by Ruchi Vaishnav – September 13, 2017 for www.newsindiatimes.com
It was a busy Tuesday morning on September 11, 2001 when jet fuel spread fear all over the city as terrorists crashed through the Twin Towers and the Pentagon in Washington D.C.
Thousands came together on that fearful day, 16 years later and commemorated the 2,983 lives that were lost in the rubble along with the ones who had survived it and about 4.8 miles away from the horrific sight, where now the 9/11 Memorial stands, in the Kaufman Music Center, Viva Kultura, a Polish group consisting of over 40 artists from 15 countries, performed their hearts out to an audience of 150 in a show called “Discover India.”
The night started off with a Kirtan which after classical dancers from Sankhya Dance Creations in Mumbai performed two different dances which included the dance forms of Bharat Natyam and Khathak and were choreographed by Vaibhav Arekar.The show went on to telling stories from Vedic literature such as the Light of the Bhagavatam; a story about a King named Pariksit who was cursed to die in seven days and found peace in the words of a young sage named Sukhadeva.
The king asked the young sage “what is the duty of a man who is dying” and Sukhadeva narrated the story of his ancestor Bhishma who took a vow of celbesy in order to protect his mother’s words.
The next story was about Usha and Aniruddha, a love story about a princess who falls in love with her dream prince however, her father is against the marriage and imprisons the prince leading to a raging war and a rescue of the prince by a divine arrangement.
The artists then narrated the Ramayana through dance and in between the stories Indradyumna Swami gave the audience his wisdom from the Bhagavat Gita and Padma Lochana Vilas performed the Indian martial art Kalaripayatt with a chakra.
Through “Discover India,” Viva Kultura filled the evening with peace in contrary to the screams which were heard 16 years ago that day.