Whether it (Deepavali) celebrates return of Lord Rama from vanavas after 14 years or the Pandava’s from exile after 12 years or the killing of Narakasura, the return of SIS Deepavali Celebrations certainly brought joy and excitement to the young and old. Once again, the South Indian Society celebrated in style the festival of lights, in a scale grander than ever before. A change of venue from the previous years not only accommodated the ever increasing member strength of this society but also provided an excellent arena to display the talents of the various individuals that make this society.

If Britain showed its faith in youngsters by handing them the Olympic torch to light the cauldron, SIS displayed theirs by handing the stage to the young ladies – Apoorva Vijay and Sahithya Natrajan – a confident, flawless show by the girls as they acted hosts for the evening. As is customary in any cultural gathering, the event started with a prayer song, this time by the sister-brother duo of Antaraa & Aashray Suryanarayanan; devotional songs on Lord Muruga helped kick start the celebrations. Followed by the prayer was the soothing keyboard note from master Harish Seshadri and the graceful candle light dance by who can only be referred to as ‘little fairies’. After a few rounds of the young ones putting on an entertaining show, it was time for the old guns to fire and a comedy skit from Karthik & team brought laughter to the audience. Kudos to Karthik Raghavan for the brave attempt on playing a lady!

In an otherwise smooth uninterrupted show, raffle ticket sale was a distraction, I thought!!

The all men’s show was followed by an all ladies’ folk dance (Mangamma, Thangamma, Angamma to name a few of them!), a delightful display of the celebrations in our villages back home. It would have been incomplete without a traditional dance performance and a fitting composition by the young duo of, Savitha Sundaresan and Ritu Raj was a treat to the eyes. The highlight of the day was provided by the ladies – Mrs Jayashri Sundaresan, Mrs Meena Raj – enacting the life of Lord Rama in a dance that mesmerised the audience. The refinement and finesse of the traditional compositions had to, eventually, give way to the modern cine versions. A medley in tribute to Ulaga Nayagan Kamal Hasan was performed by Sathish Duraisamy and team. The penultimate performance was from master Keshav Chandrasekar and Sarvesh Kaushik with well-coordinated composition for the song ‘Taxi Taxi’. A challenging round of quiz kept the audience entertained until the end.

We thank all the members and participants for making this event a grand success. A special thanks to the sponsors – State Bank of India, HDFC Home Loan, Tilda - Legendary Rice and Mrs. & Mr. Krishnan.

An entertainment filled evening with all the exuberance typical of an SIS gathering, the 2012 SIS Deepavali Celebrations has lived up to its expectations and has been one of the best shows of the year.

SIS Deepavali - Nov 2012