Celebrate India 2000
By John Chin
June 21, 2000

As the crowd entered the Donald A. Seawell Grand Ballroom at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts for Celebrate India 2000, the diversity of Asian Americans attending was immediately noticeable and impressive. The largely Asian American crowd was made up of Chinese, Filipino, Japanese, Laotian, Taiwanese, Thai, Vietnamese and others in addition to South Asians. Like many recent Asian activities and events in the past several years, Asian Americans are supporting other Asian Americans in their programs and other endeavors. The success of the Asian Film Festival in Aurora is another recent example.

This event was the culmination of a vision held by a number of community leaders. The Kindred Spirits Council, a volunteer organization dedicated to infusing the diversity of cultural perspectives into DCPA programming, endorsed Celebrate India 2000. Patty Coutts, an Asian representative on Kindred Spirits Council, believed that it was time for Asian Americans to be recognized as an important cultural aspect of the Denver metroplex and of Colorado. She encouraged Purnima Voria, Past President of the India Association, to organize an event. The first thing Voria did was to establish a Pan-Asian Celebrate India 2000 Committee. Lester Ward, President of DCPA, worked closely with this group and committed DCPA resources to Celebrate India 2000.

Coutts and Voria were overwhelmed with the broad support of Colorado's Asian American Communities. It was their hope that Celebrate India 2000 would be the first in a series of cultural presentations by Asians for Asians and the general community. The outpouring of support was evidence that this dream was a reality.

The well-attended event had not only Asian American community leaders, but also public officials and corporate sponsors as well. General Jim Hall (Retired) and Dr. Hai Bui represented Governor Owens. Claudio Ochoa attended on behalf of Lt. Governor Joe Rogers. Lakewood Mayor Steve Burkholder was also there. Others included Mr. Ron Hernandez, a representative of Denver Mayor Webb's office, and State Representative Susan Williams. Mr. Lester Ward, President, of DCPA came as did Billie Begaii, Chair, of the Kindred Spirits Council. R.M. Abhyankar, Consul General of India, arrived late because his plane was redirected to Colorado Springs. The event's major corporate sponsor, Founder and CEO Mohan S. Misra, Ph.D., ITN Energy Systems, Inc., was present.

The evening's festivities began with a buffet dinner of traditional Asian Indian fare catered by Gandhi India's Cuisine of the Denver Tech Center. Following dinner, the formal program was begun with a special ceremony called an Udgaathan where a pair of diyas (lamps) were lit by General Hall and Lester Ward. Voria shared emcee duties with Dr. Alok Sarwal, Co-chair of the Celebrate India 2000 Committee. Sarwal also prepared the attractive program book for the event.

The evening's performances were divided to two major acts. The first act consisted of talented local performers. Manick Sorcar, highly regarded local artist, cartoonist, animator and stage director, presented his acclaimed laser animation show entitled, "India Forever." The laser show was followed by several Indian classical and traditional folk performances. Kathak, an Indian classical dance form called Tarana, was performed by Pooja Voria & Anjali Voria. The colorful traditional Rajasthani dance followed with dancers Palak Merchant, Stephanie Gordon and Rakhi Voria. The next in series was Bharatnatyam dance by Hitha Palepu. The final segment in the first act was the Bihu dance executed by Piya Sorcar, Payal Sorcar, Ramona Mukherjee and Kakali Chakraborty.

After intermission, internationally known Santoor musician, Pandit Bhajan Sopori, masterfully performed a number of musical compositions with Denver resident Dr. Bhushan Sopori, his brother, on the Tabla (traditional northern Indian drums) and Anjali Voria on the Tanpura (a sitar-like string instrument).

The Santoor is a 100-string instrument played with two strikers. Santoor is a Persian word, and means a hundred strains. The Santoor is generally considered part of the dulcimer family. It is the oldest known string instrument of India. Itinerant musicians and gypsies carried this instrument in their wanderings across the continents of Asia and Europe, giving rise to a variety of instruments that are similar in nature. In China, it is the Yang-Qin with 45 strings. Similar instruments are the Santour (Iran, Iraq and Turkey), Santoori (Greece), Cimbalon (Hungary) and Zymbalon (Romania).

Begaii, Abhyankar, and Coutts closed the evening with final remarks.

In addition to Voria and Sarwal, other Celebrate India 2000 Committee members included Dr. Hai Bui, John Chin, Patty Coutts, Chiyo Horiuchi, Kumar Merchant, Bharathy Palepu, R.C. Raval, Lily Shen, Bhushan Sopori, John Yee, and Nai-Li Yee. Celebrate India 2000's Executive Director was Sachchit Pandey. Voria, Sarwal and Pandey wanted to extend their appreciation for the hard work by the volunteers to make Celebrate India 2000 a landmark success for all of Colorado's Asian communities.

Picture Gallery

John Chin is President of the Organization of Chinese Americans, Denver chapter. OCA is dedicated to "embracing the hopes and aspirations of Chinese and Asian Pacific Americans in the United States." Founded in 1973, OCA has 77 chapters and affiliates. OCA maintains its headquarters in Washington, D.C. The next OCA event will be the annual July 4^th Picnic at the Girl Scout Shelter in Midway Park in Broomfield. The event will be Tuesday, July 4th from 10 AM to 2 PM. OCA will provide hamburgers, hot dogs, watermelon and drinks. Bring a covered dish to share. Please contact John Chin at johnchin@att.net or (303) 693-2722 for more information.