Celebrate Holi At New Brunswick Library March 30

NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ — The New Brunswick Free Public Library will be celebrating its 10th annual Indian Holi Festival on Saturday, March 30 from 12:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. in the library’s Carl T. Valenti Community Room.

Holi is an exuberant festival of colors usually celebrated in the month of March. Originally called Holika, Holi is meant to be a festival that brings people together. Meeting and greeting friends and relatives and exchanging sweets and gifts are integral parts of Holi.

The celebration will begin at 12:00 p.m. with Mehndi, the Indian henna tattoo that is applied to the hands. This is a temporary tattoo that plays varied roles in Indian culture. After henna is applied and dries off, it leaves an ornate, brownish orange design which will stay on for a few days. From 1:30 to 3:00 p.m., there will be music & dance performances by Rutgers students, Navrang Dance Academy, Tarana Dance Academy (The Musical Souls) and Taalim School of Indian Music in the library’s parking lot.

In addition, a variety of Indian food and delicacies will be provided for sampling. At the end of the program, Holi color play (throwing colored powder) will take place on the library’s front lawn (weather permitting). If you want to participate in color play, please understand that you will be unable reenter the library. Be sure to wear old clothes that you do not mind getting dirty.

Please come and join us for this wonderful, family-friendly community event, which is free and open to the public. The performances will begin after remarks by Mr. Upendra J. Chivukula, Commissioner of New Jersey Board of Public Utility and freeholder Shanti Narra.

From 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. Saint Peter’s University Hospital will be performing blood pressure and blood sugar screening. Their van will be parked on Morris Street next to the Henry Guest House.The food for this program has been generously donated by Bollywood Tadka Restaurant in East Brunswick, Delhi Garden Indian Restaurant in Edison, Masala Bay in Somerset, Punjabi Food Chaat in Somerset, Pooja Restaurant in Somerset, Masala Bar in North Brunswick and Cicis: Beyond Pizza in North Brunswick.

Media sponsors are TV ASIA, and WRSU 88.7 FM Rutgers Radio. Funding provided in part by the Middlesex County Board of Chosen Freeholders through a grant award from the Middlesex County Cultural and Arts Trust Fund. For more information about this event, please contact Kavita Pandey at 732-745-5108 x20 or kavita@lmxac.org or visit www.nbfpl.org.

This program has been organized in conjunction with the Rutgers Indian Graduate Students Association (RIGSA), New Brunswick Cultural Center Inc. Indo-American Festivals Inc., and the South Asian Total Health Initiative (SATHI). RIGSA organizes a number of social gatherings and cultural shows each semester. New Brunswick Cultural Center Inc. mission is to stimulate the cultural development and economic growth of the arts and entertainment in New Brunswick. Indo-American Festivals Inc. commonly known as Dushahra Festivals is a nonprofit organization. SATHI is a program based out of UMDNJ Robert Wood Johnson Medical School for improving the health and well-being of the South Asian community.