MELTING POTS

Chunauti academy to honour martyrs
The Chunauti Cultural academy will be honouring the police officers and army personnel who laid down their lives in the recent terror attacks in Mumbai,on March 4.Speaking more about the event Ratnaprabha Katariya,president of the academy says,“The proceeds of cultural programme will go for the benefit of the families of the police officers who died last November in the terror attacks. The programme will take place at Yeshwantrao Chavan Cultural Hall and will include a variety of shows pertain to music,dance,flute rendition,and plays.” Those who will be present for the occasion include Mohan Dhariya,former union minister,Harshvardhan Patil,cultural minister,Rajlakshmi Bhosale,mayor,Ankush Kakde,president MHADA and others.

Mahashivratri celebrated
4 The festival of Mahashivratri was celebrated at the Shree Hari Hara Bhajana Samajam temple in Rastapeth in two parts the first part beginning on February 23 from 4.30 am in the morning till 11.00 pm wherein the mahanyasa ekadasani rudraabhishekam along with 11 different types of abhishek was performed. In the second part,which began late night at 11.30 and went on till the wee hours of the next day the Laghunyasa Abhishekam,the different poojas and archanas were held.

4 The Shri Sai Baba Palkhi Solha Samiti celebrated the festival of Mahashivratri at the Shri Sai Baba Palkhi Bhavan in Kasba Pune. Speaking about the event Mandar Shahane executive president of the Samiti says,“The Mahashivratri Pooja that was done at the Bhavan was special because we had 11 women perform the maha-abhishek pooja for Lord Shiva. The maha-abhishek and aarti was done by women.”

He added,“Close to two to three thousand faithful devotees had gathered at the venue for the pooja.”

Artistes honoured
The Bharat Mitra Mandal recently honoured 31 senior stage artistes at the hands of Satish Desai and Ankush Kakde. The event was held in collaboration with the Akhil Bhartiya Marathi Natya Parishad at the Ramanbaug High School. The event saw behind the stage technicians along with the stage actors being felicitated for their work. Upendra Bhat who is a student of pandit Bhimsen Joshi performed a classical music programme entitled Santavani for the occasion.

In good faith
The St Thomas Malankara Catholic Church,blessed and inaugurated recently for the Malankara Catholic Community saw a huge gathering of Malankara Catholics assemble at the church for the blessing ceremony. Speaking about the occasion Major Archbishop His Beatitude Moran Mor Baselios Cleemis Catholicos says,“In today’s times of unrest the world over,we as human beings need to pray even more than ever before for peace and understanding.” The church is the first one in Pimpri-Chinchwad area. Another fact is that it is believed that the church has been founded by St Thomas at Malinkara in Kerela,where he first landed. The church now has various affiliated churches all over the nation with one of the branches being here in Pune.