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Festival Success A Tribute To Its Chairwoman

Nitish S Rele in Tampa

For Malti Pandya, the first woman to chair the annual India Festival here, the 12th edition of the festival was memorable for several reasons.

The September 18 event set records not only in the number of booths but also attendance. The Gujarati Samaj of Tampa, which organized the daylong event, revealed that at least 8,700 people dropped in at the University of South Florida Sun Dome to enjoy festivities. And there were 77 stalls there, selling food, clothing, jewelry, arts and crafts, books, videotapes and audio tapes.

An association boasting a membership of 550 families, the Samaj has seen the festival attendance rise from barely a couple hundred or so when the event first started to thousands now.

"We really had a great team work," said Pandya. "We had emcees, all girls and not professionals, who did such a marvelous job."

And the festival this year had a totally different look from the event of past 11 years. For once, all the traditional dances of India were represented on the stage. Each of them had their own competition. And no entertainment items were scheduled. "We wanted to make sure that participation of different ethnolinguistic groups that represent our rich and diverse culture was there," said Pandya.

The dances included Kummi folk, Marwari, Onakalli folk, Garba and Raas, Manjira, Kuchipudi and Lavni.

Competitions were held for minors, juniors and seniors. First-prize winners received trophies; other participants got certificates.

Another first is that independent, out-of-state professionals judged the dance competitions. Four judges came from Washington, New Jersey, Texas and Michigan. Helping the judges tabulate the scores was Hitesh Adhia, CPA, of Tampa.

"We must make a resolution not only to unite and enrich our heritage, but also to increase our role in shaping the mainstream America."

Mainstream America was present in large numbers at the festival. The Gujarati Samaj had sent 5,000 complimentary tickets to schools in the Tampa Bay area. Donors to the area public stations received free tickets, too.

Though there wasn't any chief guest, several county commissioners, police officials and educators made their presence known at the event.

The Samaj came out with a souvenir book, which has an advertising index to serve as a good resource book for area residents.

Just so nobody would miss the dance competition on the lower floor, eight closed-circuit television monitors were set up so people shopping or munching on the upper level wouldn't miss out on the rest of the fun.

If you would like to post any information about forthcoming events or community happenings, please email the details to bettypais@aol.com

Information and photographs can also be mailed to Betty Pais at 87-52 108th Street, 2nd Floor, Richmond Hill, NY 11418-2229, USA.

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