Newsletter – April 2023
Namaste Friends. A quarter of the year has passed. LOTUS celebrated Holi on March 19th following the regular 3rd Sunday Pooja in Wahiawa. The event was a great success with over 150 people participating in the event. I have to be immensely grateful to the sumptuous food that was cooked by our community volunteers. The menu reflected the diversity of India with Idli, Vadai and Sambar from the South, Puri, Chole from the North including mixed vegetables and vegetable pulav from the Indian heartland and Rosgulla from the East in Bengal. We had abundance of fruit shared by our devotees from Nepal. We hope to upload a bunch of pictures from the event on our website. Please free to share any pictures you may have of the event with us on the website. The camaraderie was palpable and I do hope that we will continue to be successful in bringing our community together for a multitude of events. LOTUS is sponsoring Music Of India event on April 7th at 7 pm. The featured performance will be Kuchipudi dances by Ramya Rao and her two children Kannan Rao and Rupa Rao. For this classical evening we would like the audience to be seated prior to 7 pm so that we many start on time. We hope to finish by 8.40 pm and will have some light snacks and a brief meet and greet with the artists. Entrance registration for the event can be made at the LOTUS website. We would appreciate attendees registering in advance for us to plan seating. We can not accommodate more than 200 people at the event. Many of the regions in India and Nepal celebrate their New Year in April following the Solar calendar and I would like to take this opportunity to wish all of those communities a wonderful New Year Celebration and wishes for a great year to follow. With Warm aloha and best wishes to stay safe and healthy, V. Balaraman President |
| LOTUS UPCOMING EVENTS Music of India – An evening of Kuchipudi Dance interspersed with Carnatic music on April 7th at Mililani Rec Center #3 at 7 PM. See our website for details. Founder’s Day and Volunteer Recognition: We are planning this event in early May and hope all of our supporters and volunteers will be able to join us. Details will be forthcoming. |
| IN MEMORIUM Kamala Sharma, a long time resident of Oahu passed away on March 29th in Atlanta, GA. Many of you may recall her as she supported her husband Prof. Rama Nath Sharma’s spiritual and cultural activities. Please keep their family in your thoughts. |
| Temple Activities – April 16th, 2023 Our monthly pooja will start promptly at noon on the 16th. Prof. Bhawuk will be officiating. This month we will be sharing a community prepared pot luck for lunch. So if you are planning to come do bring a favorite dish. |
| April 2023: April 5 – National Walking Day April 7 – Music of India, Kuchipudi Dance Event: Details at LOTUS Website April 7 – Good Friday April 13 – Solar New Year April 16 – Wahiawa Temple Pooja Day April 16 – Hapalua half-marathon April 19 – Solar Eclipse April 22 – Earth Day |
