An entertaining annual family get-together to celebrate Diwali saw members of North Indians’ Association (NIA) turn up in large numbers and have a grand party. For ‘Deepotsava 2016’, more than 250 family members attended the event held recently in Hotel Radisson Blu and organised by Trans Media International.
From singing stars to the choicest of Bollywood dances, the evening was packed with a fun set of programmes. All NIA members received goody bags, gifts and sweets as a token of love. The event was co-ordinated by managing committee members Harish Kanjani, M K Singh, Praveen Sharma, Sanjay Arora, Durgesh Gupta, Kuldeep Kaur Bahl, Abhijit Sarkar, Anil Mehta, Punit Jain, Chandra Gururani and Shivani Mishra. Community spoke to Praveen Sharma, President, NIA, to know more.

What was the significance of this event for the NIA members?
There is a significance and an importance of each festival in India but Diwali is especially close to the heart of every Indian. The importance of Diwali in Indian culture and its celebration is a passageway to the most profound aspects of life. We recognise that it is very unfortunate for the today’s generation to have little knowledge about their culture, traditions and their roots and these type of events are very important to teach our children about our traditions, culture, love, togetherness and respect for others, and to bring back our culture in people, especially to our children, who are staying away from their homeland. North Indians’ Association fills this gap by organising this event every year in a families get together and to make life as celebration.
 
What were some of the highlights of the show?
The star attraction of the show was a performance by a young energetic singer Diljaan who was invited specially for this show from India. He enthralled the audience with his melodious and energetic songs, dance numbers that made the audience ask for an encore. Diljaan has been a runner-up of a TV music reality show Sur Khetra in 2013 which was telecasted on Colors and Sahara One TV channel. In addition, all audience were mesmerised by the classical dance performance by our member’s children Bhavya Prasad and Samridhi Bharadwas. A tribute was given by a dance performance on patriotic songs by Kriesha Sharma, Ridhima Lalwani, Prachi Bhagchandani and Aarav Lalwani to our soldiers that thrilled the audience.
Later Avisha Sharma, Sneha Chandnani, Juhi Gabra, Mohak Vasvani and Ritik Gabra presented various Indian festivals in dance form. Swapnil Garg, Aditya Gupta, Vivek Gururani and Naman Jolly  entertained all by their humorous dance performance. Kids Akshin Gupta, Ahhan Gupta and Shoubit too did a great job on stage on Bollywood dance numbers.
In the end, DJ Shammeem rocked the show such that the audience couldn’t keep themselves away from the dance floor. The main sponsors for the event were JP Infra and Prime Wealth Creators while gold sponsors were Gulf Light Electrical Engineering, Shoprite & Mega Mart Supermarket and support sponsors were Al Maya International, LTC Distribution, Homes r us, Al Muftah Group, Qatari Canadian Trading Contracting Services, Zaffran Café and Golden Ocean Hotel.
 
How is the NIA helping the community connect with each other?
The NIA-Doha is a unique socio-cultural organisation which is promoting Indian culture and community spirit in Qatar and is dedicated to the goal of preserving, promoting and enhancing an understanding of Indian culture and its values among our children and other communities by conducting a number of events and programmes for its members throughout the year. The NIA is known for its vision, dedication of its committee members and volunteers, and unquestionable integrity. The goal is to highlight our Indian tradition and provide more activities of interest for our children and citizens of our community thereby catering to the growing needs of the Indian community of Qatar in cultural, educational and community service areas. Voluntary participation is the hallmark of our association.  We value honesty, integrity, dedication and commitment. Accountability and responsibility are our watchwords and our tradition. Recognising and meeting the cultural and educational needs of our children and the community is our direction.

COLOURS OF DIWALI: For Deepotsava 2016, more than 250 families attended the event held recently in Hotel Radisson Blu.