03 July 2016
Hyderabad

The first of its kind by Indian community and first ever Silicon Valley Bay Area Interfaith Iftaar Dinner 'Dawat-e-Iftar' held on June 29th at Biryaniz Restaurant, Sunnyvale was a huge success, witnessing a packed hall of close to 500 guests including several community leaders and various elected officials from around the Bay Area communities. Organized by Telangana Cultural Association (TCA) and Biryaniz Restaurant the event was an outstanding show of inter-faith and inter-community strength amongst the multi-faith Bay Area Indian communities. Opening the event, Vijay Chawa, Founding chairman of TCA, Bhasker, Chairman, TCA and Chandrakala, President, TCA welcomed the guests for the first Iftaar organized by Telangana Cultural Association (TCA). Mr. Ahsan Khan, program emcee and a Bay Area Muslim community leader, noted that the event is an endorsement of the strong ties between Muslims and Hindus of India, and our centuries old “Ganga Jamni Tahzeeb” – the hallmark of Indian culture that promotes peaceful co-existence and strong bonds amongst various religious communities. “Ramadan is the time of the year we celebrate the bounties of God Almighty and what better way to celebrate than the gift of this blessed community that comes together to break bread”, noted Mr. Khan.

The event featured recitation of verses from the Holy Quran by Mr. Abdul Razzaq and the guests then joined for the evening congregation prayers immediately after the breaking of day-long Ramadan fast. The event also included several fellow Americans from other religious faiths who had joined Muslims in observing the Ramadan fast on that day. Speaking at the event, Mr. Vijay Chawa paid glowing tributes to the Indian tradition of peaceful co-existence and emphasized on the importance of the Iftaar events as a venue to bring together communities of different faiths. “Islam stands for Peace, Hindus stand for peace and together bring peace in the world. He also said ' It’s a perfect union of Issa - Mussa Tehzeeb" of Hyderabad, the thousands of years ok co-living and interfaith belief observed Mr. Chavva amongst huge round of applause from the Iftaar guests.

Mr. Ashan Syed, a community elder and resident of Bay Area for the last 50 years, recalled with nostalgia the strong inter-community ties in Hyderabad during his youth and lauded the organizers for their efforts to imbibe similar cultural ties in the Bay Area through the evening’s Iftaar dinner. Mr. Mohammed Iqbal, Chair of the Minority Wing of Telangana American Telugu Association felicitated Mr. Jayaram Komati, the NRI representative to the State of Andhra Pradesh, with a shawl and bouquet of flowers and promised to make the Dawat-e-Iftaar a regular annual event and organize at an even grander scale given the huge popularity of the maiden event.

Mr. Ro Khanna, candidate for US Congress (CA – District 17), Ms. Savita Vaidyanathan, Vice Mayor, City of Cupertino, Mr. Jose Esteves, Mayor, City of Milpitas, Peter Hsieh, President of NPU, Ajay Bhutoria, and Mohammed Nadeem, Candidate of Santa Clara City Council attended the event and congratulated the community for coming together to celebrate the Ramadan Iftaar. Mr. Khanna promised that if elected he will be strong voice of the community in Washington and will stand up against racial profiling and Islamophobia. Closing the event, Mr. Abdul Quddus Mulla and Mr. Ishaq Syed offered the event’s vote of thanks to Messers. Umakanth, Vinay and Jitendra of Biryaniz Restaurant for the immaculate Iftaar arrangements and arranging sumptuous dinner for all the guests.

Mr Umakanth the owner of Biryaniz has taken special interest to make special food in traditional Hyderabad style, while thanking Telangana Cultural-Assn. He said TCA has really set the bar high to all different communities, by organizing this event! Several guests have said “The organizers did a phenomenal job hosting this event!! The buzz is already out there about people being excited about the next one because of the hard work and fantastic job organizers did. The seed of Unified, harmonious Society is sown and you have created your own legacy for silicon valley people to follow!.

The event is supervised by TCA Exec committee including : Iqbal Gattu, Bhaskar Maddi, Chandrakala Siramdas, Dhanunjeya Redy Boda, Vinoy Mayreddy, Madhavi Reddy and Mahipal Reddy Annam, Abhilash Rangineni and Krishna Gandra while Arshad Khaja Hussain, Uday Jonnala, Buchanna Gajula and Biksham Palabindela supported remotely.