Thank you for your overwhelming support of the Epic Play. Over 1200 people attended the event for an evening full of entertainment. Thousands of hours of practice by the cast and crew over 5 months, and dedicated support of 100s of volunteers & sponsors paid off in making this Fund Raising play a success.
A Stunning Tale Of Love And Compassion
By Shashank Jain
Photos by Navin Mediwala
Houston: JVB Preksha Meditation Center presented it 4th mega play Nal & Damyanti on November 13 at the Cullen Performance Hall, University of Houston Main Campus. The play also marked the 1st Annual Day of its new facilities on 14102 Schiller Rd. Houston.
Master of ceremonies and Director/Past President Alok Jain gave a great start to the program by introducing the audience to a new meaning of JVB, as put forth by Samani Akshay Pragya Ji. JVB’s letters also stand for: J - Joy, V - Vision, and B - Balance. JVB as an organization strives to bring joy in your life by helping you to balance your physical, mental, spiritual, and emotional needs in pursuit of your vision. Thereafter, JVB Houston Chairman Swatantra Jain welcomed everyone to the performance, and requested Samanijis to give the program an auspicious start with the recitation of the Naokar Mantra.
Nal & Damyanti is a true tale of Princess Damyanti, daughter of King Bhimrath and Queen Pushpawati of Kundalpur. She chooses King Nal of Ayodhya at her swayamwar, and Ayodhya is filled with happiness, laughter and prayer. However, Nal looses everything including his throne, his material wealth, and even his wife Damyanti in a game of dice to his younger brother Kuber. Damyanti is firm in her stance that she will never live with another man. Thus, Kuber banishes both of them from the kingdom. Both Nal and Damyanti find themselves in the harsh forest, where Nal abandons Damyanti, thinking she would go back to her father’s kingdom. The travesty of fate keeps them apart for 12 years, and Nal turns into a hunchback, as he is bit by a snake. Hereon, continues the story of Nal and Damyanti who later unite, and are told by a monk that all this misfortune was the bearing of past karma.
JVB Preksha Meditation Center, Houston, with the help of this play demonstrated how love, compassion, tolerance and forgiveness can make our lives happy, healthy and harmonious. This was well illustrated by using an epic story of Nal and Damyanti that emphasizes on the teachings of Lord Mahavira.
The epic story of Nal and Damyanti conveys a very powerful message, which is that life is full of surprises, good and bad times. Hardships are difficult to withstand. Question is! How do we choose to deal with them? One way is to question our faith when bad times come, become angry & resentful. Through this not only we add new karmas but also old karmas become strong/powerful not a good way! The other way is to keep faith, stay composed and tranquil, as was observed in the play depicted by Damyanti. This way it makes it easier to endure the hardships for ourselves and the people around us.
The audience was captivated with the stunning visuals, backdrops and sound/light effects throughout the play. The attention to detail and fine production values, beautiful costumes left the audience in awe and was much appreciated. The performances of amateur actors beat all expectations, and were the fruits of over 5 months and thousands of man-hours of volunteer work put in by over 100 volunteers.
In the end, Pramod Bengani, President, JVB Houston, in his vote of thanks called upon JVB Board of Directors - Jugal Malani, Raman Patel & Hasmukh Doshi to felicitate the play producer Nikhil Jain, & directors Hemant Bhavsar & Dilip Kapasi. Each of them was presented with custom mementos of the event. He also thanked Samanijis Akshay Pragyaji & Vinay Pragyaji for their untiring dedication and vision to make this mega event a grand success.
After the play, an appreciation dinner cum reception was held for the cast, crew and their families at Madras Pavilion - Kirby. The cast and crew were appreciated for their stupendous performance, & JVB Chairman, Swatantra Jain distributed individualized appreciation plaques to each of the cast members.
JVB Houston acknowledges & appreciates its advertisers, sponsors, media partners, promoters - Navin Mediwala of ABCD Photography on camera, Anil Kumar of Video Works, Décor 1 for stage decorations, Anjali School of Dance, Madras Pavilion, Apna Energy & voice media partners - Sangeet Radio, Masala Radio & Meena Datt’s Music of India & Ghungroo for providing a great platform to this fundraising event.
The JVB Preksha Meditation center envisions a blissful and peaceful society through Yoga, Preksha Meditation and Education of Non-violence. It is open for all mankind. For more information please visit www.jvbhouston.org or call the center at 281.596.9642.
Upcoming programs include a Free 1 - Day Preksha Meditation Workshop on December 11th, 2010.
Navin 's Public Gallery
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JVB Houston 's Public Gallery
Photocollage
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