Florida News
TAMPA BAY IN FOR A TREAT SEPT. 17 WITH 2 MUSICAL EVENTS
Legendary sitar maestro Shujaat Khan will present a musical evening Sept. 17 in Tampa. He will be accompanied by Dibyarka Chatterjee and Shankhachur Lahiri on the tabla. Organized by Shruti Foundation and Swaralaya, the concert will be from 4 to 6:30 p.m. at USF School of Music Theatre, 3755 USF Holly Drive. Tickets are $25 general and $100 VIP; children ages 12 and under $15. Visit www.shrutischoolofmusic.com to buy tickets or call (813) 549-9288.
After the concert, attendees can head over to the Straz Center for the Performing Arts for more musical entertainment at 7:30, for the Burman Legacy Concert, a tribute to music directors R.D. and his father S.D. Burman. Presented by Kaakimaas Box Creations and Funndu, singers include Jolly Mukherjee, Shrikant Narayan, Nirupama Dey, Priyanka and P. Ganesh. Joining the festivities also will be the Sodha Brothers, trumpet player Kishore and saxophone player Raj, who worked closely with R.D. Burman for about two decades.
The Burman concert will be held in the Ferguson Hall, Straz Center for the Performing Arts, 1010 N. MacInnes Place. Tickets start at $25. Part of the proceeds will go to ICC seniors and Gujarati Samaj of Tampa Bay seniors. For information, call Dr. Meena Jain at (727) 480-6597.
‘MEERA - THE SOUL DIVINE’ FUNDRAISER SEPT. 24 IN TAMPA
“Meera - The Soul Divine,” a dance production choreographed and directed by Padma Shri Chitra Visweswaran with music composed by Academy Award nominated vocalist/music composer “Bombay” Jayashri Ramnath, will take the stage Sept. 24 in Tampa.
The musical dance drama depicts the story of the devotional poet-saint Meera from a spiritual journey rather than historical. Born a princess, into the lap of luxury, Meera renounced it all, to follow a spiritual quest and thereby, came to be hailed by all posterity, as one of the greatest saint poetesses of Bharatvarsha (India). She was a woman of deep conviction, was defiant of the blind strictures of societal norms and had unshakeable faith in Lord Krishna.
The program benefits AIM for Seva (All India Movement for Seva), which is dedicated to providing quality education for rural and tribal children in India. Last year, the Tampa Bay area raised money to support 35 children annually and organizers look to double donations at the Sept. 24 event, which will begin at 4 p.m. at India Cultural Center, 5511 Lynn Road.
For information, call Veena at (813) 716-8483, Kala at (732) 485-3410 or visit aimforsevausa-public.sharepoint.com
‘BATHUKAMMA’ (FLORAL FESTIVAL) TO BE CELEBRATED OCT. 8 IN TAMPA
‘Bathukamma’ (floral festival), celebrated for all nine days during Durga Navratri, will be held Oct. 8 in Tampa. On the moonless night of Mahalaya Amavasya, ladies gather to make flower arrangements. Very specific flowers, with exceptional medicinal qualities as prescribed in Ayurveda and other ancient health manuals like Charaka Samhita, are picked and meticulously arranged on large plates made of wood or bamboo frames. The main flowers used are ‘Gunugu’, ‘Thangedu’, ‘Banthi’ or marigolds, ‘Chaamanthi’ or chrysanthemums, ‘Taamara’ or the lotus, ‘Gummadi’ or pumpkin flowers, ‘Dosakaya Puvvu’, ‘Gaddi Puvvu’ and ‘Vaama Puvvu’. The flowers are arranged in layers with a wide base to make large pyramids or floral mountains.
Organized by Telangana Association of Florida, Tampa Bay, and Telugu Association of Florida, Tampa Bay, ‘Bathukamma’ will be held from 9:30 a.m. at Lettuce Lake Park, 6920 E. Fletcher Ave., Tampa. For information, call Chandu Talla at (813) 476-9508 or Dr. Neeraja Jasthi at (813) 789-4976.
YOGATHAN HELD IN TAMPA
On Aug. 20, 16 cities in America and 50 cities across the world participated in the 5th annual Yogathon, Tampa Bay was one of them. About 40 people from The Art of Living Tampa team took part and completed the challenge to do 108 sun salutations at Lotus Pond Center for Yoga and Health. The Yogathon was a charity fundraiser to create awareness for Care for Children, a program that provides education and educational infrastructure for kids in India. The Art of Living Foundation is a non-profit, educational and humanitarian organization founded in 1981 by the world-renowned humanitarian and spiritual teacher Sri Sri Ravi Shankar. The Tampa group is active in the community and has organized many such events in the past.
Visit www.artofliving.org/us-en/tampa
ONLINE REGISTRATION BEGINS FOR POLK SCHOLASTIC CHESS
Polk Scholastic Chess is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization (supported by the Polk County School Board) offering an exciting extracurricular activity open to all students of Polk County enrolled in pre-kindergarten through 12th grade, including home-schooled students. PSC has been committed for more than 27 years to encouraging academic growth through the game of chess.
Every year, around 600 kids participate in the tournaments from the entire Polk County, pre-kindergarten to 12th grade, making it the largest scholastic chess tournament in Florida.
The dates for the tournaments are below and online registration for this season has started: Oct. 8, 2016, Dec. 3, 2016, Jan. 14, 2017, Feb. 4, 2017 and March 11, 2017.
For more details and to register, visit www.polkscholasticchess.com or email Malay Shah at [email protected]
