The Executive
Committee at Maharashtra Mandal London, celebrated the annual Anand
Mela on Sunday 15th May 2005. Anand Mela could be called a Maharashtrian
Food Festival where you can buy all sorts of Marathi speciality food and
commercial goods from 20 different stalls. Money collected through the
rent of these stalls is used for charitable purposes. This year's Anand
Mela was a great success as around 300 people turned up and made this
event a great success.
All the
members of the Maharashtra Mandal London were informed about the
Anand Mela event about 1 month in advance. All Executive Committee members
started preparations at 11am. This included setting up tables for each
stall. At the same time, some members were busy decorating the stalls
and surrounding area. Each food stall had a name of the dish. Chairs had
been setup in the middle of the hall so that people could sit to enjoy
the food.
A giant slide and a bouncy castle for the young children has been installed
(partly sponsored by Mr V Joshi). Stall owners started setting up their
own
stalls around 2pm as the event was due to start at 3 pm.
By 3.30
- 4pm majority of people had arrived. Mouth watering dishes included Puran Poli, Kheema Pattice, Ragada Pattice, Misal, Panhe, Chilli-chicken,
Chicken curry and paratha, Bhel, Samosa, Batate-wada, Cakes, soft
drinks etc. At the same time some of the commercial stalls were selling
gift articles in glass & ceramic candles, silver jewellery, artificial
jewellery, Indian dresses, Pashmina embroidered shawls, spiritual books,
diamond jewellery, cosmetics etc. Maharashtra Mandal had their own stall
of mouth-watering 'Paan' served by Sameer Shirwadkar dressed up as
a paanwala! The stall was decorated exactly like the one in India. It
was a big success. The event finished by 7.00 pm.
We would
like to thank the stall holders for donating generously and Maharashtra
Mandal members for making this event successful by visiting the Mandal
with their friends and family members.Executive
Committee, Maharashtra Mandal London |
