The fifth annual Indo-American Fair will be held at Mercer County Park on September 1 and 2. Vendors will be selling arts, handicrafts, costume jewelry, ethnic dresses, contemporary and traditional paintings, and brass works, and food. Cultural programs include regional songs and Bhangra and Ras Garba regional dances. Several area dance schools present students in dances of India. Exotic Indian food from several restaurants will be available.##M:[more]##
“The main focus of the event is to share our Indian heritage, tradition, and culture, with our American friends,” says Rajesh Rai Anand, one of the organizers and a West Windsor resident. “The crux of the fair is to promote the cultural diversity and expand cultural participation of different communities.”
Anand and his wife, Arun Anand, live in West Windsor at the Estates at Princeton Junction. Their adult daughters, Dimple and Priyanka, help them with the website. A third chief trustee living in West Windsor is Yash Paul Soi.
A West Windsor family is performing music with their instructor, Dan Johnson, as one of the first acts on Saturday, September 1. Govinder Padmavijaya was looking for a teacher and discovered Johnson performing at Ganges Restaurant in West Windsor. He spoke to him that evening and has been studying drums with him for more than two years now. He works at New York Life in Manhattan.
His wife, Gayathri Govind, who practices carnatic singing, will perform with them. “It is light classical music,” she says. She also teaches the singing to several women in the area. Govind, who has been in the United States for 13 years, works at Merrill Lynch in data base technology.
The couple, both from the Madras area (southern Indian), met while they were both living in Edison and working for the same consulting company. Since they were raised only four kilometers from each other, they returned to India for their wedding. The family has lived in West Windsor for four years.
Their son, Anirudh, 8, a third grade student at Hawk School, will play the drums at the fair. Their daughter, Sarmishta, 10, a fifth grade student at Millstone River School, studies Indian dance and singing but will not be performing with them at the fair.
“I’ve been to the fair and it is always nice to see items from the south of India, “ says Gayathri Govind. “There is one-stop-shopping and it is good to see people I haven’t seen in awhile.
The event organizer, Shirdi Sai Dham, has presented past events including the Indo-American Fair since 2003, Indian Mela in 2003, Diwali celebrations at Royal Albert Palace, Bollywood concerts, and celebrations of the many Hindu religious festivals.
Other area performers are Prena Dance School of Bina Shah, based in West Windsor; Varsha Rhythms, based in Plainsboro; choreographers Sudha Rajan and Suparna Mahableshwarkar, both from Plainsboro; Prachi with Indo American Fusion from Plainsboro; and Ria Yadav, a young artist and dancer from Plainsboro.
“The Indo-American Fair is aimed at seeking wider participation of South Asian community and our American friends to come and enjoy the different tastes of India,” says Anand.
— Lynn Miller
Indo-American Fair, Shirdi Sai Dham, Mercer County Park, West Windsor, 609-275-1334. www.indoamericanfair.com Fifth annual entertainment and cultural festival features handicrafts, ethnic dresses, fashion wear, henna, costume jewelry, and Indian foods. Free admission and parking. Raindate is Monday, September 3. Saturday and Sunday, September 1 and 2, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.
