XpatLoop.com, 2009. június 24.
IndiaFest, Dürer Garden Budapest, 19 June

It was a great success on Friday, 19th of June in the Dürer-kert, Budapest. It seemed that everything was perfect and in favor of IndiaFest. Whole week the weather was rainy and cold, the sky only opened on Friday and the temperature rose to 30 °C. Looks like Sanjiv did some good Karma.

After a hot afternoon, breeze came in the evening. This was the first time to be organized in open air, in a child friendly venue. We could see more than a dozen children playing and running around. The program also offered a bigger variety than before. People started flocking in as the gates opened at 6:30pm.

You could see Sanjiv welcoming everybody and putting Bindi (Red Dot) on their forehead with Milindee. More than 250 people watched the beautiful film Amal, while the others were enjoying good weather in open air garden which was filled with soothing Hindi Melodies.

There was a bit disruption in the film but at the end everything went well. By the end of film the whole place was full of all kinds of people from age as young as 3 to as old as 70. They were from different backgrounds, mostly Hungarians, Indians, Africans, Arabs, English, Australians, south-Africans, Spanish, Americans etc.

You could see people carrying chairs up to the stairs to watch the movie and bring them back down to stage for rest of the program. There were many Indians and Hungarians in ethnic Indian dresses as Saris and Kurtas. A wonderful yoga presentation by Amrita Yoga mesmerized people. When the Sundari Odissi Dance Group started dancing, it was already full house.

Sandhyadipa Kar and her pupils (Mészáros Adrien's dance troop) presented an amazing Odissi dance. Everybody enjoyed it very much, including H. E. Ranjeat Rea (Indian Ambassador with her 2 aunts, who happen to be visiting Hungary.)Than come the party part - starting with Mantradal concert (HU-India) fusion music with the tempering moods of Vivek Nemane's Tabla.

From midnight till 3 am in morning DJ Milindee made people moves their feet in a real Bollywood party. The atmosphere and the mood of people was great during whole night. We have never seen punks dancing to Bollywood music, and they were the last few to drop out at the end. More than 900 visitors enjoyed this wonderful fun filled cultural evening. This was the biggest Indian Event ever held in Hungary.

Indian food was enjoyed by everybody and finished twice, they had to bring more. Masala Market was very happy to introduce authentic Indian spices to the visitors. Congratulations to the organizers !"

Forrás: XpatLoop.com (www.xpatloop.com), 2009. június 24.