BIJHAR, a Singapore registered cultural society, comprising mainly of persons with links to Bihar and Jharkhand, celebrated
"BIJHAR Holi Milan 2010" at East Coast Park on Saturday 27FebrAuary10 with the usual fun and frolic.

Photographs at
http://picasaweb.google.com/bijhar.singapore/HoliMilan1002

Members and guests started trickling in at a leisurely pace giving the
BIJHAR reception team enough time to liberally soak their faces with gulal
of different colours. The Madrasi face of BIJHAR, N Mohan arrived with a
bucketful of crispy vadas which were consumed in no time. The snacks,
sweets, thandai and the typical Holi dry fruits were also tasted by one and all.

Shortly, a tug of war game, directed by BIJHAR Secretary Manoj Rai, between
Bihar and Jharkhand teams was in full swing. This was played in 3
categories - men, women and children. In all the categories, Bihar was the
winner. Sprints were also held for the men and the children.

It was now time for the children to play the wet Holi with pichkaris and
children seemed to like it the most.

After a round of Holi songs and dance, the lunch was anounced. As in the
past BIJHAR ladies had brought a variety of dishes such as pulao, puri,
malpua, dahivada, kathal ki sabji, chhole, matar paneer etc. which everyone
ate to their hearts content.

Post-lunch session was a potpourri of music, dance, shero-shayari, laughter
show and dumb charade.
BIJHAR "jodis kamaal ki" (a catch phrase coined by Saurabh Sinha which
worked wonders throughout the preparation phase),  showed their impromptu
dancing skills to the tune of vintage Holi numbers such as "Meri ghaghare
mein ghunghroo lagai de, main hori tab kheloon", "Aaj biraj mein hori re
rasiya", "Are hori khele raghuveera awadh ma, hori khele raghuveera" on the
beats of dholak and manjira. The newly weds "Abhishek-Aditi",
"Abhishek-Tarana" and not so newly weds like "JP-Anima", "Sanjay-Sushma"
stood out.
Manoj Rai has really mastered the art of hosting dumb chardes. His
selection of movies, Babul, Kaminey, Mr. and Mrs. Ayer etc.  were tricky
even for the veterans.

The Holi songs was followed by introduction of the new members in which
Shri U N Singh, originally from Ara, and a resident of Singapore since 1954
had many interesting points to share in fluent English, Hindi and Bhojpuri.

The inimitable and ever ebullient Abdhesh Prasad entertained the audience
with a variety of poetry and jokes. Some excerpts (wives, don't mind, it's
Holi):

Ek vivaha samaroh mein
hamne dekha ek achambha,
dulhan mukhri ke saman thigni,
dulaha amitabh se bhi lamba,
hamne, dulhe se poocha,
kya bhai, ek baat bataogey,
itni thgni kad ki biwi se  kaise kaam chalaogey,
woh bola, aap kavi hai na,
kaviyoki akal bilkul hi kacchi hoti hai,
musibat jitni hi chhoti hoti hai,
utni hi acchi  hoti hai.

Meri biwi, kisi bhi kaam mei, taang nahi adati,
raat ko chahe do baj jai, mere bagair khana nahi khati,
mere dost ne kaha, bade khush naseeb ho bhai,
jo itni pativrata patni pai,
hamne kaha, tujhe kiya maloom,
biwiiyon se kaise nibhana padta hai,
raat ka khana, to hame hi banana padta hai.

Here is the list of winners:

Star Parivaar-Leena, Sudhin and Dhruvi Bhobe
Jodi Kamaal Ki-Leena & Sudhin Bhobe
Adults Race-Sudhin Bhobe, JP Jaiswal, Saurabh Sinha
Young Kids Race-Dhruvi Bhobe, Ananya Singh, Atiksh Singh
Senior Kids Race-Aryamaan, Shreya
Potluck-Sushma Thakur (Matar Paneer), Arunima (Pua), Abhilasha(Chhole)
Most colourful face-Aditi
Lucky draw: DN Pathak, Sanjay Agrawal, Harsh Modi

Hats off to Saurabh Sinha, who almost singlehandedly managed the planning
and execution of the entire event. Prakash H, Manoj R, KK, Chanchal,
Nishant, Abdhesh, Sanjay T, Abhishek S also played signficant roles in
showcasing BIJHAR Holi Milan 2010 with so much success.

Here is what some of the participants had to say:

"The pleasure was all ours and I think everyone enjoyed the Holi spirit and
the cameraderie all around. May there be many such occasions." !
Dr. Anuradha Singh

"It's always fun being with Bijahris and celebrating the festival together.
Yesterday's event was another feather in the cap to many such successful
events in past. We thoroughly enjoyed and sincere thanks to the organizing
commitee who made it possible to give us an opportunity to celebrate such a
colourful Holi at Singapore again."
Anima Jaiswal

"Actually we owe a thanks to Bijhar for making us a part of the
celebrations and in the process making this year's Holi so memorable.
Without doubt, this was the most inclusive community event that we have
attended here."
Arjya  Chattoraj

"Thank you for a great HOLI function. It was really very well organised
with the events  slowly steaming through the  Rangeen colours of Holi and
racing
to the tug of wars, dance and then lunch There was such a  mind boggling
array of food for which we have to thank the ladies of Bijhar. The spread
was bigger than a 5 star hotel and there were choice Bihari dishes.
The post lunch session also was excellent, very entertaining and great fun
too and I really enjoyed the introductions of new members and couples with
song and dance.A BIG THANK YOU for such a wonderful organisation, it was
stupendous, marvelous, fantabulous."
 N.Mohan

"Thanx for the invite. Neena, my children and I very much enjoyed the
celebrations. We thank you and BIJHAR for the same."
 Nikesh Sinha

"Thanks for hosting such a nice program. Really enjoyed a lot all of us.I
really love the program called Jodi kamal ki which I wish to carry in our
Bhojpuri Singapore Holi program."
Shivkumar Rai

"Thanks Saurabh. Though we came late and stayed for a short time, we had a
great time. The food was fantastic and atmosphere was great. Incidentally,
I have lived most of my life (and have also been a student) at the JNU
campus in Delhi, which has a huge student population from Bihar and the
holi on the JNU campus is probably the best organized in Delhi. Your
get-together today brought back splendid memories of holi that I have
enjoyed for many years with the JNU friends esp with my classmates in JNU
who were from Samastipur, Ranchi and Patna.
If I happen to be in Singapore during next holi, I will make it a point to
attend this event again."
Cheers !
Princy

In addition, Shri NK Singh, senior ex bureaucrat of "Not By Reason Alone"
fame, and a well wisher of Bijhar, has also sent us this message from India
on the occasion:"

Dear Saurabh,
Thank you for your invitation for the BiJhar Holi Milan in Singapore on the
27th February, 2010.  I am glad that the Bijhar Group continues to be
active.
With good  wishes for its continued success.
With Best Wishes,
NK SINGH