The Hindu Temple of Greater Chicago hosts its Semi Annual Fund Raising Dinner

Chicago IL: The Hindu Temple of Greater Chicago popularly known as HTGC in Lemont IL hosted its semi annual fund raising event that included a captivating music concert and a banquet style dinner in the Rathi Auditorium of the temple on Saturday August 18, 2012. This year’s focus of the fund raiser was on two capital projects – kitchen upgrades and installation of an elevator in Ramalaya. The kitchen and the dining hall were last renovated in 2003 and as the number of meals served during weekends and festivals increased several fold, expansion of the kitchen became an absolute must. With increasing number of elderly devotees, the need for an elevator can not be overemphasized. Collecting funds for these projects estimated to be around $240,000 becomes a tall order and this was the theme of the speeches by the temple president Dr. Gopal Srinivasan and finance committee chair Dr. Rohini Udupa. Mr. Bhima Reddy and Mr. Satish Amruthur gave a slide presentation later, detailing the kitchen and the elevator plans.

The event started with a social hour at 6:00 PM as the guests started coming in. Everybody enjoyed the tasty Hors d’oeuvres while relaxing, mixing with their friends. The main program began promptly at 7:00PM with invocation by temple priest Saikrishna Kosuri. The emcees for the evening were Shruti Kumar from Atlanta , Arun Murthy and Lakshmana Mittur who shared the introduction of the artists to the audiences. The artists were brother and sister team of Shweta Ranade and Abhijit Pachegaokar who came from New Jersey and were accompanied by their father, the famous guitarist from Bollywood Mr. Ajit Pachegaokar. The orchestra was provided by Chicago ’s own Hitesh Master of “orchestra SaReGaMa”. Together they treated the music fans of Chicago with some of the best old and recent Bollywood tracks. Shweta started the show with a prayer followed by yester year numbers “Aayiye Meheruba” from “ Howra Bridge ” and “E Dil Mujhe Bata de”. Abhijit also started with old favorites like “Gulabi Ankhen” from Train and “E Chand sa Roshan Chehera” from “ Kashmir ki Kali” which won applause from the fans. Hits from new movies included “Tere Mast Mast Do Nain” from Dabang, “Teri Meri Prem Kahani” from Body Guard, “Sathiya Badmash-E-Dil” from Singham and a host of others. The energy they brought in was unbelievable with more than 3 hours just flying by. When Shweta and Abhijit took a breather, Hitesh Master joined in with some classic numbers satisfying the musical cravings of audiences with matured tastes. Shweta’s rendition of songs were flawless and exquisite whether the original was by Alka Yagnik or Shreya Ghoshal. People danced towards the end for songs “Munni Badnaam” and “Mast Kalandar”. The event that was supposed to end by 10:45 PM went on until 11:45 PM as music fans kept asking for more and more songs.

Guests were treated to a sumptuous and satisfying dinner, thanks to Ms Veena Marwaha who is the chairperson for the temple kitchen. Vote of thanks was proposed by the secretary of the temple Mr. Tilak Marwaha. The funds raised during the event met the expectations set forth.

Photographs and Press release by: Asian Media USA

Suresh Bodiwala
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