India Fest 2007 was the biggest ever in the history of Raleigh. On a cold and windy weekend, people from all descend poured into Dorton Arena in Raleigh to view splendid performances from local artists of Raleigh. India Fest attracted more than 6500 viewers, 570 participants and 85 different performances. And one world famous artist from India. It was Saturday evening and the House was full because it was time for Usha Uthup with a live band.

Usha Uthup and her troupe visited all the way from India for a special showcase at India Fest 2007. She mesmerized spectators by her Scintillating and Spicy Songs in English, Hindi, Bangla, Malayalam, Punjabi, Tamil, Gujurati & many other Indian Languages at Grand Finale of India Fest 2007.

NuvYug, the organizers of India Fest, has been organizing India Fest for the past four years. Every year, India Fest has increased attendance at a steady pace. This year's theme of "Scintillating Spices" was well arranged and enjoyed by all visitors. Liz Colt, publisher of Carolina Parent, quoted “It was a lot of fun - performances were great, food delicious and lots of shopping opportunities for music, books, clothes and jewelry”.

Thanks to Dave Horne for excellent photography at India Fest. For High resolution pictures from Dave Horne, Click here

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Nuvyug presented, first ever at this scale in the Triangle area, the grand Antakshari Muqabala at Milan Banquet Hall on May 15th, 2005. This, one of the most popular Indian pastimes, was custom made for our participants. We bent the rules, added new rounds and altogether spiced it up to make the experience an unforgettable one.

A total of sixteen teams registered for the competition and had to go through two preliminary knock out rounds to secure one of the six spots in the grand finale.  The rounds consisted of audio-visual clips, dhun, actor-singer and other exciting movie trivia in addition to the standard Antakshari. An interesting twist was added via dumbsherads and pictionary rounds. Live musicians provided accompaniment. Buzzer rounds ensured a thrilling, nail-biting finish.

The audience was kept involved throughout with continuous audience rounds and prizes. A brief survey after the event indicated that the attendees were more than satisfied with the event, with some comparing it to similar events in the Bay area and others going on to the extent of comparing it to Zee TV Antakshari.

This fun filled, enthusiastic and favourite game of all times, highlights the principle of picking up links and continuing. And Nuvyug hopes and plans to continue bringing many more such events and experiences to Triangle residents.

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Group A: 1st. Vatsal Parikh, 2nd. Shreya Gandhi , and 3rd. Sheel Shah

Group B: 1st. Pavithra Suresh, 2nd. Harish Podukodu, and 3rd. Sandhya Mahadevan

Group C : 1st. Tulsi Patel, 2nd. Siddharth Boddapati, and 3rd. Preetha Suresh

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The first India Fest: Your Gateway to India was held at J.S. Dorton Arena, State Fairgrounds, Raleigh on Saturday, September 27th. It was a phenomenal success. It attracted 4,000 people to an all day celebration of multi-religious, multi-lingual and diverse Indian cultural arts.

Visitors enjoyed an array of scintillating dance and music from various regions of India which continued all day. The afternoon was capped by a breathtaking sequence of dance by various groups including a variety of Indian classical and folk dance forms such as Bharatnatyam, Kuchipudi, Kathak, Bhangra, and Dandia. The Alaap group started the evening with melodious songs from the 60's and 70's to 90's. Kalashri Supriya Desai and her graduate students presented the grand finale show consisting of Bharatnatyam and Kuchipudi classical dance styles and ended with a beautiful modern folk dance.

The festival also consisted of a dozen traditional crafts vendors who provided a variety of clothing, home decor, and jewelry items in bazaar style. Highlights of the bazaar were the 22K gold and diamond jewelry show by Zaveri jewelers of Atlanta and a wide array of books and audio/video selection presented by Nataraj book store of Virginia.

The well appointed cultural cuisine area was represented by top four Indian restaurants of the Triangle area. Visitors enjoyed delicious vegetarian and chicken delicacies.

Nuv Yug thanks everyone for support in making India Fest: Your Gateway to India a truly magnificent event. We thank our sponsors for their generous contributions, our vendors for enthusiastic participation, and our volunteer team for their dedication and tenacity in taking care of all aspects of the show. We also thank Raleigh's Mayor Charles Meeker and Councilwoman Janet Cowel for attending the festival and addressing the audience.

Click here to see pictures

India Fest has been funded in part by City of Raleigh based on the recommendations of Raleigh Arts Commission.

Bhangra Dhamaka
5 p.m. Saturday, April 19, 2003
The first Bhangra Dhamaka has been a tremendous success. Around 300 children, youth and adults participated in a scintillating contest. Well coordinated upbeat Bhangra dance and music, breathtaking costumes and props with attention to detail, and above all uplifting spirit of dancers kept the audience spell bound. Nuv Yug's president, Ujjwal Srivastava, said "all contestants are winners tonight."
Bhangra Dhamaka The Ultimate Blowout has become the largest ticketed South Asian Cultural event in the Triangle area.

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