The festival got off to a rocky start. On Friday, at an inaugural event downtown, Hindu attendees were outraged by an Indian fashion show set to a contemporary version of the Gayatri Mantra. Immediately upon sensing what was happening, Rammohan Cheruvu ran to the show organizer, Anu Srivastav, and choreographer, Anjali Khusro, and demanded that they stop the
proceedings.
"Fashion shows happen everywhere. But the moment they started playing
Gayatri Mantra, I felt so mad," said Cheruvu, who works in IT. "And I
heard people whistling. They liked the girls who were walking on the
ramp."
Cheruvu was joined by another attendee, Anil Kumar, who was concerned that
the show not be repeated at the evening Mayor's Gala, a black tie affair.
Initially, said Kumar, the organizers were adamant that the show would be
repeated.
"I said if that happens, they will burn the building down," said Kumar.
"I'm a moderate, but the fundamentalists will not tolerate it."