Sharks to host Celebration of South Asian Heritage at SAP Center on March 23

The **San Jose Sharks** (@SanJoseSharks) will, once again, honor the cultural diversity of the Bay Area on Saturday, March 23 when the organization hosts its annual Celebration of South Asian Heritage at **SAP Center at San Jose** (@SAPCenter). The Sharks will host the Chicago Blackhawks at 7:30 p.m.

Tickets to the Sharks Celebration of South Asian Heritage can be purchased HERE. All fans attending the game will receive a free Sharks-themed Cricket Shirsey upon entering SAP Center.

Festivities begin at 11 a.m. with the UPMA Holi Celebration that will take place outside of SAP Center on Barack Obama Blvd. Activities will include color throwing, celebratory music, guided dancing, food, a special appearance by BigBoss 15 Winner Tejasswi Prakash, and much more.The event is being organized by UPMA (Utter Pradesh Mandal of America), Instant Karma & INDTVUSA (@INDTVUSA). To purchase tickets to the UPMA Holi Celebration, click HERE. Participants in color throwing must change clothes before entering SAP Center for the Sharks game.

Additional activities at the game will include festive dancing and live vocal performances by **Voice of Bay Area** founded by Jagruti Desai Shaw on the North Concourse and **Rungmunch**, a South Asian theatre in the Bay Area founded by Smita and Madhav Karhade, in the Hop Valley Bar located on the concourse above the South Entrance. The national anthem will be performed by local Indian singer **Manasa Gadepalli**, a software engineer at Dell and a classically-trained professional Indian singer from the Bay Area, and dance performances during both intermissions on the ice will be performed by **Gurus of Dance**, a Bollywood dance, drama, and entertainment company based in Milpitas. Free henna tattoo art will be available for all fans on the concourse near the north and south entrances throughout the game.

The Sharks Foundation (@SJSCommunity) will be selling Celebration of South Asian Culture Mystery Pucks at their booth located outside Section 118 and online while supplies last. This will be the last mystery puck sale of the season. For more information on these fundraisers, visit SJSharks.com/MysteryPucks.

Once again, INDTVUSA, a media partner with the Sharks for the Celebration of South Asian Culture, has been instrumental in partnering on all Celebration events, making it one of the biggest Holi celebrations in the Bay Area. Led by **Mr. Charanbir Mahal** (**@mahalcharanbir**) who collaborated with the Sharks on the first Indian Heritage night in 2020, INDTVUSA will provide onsite media coverage throughout the day and evening. Mahal currently hosts the TV show “Sharks Snap Shot” and a weekly radio show “Sharks Hockey Hour,” the first show about the San Jose Sharks to be broadcast in Hindi and on an Indian radio station, Radio Zindagi 1550 AM. Both shows are also available on the Sharks + SAP app presented by Western Digital.  

For more information about the Sharks Celebration of South Asian Culture, checkout the Sharks website at www.sjsharks.com.