Area students involved with the Youth Chain Reaction Council of Mercer County, are hosting their third annual event, Rangeela: 2004, a celebration of colors, to benefit March of Dimes at High School North, on Saturday, March 13, at 5 p.m. The evening features performances by dancers and singers, and Indian food by the Palace of Asia. Tickets are $35 and $50. For information and reservations call 609-610-1920.
The event, chaired by Ruta Pathak, a junior at High School South, who also plans to chair the event again next year. Other active members include Plainsboro residents Rajvi Shah, Poojitha Regulapati, Vipul Patel, and Rima Kotak. Neha Despande of Monmouth Junction is also on the committee.
The first two events were organized by Rahul Bansal, High School North, Class of 2003. His successful shows, “Vande Materam,” raised over $22,”000 for the March of Dimes.
Penn-Masala, a Hindi a cappella group from Penn State University will perform. Jhankaar Group presents “Tandava,” choreographed by Nisha and Vibha Gulati. Dancers include Keerthi Chandrashekaran, Malini Muralidharan, Nisha Gulati, and Vibha Gulati.
The Prerna Dance School presents “Dholi Taro Dhol Baje” choreographed by Bina Shah. Dancers include Alpa Patel, Jenis Rana, Manali Bhave, Sanchali Kasbekar, Suvarna Mehta, Sonam Dubal, Prapti Shah, Nupur Patel, Ramya Tallapragada, Neha Chakravarti, Vidhi Dalal, Trishna Amin, Sonal Kothari, Ashita Gopal, Shalini Cruwndhi, Amee Patel, Ritika Narwal, and Anika Narwal.
Chain Reaction is the youth group working with the March of Dimes to educate students about preventing birth defects and infant mortality. The event is supported by the Indian American Civic Forum and India Foundation of Metropolitan Princeton.
The event is to celebrate Holi, a festival of colors that honors the natural change of colors from dull to bright with the coming of spring. Holi is celebrated throughout India, where revelers throw water balloons at friends and crowds are drenched with buckets of colored water.
