2020 Celebrations of the Center:

Dear Friends: 

Hope all of you are doing fine and keeping yourselves busy. The center organized a Zoom meeting on Thursday, September 3, 2020 at 11:00am. This report is shortened as the meeting was recorded and placed on YouTube by our member Mr. Jyotindra Patel. Thanks Jyotindrabhai. There were two segments in the meeting, viz., a mentalist program followed by a musical program. 

The meeting started with a prayer by Pankajbhai, VP, and Varshaben Parikh, EC member. 

1. (A) Mr. Akshay Laxman:

Mr. Akshay Laxman, a renowned professional mentalist, mesmerized viewers for an hour with his amazing extraordinary tricks and techniques which involved playing cards, unlocking his cell phone, correctly identifying a word chosen by a viewer, showing on his watch the exact time announced by a viewer. WOW was the word uttered by all viewers when the talented mind reader in his finale took out a scroll from a locked box which matched the names of a film hero, heroine, type of a movie, shooting location and a movie name, as announced by individual viewers!

Volunteers participated in the program were Harshad Patel ( Pakaji), Chandrakant Shah, Bharti Desai, Pankaj Parikh, Niranjan Patel and Mukund Mehta who had no previous knowledge as to what questions Mr. Laxman would ask. 

Viewers gave a thumping applause to Mr. Laxman for his astonishing tricks. 

We’re thankful to our member Mr. Bharat Goradia who had arranged the program to entertain seniors. This was the sixth program, a third of all our Thursday programs, that Mr. Goradia brought to our Center. Thanks Bharatbhai. 

(B) Mr. Rishab Sharma:

A virtuoso of the sitar Mr. Rishab Sharma, a disciple of the legendary Bharat Ratna sitarist Pandit Ravi Shankar, kicked off with Lord Ganesh bhajan Jai Ganesh Deva with his emotional expressions. In order to make the session lively and interactive, members were encouraged to name a song and the underlying Raga and winners were awarded Lotto tickets. 

Rishab having a mastery over classical music unleashed a series of famous Bollywood songs, bhajans and shashtriya sangeets on sitar. Many of our music loving members instantly named songs/ragas and won the tickets. Winners included Ashok Gandhi, Avinash Patel, Paranjyotiben Patel, Hemant Pandit, Shobhanaben Aroon Shah, Promodini Mehta, Jagdish Patel, Ushaben Parikh, Dr. Virendra Juthani, Harshad Joshi, Niranjan Patel, among others. 

The talented sitarist Rishab capped the session with Saare Jahaan Se Achha Hindustan Hamara which he played at the Howdy Modi event in Houston. Rishab’s family has been making sitars since four generations and, according to Rishab, his father has made sitars for Pandit Ravi Shankar. Those interested in learning classical music may contact Rishab at 917 445 0868. 

Viewers applauded Rishab’s talent. 

A Vote of Thanks by Mr. Labhubhai Upadhyay. 

2. New Members:

We welcome the following new members:

Mr. & Mrs. Rajesh & Sangeeta Pandya 
Mr. & Mrs. Virendra & Nirupama Gosalia
Mr. & Mrs. Kyushru & Nilofar Hava

3. Contributions:

We’re thankful to the following donors for their generous contributions:

A Well Wisher $100, Ushaben Parikh & Chandrikaben Koya $151, and Khandubhai Patel of Virginia $100.