Independence day celebration

Kids with the Indian flag

Mr. Surendar Talwar, the chief guest lighting the lamp

India was the mother of our race and Sanskrit the mother of Europe's languages. She was the mother of our philosophy, mother through the Arabs, of much of our mathematics, mother through Buddha, of the ideals embodied in Christianity, mother through village communities of self-government and democracy. Mother India is in many ways the mother of us all- Will Durant.

Tricolor balloons at the Independence day celebration

Singers performing the "jugalbandi"

Dancers performing to the title track of Rang de basanti

ISSA members enjoying the delicious snacks from Mantra, Sugarland

To celebrate this spirit of India, the Indian Students and Scholars Association (ISSA) at Baylor College of Medicine (BCM), put together a myriad of cultural events at the Cullen Auditorium in BCM. ISSA is a non-profit organization, initiated by the students, post-doctoral fellows and employees of BCM, in an effort to bring together the Indian community as well as showcase India’s culture to the Medical center at large. Mr. Surender Talwar and his wife, Mrs. Rita Talwar, from the ICC board of directors, graced the occasion as our guests of honor. The event commenced with the chief guests lighting the lamp. A welcome address was given by Priya Narayanan, President of ISSA.A brief video outlining a kaleidoscope of India and all her achievements was put together by Nipun Kakkar, followed by a rendition of the National Anthem in honor of all the martyrs who fought for India’s freedom. 

A “jugalbandhi” of patriotic songs by Dr. Mohan Joshi and Dr. Sashirekha Ramani, with Aditya Kulkarni on the keyboard kick-started the cultural programme. As the songs progressed, members in the auditorium joined with great enthusiasm, singing Vande Mataram. A beautifully choreographed group dance was then performed by Surbhi, Harini Kandadi, Geetali Pradhan and Sucharita Mitra who had the audience clapping their hands and tapping their feet, to tunes from Vande Mataram and the movie, Rang De Basanti. The celebration also marked the welcoming of nine new Indian students to the BCM ISSA family, their home away from home. Mahalakshmi Prabakaran then gave a vibrant dance performance to a Bollywood number from the movie, Aaja Nachle. On this momentous occasion, we also had a brief presentation about Pratham, a non-profit organization at the University of Houston aiming to provide primary education to poor children in India. To get the crowd participating, a game of Bingo was hosted by Deepak Narayanan and Venkat Krishnan. Finally, a vote of thanks was given by Anjana Narayanan, Vice-President of ISSA.

Mantra Restaurant in Sugarland

India Grocers, Hillcroft Avenue

Delicious snacks were kindly sponsored by Mantra restaurant in Sugarland. Other sponsors who made the event a success were India Grocers and Shiv Sagar restaurant, located near Hillcroft Avenue.  

Members of the decoration committee, Ruchi Masand, Pooja Mehta, Sashi Ramani, Rajesh Thippeshappa and Mohan Joshi co-ordinated the beautiful tricolor decorations and set the ambience of the auditorium. The event flowed beautifully, thanks to our host, Priya Sivaramakrishnan, and our RSVP/registration coordinators, Hitisha Zaveri and Sangeeta Mahadevan.