By NITISH S. RELE - [email protected]

ORLANDO: About 500 people are expected to bid goodbye to 2007 and welcome 2008 at a New Year�s Eve party at Orlando Airport Hotel (Clarion), 3835 McCoy Road. The charity event will benefit G.P. Hospital (Bhandu) Ashram, Santram Mandir, Muni Seva Ashram (Goraj), all in India, and Shree Hindu Mandal Hospital in Tanzania, according to the organizers.

The 8 p.m. to 1 a.m. party Dec. 31 will feature food from Aashirwad Indian Cuisine in Orlando, and pizza and pasta for children. A cash bar will be open all night. Providing music for partygoers to tap along will be ACE DJ.

Cost is $30 per person and free for children 10 years and younger. For information and tickets, call Tino Patel at (407) 579-5050 or Himanshu Bhatt at (407) 929-4311.

TAMPA: The Gujarati Samaj of Tampa Bay also will be participating in a New Year�s Eve party at the India Cultural Center, 5511 Lynn Road. For details, call Dinesh Gandhi at (727) 868-4286 or e-mail [email protected]

You saw them on Zee TV for several months. Now, you can see them live during the Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Challenge 2007 concert Dec. 14 in Coral Springs.

Yes, they will all be there, right from Raja Hassan, Amanat Ali, Mauli Dave, Poonam Yadav, Sumedha Karmak, Mussarat Abbas, Harpreet Deol, Junaid Sheikh and the winner Aneek Dhar.

Tickets are $45, $55, $65, $80, $100 and VIP. The 8 p.m. concert at Coral Springs Center of Arts, 2855 Coral Springs Drive, is presented by Woodlands Cuisine in the Fort Lauderdale area.

For information, call Prasad at (407) 595-3205 or (954) 749-3221 or visit www.saregamapaflorida.com

The Hindu Collective Initiative of North America will hold the second bi-ennial Hindu Dharma Summit 2007 conference Dec. 14-16 at the University of Central Florida in Orlando.

According to the latest census data, there are more than 2.5 million Hindus living in America and they have built more than 700 Hindu temples and organizations. The purpose of this conference is to bring together all Hindu organizations in USA to identify issues of common interest and work towards solving or resolving them. The theme is: The Future of Hindu Dharma in North America.
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	Legend Dev Anand

More than 12,000 people from all over Florida and even neighboring states attended the 20th annual India Festival Oct. 20 in Tampa. The highlight of the daylong festivities was a rocking performance by popular young singer Raghav.

India Festival Chairperson Swapna Shah and the India Festival Committee of the Gujarati Samaj of Tampa Bay organized the successful event, which featured several exciting new attractions in addition to Raghav�s electrifying performance. For the first time, there was a singing competition called Voice of Florida in collaboration with the Pandit Jasraj School of Music. The judges named Saagar Daliya of Fort Myers the winner. His prize was a round-trip ticket to India.
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COLUMN: OUT & ABOUT IN FLORIDA
OUT & ABOUT IN FLORIDA
By NITISH S. RELE - [email protected]

Opening a new store or restaurant? Expanding or relocating? Has your business won an award or a mention in your local newspaper? We want to hear from you as Khaas Baat kicks off yet another new column to meet the rising needs of businesses and our readers. Call Nitish S. Rele at (813) 758-1786 or e-mail us at [email protected]

Find out about restaurant, movies and store openings