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CHAPTER NEWS
The members of the Canadian Chapter of OSA celebrated the Bisuba Milan on the 15th of May, in the Hillcrest Public Library in Toronto. Approx. 110 people participated in the programme. The function started with an Oriya opening song arranged by Sabita Panigrahi. The children performed a wide variety of songs and other performances in Oriya. Lastly, an Oriya drama was staged, and was directed by Niranjan Mishra of Sudbury. The programme ended with a sumptuous dinner. The one day picnic was held on the 10th of July at the G. Ross Lord Park in Toronto. Over 90 people attended the picnic under a sunny, clear blue sky. The food was prepared right there, under a canopy of trees. Highlights of the picnic include great games of volleyball and a very competitive cricket match. The picnic ended with a dinner. The main event of the chapter was the 3-day cottage picnic at Sandercocks Tourist Resort of Rice Lake, Ontario from the 30th of July to the 2nd of August 2004. Nearly 70 people joined the fun filled picnic and stayed in the 12 cottages rented for the purpose. Though the initial weather was not favourable, our enthusiastic Oriyas did not lose heart. And then, as an answer to our prayers, the weather turned out excellent. It truly celebrated the community spirit with everyone pitching in to help. People enjoyed volley ball tournament, "bohu chori, boating, fishing, going into the water at the beach, a hilarious "pala", the children's “fancy dress” show, Antakshri (the theme related competition was enjoyable with the male team doing very well, much better than anticipated), dumb charades, and finally many enjoyable skits. People made new friends, shared stories and laughter. The delicious food that was served from dahi vadas, chena poda, halwa, upma -sambar to meat and fish curry.
Aug 8, 2004 - We all got together for our Annual picnic on Aug 8th.
All of us had lots of fun. We had clown to entertain our children. We
had lots of games for adults and children . Volleyball, Kabadi,
Three-legged race, Musical chair, waterballon race just to name a few. The
picnic was held in a very scenic park near Ann Arbor, MI.
Aug 15th - MI-OSA participated in India Day Parade to celebrate our
Independance day with all other Indian Organisations of Greater Detroit
Area.
The attendance was approx. 10-12,000 people. MI_OSA had a
booth there to showcase our State and our organisation. We had a
video presentation which was constatly running on the big screen.
Some of our children performed
Odissi Dance in the parade.
Sept 19th - Celebration of Ganesh Puja is scheduled for that day. It
will be held at Lansing, MIchigan .
Nov 6th - Kumar Purnima will be celebrated on that day.
Sachidananda Routray, One of the pioneers of progressive writing in
India passed away at Cuttack on Aug 21,2004.
Acclaimed as one of the pioneers of modern Oriya poetry, he received
Padmashree in 1962, Soviet Land Neheru award in 1965 and Jnanpith award
in 1988.
Sachidananda Routray was father of Chitra Rout of Canton, Michigan.
Our sincere condolences to Rout family.
Ratha Jatra and Picnic:
Orissa Society of Minnesota celebrated Ratha Jatra at Hindu Mandir of Minnesota on June 27, 2004. Dr. Kabi Misra, the renowned cardiologist and speaker on Jagannath Culture was the keynote speaker. The program started at the Hinsu mandir at 10.30 AM with PAHANDI. Balabhadra, Subhadra and Jagannath murtis were brought to the temple podium by the Oriya group. Traditional Puja was performed and bhajan was performed by the young Oriya artist Arpit Panda. Dr. Kabi Misra explained the Ratha Jatra tradition in Puri, Orissa and other parts of the world. About 300 participants enjoyed his talk. Later in the evening he spoke on Bhanja Sahitya. A new Hindu Temple is being built in Minneapolis. Under Dr. S.K.Dash's chairmanship 80 acres of land has been purchased. 40,000 sq. ft. temple will have Jagannath as a major deity. The temple project is expected to be completed by 2005. Bharatnatyam Arangetram performance of Asha Gitanjali Stenquist:
Congratulations to Asha Gitanjali Stenquist for her Arangetram on AUgust 21st, 2004
at St Paul Campus Student Center Auditorium, St. Paul Campus of University of Minnesota. She is the student
of Jocelyn Gorham. Congratulations to proud grandparents, Sudhansu and Indu Misra and
parents,
Mammnu and Brian Stenquist.
Picnic: With a final good bye to winter that took most of the color of our lives for several months, the Oriya community in the tristate area ushered in the long awaited summer by meeting for the annual picnic on May 23, 2004 at Mercer County Park (East) at Princeton NJ. It was a joint effort by both OSANJ and OSANY chapters. Families with friends and relatives started turning into the park close to noon and in an hour or so the park was full of color, vigor and cacophony of children and waiting parents. The volunteers at the reception desk worked vigorously attending to more and more guests (close to 75 families) as the large flyers of the EBC radio program “Utkal Prabha” fluttered gaily in the wind. The barbeque fires lit up after some coaxing and the smell of well marinated chicken wafted in the breeze. Adults were seen making arrangements for kids to participate in fun games that started with musical chairs, went into colorful hoola-hoop competitions and spoon race (like back home in India). To the cheering moms and enthusiastic friends, fathers and sons/daughters tied themselves up literally in knots in the two-legged race. While all this was going on, the park also witnessed some great cricket and volley ball played by the men. The sweet and tangy home-made “chalha”, great chunks of chilled watermelons and lots of water and soda kept the humidity and soaring temperatures at bay. When food was served it was one big respite for hungry stomachs. To the tune of boom boxes playing Ja re bhasi bhasi ja and other great Oriya favorites, there was good quality catered food with loads of dessert and barbeque chicken to fall upon and everyone made sure that they had eaten well. There were plenty of free Ice creams sponsored, by STAR SCHEMAS Inc. (Courtesy Mr. Smruti Biswal). At the end of the day there was Antakshari between the men and women that reminded us fondly of several long forgotten Oriya and Hindi songs. The games and fun came to an appropriate finale with the giving away of prizes for kids and adults. Prizes that were sponsored by AXA ADVISORS (Courtesy Mr. Akhileswar patel) and given away by some very prominent guests of the day-- Mr Amarendra Khatua (Minister at the Office of the Ambassador-at-Large) and the owners of EBC radio, Mr Arvind Agarwal and his wife Ms Alka Agarwal. The park seemed very empty as the volunteers quickly ran around picking up garbage at the end of the day and putting things in order and everyone agreed that it was a day of roaring summer fun and frolic. India Independence Day Parade: Orissa participated in this year's 57th India Independence Day parade in New York city on 15th August. A Beautiful float, Named as “Orissa”, presenting our proud Oriya culture and rich archeological structures rolled in Madison Avenue of New York City along with 27 other floats. Gate of Mukteswar temple was in the front of the float. An 8” feet tall, three dimensional Konark wheel, placed in the middle of the float was the focus of the audience. Konark temple painted nicely in the main wall of the float was the center of attraction. Colorful Odissi dance by kids in front of the konark temple was really eye catching. Float was carrying Indian tri-color and American Flag. A Bigger Orissa map along with India map was painted in the back wall of the float. Cheerful kids, above the float were visible waving to the crowd and to the dignitaries. We were proud to have two Oriya dignitaries (Mr. Pramathesh Rath and Mr. Amarendra Khatua) standing in the dignitary gallery along with Grand Marshal of the parade: A R RAHMAN
1. “Orissa : Temple State”,
Our special thanks to Manas Sahoo, for making and donating 8” konark wheel. Thanks to all our sponsors and volunteers who made this task possible. The unity and coordinated effort of both OSANY and OSANJ made us feel proud in front of the rest of India and in a world forum. Please visit our WEB site (www.osany.org) for pictures, which will be uploaded soon. Thanking you all. Friends of OSANJ/OSANY
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MICHIGAN CHAPTER (Reported by Rina Mahapatra,
President)
MINNESOTA CHAPTER (Reported by Dr
Sitakantha Dash, Member)
A sense of patriotism was visible from the People marched in front of Orissa float with banner “Orissa Society” and Indian Tricolor flag. Following slogans were also visible on both sides of the float :
