The Golden Jubilee inaugural event of The Bhavan was held on 21 May. The day heralded the year-long celebration of the 50 years of propagating and supporting Indian Classical Arts and Culture in London. Everyone fondly remembered the contributions of founder Dr K M Munshi, Manek Dalal Ji, and Mathoor Ji. The Bhavan paid homage to the Vice Chairman and one of its founding trustees Padma Shri Dr John R Marr.
Chief Guest of the event Manmeet Singh Narang, Minister (Coordination), High Commission of India said, “I offer my heartfelt condolences on the sad demise of Padma Shree John Marr. He was an Encyclopaedia of Indian art and culture. Now, I would like to congratulate all of you, who are associated with The Bhavan for keeping the Indian cultural flag high in the UK. India offers diversity to the culture of London. So, there is something in our culture, in our art, which promotes peaceful coexistence and respect for each other.”
In his welcome address Joginder Sanger Chairman, The Bhavan said, “I recall the early days when Bhavan started in Oxford Street. Mathoor ji had a very small office there. He was not very happy with the things going on here, the public was also not interested. One day, he went to the Air India office to book his ticket to go back. At that time, I was a travel agent and the main agent of Air India. Late chairman, Mr Manek Dalal called me to his office and said The Bhavan is for a good cause, please see Mathoor Ji should not go back. So, when I started going to Bhavan I felt very guilty because I had a totally wrong opinion about the Bhavan. I realised that The Bhavan is the future of our children and future generations. So, from that day, I started helping all the institutions and people who were doing anything for our culture. I used to tell people that we can collect money anyhow but what we need is your time. Today everybody is respecting the Indian community and the Indian way of life. Therefore, Bhavan is the backbone of our culture.
So, donating money to temples, Bhavan or institutions is secondary but how we promote culture and educate children and neighbourhoods about the culture is very important. I learned many, many years ago that in the English language, the two things are very important. If you do something wrong, say sorry, if you do something good for yourself say thank you, and this is the whole culture. It is our duty to make sure if we love our children, culture and society, then not only Bhavan, any institution like that, which is teaching about culture, please help them not only with the money but with your time. If you see all the senior families, all the good families, they follow the tradition that we follow in India. Respect your elders, respect your honesty and respect your life. Tell your youngster to help Bhavan as much as they can.”
Cllr P J Murphy (Mayor of Hammersmith and Fulham) said, “One thing I loved when I heard from the film was this quote, that once you put your foot into Bhavan, you're not going to go away. It is true. What you bring is the diversity of India to the diversity of London and that improves our culture so much and makes it such a wonderful and a fantastic place to live.”
Baroness Usha Prashar CBE (Honorary president UK community Foundation) said, “I can say with great pride that my association with Bhavan goes back to the 1970s. I had the privilege of meeting the former chairman of the Bhavan Shri Manek Dalal. His passion and commitment to the Bhavan were contagious, and it has drawn me to this excellent work. As we all know, culture resides in our minds and souls. For me, Bhavan is an oasis, in a very fast-moving world, where we seem to acquire more knowledge of the world, but less of ourselves. It keeps us rooted in our culture, and values. Its spiritual meaning through its excellent work in music, dance, language and yoga, helps us to connect with ourselves.”
The event began with a prayer by Dr MN Nandakumar, Executive Director, The Bhavan. He said, “From its humble beginnings in a small space on Oxford Street in 1972 with around 90 students, The Bhavan has grown in strength and holds classes in over 23 subjects with 800 students, over 100 performances in a year, and an ongoing dialogue with the current generation of artists and thinkers. Its current location in West Kensington consists of a world-class auditorium, space for classes and workshop hires, as well as an Art gallery.”
Patrick Holden, The Bhavan’s Development Director, spoke briefly about the future of The Bhavan and outlined the vision for the coming decades. The Vote of Thanks was given by Subhanu Saxena, Bhavan’s Executive Committee Member. He said, “The Bhavan’s Golden Jubilee will be celebrated throughout the year from May 2022 – April 2023, with specially curated performances, events, workshops, and exhibitions.”
This was followed by beautiful inaugural renditions by The Bhavan’s music students - Bengali music under the tutelage of resident teacher Smt Sajali Roy, Carnatic vocal trained by Sri Sampath Kumarachary Daruri, and Hindustani vocal trained by Smt Chandrima Misra. The Bhavan’s activities were portrayed through a short film which gave an insight into The Bhavan’s classes, events and Bhavan’s students and their achievements. The morning session closed with beautiful performances by The Bhavan’s dance students. The audience witnessed Odissi (trained by resident teacher Katrina Rute), Kathak (trained by Dhiya Arora and Amun Bhachu), and Bharathanatyam (trained by Prakash Yadagudde). The evening session saw a scintillating performance by Bharatanatyam Dancer/choreographer Rukmini Vijaykumar. Special Deepaks were given to all guests, which were made by the very special children of Ahmedabad.
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