IIW Celebrates 74th Indian Independence Day with a patriotic musical evening and Ladies Cricket.
Inspiring Indian women had a double whammy this year for the celebration of 74th Indian Independence Day for the Indian diaspora with two back to back events, ‘Aisa Desh hain mera’ and IIW All Ladies Ambika Trophy Cricket Championship
Ye Desh Hain Mera – A tribute to the Armed Forces, was hosted by none other Brij Kumar, one of the best Hosts in UK and a very strong Entertainer. Raj Rawat joined and assisted who is not only an IT specialist but entertainer as well. They provided a huge amount of support to the Team Fankaar to bring the whole programme together.
The Chief Guests Honourable Mr Virendra Sharma MP (Southall Ealing and Minister) and Mr Manmeet Singh Narang (Minister of Coordination from the High Commission of India in UK), graced the occasion and made this celebration even more joyous!
The programme started with Ananya Sarkaar from ‘Harmoniverse’ fame playing the Guitar with the prayer ‘Raghupati Raghav ‘. Team of Funkaars included Bittu Banger from Paris who sang ‘ Yeh Desh Hain Veer Jawaano ka’, Nabanita Nandy Ghosh from Denmark who sang ‘Bharat humko Jaan se ptaara hain’, the classical duo, just made the whole place rock on their tunes. Our very own, Nilanjana Paul kept the motivational spirit high with her joyful singing, ‘Insaaf kid agar pe’, Couple Shweta Ghube and Sachin Ghube sang Bollywood Classics, ‘Aye mere vatan ke logon’ and ‘Mere Desh ki dharti’ made us hum to the tunes of Bollywood music. Also, Gaurav Chaturvedi, ‘Sandese aate hain’ and Sudhir Kumra’s ‘Mera Karma hain’ melodious voice made the atmosphere exuberant.
Vini Kalia and Manisha Dwivedi Pathak’s (US) added with their sweet voice. Shweta Dhall with her song ‘Teri Mitti’ and Shraddha Khare’s, ‘Mera Des Rangeela’ mesmerised the audience further. Brij Kumar sang the emotional ‘Kar Chale hum fida’, while Mr Gyan Sharma sang the beautiful song, ‘Hai Preet Jahan Ki Reet Sada’.
It was a brilliant coordination and amazing performances by the entire team!
The inaugural address was by Dr Melissa Kapoor and the guests of Honour were Ex-Army personnel Mr Pravin Yadav, Ex Major Manish Bhatnagar, Ex Col Ajay Kotwal and Former Wing Commander Satyam Kushwaha.
The event was attended by representatives of most of the Indian Community organisations based in UK.
IIW acknowledged and honoured each one of these organisations for their fantastic work towards Indian community, those who sacrifice their time and energy at the service of the nation ‘INDIA’ and strive to keep their Motherland alive and empowered with their community work.
Ambika Trophy Cricket Tournament
‘IIW All Ladies Ambika Trophy Cricket Tournament’ which was also held on 74th Indian Independence Day at the Indian Gymkhana Club. It was full of fun, energy, laughter, passion, and some serious tough competition!
Ms Vishakha Yaduvanshi the first Secretary and personal Secretary to the High Commissioner of India (UK), inaugurated the Tournament by first batting and Mr Sutantar Soni, one of the respected Trustee of this prestigious and historic Indian Gymkhana did the first bowling. Cllr Renjit Pendhar Gill and Cllr Bandna Chopra were the Guests of Honour, Special Guests were Shri Satya Minhas (Co-Founder Hindu Council and President Harrow Voice for Hindus) and Ms Laxmi Vyas (President of Hindu Forum in Europe).
The atmosphere was palpating with excitement and energy. The desire to return with the ‘Trophy’ was deeply embedded in each player. Most of the players were Home Makers, who took time out to practice every day, bonded together over practice breaking the monotony of life involved with kids and kitchen. This even more important in U.K due to the lack of desired jobs according to the qualifications.
The Teams –KENT KNOCKERS- Captain Namita Chikmaglur;BLEED BLUE- Captain Priyanka Bhargava ;RISE AND SHINE – Captain Rekha D Cunha ;LOCKDOWN LAGAAN – Captain Rashmi Razdan ;WOMAN WARRIORS- Captain Seema Khandelwal
Woman of the Match – Priyanka Bhargava really pulled it through to get the Championship Gold Trophy for the Team Bleed Blue. Best Batswomen was awarded to Aparna Kapse from Team- Lockdown Lagaan. The Runners Up Trophy went to the underdogs, The Lockdown Lagaan Team, with Rashmi Razdan the Captain of the team taking the trophy with others. KentKnockers the last years champions, paved the way and played very well and supported others in a true game spirit.
Mr Baljinder Singh Rathore and Mr Kunal Razdan were the Commentators of the day keeping the audience entertained and engaged all through the tournament. Umpires, Vishal Sharma, Amit Vig , Sumit Dahiya and Milind Deshmukh did a fantastic job by managing the competitive teams . Vijay Kamdar and Diptiben were the lovely scorers for the Tournament concentrating whole day to keep up with the scorecard.
(Report By Pehrr Ram:winner of Miss Teen Earth United Kingdom and Northern Ireland 2019 including Hair and Beauty Award. She is artistic director for ‘Pehzart’)
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Nice to see rest of such events usually ignored by so called Asian media