India American Cultural Association (IACA) celebrated Vaisakhi on Sunday April 22, 2007. It was a fun packed event made successful by stellar performances by members of the Indian
American community. The afternoon began with a prayer, Vaishnav Janato, performed by Deepa Sreetal, Archith Seshadri and Ajay Upadhayay. It was followed by a performance by 28 children singing three popular songs which was a medley choreographed by Smita Doshi. Anjani Laskar, a student of The Academy of Indian Dance and Music performed “Alaripu” in Bharatnatyam style.

Her instructor, Mrs. Usha Kadaba, choreographed it. The “Sangeetkar" group head by Amitava Sen of instrumental musicians presented North Indian Classical compositions and folk tunes from India, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh. Indian Music Academy presented two dances choreographed by Banhi Nandi. Kriti Nandi and Suparna Chowdhury performed a dance depicting the love of Lord Krishna and Radha. Following this, Durga Bandana was performed by Nikita Agarwal, Rupal Khaitan and Ria Shah. A dance based on “Desh Rangella” was also performed. Ms Padmaja Kelam ‘s students performed Jatiswram, a Bharatnatyam classical dance.

The second part of the program, founding day anniversary, started with paying respects to the 32 students killed at Virginia Tech. The audience observed a one minute silence and prayed for the souls of the departed.

Later, IACA president Dr. Gouranga Banik talked about the history of IACA and its contribution to the Indian community in the greater Atlanta area as a whole. Dr. Banik, in his speech, asked those present to work

 together for the greater benefit of the community. He also talked about the status of ongoing projects like Sanatan Mandir and India Center. He asked the audience to help IACA as much as possible by providing their time and effort.

Dr. Banik then introduced all past presidents and the Board Chair to the audience and spoke about their contributions to the community. Dr. P. Venugopala Rao, one of the founding presidents, talked about how they started IACA with help from the entire community. Dr. Prakash Desai, a former president, talked about the Sanatan Mandir project and thanked for the contributions towards the projects. Vir Nanda, also a former president, talked about the Indian Center Project and asked for inputs from the audience. Other past presidents Dr. Paddy Sharma, Raman Patel, Ani Agnihotri and Amitava Sharma also spoke on the occasion. The evening concluded with a melodious Bollywood Medley of semi-classical chart busters set to music by A. R. Rahman, performed by Sa Re Ga Ma group. Ms. Jagruti Phadke was the master of the ceremony.
 

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