Washington: White House celebrated Diwali festival on October 23 for the first time ever, in the Indian Treaty Room. Karl Rove, President George W Bush's Chief Political Advisor, presided over the festivities and lit the symbolic brass lamp inaugurating the festivities.

Nearly 75 selected Indian Americans participated in the festival. The function started with a recitation of the Sanskrit shloka, "Asato ma sadgamaya, Tamaso ma jyotirgamaya (Lead us from untruth to truth, lead us from darkness to light)". The highlight of the function was a musical programme, which featured a tabla performance by Tejas Suresh.

Tejas Suresh, whose parents hail from Bangalore, Karnataka, is a Kaveri Youth member. Tejas is a senior at Eleanor Roosevelt High School and is an honor roll student. He is learning tabla from Daniel Prabhakar of Washington DC area and Rajendra Nakod of Bangalore, India, for the last eight years and has his own recorded CD. Tejas is the son of Suresh Ramachandra and Rohini residing in Maryland, USA.