PAGE 18 Members Hema Srinivasan1 Manjula Narasimhan2 Bimal Ray Shuba Ratneshwar Shubhra Gangopadhyay 1. Chair 2. Executive Board Liaison
SAMARPANAM
Cultural Programs C
ultural Programs committee encourages culture that originates from India or of interest to the members of HTCC that as appropriate to a Hindu temple. In that line we have the ongoing Dance, Tabla and music classes at the temple; Bhakti Geetams on Saturday evenings and cultural programs to accompany, augment and enhance the devotional part of the festivals like Krishna Jayanthi, Ramanavami, Dasara and New Year. We also work with other related groups interested in a similar culture, such as Cultural association of India, Raagas of Columbia, Mudra and Vedic Society. During 2010, we hosted several special events: 1. Violin Concert: A classical violin concert of Purnaprajna and Shiva Narasimhamurthy on Mridhangam on April 24 2. Double Feature: On May 16, we had two concerts by Guru Prasanna Kasturi ( vocal) and
Guru Seema Murthy ( vocal) both individually accompanied by Savita Vishwanathan on violin and Ravishankar Subramaniyan on Mridhangam. 3. Feast for Thought: A philosophical lecture and discussion on Advaita and Gita by Dr. Avinash Sathaye on September 25. We plan to schedule 2-4 special cultural programs in a year at the Mandir in addition to the regularly scheduled events. We would like to especially encourage budding artists of both Indian music and western music in our community by featuring them on Bhakti Geetams. It is an excellent venue to share your musical or theatrical talents with rest of the HTCC community. Cultural Programs Committee always welcomes any ideas, suggestions or requests from the community. If you would like to volunteer to be on the cultural programs committee, please do let us know.
Janmashtami celebrations at the temple: Lord Krishna is all decorated; Matki breaking: Kids are all excited and waiting to gather the candy loot.