On Wednesday 30th November, The Bhavan, the largest centre of classical Indian arts and culture outside India, celebrated Diwali with a fundraising banquet at the London Marriott Hotel, near Swiss Cottage. The event was aimed at raising money for this charity to fulfil its mission of ensuring that the rich artistic and cultural heritage of India is alive and available to all.
The gala evening was attended by crème de la crème of the community and it kick started with a networking session, while guests enjoyed their drinks and Indian snacks, prepared by Ragasaam. It was followed by a sit down vegeterian dinner.
The Chief Guest was International Development Secretary, Rt Hon Priti Patel and HE Dinesh K Patnaik, the Acting Indian High Commissioner, who attended the function with his wife Mrs Poonam Patnaik.
After a rousing drum introduction by Mridangam and Tabla teachers and an introductory prayer from the Vedas by Executive Director Dr M N Nandakumara, The Bhavan’s Chairman Joginder Sanger welcomed the 300 guests. The NRI hotelier said, "The aim of the centre is to spread the message of art and culture, which reflects Gandhian values of peace and non-violence."
The programme included live performances of Bharatanatyam and Kathak dance by top students of The Bhavan, as well as videos that gave a fuller picture of the organisation’s activities. Compère was BBC Asian Network presenter Ashanti Omkar who introduced the evening’s chief guests.
HE Dinesh K Patnaik, Acting High Commissioner of India, said “The culture of the nation is what is important. What we leave behind is culture. If we want culture to continue we all need to support The Bhavan to continue.”
International Development Secretary Priti Patel said: “The UK and India share a longstanding bond built on shared history, impressive cooperation on arts, business and education and our strong people to people ties. Understanding each other’s traditions is an important way of deepening this strategic partnership and I praise the efforts of the British Asian diaspora and organisations like the Bhavan Centre in preserving India’s vibrant heritage and in turn making the UK a more diverse and culturally rich place to live. I look forward to the world's oldest and its largest democracy working together to tackle the global challenges of today.”
She further added, "We are living in turbulent times and it is more important now than ever that we appreciate each other's cultures. Our two countries set the perfect example for that.
"It is no surprise that the Bhavan Centre set up its largest branch outside India in the UK, 44 years ago. It does some great work in showcasing our people-to-people ties and next year will be a landmark one as we celebrate UK-India Year of Culture.”
A series of events are being lined up for the 2017 UK-India Year of Culture, including a photography exhibition at the Science museum, a major digitisation programme of 200,000 pages of South Asian archival print documents held at the British Library in London, including 4000 Bengali books, as well as a tour of the Magna Carta and works of Shakespeare to India.
The Bhavan Centre, which describes itself as the largest institute of Indian arts and culture outside the Indian sub-continent hosting wide range of exhibitions, performances and classes, will be among the participating institutions.
This years annual banquet also paid homage to Bhavan Centres former patron, Judge Mota Singh, Britains first Sikh judge who passed away last month. Chair of The Bhavan’s fundraising committee Dr Surekha Mehta, who has been the organiser, proposed a vote of thanks to all.
Photo Credit: Raj Takhar
