Ambassador Sandeep Chakraborty, wife Taruna Chakraborty graced the event as guests of honor

Councilmember Paul Vallone joined with wife Anna Marie Vallone

NEW YORK CITY (TIP): The Indian Panorama, the leading Indian American English weekly newspaper on the East Coast hosted a lunch to celebrate the Indian festival of colors-Holi, on March 4 at Zaika Restaurant located on 44^th Street between 2^nd and 3^rd Avenue, New York City.

The guests were received in a traditional Holi style with a tilak (mark) of gulal (color) on the forehead.

Speaking on the occasion, Ambassador Sandeep Chakraborty described Holi as one of the most popular festivals of India, next to Diwali. In a lighter vein he observed that while in India celebration of festivals like Holi and Diwali is a matter of half a day or a day, in USA, a celebration span is days together.

Councilmember Paul Vallone offered to have the festival of Holi celebrated in his district. He praised the Indian American community for their contribution to America in a number of ways. He said there was a large presence of Indian American community in his district and he loved to meet with them.

Air India Regional Manager Vandana Sharma promptly offered Air India’s sponsorship for such an event. She also spoke of Air India as the airline of Indians and exhorted the Indian American community to patronize Air India which she claimed offered the best services comparable with any airline.

Prof. Indrajit S Saluja, editor/ publisher of The Indian Panorama,  who hosted the event extended a word of welcome and proposed toast to the festival of Holi, the guests present, particularly to the two month old Aleesha Ananya Steele, niece to Vandana Sharma, Ashishpal Saluja, Prof. Saluja’s eldest son who turned forty, to Resham Sharma, his foster sister, and to Zaika and its partners Mandeep Oberoi, Mohan Ahluwalia, Ramanuj and Pooja Patel.

The event was graced by Ambassador Sandeep Chakraborty, Consul General of India, and wife Dr. Taruna Chakraborty as guests of honor. Councilmember Paul Vallone, who represents 19th District of the New York City Council, which incidentally, has a large presence of Indian Americans, attended with wife Anna Marie Vallone.

Present on the occasion were guests from all walks of life. They included officials from Indian Consulate, Permanent Mission of India, various government of India enterprises, including Air India and banks, officials of various organizations, physicians and surgeons, professionals from IT and finance industry, businessmen and businesswomen, film makers, artists, and journalists.

Ms Vandana Sharma, Regional Manager, Air India, with her sister, brother in law and nieces, Consuls from the Consulate- Mr. Devadasan Nair with his spouse, Mr. L. Krishnamurthy with his spouse, Mr. Vipul Kumar Mesariya with his spouse, and Mr.  Devi Prasad Misra; Counsellar Anjani Kumar from Permanent Mission of India; and Mr. Sunil Sharma, Chief Executive of Bank of India, with his wife graced the occasion.

Dr. Ajay Lodha who was present with his physician wife, is a past President of Association of American Physicians of Indian Origin (AAPI) International. Dr. Jagdish Gupta who attended with his physician wife is currently President of AAPI-QLI, Gunjan Rastogi, President of the oldest association of Indians on Long Island– IALI– was present with her spouse. Also present was Mr. Andy Mansukhani, President of Nargis Dutt Memorial Cancer Foundation. Dr. Satyajit Bhattacharya, a Molecular Geneticist and Cancer Research Scientist and    Founder, President & CEO of Harlem Children Society, Brooklyn, New York attended.

Dr. VK Raju, a world-renowned ophthalmologist and Chairman of the Eye Foundation of America who came all the way from Morgantown, WV attended with his physician daughter Leela Raju. Dr. Raju has only recently signed a MOU with Andhra Pradesh State to set up a Children’s Eye Hospital in Amaravati.

A well-known educationist and promoter of Indian culture through her institutions Shikshayatan Cultural Center and Sriniketan Foundation, Purnima Desai graced the occasion.

Neeta Bhasin, well known in the community for Diwali at Times Square was present.

Anu Jain, a finance consultant,  painter and community activist, attended the event, as did Mr. Dave Makkar and his daughter Prachi Makkar.

Harjit (Harry) Panaser, a lobbyist, attended with wife Dr. Manjeet and two daughters Ajooni Kaur and Alicia Kaur.  Also present were Tejbir Singh and his wife.

Malini Shah, a diamond merchant , a political and social activist, and a passionate promoter of Indian Classical Art forms who works closely with Councilmember Paul Vallone; Mr. Harpreet Singh Toor, a Sikh community leader and community liaison to Assemblyman David Weprin; and Mr. Jarnail Singh Gilzian, a Sikh Community leader and a businessman, were also present.

Prominent Film maker Tirlok Malik attended with his wife, as did TV anchor Ashok Vyas with his spouse.

Ace photographer Jay Mandal; Mr. Davinderpal Singh and Jaya Sharma from PTC TV, Sandra Peddie from NEWSDAY, Bidisha Roy from The Indian Panorama with her banker and painter spouse Krish Sengupta, The Indian Panorama photographer Nisha, journalist Anjali Sharma and photo journalist Gloria Kins also attended.

Ashok Vyas who is a writer and a poet, besides being a TV anchor recited a couple of couplets from his compositions, much to the delight of the gathering.

Also present were Mrs. and Mr. Jack Pohani with their daughter Anika and son Aman.

Guests were full of praise for the ambience of Zaika. The food and service received the appreciation of all.