The Mall of India in Naperville was the site of Sundarkand Parivaar Chicago's third annual Deepawali celebration. The event drew a huge crowd from Chicago's Indian diaspora, who took part in an culturally immersive celebration of the festival of lights.
Sanjay Sharma, founding member of Sundarkand Chicago Parivaar, opened the evening with a grand welcome, emphasizing the profound significance and symbolism of Deepawali. Mary Alexander Basta (Mayor of Bolingbrook) and Sanjeev Kumar Pal (Consul-Press, Info. & Culture, Consulate General of India, Chicago), graced the occasion as special guests.
Following the lamp lighting ceremony, Basta delivered a speech in which she emphasized the importance of compassion, love, and unity in today's world. Even though they were thousands of miles from home, Pal praised Sundarkand Parivaar for their extraordinary efforts to promote Indian culture, instill Indian values in children, and bridge the gap between generations.
Ganesh Vandana, a divine dance performance dedicated to Lord Ganesha, opened the cultural program, followed by a captivating array of performances highlighting the rich and diverse heritage of India. Dancers from Nritya Natya Dance Academy enthralled the audience with their classical and folk-dance performances.
"Sujan Jeevan," an Odissi dance depicted theMahabharata, a Krishna Leela performance directed by Prerna Awasthi brought to life the playful antics of Lord Krishna, dancers of Sundarkand Parivaar danced to the "Hanuman Chalisa," a devotional hymn dedicated to Lord Hanuman directed by Priya Raheja, while the the students of Brahmcharya Vedic School presented a Ganesh Aarthi, and a Sanskrit Natika, a theatrical performance in the ancient language of Sanskrit.
The executive board of Sunderland Chicago (Sanjay Sharma, Anurag Awasthi, Saurabh Srivastava, Vinod Pandey, Rohit Panday, Binod Singh, Ashish Shukla, Anup Mehta) and core members (Anuj Purwar, Vijay Raheja, Abhinav Bansal, Jayant Thakore, Dave Sharma, Subhash Bothra) were instrumental in organizing the event to preserve and promote Indian culture within the diaspora.
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