Kewal Kanda

SMAP, Shivaji Maharaj Antrarashtriya Parivar founded by Vijay Patil celebrated the 350th Anniversary of the Coronation of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj in Los Angeles, CA. The 3-day Celebration begun on Friday June 21st, with a three-hour SMAP Networking Cruise in Long Beach Harbor with 200 people in attendance, Various guests including Hanmantrao Gaikwad, Founder of BVG, based in Maharashtra, India, Charudatta Aphale Renowned Kirtankar, Sattie Persaud, Ramesh Lokre successful businessman from Kanasa City, Aditya Satsangi from San Diego of Sattology TV attended it followed by a entertainment program.

On June 22nd, SMAP Leadership Summit was held at Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts. The Program begun with a Video Conference session by honorable Govind Dev Giri Swami Ji, the Treasurer of the Ram Mandir Ayodhya.

He spoke about Shivaji Maharaj, how he personally felt that Shivaji Maharaj combined the principles of Lord Rama and Lord Krishna. From a very young age, Shivaji Maharaj united people and provided strong leadership to protect the rights of the local citizens to bring liberty, equality and justice for all and emphasized the need to learn from his leadership. Ruhi aka Rohini Hak introduced Rasha Goel, 3x Emmi Nominated emcee for the event. There were various Panel Discussions on the Core Values of SMAP – “Unite, Lead. Serve”. Some of the Panelist were Dr. Pradeep Shukla (an associate professor at Chapman University), Sattie Persaud (from Forbes non-profit counsel), Dr. Ashish Pande (Professor from IIT Mumbai), Dr. Kamaljeet J (Sunny) Anand (Professor from Stanford University), Brian Mac Mahon (Entrepreneur), Ganesh Ramkrishnan (Professor from IIT Mumbai), Scott Fox (Entrepreneur), Charudutta Aphale Buwa (8th generation Kirtankar), Dr Rohini Joshi (Founder of NeuroSquare), and Dr. Nitin Shah (accomplished physician and world-renowned social worker). The panel sessions were followed by Mr. Ashish Pandya, Art of Living Foundation and Miss World America, Shree Saini who made history by being the First Indian American to win the Miss World America contest in their 71 years of history. Entertainment program by various talented local performers and the Gulzaarish Group kept the crowds on their toes.

The Chief Guest of the Evening was Sambhajiraje Chhatrapati, the 13th Descendent of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. He came especially for this event from India and in a very emotional moment said he will cherish this moment forever.

He spoke about the life, the values, and the legacy of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, his achievements and contributions towards preserving the Values of Sanatan Dharma, his Respect for Women and his citizens, also sharing some information of the various forts under him.

He also spoke of his own work in India and the restoration of the Raigad Fort, one of the largest and strongest in the world, currently undergoing restoration. H R Gaikwad of BVG Group spoke of his life story and shared details of one of his companies doing research in the medical field and has saved countless patients during Covid as well as introducing tablets to cure/fight Cancer, and issues of the heart, kidney, blood circulation and many other health problems.

Sunday June 23rd was the Grand Celebration Day, with various activities at the Don Knabe Regional Park, Cerritos, CA. Various activities including but not limited to the celebration of International Day of Yoga, T10 Cricket coaching and tournament, Health and Wellness Resource Fair, Unity Parade, Liver Theater (Play) on the life of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, Dance dramas and inspirational programs by various groups.

International celebrity, Miss India, Simran Ahuja was the emcee of the third day. In addition to the various dignitaries named above, the former Chief Minister of Gujarat, Shree Vijay Rupani was in attendance. Officers from US/India Defense Forces were honored. Among the ones who were honored was the real-life hero, Deep Sengar, travelled from Seattle to join our event.

The organizing committee comprised of 82 members, 60 volunteers, 50 supporting organizations, and over 300 performers who hosted the 3-day event of this magnitude. Some of the core committee members included Vijay Patil, SMAP Founder and Global President, Ashok Madan, the Current President of SMAP LA, Avadhesh Agrawal, Jaywant Nitturkar, Gajendra Savant, Hema Rachmale as key sponsors and Vilas Jadhav, Aparna Hande, Ishwar Deedwania, Vasu Pawar, Kewal Kanda, Hasmukh Modi, Major Gurjeet Singh, Kamlesh Chouhan, Vikas Srivastav, Ramesh Thalli, Arun Dutt, Sudhir Pisal, Dr Rohini Joshi, Anil Parekh, as committee chairs and many others as committee members.  Additionally, over 60 SMAP leaders and executives from various SMAP chapters Kansas City (Vinit Chopade), Sri Lanka (Meenal Renavikar), Gujarat (Sunil Patil), Dallas (Chhaya Gayee and Manish Kapoor), Richmond (Vinod Suryawanshi), Phoenix (Ratnavali Patne, Rupesh Chavan and 20 others), Mountain House, CA (Mandar Bhone), Stamford (Vikas Kolte), Vijay Gayee (Omaha, NE) were in attendance. Hope blit Foundation was a collaborator, Los Angeles Country Parks and Recreation was a partner organization. LAFTA by Pradnya Kuwadekar, Naadbramha. Manisha Sathe’s Dance School, Innovation Academy of Sonali Bhave, Dr Sinduri’s Savithri Arts Academy, GIVE, IASA and other support organizations. Over 500 members did a wonderful job in making this event a historic grand celebration successful. Information about SMAP could be found on https://smapfoundation.org/