SaraswatiPuja

	*India Society of Worcester*
	SaraswatiPuja

ISW Language and Cultural School sponsored Saraswati Puja
~by Carolyn Passey - Member-at-large ISW Executive Committee

Each year, the India Society of Worcester Language and Cultural School sponsors a special puja to honor Sarasvati, the Hindu goddess of Knowledge. This year it was held on Sunday, February 10, 2008, at the India Center in Shrewsbury. Although the weather presented some problems initially, the puja was well attended by many of the school students, their families and guests.

The program began with the students offering their school workbooks to goddess Sarasvati. This was followed by Mrs. Usha Verma and her helpers Naveena and Harini Shanmugam performing puja. Mrs. Verma did an excellent job of explaining each step in detail so the students could understand the meaning as they worshipped.

Once the puja was completed, the program continued with bhajans sung by the students both as a school group and individually, Bharatnatayam dance performances, and instrumental selections. Students from the music schools of Mrs. Neelima Chaturvedi and Mrs. Bhuvana Ganesh also performed musical selections. The announcers for the program were Divya Aggarwal and Priya Misra and the musical accompanist was Mr. Ishwar Patel on the dholak. The school students have been learning their bhajans since September under the direction of Mrs. Chaturvedi who is also the music teacher for the ISW School.

As the program ended, each of the students performed aarti and received prashad provided by the parents and teachers. The students also received a statue of goddess Sarasvati to bring home. We are grateful for all the parents who encouraged their children to participate in this program and appreciate their continued support of the school and it’s activities.