The Janmasthami event over the past weekend was a fantastic event!! We had very good response from you all and we were happy to see you all. We hope this response continues at our future upcoming event – Diwali on October 10th.

The Janmashtami event was graciously sponsored by Kasturi and Ashwin Bhatt. Due to this sponsorship, we were able to subsidize the event even for our non-members. The evening was filled with a variety of entertaining programs like bhajans, fancy dress, interactive Lord Krishna story-telling and quiz, dance performances, Dahi Handi and then the finale with Dhandiya.

We would like to thank all of you and especially the following persons without whom this program would not have been such a success:

• Parents and their kids who participated and made the program a success
• Bhajan singers for their time and efforts in rehearsals which resulted in a great show
• Vinay Pai for coming in from San Antonio and playing the tabla so nicely
• Maya Prabhu for coordinating all the bhajan practices
• Pushpa Desai and Ramkrishna/ Maya Prabhu for bringing the idols, decorations, backdrops, etc
• Pushpa Desai for coordinating the Dhandiya
• Sharda Pai for making the prasad (godha phova)
• Jayant Kabad for providing the dahi handi equipment
• Anushri, Anshul Haldipur and Anasuya Kabad for their wonderful story telling and quiz on Lord Krishna
• All our eager volunteers for helping set up the stage, hall, serving the dinner, cleaning up, etc

If you are interested in getting DVD copies, please contact Shanti Bhatt and/or Chetan Bhat. The cost for the DVDs is $15.

For participating in the upcoming Diwali program, we encourage you to please contact Umesh Baliga and Gaurang Haldipur very soon. This will help us plan the event in advance.

What a evening!! The Summer Bash held over the last weekend was jam packed with a variety of entertainment. We are sure that all of you who attended will agree that our kids and our youth did a fabulous job entertaining us.

Program
Our young MCs Anushri Haldipur, Nikhil Baliga, and Ashwin Prabhu did a great job compering the entire evening.

The evening was kicked off with a Bhajan by Mrs. Meera Lotlikar. After which we had our youngest star Uma Kamath dancing with her brother Rohit. Varun Nayak did a good job of singing a Marathi song - and he doesn't know Marathi! This was followed by a splendid dance performance by Neha Bhat and Ketaki Joshi.

Archana Bhat did a marvellous Carnatic song. Rohit Kamath did a unique presentation of chanting shlokas and playing them on his violin. This was followed by the drama Vailoo Kaloo (Time & Place) performed by Hema Kamath, Deepa Karkal, Chetan Bhat and a budding star - Rohan Bhat. We had a splendid dance performance by sisters Monika and Meghan Rao. This was followed up with a professional stand-up comedy act by Sundy Srinivasan. We had a youthful and energetic dance program by Nikhil Pai, Rita Golikeri, Ashwin Prabhu, Malan Shiralkar, Nikhil Baliga, and Anushri Haldipur.

To keep the audience continuously and musically engaged, there were a mix of songs and karaoke performed by Drs. Ramkrishna and Maya Prabhu, Shanti Bhatt, Madhav and Chaya Ubhayakar, Gaurang and Anita Haldipur, Dr. Prashant Lotlikar, Suresh and Kusum Pai, Gautam and Usha Shiralkar, and Vasant Bhat, peppered with mini-skits by Hema Kamath, Deepa Karkal and Chetan Bhat. Accompaniment as needed was provided by Gaurang Haldipur and Maya Prabhu on the keyboards, Ira Domnitz on the drums, and Umesh Baliga on the electric guitar.

Finally,many thanks to Dr. Prashant Lotlikar for helping set up the HAAS PA system and monitoring the whole program, considering that he was 'on call' the whole evening!

Dinner
All-in-all it was a very nice and enjoyable evening. The dinner was catered by Udipi Cafe. We also tried out an idea proposed by some members and made the left-over food available to all of our members for a nominal cost. This was well received by everyone.

Thanks again!
We would like to thank each and every one of you who helped make this evening such a huge success. Thanks to all the participants and all volunteers who helped setup the stage, musical instruments, audio equipment, stage-backdrop, tables, assisted in serving food and water, and helped in clean-up.

DVD!
We have recorded the entire program and it is available on 3 DVDs for a nominal cost of $15. Of course you can contribute more if you wish to - as it goes to the organization funds and helps pay for expenses. Please contact anyone of the Management Committee members to request your copy.

Thanks so much for making our first HAAS Sandwich Seva such a fantastic success. It was indeed a wonderful feeling to participate in a group service activity and, in our own humble way, make a small contribution to our community. It was particularly heartening to see our Konkani children forming an assembly line to pack the lunch bags and then distribute them at the Homeless Shelter in downtown Houston.

Here is Satish Baliga's comment: I think it went off very smoothly and even the kids enjoyed participating in this event. On our drive back home from downtown, the kids were remarking "we helped so many people today". So, it feels good that they realize the importance of giving back to the community.

Here is Chetan Bhat's comment: The kids enjoyed giving out the sandwiches outside the shelter. The sandwiches went out very quickly. I think the kids have better appreciation for what they have and get vs. some of the unfortunate.

You can see the photos taken at the event at the HAAS website:
http://www.ourhaas. com/24.html

Seva is planned for every other month on the 4th Saturday - and let's encourage our other Amchi families to participate next time. Mark your calendars for Saturday, April 25th for the next Sandwich Seva event to be hosted by Shobha and Vasudev Shenoy. More details will follow in our newsletter and emails.

Thanks for the outstanding support and turnout for this event. It was wonderful to see everyone show up for the puja and we hope this will be a good start for everyone's year of activities.

Our heartfelt thanks to Ramkrishna and Maya Prabhu for sponsoring this event.
Check out the photos in the PICTURES section. PLEASE WAIT FOR VIDEO BELOW

Hope to see you at the next event.

If you have any suggestions or feedback, please feel free to contact the HAAS Management Committee.