Holi Mela 2004

The 7th of march 2004 a grand holi mela was held on at the Sociedad Hindostana hall at Tumba Muerto in Panama. Organized by the Sadhu Vaswani Center, Panama, it was great success and was attended by over 1,000 people of different communities. This was the first time that such a huge mela of this kind was held in the city of Panama, it was the long awaited, fun filled event of the year.

There were a whole lot of magic shows, puppet shows, cultural programs, dramas, dances, fancy, dress competition, antakshari, bingos, and raffles, games, horse rides, go-carts, and much much more offering excitement, entertaiment and recreation for the entire family.

The highlight of the whole event was the variety of food stalls, there were delicious, mouth - watering and finger licking dishes from kitchen all over India and the globe.

From: madrasi - idlis, masala dosas, uttapam,
Oriental Japanese sushi, spring rolls, chow mein

To: chatpati chat, pani puris, papri chat, sewpuri, Bhel puri, surti farsan mart - biryani, khandvi, dhokla, onion bhajiyas.

From: lebanese: falafel, hummuns, fatush, Tabouleh
Fast foods! Frankies, pizzas vada pavs, samosas, empanadas
Punjabi, dhabba, sarson-da-saag, rotis, chole-bhature.

To: cakes & bakes cookies, nankatai, pastries, brownies chewro.

From: ginger masala tea, cold coffee, thadal, jelebis, gulab jamoons,

To: sindhi kulfi piyalo, sheraz, falooda, cotton candy.

Holi as we all know is a very popular festival associated with games, tricks, colors and dance. It is a day of the victory of good over evil and everyone dances around the bonfire and rejoices with good food, sweets and delicacies, in short, Holi is a very happy festival.

So for the first time in Panama, all the different communities like the Gujaratis, Punjabi and Sindhis joined forces in spirit and harmony and participated in this joyous occasion, Another principal purpose of this event was to promote vegetarianism, people realized that there was so much variety in vegetarian food. With a vegetarian diet one can live more healthier and peaceful life.

On the whole, the holi mela was a huge success, and a handsome profit was made from the event. All the proceeds of this occasion will be used in charity for the poor and needy in Panama according to the wishes our beloved master Dada J.P. Vaswani.

" Holier are the hands that help than the lips that pray."

Dada Shyam.