Sunday, October 2, 2011

{ Birju Maharaj and Maitri's Musical Fundraiser }

Left to Right - Ameen (the Research Associate at Maitri), Sarah, Liz, Katie, and Ankur

I love this photo of me and Anita! :)

Interns :)
Showing off our nose rings! Okay, Sarah and I were just wearing little sticky gems in the corner of our nose but still...

The Interns with Ameen - we buddies! I love this photo. 

This is our office! Left to right - Katie, Liz, Piyali, Shika, Anita, Sarah

A blonde, brunette, and a redhead go VOGUE (so Sarah says :))

Beautiful Anita and her Saree!
So, I'm a dork. But I wanted to show my true Indian side :) Got to love the Bindi and the fake "nose" gem! And the saree of course. 



Prior to the event, we were "starving" (no, we weren't starving, we know that, just hungry).

Stopping for some momos at Sarojini! We were a little out of place in our very formal sarees :)

Chinmaya mission. 

Left to right - Piyali, Sonal, Anita, Katie, Liz, Sarah, the General, and Winnie.
I LOVE THIS PHOTO!!!
I spent a lot of my time on Monday and Tuesday prior to the event preparing a collage of the widows for the event. This was much more complicated than you would think and I figured it all out by myself. I was proud! So here I am showing it off... ;)


Sarah and Liz at the greeting/visitor's desk!
I loved my sparkly purple nails!!
Here are some photos from the actual event! It was an incredible performance!




This is Pandit Birju Maharaj


The boys in the office. 
Beautiful Anita and Shika delivering flowers on stage!

The event was a huge success! On the way home, we partied it up with a dance party in the back seat. Woot woot!



SUCCESS!
On Wednesday 28 September,
Maitri organized a musical fundraiser evening with world renowned,
Pandit Birju Maharaj.
He is an expert in Indian Kathak dance. 
He is now 73 years old.
And more incredible and energetic as ever! 

Last night, the performance was entitled "Anubhuti: Inner reflections celebrating the stages of life". The stories were weaved around the life of Krishna, who is a symbol of love and humanity. It celebrates live at stages like childhood, youth, adulthood, and the enchanting years beyond. The event was held at the Chinmaya mission on Lodhi Road, a very simple but quite nice building. We had many eminent citizens attend the evening and donate to Maitri's cause.

Thee event was held to celebrate the International Day for Older Persons, which is on October 1. Maitri's goals was to educate the community of the issues and challenges that are faced by the widows of Vrindavan. All of the donations are used to improve the lives of the widows. I feel honored to be a part of something so incredible! We put a lot of work and time into the event. 


Pandit Birju Maharaj has pioneered choreography for Kathak dance dramas. He is also an accomplished vocalist in Hindustani classical music. He has received two honorary doctorate degrees, he has traveled the world performing and he is just simply incredible. I would recommend watching the two videos below. 

Some think Kathak is boring...or too simple. But I think it's beautiful. It's a form of Indian classical dance. It traces back to nomadic times in Northern India with the Kathaks, or storytellers. Kathak means "s/he who tells a story." The dance is a mixture of temple and ritual dances, persian and central asian dance, and is influenced by bhakti movement, a religious movement of loving devotion. 
There is so much history, culture, and simplicity in this beautiful genre of dance.




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