First Diwali in White House!

[Guest guest]

WASHINGTON (Oct 27, 2003) - Influential Indian Americans' lobbying

efforts paid off this year when the White House celebrated Diwali

for the first time, with the lighting of a brass lamp and feasting

on traditional Indian snacks.

 

The celebrations took place in the Indian Treaty Room of the

Executive Office Building, an extension of the White House Oval

Office. Seventy members of the Hindu community, invited for the

function, joined President George W Bush's aide and counsellor Karl

Rowe in the celebrations on Friday. Bush was not present because he

was away in Hawaii.

 

Indian American lawyer Neil Patel, who works in Vice President Dick

Cheney's office, was the master of ceremonies.

 

Rowe inaugurated the celebration by lighting a heavy brass lamp. The

Indian Americans chanted the Sanskrit holy verse: "Asato ma sad

gamaya; Tamaso ma jyotir gamaya (Lead us from untruth to truth; Lead

us from darkness to light)."

 

Soft Hindustani music from Prabhakar Daniel's music ensemble of

Maryland provided the background music while Indian snacks like

ladoos, kanchipuram idlis and samosas were provided by the White

House.

 

According to some at the event, the Indian Treaty Room was

transformed into a Hindu venue with goddess Lakshmi and lord Ganesha

presiding over the room. At the ceremony, the Association of Indians

in America distributed commemorative silver coins to everyone

depicting the gods Ganesha and Lakshmi on one side and on the other

side was inscribed "First Diwali At The White House 2003."

 

The 90-minute-long function ended with a kathak recital by Prachi

Dalal.

 

Among the several Indian American leaders who participated in the

event, which was closed to the media, were Piyush Agarwal, Akshay

Desai, Rao Emandi — all from Florida — Gopal Khanna, director of the

Peace Corps, and Ashok Jain.

 

Rowe, a Norwegian American, spoke about the spirit and the story

behind the Diwali festival. He also conveyed the personal greetings

of Bush and read out a message the president had sent to Hindus last

week, greeting them for Diwali.

 

Rowe said it was appropriate that the universal values of Diwali

were being observed in the Indian Treaty Room, which was where the

Bretton Woods pact establishing the International Monetary Fund and

the UN Charter were signed.

 

He added that India and the US had a "special connection" facing

some of the same challenges as democratic nations. The foremost

among them was "radical fundamentalism," without elaborating. Among

those who lobbied persistently for the function was Piyush Agarwal

of the Association of Indians in America, a federation of Indian

groups.

 

Source: The Economic Times, New Delhi, India; "First Diwali in White

House!" by Vasantha Arora. IANS [MONDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2003 05:27:17

AM].

URL:

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/cms.dll/html/uncomp/articleshow?

msid=252440

[Guest guest]

Wow, so cool. Thanks for sharing this, DB. I don't know about the

auspiciousness of the connection to the inception of the IMF, though.

Nonetheless, it's about time.

 

Namaste,

 

pr

 

, "Devi Bhakta"

<devi_bhakta> wrote:

> WASHINGTON (Oct 27, 2003) - Influential Indian Americans' lobbying

> efforts paid off this year when the White House celebrated Diwali

> for the first time, with the lighting of a brass lamp and feasting

> on traditional Indian snacks.

>

> The celebrations took place in the Indian Treaty Room of the

> Executive Office Building, an extension of the White House Oval

> Office. Seventy members of the Hindu community, invited for the

> function, joined President George W Bush's aide and counsellor Karl

> Rowe in the celebrations on Friday. Bush was not present because he

> was away in Hawaii.

>

> Indian American lawyer Neil Patel, who works in Vice President Dick

> Cheney's office, was the master of ceremonies.

>

> Rowe inaugurated the celebration by lighting a heavy brass lamp.

The

> Indian Americans chanted the Sanskrit holy verse: "Asato ma sad

> gamaya; Tamaso ma jyotir gamaya (Lead us from untruth to truth;

Lead

> us from darkness to light)."

>

> Soft Hindustani music from Prabhakar Daniel's music ensemble of

> Maryland provided the background music while Indian snacks like

> ladoos, kanchipuram idlis and samosas were provided by the White

> House.

>

> According to some at the event, the Indian Treaty Room was

> transformed into a Hindu venue with goddess Lakshmi and lord

Ganesha

> presiding over the room. At the ceremony, the Association of

Indians

> in America distributed commemorative silver coins to everyone

> depicting the gods Ganesha and Lakshmi on one side and on the other

> side was inscribed "First Diwali At The White House 2003."

>

> The 90-minute-long function ended with a kathak recital by Prachi

> Dalal.

>

> Among the several Indian American leaders who participated in the

> event, which was closed to the media, were Piyush Agarwal, Akshay

> Desai, Rao Emandi — all from Florida — Gopal Khanna, director of

the

> Peace Corps, and Ashok Jain.

>

> Rowe, a Norwegian American, spoke about the spirit and the story

> behind the Diwali festival. He also conveyed the personal greetings

> of Bush and read out a message the president had sent to Hindus

last

> week, greeting them for Diwali.

>

> Rowe said it was appropriate that the universal values of Diwali

> were being observed in the Indian Treaty Room, which was where the

> Bretton Woods pact establishing the International Monetary Fund and

> the UN Charter were signed.

>

> He added that India and the US had a "special connection" facing

> some of the same challenges as democratic nations. The foremost

> among them was "radical fundamentalism," without elaborating. Among

> those who lobbied persistently for the function was Piyush Agarwal

> of the Association of Indians in America, a federation of Indian

> groups.

>

> Source: The Economic Times, New Delhi, India; "First Diwali in

White

> House!" by Vasantha Arora. IANS [MONDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2003 05:27:17

> AM].

> URL:

> http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/cms.dll/html/uncomp/articleshow?

> msid=252440