The silver jubilee of Bhajanawali was commemorated with a Bhajan Sandhya. It was held on August 19, 2005, at the Sangam Banquet Hall in Mississauga, Canada, and was a huge success. It was also Raksha Bandhan on that day. More than 700 enthusiasts attended.
The event’s highlights were the world-renowned devotional singers Piyoosha and Kailash Anuj from New Delhi.
Despite immigration and ticketing issues, they arrived on August 19th just to captivate the audience. Their innovative approach to bhajans elicited enthusiastic audience engagement, and everyone was captivated.
Piyoosha and Kailash Anuj have appeared on India’s National TV Network, DD Metro, Asia TV Network, Aradhana, Home TV, Asia Music, Zee TV, Sony, India TV, Star Plus, FM Channel, All India Radio, Voice of America, and many other channels.
They had heard of Bhajanawali broadcasts and wanted to help commemorate Bhajanawali’s past achievements.
To cap it all off, Bhajanawali arranged for Sant Shri Deen Dayalu ji Maharaj, one of India’s finest saints, to offer his first ever “Pravachan” outside of India to a non-temple audience.
The event was not only well-organized, but the stage decoration, lighting, and audio equipment were also excellent.
A commemorative and informational magazine (Smarika Patrika) was distributed for free. It provided thirty answers to the most frequently asked Hinduism questions.
During the half-hour intermission, the following personalities were honoured with memorable Bhajanawali plaques.
- Shri Ashok Parihar, the founder-producer of Bhajanawali.
- Late Madan Sharma, his wife Mrs. Sanjog Sharma received the plaque on his behalf for his initial contribution to Bhajanawali.
- Shri Vasu Sharma, President and Treasurer of Bhajanawali
- Shri Vijay Tangri for transporting Bhajanawali programs to the radio station for the last six years.
- Shri Subhash Batra for making the initial contacts with bhajan singers in India.
- Anamika Rajhans for co-hosting Bhajanawali, 1997-2002
- Shri Chaman Lal Jagota, one of the great supporters of Bhajanawali since 1981.
- Mohit Rajhans, in-charge of Bhajanawali’s youth program.
- Shri Jayant Bhai Patel for the largest donation to Bhajanawali.
- Hindu Prarthana Samaj , the only Hindu temple of the Greater Toronto Area offering financial support to Bhajanawali since 1981.
- Goldy Dogra, in-charge of Bhajanawali’s web site and webcasts.
- Shri Vinny Relan for maximum donation for the Bhajan Sandhya and also the sponserer of simultaneous we casts since 1998.
- Shri Raja Sarangi, in- charge of the stage and audio system for the Bhajan sandhya.
- Shri Varinder Arora for donating a large sum for the Bhajan sandhya and for the legal advice.
- Shri Amar Batish, the editor of the commemorative magazine .
- Smt. Bimla Varma in-charge of the publicity.
- Shalini Rajhans, the co-host of Bhajanawali
- Shri Dilip Shroff, in-charge of distributing Bhajan Sandhya flyers.
- Monika Monga (Sangam Banquet Hall), in-charge of Banquet Hall arrangement.
- Dr. Shivendra Bahadur of USA for transcribing the FAQs and As on Hinduism from Bhajanawali broadcasts.
- Shri Vijay Sharma for arranging the videographer and photographer for the Bhajan Sandhya.
- Shri Suresh Jaura of Southasianoutlook.com for continuously publicizing Bhajanawali’s silver jubilee event in his electronic monthly.
- Shri Rakesh Tiwari of Hindi Times for widely publicizing the Bhajan Sandhya in his weekly Hindi journal.
- Shri Bimal Pathak for his Herculean effort of obtaining the visitor’s visas for the singers of India in time.
- Shri and Smt. Kailash and Piyoosha Anuj of New Delhi, the heart and soul of Bhajanawali’s Bhajan Sandhya on Friday August 19.