century. He is determined to make Bharat as a number one nation in all respects. I am happy to see the members of all organizations participating in this event.” He further said that leaders like Baba Ramdevji will ensure that India emerges as a super power by uniting everybody and all round prosperity.
Baba Ramdev began his discourse with a prayer. The audience joined in to sing the Gayatri Mantra. “The Gayatri Mantra is the Guru Mantra,” he said. “The guru guides and shows the way. There are lots of challenges today in regards to health, mind and soul. Karma is our dharma, our pooja.”

Swami Ramdev in his over two hour powerful and inspiring discourse kept the audience spell-bound, attentive and mesmerized. In his unique, inimitable, humorous and magnetic style Swamiji spread his universal message by combining Rashra Bhakti (patriotism), Bhagwat Bhakti (devotion to God) and Yog Shakti (Spiritual energy) using his powerful oratory skills. Swamiji explained how one can achieve physical, mental, intellectual and spiritual health by practicing Yoga regularly.
Swamiji believes that nutrition education is at a lower level nowadays. “We should eat less trans fat in our foods,” he said. Avoid deep-fried foods and eat three times a day. Keep a four-hour gap between breakfast and lunch and at least 6-7 hours between lunch and dinner. And don’t consume food two hours before you go to bed.” He advised, “Eat according to the season, drink at least 3 liters of warm water daily
and you will become slim smart (if you are overweight) in 2-3 months. Ninety-nine percent of people do not drink enough water, and suffer from dehydration”. Drinking warm water, says Swamiji, will also cure your cholesterol, kidney stone, blood pressure, skin disorders, and many other diseases.
“Seventy percent of problems are caused by the environment,” he said. “So the environment at home between the husband and wife should be positive. The trust between a couple should not be broken. Water and love are the key to a happy, healthy life.”
Baba Ramdev suggests eating fruits and salad first, followed by the heavier food. “Eat green vegetables, drink juices, healthy food. Eat less, eat right. It is a crime to be sick.”
For diabetics, he recommended giving up fruits and doing Pranayam (yoga breathing exercises) daily. “Your body cells need to be energetic and Pranayam takes them to a high-level energy,” he said. “Anyone who does Pranayam daily will never get a bacterial virus infection. Do Pranayam first thing in the morning. Yog is the ultimate solution to all mental, physical and social problems, for maintaining a healthy and happy life one must do yoga regularly every day.”
He described in detail the objectives of Bharat Swabhiman Movement that is to bring a new order and revolution in India through Yoga. He explained his life’s mission of not only making every individual healthy and happy but eradicate all evils from the society through Yoga and the selfless and committed workers he has been recruiting for his Bharat Swabhiman movement which he describes as an all-comprehensive, ground-level movement that aims to root out all forms of corruption. Swamiji envisions a “disease-free society and medicines-free world”.
He promised to bring political reforms, and remove corruption, crime, poverty, superstition, terrorism, etc. He plans to enroll 50 million workers across the country in next five years to make sure that honest, clean, brave, calm, cultured and nationalist politicians are voted to power. Baba Ramdev predicted that in the next five years this movement will bring revolutionary changes in all walks of life. He asserted that he is not only working to make people healthy but it is his duty to make the country also healthy and free it from all types diseases.
Baba Ramdev started Patanjali Yogpeeth Trust to make the world disease-free through yoga and ayurveda. For more information on the trust and Baba Ramdev, please visit www.pyptusa.org

Chetan Shah appealed the audience to become member of Bharat Swabhiman Movement. Satya Shaw gave the vote of thanks and also sponsored the complimentary dinner.

TBack by popular demand Central Florida witnessed part two of the sold out religious Drama ‘Sathwar Radheshyamno’ a the Cypress High School Auditorium on June 5th 2010.

The show was sponsored by the respected social worker and a successful business entrepreneur, Jayesh Patel. The organizers were amazed and extremely delighted to see the Cypress High school auditorium filled to capacity for the second time around. Jayesh Patel and his volunteer friends setup 100 plus chairs for those who came at the gate to watch this show.

The show was organized to raise funds for Nadiad Anath Ashram in Gujarat and for other institutions engaged in taking care of the needy in Gujarat. Nadiad Anath Ashram was originally established by Bapu Mahatma Gandhiji. Jayesh Patel’s parents were Ghandhiwadi. ‘What ever you do, do it as a dedication to God. This will bring you tremendous experience of joy and satisfaction” said Jayesh Patel.

MC for the event Raja Paleja introduced Jayesh Patel and mentioned about his long dedicated social service for the past ten years. In a short speech Jayesh Patel said that ‘I am eternally grateful to my dear friends from Lake, Polk, Broward, Ocala and Orlando area and friends from other area of central Florida for their selfless and sincere support in making this event a memorable one in terms of a great success’. Raja Paleja introduced and appreciated officials of various organizations and individuals for their support for the event.

Once again, the highly trained dance artist and a superb choreographer, mother of two talented child artists and a wife of the group manager Punita Hirani was at her best. She introduced few new items which proved to be extremely effective and each item was followed by enthusiastic applause.

Ms. Hirani’s young child artist daughter Khushali and a cute little six years old artist son, Bhavya Hirani were the talk of the town. They showed no fatigue or low face but performed with great skill and completely amazed the audience.

Prakash Hirani, the proud father of two child artists, dedicated husband and leader of the group expressed his gratitude to the audience for appreciating artists for their artistry by enthusiastic applause following every item. He said that the audience of central Florida was awesome and will definitely come back with some new program.

Smart looking Compeer Bakul Thakker was very knowledgeable and with his humor and observation skill, the flow of the whole event was lively.

The live vocals and Rhythm had mastery over several styles of music and offered a pleasing melody and held the performance together very well. Makeup artists were phenomenal. They successfully managed to convey the relationship of characters and their emotions very effectively.

Well coordinated lighting and sound effect delivered a deeper and more lasting impression of the dance and music experience. “It was great joy watching the performance from the auditorium but being behind the stage around the performers is indeed a great experience” said Bhavin Vaishnav who was the stage, sound and lighting coordinator for the event. According to him the backstage area was like a central war command center. Group commander Punita Hirani showed unstoppable energy and with her knowledge, skill and ability, every artist was in full gear, ready to perform at a given notice.

A group of 35 artists makeup person and other technicians were like robots as if they were pre programmed for the event. The amazing part was that every member of the group performed their duties like offloading 65 plus pieces of luggage, unpacking, fabricating, installing and move sets on the stage and getting ready for the performance with a high degree of coordination.

They had no extra hands but their own and they were just outstanding showed no sign of displeasure or fatigue. It was such a sight to see when six year old artist Bhavya and his sister Khushali carrying out their assignment collecting Bids from the stage floor and putting safely in a container.

‘I was moved by such a dedication by a six and nine years old child artists’, said Bhavin Vaishnav. “When it comes to team work and commitment there are no exceptions. Same rule applies to Khusali and Bhavya” said
Prakash Hirani the manager of the group.

The sponsor provided delicious Dinner at no additional charge to the ticket holder.

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Filling Ruth Eckerd Hall with an audience of nearly 1,500, Florida’s first annual Bayside Bhangra competition brought an international cast of dancers and singers to Tampa Bay. Bhangra is a folk dance from the Indian state of Punjab and has reached an international stage in the last decade.

The competition was composed of eight Bhangra dance teams that mixed traditional dance music and steps with a modern flair. The teams came from across the U.S. and Canada with members ranging from high school to post grads. Some styles were very traditional, using native instruments like the dhol and saaps. Others took a more novel route with three story pyramid formations and back flips.

Of the teams eight teams that performed, Anakh Punjab Di (APD) from Los Angeles, CA placed first. From Queens, NY, Virsa: Our Tradition came in second. Third place went to Florida’s very own Rangli Jawani. Local high school teams, Bhangra Off Limits and Naan of Your Business also performed as exhibition acts.

Placing were chosen by an experienced panel of respected judges from across the nation. These judges include: Atinder Cloty from Toronto, ON; Govind Rangrass from Detroit, MI; Pashi Malik from New York, NY; Luvdeep Randhawa from Vancouver, British Columbia; Amandeep Kaur from Tampa, FL; and Swapna Shah from Tampa, FL. Further details and bios on each judge are readily available on the event website.

The entire lineup included: Carnegie Mellon University Bhangra, The Guardians of Bhangra from Florida, Northwestern University Bhangra, Aasmaan Bhangra from Georgia State University, & First Class Bhangra from Pittsburgh, PA and Cleveland, OH. The teams put on a phenomenal show that kept the audience on the edge of their seats.

The competition exceeded its already high expectations. Vince Patel, Director of Operations for the event, and the entire board created a show that reached beyond the traditional Bhangra audience. Broadcast on TV Asia gave the competition an international debut. Bayside Bhangra was enjoyed by families, college students, and high schoolers of all different races. The performances were dynamic and entertaining for all ages.

The dances were separated by fusion performances by leading South Asian pop artists. LV Signia, a mixed genre singer from Vancouver, British Colombia, performed vocals that mixed elements of traditional India dynamically with a modern hip hop flavor that was never before seen. Dhol Beat International continued the nice blending with a percussion performance that took today’s modern pop music to a new level with fast paced, traditional drum beats.

With the inaugural show being such a success, The Bayside Bhangra Committee has already started planning the upcoming competition. It hopes to bring back the nation’s most prestigious teams to battle once again on a world stage for all of Tampa Bay to see. Having reached such a large audience this year, the second annual competition is pushing even further and set to sell out.

Bayside Bhangra was the 1st Annual Bhangra Dance competition hosted in the Tampa Bay area. It was a platform for the top Bhangra teams from across the nation to showcase their talent in a colorful exhibition of the energy and excitement that Bhangra represents. People from the South Asian community as well as many other diverse backgrounds came together under one roof and enjoy the traditional dance form, Bhangra.

This competition was made possible by various student organizations from all the major universities in Florida. They collaborated their ideas and goals and through careful preparation and planning, the idea of starting an annual Bhangra Competition was put together. With support from many local organizations and sponsors, such as the India Cultural Center of Tampa, The Punjabi Association of Florida in Tampa, & The University of South Florida, the event was a great success.

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The Ekal Vidyalaya Foundation of USA dedicated to education and village development in rural India sponsored a show with four artists from India to who gave a mesmerizing performance and an evening to remember at the Hindu Temple in Casselberry Florida.
The Lead Female vocalist of the group Sanjeevani Bhelande took the audience thru a journey of vintage film songs to the latest hits. Sanjeevani is the very first winner of Zee TV’s popular show Sa re ga ma.
Filmmaker Vidhu Vinod Chopra heard her on the show and selected her voice for the entire soundtrack of his film ‘Kareeb’. She won the best playback singer award for her song “Chorichori jab nazrein mili’ from the same film. She has given several other Bollywood hits like Nikamma kiya, Socha na tha, Road and more. She was lively throughout the concert and took the audience down memory lane with popular hits of Noorjehan, Shamshad Begum, Geeta Dutt, Lata Mangeshkar, Asha Bhonsle and some of her original songs. She has performed over a 1000 concerts worldwide.
Sanjeevani sang a beautiful piece from her latest album ‘Meera and Me’. The songs on the album are a fusion of Hindi and English translations of Meerabai’s songs like Payoji maine and Mere toh giridhar gopal. She said that thru this album she wants to bring in the audience outside India to enjoy the Indian classic poems and to bring them in to concerts of Indian artists outside India.
Sanjeevani was accompanied by Mohit Shastry on the Flute and keyboard. Mohit has been playing professionally in Mumbai films and stage industry for the last 9 years. He has performed with several well known groups and artists.
Amit Mehta was the male singer with the group who also played Tabla & Dholak. He is specialized in Rhythm Composer Vocalist and has been working with well known groups in India like Bankim Pathak group and Dipesh Desai.
Rupesh Rane accompanied the group on the Octopad. Rupesh has been performing as professional Rhythmist since 1997. Rupesh has performed with well known playback singers from Hindi film industry and also performed in stage shows in USA, Cananda and Caribbean Islands.
The team gave a wonderful performance and left the audience wanting for more. EKAL raised 125 schools that evening.
The highlight of the fund raiser was Shreya Bansal a sophomore at Lake Highland Prep. Shreya says ever since she can remember, she has always loved art and had been searching for ways to benefit someone other than herself. Then she found Ekal Vidyalaya and an opportunity to use her talent for a cause. She has been raising money by teaching art classes and donating all of her earnings to Ekal. She sold greeting cards from her student’s artwork and also raffled two of her limited edition art prints to raise funds that evening.

About Ekal Vidyalaya
By: Navin Doshi and Chandresh Saraiya
India’s middle class constitutes over 250 million people having access to health care, schools and housing. However close to 400 million people, living in villages, are illiterate and nearly 25 percent of them do not have access to schools. Government of India spends less than 10 percent of its budget on elementary and secondary schools and most on scientific studies. Almost all higher education is subsidized in India. While the country pumps thousands of students into universities, millions of children in rural areas have no access to education.
It’s ironic that while India launches space shuttles and develops nuclear arsenal, much of its native population has never heard of space or nuclear fission. While the “Sixty Minutes” program on CBS informs its viewers that it is easier to get admission in Harvard or Yale than any of India’s IITs, many of our rural folks cannot read or write their own names.
The work of Ekalvidyalaya (EV) is to build a bridge between the tribal people and the citizens of modern society. EV has developed a non-formal education system that teaches the value and importance of retaining tribal culture, while educating them in literacy and basic health. EV hopes to make education a positive and uplifting experience for the tribal people.
The seeds of EV were planted twenty years ago when a group of educationists, including Dr.Rakesh Popli (a US based nuclear scientist) and Mrs. Rama Popli (a child educationist), began working with the tribes in forests of Jharkhand. They refined the concept of one-teacher school over a period of two years. The evolution of EV continued for decades. In 1999 Ekalvidyalaya Foundation of India (EVFI) was registered as a charitable trust. Currently, EVFI serves as the umbrella organization for many NGOs that run one-teacher schools in their respective areas. International fund-raising arm was established in the year 2001 and later Ekalvidyalaya Foundation of America (EVFUSA), and recently Global Ekal Vidyalaya Foundation (GOEVF) was established. The growth of establishing schools has been exponential—10,000 in four years.

Dr. Bhupendra Kumar Modi, a well-known industrialist of Modi-Xerox fame and the Chairman of GOEVF is aiming to establish 100,000 schools by the year 2010. This task may seem daunting, but he states, “…. the goal is reachable. Initially, there was no faith in the movement. They said it couldn’t be done. Now that we have reached critical mass of almost 10,000 schools, 100,000 become doable.”
Indians who were educated in India at very little cost are accumulating wealth in western countries. Many of these Indians would like to pay back to their country of origin, and EV provides an opportunity. The success of EV movement and its rapid growth is due to the relative low cost of providing a non-formal education in India. It becomes easy to picture when one looks at how a dollar is spent. An average school of forty students has a budget of one dollar a day, $365 for a whole year. No infrastructure capital is needed, as a typical class is held under a tree or other shaded area. What does a dollar buy in America? Not even one meal! It is probably the best bargain one can get anywhere in the world.
EV, although a social organization, does not hand out charity. Instead, it works hand in hand with tribal people. EV goes beyond mere literacy by attempting to empower the village community for its own self-development. At every level, EV seeks the participation of local people. Village elders, or the Panchayet, are involved in selecting the teacher, the curriculum and the schedule. EV recruits local people to coordinate training and other project related issues at every level. Initially, villagers contribute in kind. As they positive results, their involvement and contribution keeps increasing. Furthermore, the school becomes self-sufficient in a period of five to seven years. Often a prominent urban family will serve as a caretaker family and visit periodically, interacting with the villagers.
It takes approximately six months of preparation to initiate a school. EVFI draws on economics of scale by starting a cluster of schools at a given time. As of December 2004, 13000 EV Schools are operating in various parts of the country. Another 4000 schools will be ready to become operational by April 2005. Collection of funds for these schools is in progress.
Ekal Vidyalaya is an organization dedicated to the betterment of India and its oft-neglected rural people. You may visit the website www.ekalvidya.org for more information.
(Dr. Chandresh Saraiya is the President of EVFUSA and Navin Doshi is the Chairman of the Advisory Board.)

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Holi is undoubtedly the most fun-filled and lively of Hindu festival. It’s an occasion that brings in unadulterated joy and mirth, fun and play, music and dance, and, of course, lots of bright colors! The festival of Holi was celebrated all over Florida enthusiastically by different organizations. The Gujarati Society of Central Florida Celebrated Holi in March with Holi enthusiasts gathered for loads of fun with colors. The Indian Students Association- Sanskriti at Florida Tech celebrated its Holi on the 6th of March. The Bengali Association of South Florida had Holi picnic in the park on March 20th. These and many other organizations and groups celebrated the festival of colors all over the state of Florida.

The participants enjoyed a colorful magical afternoon where shades of different colors were thrown, rubbed, sprinkled on friends and family. During Holi, practices, which at other times could be offensive, are allowed. Squirting colored water on friends, amidst teasing and laughter is perfectly acceptable.

During Holi colors fill the atmosphere as people throw abeer and gulal in the air showing great joy and mirth in the arrival of this Spring Festival. As we all know, Holi marks the end of the winter gloom and rejoices in the bloom of the spring time. It is the best time and season to celebrate; Holi provides this opportunity and people take every advantage of it.

Children take special delight in the festival and demand every color in loads. They have so many plans in their mind. They have to be the first to apply color to Mom, Dad, siblings and a big bunch of friends. Nobody could miss being colored by them. It can be said, “Life turns Colorful” when it is time for Holi.