AIA New York holds Children’s Diwali festival

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NEW YORK – The AIA New York Chapter celebrated the Seventh Children’s Diwali last month, at Bellerose Library.

Many children and their parents attended the event as well as Shashi Shah, the AIA National President; Gobind Munjal, the AIA NY Chapter President; Vice Presidents Harish Thakkar and Dr. Bal Gilja; Anita Thakkar, the Children’s Diwali in Library Chair; Jyoti Gupta, the cultural co-chair and members Hargovind Gupta and Gunjan Rastogi.

The program started with the singing of the American and Indian National anthems followed by a Ganesh Vandana dance performance by the daughter of Smita Guha, a professor and singer.

Children then enjoyed refreshments along with many activities, including a cultural program, learning about the Indian culture and Diwali festival, applying mehndi, painting diyas and participating in the best-dressed children competition.

Munjal expressed the need to expand the Children’s Diwali program in various other libraries and invited suggestions from the audience as to what kind of improvements they would like to see in these programs.

The AIA NY Chapter also held their annual Diwali festival on Sunday, Oct. 1, at South Street Seaport.