Deepavali 2016

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HTS Balvihar Deepavali Celebration Nov 6th 2016 View this email in your browser Students of HTS Balvihar will perform Lakshmi Pooja.   Happy Deepavali, Happy New Year and Affectionate Bhai Dooj wishes to all! We will celebrate Deepavali  for our Balvihar Students this Sunday Nov 6th 10 am - Noon. Please remember that we have Daylight Savings so you have an hour to fall back!    We had a very good Dussera celebration. We take the opportunity to thank  Borkar Family and Kambar Family for taking up the hectic task of volunteering during festival date and doing a fantastic job. Our Balvihar students Gaurangi Singh, Swarna Suresh and Aashna Dhawan presented us with a very good show of Bharatanatyam. Which is a South Indian Classical Dance form.  Balvihar Graduate Yash Deshpande's Trumpet performance was smooth and entertaining. Congratulation to all Balvihar students whose talents were widely appreciated! It filled up the atmosphere with Dance, music and Arts!  We thank Kashalkars for entertaining the kids with wonderful games, there was a lot of laughter coming out from Ganga, Yamuna Rooms!  Mrs. Sunita Dutta shared her Kathak expertise with us and involved our students in understanding the art of dance from the North of India. She was our guest at Balvihar for Arts yet her camaraderie made the kids warm up to her in seconds!  The impromptu presentation by a Balvihar parent Ms. Nandini Sikand who is an Odissi Dance teacher had the students understand the nuances of different movements, expressions and positions of a danseuse. Odissi Nrutya is a classical art dance form from East of India. We are blessed to be surrounded by such brilliance in our midst.  Festival Celebrations in India have always stressed on enjoying arts and music along side prayers and hymns. This year we got a complete experience for the families of HTS Balvihar.  Food committee Pooja Yadav and Simran Singh whipped up yummy Bhel Puri, which Balvihar kids had a good time enjoying, along with mango juice as they watched Animated bits of Sunderkand, Ravan Vadhh, Ravan Dahan and Ram bhajan on our basement TV. Our heartfelt thanks to Ashokji, Lokeshji, Amarji, and Jaideepbhai for painstakingly cleaning up Ravan after the event was done. Volunteering, seva is one such thing. What we see is not even half of how much work goes into a succesful cause.   That brings us to a question : What have you done for others? Two years ago in 2014, The class of Religion 3 brought in some toys to donate for kids in medical care at Lehigh Valley Hospital. This was to teach the students about good karma. When this was announced at the Balvihar Satsangh time, a few more families pitched in. It was not a lot, but it was still something.  By 2015 Holiday season, we had a decent collection of toys and this time some kids had decorated it as well as wrote nice notes. This was part of what they were learning under the Religious discipline book under the topic "Charity". This is our 3rd year doing Diwali to Christmas Toy drive. We request all Balvihar families to bring in one unopened gift to Balvihar. A gift wrapped item with a note that explains who it can be given to, for eg : Girl age 5-8. Please drop it off near the bhagwan area. Since this is the week of Diwali, let us start our charity from home. A few days before Christmas we will take them to the hospital and hope it makes the kids heal faster and add some fun and positivity in their lives during their holiday times.  If you have a Balvihar Student, graduate who has done acts of kindness, started a charity program. Volunteered for a non profit organization or simply inspired some change in society for benefit of others, Please email us at HTSBalvihar@gmail.com. We would like to invite them in month of November to hear from them and hope that our balvihar families can be motivated to help or do some good on their own.  We have 3 dates in Balvihar : The 6th (Diwali Celebrations) 13th and 20th November (regular class) and we would be honored to be informed by such bright young individuals. It is not about how much they contribute, It is about encouraging them to stay the course and think of others.This allows other young minds to spread their wings of creativity and become generous young adults in the future. You will have received sign up genius to contribute for the Diwali celebrations, Most of us have already filled it up - If not, Please go ahead and do your share. Our schedule for Diwali Celebration at Balvihar has : Drawing Hindu Gods and Vedic Symbols - Interactive class.  Arts Diwali Pooja 11 am - 1130 am Kids talk about Social service 1130 - 1145  Food distribution and Fireworks. 11 50 - Noon We invite you all to come and join us in the celebration of Mangalmay Diwali  at HTS Balvihar. Thank you. Namaste. Balvihar Team. HTS Balvihar wishes you and your family An Enlightened and Joyous Deepavali ! Copyright © *|CURRENT_YEAR|* *|LIST:COMPANY|*, All rights reserved. *|IFNOT:ARCHIVE_PAGE|* *|LIST:DESCRIPTION|* Our mailing address is: *|HTML:LIST_ADDRESS_HTML|* *|END:IF|* Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list *|IF:REWARDS|* *|HTML:REWARDS|* *|END:IF|*