CHAPTER
NEWS
Ohio
Chapter
Birendra Jena,
President
Ratha
Yatra
The
annual Ratha Yatra festival was celebrated at the Shiva Vishnu Temple of
Greater Cleveland on July 13, 2003 followed by Bahuda Yatra on July 20,
2003. The main feature of this year’s celebration was the construction
of a new Ratha. Since the introduction of rathayatra festival in Cleveland
temple, a carriage had been used to take out the Deities and the need for
a Ratha was very badly felt. Therefore
it was decided to construct a new Ratha this year.
The construction project was started late but the Ratha was
completed in time for the festival thanks to the tireless efforts of a
group of dedicated volunteers. We
also gratefully acknowledge the generous financial contributions from the
donors without which the Ratha construction would not have been possible. The Ratha has definitely added grandeur to the Ratha Yatra
festival. At the end of the
celebration, the devotees were served with Mahaprasad prepared by our
ladies on both days.
A
cultural program was organized in the afternoon of the Ratha Yatra day.
The students of Mrs. Sandhyadipa Kar performed Odissi dance during
the cultural program that was held in the afternoon of Ratha Yatra day.
One of her students, Ms. Manisha Kar made her debut as the Odissi
dancer on that day. This
young business executive started taking dance lessons two year’s ago and
appears to have accomplished a lot within a short time.
We wish her success.
Summer
Picnic
This year’s summer picnic was held on August 17,
2003 in Youngstown area. The picnic went well as it did not rain on that
day. We are thankful to Dr.
Basanta and Madhusmita Mohapatra for making excellent arrangements for the
picnic.
Congratulations:
To Devdutt (son of Drs. Hemanta and Sagarika Nayak)
for graduating from St. Ignatius High School, Cleveland, OH. Our best
wishes to Devdutt.
Michigan Chapter
Rina Mahapatra, President
Michigan Chapter is celebrating Kumar Purnima on Oct.18th (saturday). There are
lots of talents in Michigan chapter. It is going to be a wondreful program this year.
NEW JERSEY
CHAPTER
Sujata
Parida, Outgoing President
On
Sept. 6th, approximately 12 to 15 families gathered to celebrate Ganesh
Pooja with a beautiful pooja by a priest from the local temple and
lunch at Akhileswar Patel's home in Woodbridge. Elections afterwards were
held and the following members were selected:
Nageswar
Prusty - President
Jugal
K. Sharma - Vice president
Seshagiri
Kintali - Secretary/Tresurer
Sameer
Mishra - Cultural
Brajendra
Sahu
Basanti
Patel - Social
Sujata
Kintali
Madhavi
Mishra
Sanjukta
Prusty
New
Jersey chapter will celebrate Kumar Purnima on October 18th. Please check
the Announcement Document for details.
South West Chapter
Niranjan Tripathy, President
The Hindu community in the Dallas-Forth Area now have the privilege of
worshiping a formally installed deity of Lord Jagannath at the DFW Hindu
Temple. The Murti Pratistha ceremony, which took place during October
18-20, 2002, was the culmination of a three-year long process of active
cooperation between the temple administration and the local Oriya
community.
This year, the annual Saraswati Puja celebration in DFW took place at
the home of Swati and Sabyasachi Nayak on February 2, 2003
Odissi dance recitals by Padma Bibhushan Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra and
Ileana Citaristi were presented in Houston on March 1, 2003, and at the
Majestic Theater in Dallas on March 8, 2003. The Dallas recital was
sponsored by the Center of Orissa Performing Arts for Americans.
The Oriya community in the Austin area had a picnic in Lake Georgetown
May 18th, 2003.
The 4th Annual Ratha Jatra was celebrated at the DFW Hindu Temple on
July 5th, 2003
The Oriya community in the DFW area had a picnic in Russell Creek Park,
in Plano on August 2nd, 2003.
The DFW Oriya community set up a food stall in the Anand Bazaar
Festival, organized by the India Association of North Texas on August 16.
Profits were distributed to a charitable cause.
Meera Das and Uday Shetty did an Odissi dance recital in Dallas on
August 8th and in Tulas on August 16th . Both recitals were sponsored by the
Center of Orissa Performing Arts for Americans.
Oriya music lovers were treated to memorable mehefils in Dallas (August
15) and in Houston (August 16) by Sikandar Alam's nostalgic songs from the
60s and 70s and his daughter Nazia Sayeed's expert renditions of light and
classical songs, especially Odissi.
The annual Ganesh Puja in Dallas this year was celebrated at the home
Of Sujata and Loknath Patro on August 31, 2003. The Oriya community in
Austin also celebrated it on the same day.
We had an area wide picnic involving overnight stay at the Del Lago Resort in
Lake Conroe on September 13-14, 2003. More than 60 people from areas
such as, Dallas, Houston, Austin, College Station, and Arkansas took part in
the fun and frolic, the highpoints of which were a delectable Pakhala
lunch, a spirited volleyball match, and a late night mehefil.
An Odissi dance recital was presented by Padma Bibhushan Sonal Mansingh
in Austin on September 13 and in College Station on September 14.
Aruna Mohanty performed Odissi dance for a Hindu temple fund raiser in Rogers,
Arkansas on September 20, 2003. She also performed at The University of
Arkansas on September 18 and the DFW Hindu Temple on September 21.
Prafulla Kar and especially his son, Mahaprasad Kar did music programs
which were much appreciated in Houston (September 20) and San Antonio
(September 21).
The DFW Oriya community will celebrate Kumar Purnami at the Community
Unitarian Universalist Church in Plano on October 11, 2003. This occasion
will also mark the publication of a magazine by and for the local Oriya community
members.
Odissi dance accompanied by live music will be presented on October 19,
2003 at the Garland Plaza Theater by a 12-member ensemble from the Orissa
Dance Academy led by Guru Bichitrananda Swain and the ICCR sponsored artists
comprising of Ms.Anita Babu and a four-member orchestra. This recital is
being jointly sponsored by Indian Performing Arts Promotion and Center for
Orissa Performing Arts for Americans.
Members of the OSA-Southwest Chapter of OSA are very excited about the
35th OSA convention coming to Dallas in July 2004. We are in the early
planning stages now, and will keep everyone periodically informed as things
shape up.
Ozark
Chapter
Jeetu
Nanda, President
I am Jeetu Nanda the new president of the Ozark Chapter. Here is
some of the news of the Ozark chapter.
We would like to thank Dr. Radhakant Padhi, for leading our chapter for 2
years with much zeal and enthusiasm. Dr. Padhi has accepted a
position at the esteemed Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore and will
be leaving us soon. We wish him and his wife Aseema the very best
and hope that they will continue to remain an honorary members of the OSA
Ozark Chapter.
As the world population grows, so does the population of OSA and we have
seen some trickling effects of that in the Ozark chapter. Of late we
have discovered a few Oriyas who have been in the Show Me State. New
additions are Mr. and Mrs. Bhakta Das, Mr. and Mrs. Girish Das and a warm
welcome to them.
Washington D.C. Chapter
Alpana
Das, President
Ganesh
Puja was celebrated on September 6, 2003. Smt. Sangeeta Das performed
Odissi dance. Sangeeta is the winner of Junior & Senior Scholarship
from Sangeet Natak Academy, Sringarmani, Mahari & Sankruti Sanmana
awards. She has performed in Konark Dance Festival, Khajuraho Dance
Festival, Puri Beach Festival, Chhanda Festival and many more…She has
also performed in China, North Korea, Bangladesh Nepal, Germany, France
and now first time in North America…
Sangeeta Das also performed at Sally K Ride Elem. school
on September 27, 2003. The organizers of the dance included Munmun
Patnaik, OSA Washington D.C.’s treasurer.
OSA
Washington D.C. chapters Kumar Purnima will be celebrated
on Sunday, October 12th, from 2:00 p.m. till 8:00 p.m. For more
information please contact President
Alpana(Rina) Das (Alpanadas1@msn.com), Vice-President Sangeeta Dey ( sangeetadey@yahoo.com) or Secretary/Treasurer
Munmun Patnaik (bpatnaik0234@cs.com).
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