Asian Voice and Gujarat Samachar organised the Barking and Birmingham chapters of Matru Vandana, a musical evening to celebrate Mothers Day and pay homage to mothers – over the weekend on the 1st and 2nd April.
Rohit Patel and Pushpa Patel from Ashiana co-organised Matru Vandana at the Abbey School Barking on 1st April on the auspicious day of Chaitra Navratri.
Revered singer Maya Dipak was flown down from India to delight the audiences with an evening of sugam sangeet in her versatile, distinguished and melodious voice. Trained in Hindustani Classical, Maya is a famed artist in Gujarat and has been honoured with Gaurav Puraskar from the Gujarat government for her contributions to the field of vocals for Sugam Sangeet.
Maya started the programme with Ma Jagdamba Stuti “ya devi sarvabhuteshu” and left the audiences captivated by her songs on mathru vandana in Gujarati, followed by famous Hindi songs dedicated to mothers. Maya she started singing traditional folk garba songs for Chaitri Navratri and the audience reciprocated by breaking into garba dance. The programme was compared by the Managing Editor of Gujarat Samachaar Kokilaben Patel.
Matru Vandana was showcased in Tyseley, Birmingham at the Shri Hindu Community Centre on April 2. The President Mukesh Ladwa declared that the temple required funds for redeveloping the “Shikhar” of the temple that has been sitting in the church premises for the past 35 years. Changing the look to a temple would require £300,000. Out of this amount the trustees have been able to raise £115,000. In 1980, Hariprasad Vyas, Rameshbhai Patel, Dr Vaja and Mr Chadrakant Pattani and CB had laid the foundation of the Hindu Community Centre- Shri Laxminarayan Mandir.
The Karma Yoga Foundation donated £5000 and Rs 500,000 to an education charity in India. Hemlataben Ladwa donated £2500 and Harish Dhokia from Coventry donated £3501.
A scrumptious dinner was laid out for the guests ABPL could not be more grateful for the overwhelming response from the readers and well-wishers. The food was sponsored by Lataben Lodhia, and CB Patel took the opportunity to celebrate his and Lataben's birthday at the event.
He said that he would assist in all future fund-raising initiatives, while Maya Dipak also declared her willingness to come on board to perform in fund-raising events. Matru Vandana was organised in London at the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan on the 26th March and will be held in Leicester on April 7 and Preston on April 8.
For further report, refer to Page 18 and 19 of Gujarat Samachar.