Natick’s annual Multicultural Day celebrates the many cultures within the community through food, music, dance, and performances. Organized by the Natick Center Cultural District, this year’s event was the sixth annual Multicultural Day and ISW Symphony’s Dhol-Tasha group performed at the event as one of the invited participants.

Held in person after a couple of years online, the Common Street Spiritual Center in Natick Center hosted performances from diverse cultures including performances by the Natick India Group, traditional Irish dance, classical Chinese Dance and Story, Qi Gong exercise, Klemzer and Drum Nomad bands, and Natick Praying Indians. Symphony’s Dhol-Tasha performance was held outdoors on the adjacent Natick Commons.

The Dhol Tasha group performed a routine that featured five different styles of beats. In addition to traditional beats from Maharashtra, it also included a garba style beat from Gujarat and a bhangra style beat from Punjab. The audience on the Natick Commons was enthralled by the energetic beats. Kids, adults, and grandparents alike erupted in a spontaneous dance participation. Some enthusiastic audience members even played the “lejhim”, danced the “jhenda”, and played the “jhanj” alongside the drumbeat, creating a fabulous “Symphony”.

India's 75th Independence Day celebration - ISW (India Society of Worcester)

     Remembering our past is extremely important. But we also have to think about building our future. Let's do everything to keep our freedom and carry it through the years. Happy Independence Day!"

As the above quote says ISW is here to remember our past couple years of pandemic but to think positive and spread the happiness and build our future by gathering our community together to celebrate our Independence Day after 2 years of gap due to COVID-19.

  India's 75th Independence Day was celebrated by our ISW community at the grand venue of DCU Center-Worcester past Saturday, (August 6th). 

   The program was filled up with captivating cultural programs, Ethnic shopping vendors and local business booths, Play area for kids, Art fair, Food vendors, Health stop and many more attractions.

   The entire day's event kicked off by an incredible Parade consisting of 'Dhol Tasha Lezim' performance by our community volunteer enthusiasts. Great formations of Lezim players and Dhol Tasha players caught the eye of each of the spectators there.

  This year's cultural program theme was 'Panchatatva - 5 elements of nature - Earth, Water, Fire, Air, and Space. The stage performances included presentations by different groups like Natyamani School of Dance, Ekta's Dance Academy, Aangikam Dance Academy, Performing arts of New England, ISW Cultural committee, Bolly Beatzz, etc. Some admirable performances also involved our Humrahee group where seniors who are young at heart stepped up the stage to celebrate an independence by singing medley of Patriotic songs in full energy and enthusiasm. 

  The Bazaar section of this event was extremely appreciated by attendees where one could enjoy the shopping of ethnic clothings and accessories from local business, one could enjoy visiting many non profit organization booth with many free giveaways or get  more information of their work.  Many folks enjoyed and loved eating delicious Indian food from multiple food vendors like Bawarchi and Chennai Express.

  The kids zone near the entrance of the DCU center had lots of fun elements such as cotton candy, popcorn, play area, face painting and more. 

  This year ISW put forth beautiful artwork done by our community artists and some professional artists. The art fair had a lot of artistic bags, purses, architectural designed paintings, some great acrylic paintings, and madhubani paintings, etc. 

   One of our ISW's unique features of such events is a booth for ISW Health Stop.  ISW Health Stop offered free COVID vaccines during this event and many attendees took advantage of the same.

   The guest of honor for the event was Worcester Mayor Joseph Petty who graciously handed out  ISW scholarships to the youth who had achieved academic as well community work excellence in their high school career. 

 The full day event ran from 1:00 PM to 7:00 PM with more than 3000 attendees at the DCU center.

  Around 35 committee members and more than 100 volunteers were working towards this event for 3 months. 

  The organization has earned one more  successful feather in their  hat. Thanks to all the volunteers, participants and vendors.

 Big shout out to the sponsors of this event - DCU Bank, UNI Bank, eClinicalWorks, and Webster five.

  Jai Hind! 

PC credit - Anil Nair

Click here to view the pictures of the event

UPCOMING EVENTS for ISW U, Chess, 3D, Spanish, Vedic Math, Geometry & Probability. Late summer classes in August

Hi all, thanks to our wonderful volunteers, we still offering a variety of classes even now, do check it out 

UPCOMING EVENTS  INDIA CENTER 152 Main Street, Shrewsbury, MA
ISWU & ISW Sports: Chess Beginners & Intermediate Classes (in person)
8 Aug 2022 3:00 PM 

ISWU Spanish classes camp (in person) 8th graders
8 Aug 2022 4:00 PM  

ISWU and IIT AGNE: Summer 3D Printing Workshop Grade 1+
10 Aug 2022 6:00 PM  
 

ISWU Online Intro Vedic Math for Grade 3 and up, gym for the brain 

19 Aug 2022 10:00 AM  

ISWU  SAT classes Geometry and Probability

3 Sept 2022 8:00 AM  

ISW U Team 

Usha Tanvi & Shiamin 

508-353-4316

A one-of-a-kind Arts Festival organized as ISW Symphony initiative at India Center was a Grand Success!  
ISW Symphony team would like to thank all our Artists who brought not just their beautiful artwork, creativity but also their amazing presentations and a deep thought involved in their artistry.
Sunanda Sahay - Madhubani Artwork
Susmita Bando - Paintings 
Mridula Satyamurthi - Clay Sculpting
Sara Lividini - Collage work
Bindiya Jain - Wooden Tray with mod podge
Suchitra Patil - Architectural designs and nature drawing
Tejal Doshi - Mandala Art 
Neha Ujlayan - Spring Tree Artwork
Sunita Ramnani - Folk dance
Dhruv / Arush /  Atharv - Fusion Music

Our Vendors -

Aditi Dinakar

Manisha Sinha 

Neeraj Gupta
Pushpa Joshi
Rashmi Deshpande
Swati Baldua
Bawarchi (Framingham)
 Special thanks Alankar Decorators for sponsoring decorations for the festival. 
Big thanks to all the attendees, presenters, and volunteers without whom this event would not have been a success!
Art Contest  - The Art Contest was greatly attended and appreciated  by attendees. All the contestants' art-work was admired by our spectators and judges. Heartiest congratulations to our winners
Kids (10 and under ) - Kite Decoration -
  1st  - Darshit 
  2nd - Anushka Karkhanis
  3rd - Niyati 
Kids (11-16 years) - Rangoli on canvas in acrylic painting - 
    1st - Karishma 
    2nd - Surabhi Dindore
    3rd - Sahiti Kundu
Adults (over 16) - Rangoli on canvas with sand art - 
   1st - Rampriya Sundaramoorthy
   2nd - Abhinaya Vikramasundaram
   3rd - Puja Rathi
Adults (over 16) -Clay sculpting -
  1st - Divya Kantem
ISW Symphony would like to thank all the volunteers who contributed to this event by working hard to make it happen and successful.
 
  Article written by one of our attendees on Art Festival – Sonam Ahuja
 Importance description
Art can be a freedom of expression for some, a way of bringing one's imagination to life, a way of making things fun, a way to make sense of this wide world and yet lighting am spark of curiosity for some others. Art is a language that knows no gender, no race, no color and only truly influences our sense of self.
About ISW event:
ISW’s much awaited art festival was held on a beautiful spring Saturday of April 23rd at ISW center, Shrewsbury. The event was one of a kind and was able to bring art in its purest, most authentic form together under one roof. The event provided a platform to various artists to demonstrate their many different forms of art. The event covered exhibitions of Madhubani art, Clay sculpting, Paintings, Collage work, Wooden tray art,
Architectural designs and Nature drawing, Mandala art etc to name a few. The event hosted a very well thought art contest that stimulated the minds of young artists and also provided avenues of artistic expression to adults.
This was me and my five year old daughter’s very first experience of attending an Art event at Indian Society of Worcester. We began participating in the event with the kite decoration art contest. It was such an indulging experience of celebrating Indian culture through art.
We then went on to create flowers with stencils for the Spring Art Tree. It
thrilled/encouraged my little one to have her art displayed on a tree for everyone to admire.
We were just in time to witness the amazing performance of Rajasthani folk dance on a very popular song Mhare Hiware me Jagi dhokdi. It reminded us of the beauty of the Indian culture and the many colors of India. It made us all groove to the tune and experience the joy of dancing by joining the very talented performers on stage. It was now time for us to cater to our growling stomachs with some mouth-watering Indian street food. From samosa-chat to mango lassi everything left us drooling for more.
The next art had the superpower to leave my very fidgety toddler still for a full 3 minutes, yes it was Caricature art followed by beautiful henna art.
Finally it was time to announce the award for much deserving winners of the art contest. The award ceremony that encouraged young budding artists to pursue their talents and nurture their inner imagination. It definitely did light a spark in the mind of my five year old child to learn to express herself through art.
Conclusion/Thank you note
It was an evening well-spent at ISW attending a very unique art festival. Thank you to the organizing team of ISW for co-ordinating and bringing together such talented artists under one roof and giving young artists the opportunity to showcase their artistic talents! We hope and look   forward to attending many such events in the future.

Subash Chander Gupta passed away peacefully Thursday, April  7, 2022.

He passed away at the age of 79 surrounded by his family. He is survived by his wife Sneh Gupta, his daughter and two sons, Shweta, Taneja and her husband Sanjay, Ish Gupta, and Gaurav Gupta and his wife Vidushi. He is blessed with his grandchildren,  Paarth, Vaasu, Viraaj, Gauri, Geetika, and Vaani. 

Subash was the son of the late Gokal Chand and late Leela Vati  born May 8, 1942 in Lahore, India. He lived his early adult life in  Madras where he completed his Mechanical Engineering degree from the University of Madras. In 1966 he married Sneh and they had an adventurous life  moving to Ranchi, Delhi, Faridabad, and ultimately the United States in 1980. Initially settling in  Andover, Massachusetts, he lived there for 26 years after which moved to Shrewsbury. 

Having traveled widely throughout the world for work, Subash believed that the United States  was the land of opportunity and the country where you could have an ‘idea’ and mold it into  whatever you wanted. He firmly believed that one should make an impact in your field and give  back to your community. 

In engineering, he continued his training to become an expert in quality assurance attaining  several higher level certifications. In his role as lead quality assurance engineer, he helped  introduce high quality Bose speakers and make them a household name. Later, he joined  Raytheon and continued his quality assurance work in defense projects until his retirement. 

Being a firm believer in giving back to one’s community, he actively engaged in a variety of  community societies including India Society of Worcester, United India, and VHP. In these  endeavors, he engaged in growing the societies with multiple active leadership roles. People  would look to him to be an arbitrator between contesting thoughts. Having strong spiritual  beliefs, he advanced his knowledge of Hinduism and our connection with the universe. He was  one of the founding member of Sarva Dev Mandir in Oxford, Massachusetts and actively  engaged in its operations. 

Calling hours will be held between 3 - 5pm on Sunday, April 10th at Hays Funeral Home, 56  Main Street, Northborough, MA 01532. A private cremation to follow the next day.

Shanti Puja followed by Memorial service and lunch at ISW India Center from 12.00 noon Sunday, April 17th. RSVP to Gaurav Gupta.  

ISW mourns the passing of Shobha Shastry, a staunch ISW supporter and life member, who touched people far and wide with her selfless service to the community. We will miss her vivacious personality and generous spirit. Om Shanti. A compilation of memories of Shobha from the ISW community in celebration of her life is on the ISW Website. 

ISW will be holding a celebration of Shobha's life on April 8th from 6:00 to 9:00 pm at the ISW India Center. More info and registration on the ISW Website.

In lieu of flowers, donations in memory of Shobha for the education of Shobha's granddaughter Suhana Sundari Sullivan may be made to a college fund set up in her name. Please mail checks to:

Kasi Viswanathan
Account owner FBO Sahana Shastry
The Vanguard 529 College Savings Plan 
C/O 44 Carriage Hill Rd, Northborough, MA 01532

Thank You.  Any questions please contact president@iswonline.org

Shobha Shastry

Shobha Shastry was born in Mosur, Chennai to CM Krishna Shastri and Shivagami Sundari Iyer. She is survived by her father CM Krishan Shastri, Daughter Shyla Shastry, Grand-daughter Sahana Sullivan, Brother Ravi Shastri, Sister-in-law Malathi Shastri, Nephew and Niece Mahadev and Revathi Shastri respectively. She is predeceased by her husband Sharad Y. Shastri and her mother Sundari Shastri. She passed away peacefully on March 23, 2022 in Marlborough, MA.

Shobha’s childhood and youth were highlighted by enjoying life and laughing with friends - charming others with her strong, loving personality. She was an artistic savant, specifically in painting and

drawing. Her creative genius also manifested itself in the theater, as she cultivated and honed her acting skills, displaying her adept ability to capture an audience and win others over.

At the age of 19, she was engaged to Sharad Y. Shastry of Vellore. Shobha moved to the United States and married Sharad in Westborough, Massachusetts when she was 24. Shobha and Sharad were married for 25 amazing years until his untimely passing.

Shobha had numerous achievements but, most notably, was the founder and CEO of Alankar Event Planners and Decorators, providing wedding services, decorations and mandaps in New England for 25 years and helping thousands of couples get married. She was one of the first female Indian American entrepreneurs in New England and was known for her gold-star service, always fulfilling her commitments to her clients. In addition, she was a part of many other non-profit organizations such as the Indian Society of Worcester and Tamil Sangam.

The spirit of Shobha could be described in many ways. She was an inspiration to all with her generosity and her ability to accept everyone as if they were her own. Shobha was a carefree, fun-loving, selfless, larger-than-life character whose devotion towards others was boundless. The happiness she brought to everyone was unparalleled and her presence alone could light up an entire room.

Her wake will be held at Rice Funeral home located on 300 Park Avenue, Worcester, MA on Sunday, March 27th, 2022 from 3:00 pm to 7:00 pm. The family will be holding the funeral as a private ceremony. They respectfully ask those who would like to pay their respects to attend the wake. In lieu of flowers, if you would like to make any contributions in Shobha’s memory to her granddaughter’s college fund, please contact her brother, Ravi Shastri, or Kasi Viswanathan.

ISW WEW: The Next Generation Speaks: What drives them, motivates them, and keeps them going!
By Kalyani Kanuri

As part of ISW’s ongoing series of Women Empowering Women (WEW) panel discussions, this month’s event featured an impressive panel of young women. Held on March 5^th via a Zoom session, these young women of South Asian heritage offered unique perspectives and valuable insights on how they decided on a career path, what motivates them, and what keeps them motivated. The program was kicked off by Snehalata Kadam, chair of WEW who gave an overview of WEW’s core mission and the importance of learning from these young talented women. This discussion is aimed at helping students in making educational and occupational choices based on the experiences of the panelists.  The impressive panel consisted of Amee Desai, Gayathri Nandyalam, Kavya Ragunathan, Rhea Vyas, Sneha Hingorani, and Shubh Agrawal.

Kavya completed her undergraduate studies at Boston University and worked for a few years at the Broad Institute where she realized her love for research.  She is a first-year doctoral student at Duke University studying developmental and stem-cell Biology.  She moderated the event and asked the panel thought provoking questions while also providing her insights. Throughout her childhood, Kavya wanted to pursue a career either in PR or communications. But when she listened to a lecture on neuroscience in college, she fell in love with it and that got her thinking about a career in science. Kavya provided wonderful recommendations on career choices and talked about the importance of personal wellbeing. She is a huge believer in the importance of carving out personal time which is as essential as eating and sleeping

Amee, recently finished her master’s in health care administration at the University of Connecticut and has been working as a Team Lead at Definitive Healthcare for the past two years. She always knew that she wanted to pursue a career in healthcare although she was not sure if she wanted to focus on the administrative or clinical side. Amee credits the wide range of classes offered at UConn for helping her decide to focus on the administration side of healthcare. Amee encourages students to be open minded and take a variety of classes before deciding on a major.

Gayathri is a senior at Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech), studying Computer science and is interning at Microsoft this summer before returning to Georgia Tech for her master’s in computer science. Growing up she wanted to study medicine and become a either a neurologist or a cardiologist. She participated in a lot of premedical programs but in her freshman year at college she had a change of heart after taking classes in computer science, entrepreneurship, and leadership. She has found a common connection between her two passions of medicine and computers and would love to utilize her computer skills to make an impact in the medical field. She encourages students to be open minded and explore various courses before deciding on a career path.

Rhea teaches first grade while also pursuing her Master’s in Moderate Disabilities at Worcester State University. From a young age, Rhea knew that she wanted to make an impact on our youth and pursue a career in teaching. Growing up she felt the pressure from the South Asian community to become either a doctor or engineer. With the encouragement and support of her parents, she overcame these pressures and followed her passion and became an elementary school teacher. Rhea has a special interest in urban education which stemmed from growing up in New York City. She encourages students to follow their interests and not to compare with their peers.

Sneha is a third-year medical student at Drexel university’s College of Medicine in Philadelphia. Throughout her undergraduate years, she explored options such as physical therapy, Physician assistant but eventually decided to pursue a career in practicing medicine. She worked in a clinical setting during her gap year between her undergraduate studies and medical school. She felt that that time away from school helped her develop immensely both on a professional and personal level. She feels that it was one of the best decisions of her life.

Shubh worked as a high school counsellor for a few years before deciding to pursue a degree in clinical psychology. She received her bachelors from Brown University in Health and Human Biology and is currently pursuing her doctoral Studies at William James College. Her long-term goal is to help the South Asian community as she feels that there is a dearth of Clinical psychologists focusing on the unique challenges of our community. She also emphasized the importance of selfcare and the need to prioritize health and wellness especially in our younger generations.

Overall, this WEW event was very informative as the participants did an excellent job articulating the considerations behind their career decisions. The panelists provided invaluable advice and guidance to our younger audience. 

 

New England Botanic Garden at Tower Hill (new name)

New Summer hours available, check the website

Free ISW organizational membership passes permits  general admission to the Garden.  We can email an e-ticket to you, 24 hour notice would be appreciated. 

New England Botanic Garden at Tower Hill has gifted two ISW organizational membership passes  to ISW, which can be used by our members. Please show the printed tickets  upon arrival at the Garden for free general admission to Tower Hill.  Complete this form  AND send email to schoollead@iswonline.org.  If you are not an ISW member, do consider becoming one.

One membership card admits three individuals for FREE, we have two, so 6 can visit per day.  10% discount at The Garden Shop at Tower Hill with presentation of membership card (three individuals per card). Savings on classes, tours and workshops, and  Discounts at local participating nurseries upon presentation of membership card, plus FREE gardening advice through the HORTLINE, open every Wednesday from 12noon–4pm. Call 508.869.6111 x104 or email hortline@towerhillbg.org.

Hi everyone, my name is Tanu Nekenti, and I’m here to give you a little recap of last Saturday! If you didn’t already know, the India Society of Worcester (ISW) kicked off the new year with an extraordinary event called The Harvest Festival! It took place last Saturday, February 12th, 2022, from 2-6 pm. The event was a virtual program streamed LIVE on ISW’s Facebook page.

India is popularly known as the land of festivals, considered a colorful nation where people celebrate with full vigor and joy. Harvest festivals are celebrated with great enthusiasm to mark the beginning of the new spring and are celebrated in most of India as the new year by Hindus. Being the cheerful nation that India is, the most vibrant harvest festivals of India involve interesting mythological legends and joyous celebrations. They are as incredible and diverse as their people and landscapes and let you experience the beauty of Indian culture. India has 29 states, and every state celebrates harvest festivals at different times in the year. The first yield of the crop is a delight for the people, as it marks a time of prosperity for the farmers. This leads to them celebrating it cheerfully as a festival.

Due to the ongoing pandemic, we could not gather in person as in previous years. However, we invited the extended ISW community to participate virtually in the cultural event and dance competition. This was met with astounding participation.

The show lasted nearly three hours and was emceed by Tanushree Nekenti and Kunal Chauhan. It featured a variety of acts, including Indian traditional dances, semi-classical dances, and Bollywood medleys. Participants included many energetic individuals from all age ranges. All the dances were brilliantly choreographed and incredibly entertaining for both young and old.

As mentioned earlier, each and every single contestant brought a fantastic talent to this one-of-a-kind platform. There were four very accomplished judges to judge the competition: Hema Iyengar, Shaila Verma, Sunita Ramnani, Srinivaas A.B. They did a spectacular job with the judging, though I know it must have been tough for them, as all the performances were absolutely magnificent! However, since it was a contest, the judges identified these gems from the participants.

Age Category - Below 9 years

1st place - Jhankar by Shaswati Basu - Performers - Gavishi Joshi, Rohini Patel.  

2nd place - Bollywood Beats by Shaswati Basu - Performers - Shivani Suresh, Ayushi Dasgupta, Saanvi Karuturi, Thenammai Valliappan  

3rd place - Disco by Ekta Jain -

Performers - 

1.Riya Thiagarajan
2. Isabel Thomas 
3. Pihu Mangarhe
4. Jasmin Grover
5. Niyati Dosala
6. Kaira Agarwal
7. Shanvika Potli
8. Jia Gadhia

Age Category - 9 to 12 years

1st place - Tapori by Ekta Jain. Performers - Naksh Parwani, Neil Dixit, Neil Dave, Anish , Saahith Karthik, Ruhan Lawana  

2nd place - Dancing Divas by Adilakshmi. Performers - 

Sai Jayita Vootla, Pallavi Padala, Pragathi Senthilkumar, Sravya Gollapudi, Tanvi Padmaraju, Tanvika Chintalapudi

Age Category -13 to 17 years

1st place - Kathak Kunj by Shaswati Basu. Performers - Aishani Mukherjee, Safalta Sanjay Shukla, Samvriddhi Sanjay Shukla, Mihika Sengupta, Saanvi Basu 

2nd place - Tarana by Mona Mitra. Performers - Prisha Kumar, Miley Arora, Sanvi Kumar, Dia Arora 

Age Category - 18 and over

1st place - North and South by Ekta Jain. Performers - Geena Virmani, Jyoti Grover, Namita Khungar, Neetu Gupta, Nipun Asija, Manasa Singamsetty, Vaishali Sharma , Ranjan Sharma

2nd place - Agary Nandini by Priya Asthana and Sadhvi Majumdar. Performers - Priya Madhan/Priya Asthana 

Congratulations to everyone, the contestants and the winners. All of you are winners in our hearts and performed magnificently! 

All of the contestants and participants brought sensational talent to this one-of-a-kind platform. We thank our participants for sharing their talent and love with us. We also thank our choreographers, emcees, organizers, sponsors, and especially the audience at home; we couldn’t do it without you! I had a great time watching and participating in this amazing event, and I hope you had fun too! If you missed the event, you can still view it on Facebook on the ISW page. We hope to see you at future ISW events as well.

~ Tanushree Nekenti

Deadline for PVSA award extended to Feb 28, 2022

Thank you for your volunteer hours.

We hope to track the hours to recognize the amazing volunteers who contribute to India Society of Worcester

Try and fill it at the end of each quarter in 2021

Additionally, if you want, you can allow ISW to share your info to be considered for the President’s Volunteer Service Award (PVSA). The PVSA recognizes incredible individuals who are committed to a high level of volunteer and service with a PVSA medal and a letter from the White House. More info at:

https://www.presidentialserviceawards.gov/eligibility#volunteers

To be eligible for President’s Volunteer Service Award, one has to be a  US Citizen or permanent resident.

If volunteers have volunteered for other organizations that do not have this PVSA program, we can combine it , depending on verification, as long as there is no duplication.

Hours Required to Earn Awards in Each Age Group

Age Group                        Bronze                 Silver                                          Gold         

Kids (5–10 years old)     26–49 hours      50–74 hours                              75+ hours 

Teens (11–15)                 50–74 hours       75–99 hours                           100+ hours 

Young Adults (16–25) 100–174 hours 175–249 hours                        250+ hours

Adults (26+)                    100–249 hours 250–499 hours                      500+ hours