The National Council of Gujarati Organisations (NCGO) UK marked India’s Independence Day on Saturday, 15 August, with a special celebration and Bhajan Sandhya at the Sangat Centre Hall in Harrow, coinciding with the auspicious month of Shravan. Around 75 members of the Gujarati community attended the celebration, which combined patriotic spirit with devotional bhajans.
During the Bhajan Sandhya, Jayshree Das Mataji, who had travelled from India, captivated the gathering with her soulful and devotional renditions. Mataji, who heads a beautiful ashram in Kharachiya village, between Jamnagar and Morbi, immersed the audience in an atmosphere of devotion through her melodious bhajans. She was accompanied by Jaybhai Ustad on tabla, while Kanchanben Vara joined her on vocals.
The event was successfully organised through the dedicated efforts of NCGO President Vimaljibhai Odedra, Vice President Jitubhai Patel, Kantibhai Nagda MBE and Cultural Secretary Dhirubhai Gadhvi. On the day, NCGO also received valuable support from committee members including Jayben Desai, Deepakbhai Keshwala, Vandanaben Joshi, Sumantbhai Desai, Jayantbhai Patel and Shaileshbhai Odedra, whose contribution helped ensure the programme ran smoothly
Dr Amrutbhai Shah travelled from Crawley, while Dhirubhai brought a number of guests from Brighton to join the occasion. Dr Shah’s efforts, alongside those of the entire committee, played an important role in supporting the programme and making it a success.
At the outset, NCGO President Vimaljibhai Odedra warmly welcomed the guests and participating artistes. He also took the opportunity to introduce the gathering to NCGO UK and its activities, before inviting Dhirubhai Gadhvi to address the audience and share a few words.
Dhirubhai Gadhvi, in his distinctive Charani style, introduced the audience to Jayshree Das Mataji’s ashram and her spiritual and charitable work. He also introduced the artistes accompanying Mataji, tabla player Jaybhai, Kanchanben, Amitbhai and Sanjaybhai, whose presence added greatly to the occasion.
Jayshree Mataji filled the gathering with devotion and music through soulful renditions of bhajan.
Adding further colour to the evening was the special presence of Maheshbhai and Nituben Gadhvi, whose performances brought a strong patriotic spirit to the programme. Maheshbhai captivated the audience with two beautiful patriotic songs, while Nituben’s moving rendition of ‘Ae Mere Watan Ke Logon’ left many in the audience emotional and teary-eyed.
Following their performances, Jayshree Mataji resumed the Bhajan Sandhya, once again immersing the gathering in an atmosphere of devotion and spirituality.
Through a series of such soulful bhajans, Jayshree Mataji, together with Maheshbhai and Nituben, beautifully blended patriotism with devotion to Lord Shiva and Lord Ram, bringing the memorable evening to a spiritually uplifting conclusion.
As the programme drew to a close, Kanti Nagda MBE warmly thanked everyone for their presence and praised Dhirubhai Gadhvi for his dedicated efforts in making the event a success.
NCGO Vice President Jitubhai Patel then spoke about the organisation, acknowledged the hard work of the committee members and shared details of its forthcoming activities. He also outlined the Independence Day programme to be held at Navnat Centre on 22 August. Committee member Vandanaben also addressed the gathering and spoke about NCGO and its work.
After an evening filled with patriotism, music and devotion to Lord Shiva, everyone came together to enjoy prasad and a delicious meal. The catering arrangements, organised by Jitubhai through Sabras, provided a fitting conclusion to the memorable gathering.
The guests attending the programme made contributions according to their individual means towards the charitable activities carried out by the ashram run by Jayshree Mataji. The contributions were presented to Mataji by the NCGO committee.
The absence of Asian Voice and Gujarat Samachar’s Publisher/Editor, CB Patel, was particularly felt by those attending. Due to prior commitments at other events, CB Patel and Bhimabhai Odedra were unfortunately unable to be present.
