Looking Forward

Laxmi Narayan Bhuyan

Dear Friends,

Thank you for electing us as the OSA office bearers for the years of 2003 to 2005. It is a great honor and privilege for us to serve the society. We are determined to carry out the goals that we have set out in our position statements during the election. We will communicate our progress regularly through newsletters and post them in the OSA web page at http://www.orissasociety.org/. We would like to reach out to the community at large to reflect the spirit of caring, healing, and personal touch embodied within our Oriya culture. We request you to visit the web page frequently and give us your feedback.

We plan to carry out a number of activities during our tenure. Some of the highlights include introducing more awards to recognize various contributions of OSA members, acknowledging senior Oriyas who are founding members of OSA, helping Oriya students reach higher education, dealing with emergency and welfare activities, promoting cultural activities, and coordinating various Orissa development projects through OSA. We are starting an annual OSA Symposium on Orissa Development in Bhubaneswar beginning December 2003, where many OSA members will present their current development projects. This symposium will also include panels and working sessions to plan future development activities in Orissa. We expect a large number of participants from North America and a high level of participation by Orissa government in this symposium.

Friends, however sympathetic and obliged we may feel to our motherland, let us not forget that we have become victims of our own decision to live in this country. As Oriyas living in North America, we need to do a lot for our own lives and our children’s lives. There will be times when our children will feel more lonely because they will not have the pleasure of flying back home to be among their relatives. Our annual OSA conventions are designed to provide that homely feeling and atmosphere within this country. We encourage you to attend these conventions with your children, as frequently as you can, so that they are given the chance to learn about our culture and Oriya hospitality. They will soon come to realize that we are their family who can and will help them in their time of need.

The Oriya society is still young compared to most other societies of Indian origin. At this time we have only 1000 OSA members even though we believe that there are about 5000 people from our state. If you are not yet a member of OSA, we appeal to you to become a member by sending the application form, available at http://www.orissasociety.org/members/mform.html, together with the membership fee. Due to the fact that OSA is a charitable organization, your membership fee is tax deductible. By becoming a life member/patron/benefactor you will receive printed versions of our newsletter, an annual OSA souvenir, and a new directory every year after the convention. In the future you will never have to pay the membership fee again while attending an OSA convention. More importantly, you will stay connected, and will be able to take active part in future OSA elections and various activities. The life membership fee is normally $300.00, but we have announced a sale for $200.00 until December 31, 2003. We invite you to take advantage of this one-time sale now.

In order to carry out various activities of OSA we have formed a coordination committee. The contact information for the Executive committee members and Coordinators for various OSA activities is given in the next page followed by an initial plan of their work. The coordinators are free to recruit volunteers as needed. We encourage you to get in touch with them, give your ideas, and contribute to those committees. We very much appreciate your trust in us, and look forward to receiving your continued support and valuable advice during the next two years.

Thank you.

Laxmi Narayan Bhuyan (President)

Nivedita Mohanty (Vice President)

Hari Arjun Patro (Secretary/Treasurer)

OSA OFFICERS AND COMMITTEES 2003-2005

Executive Committee:
President: Laxmi Narayan Bhuyan (CA) lbhuyan@hotmail.com 909-789-9890
Vice President: Nivedita Mohanty (VA), niveditamohanty2002@yahoo.com
Secretary/Treasurer: Hari Arjun Patro(TX), hpatro@flash.net 972-517-8992
Editors: Bigyani Das (MD), bigyanidas@yahoo.com 301-498-3729 and Sura Rath (LA), suraprath@yahoo.com 318-797-7841

Past President: Nick Patnaik (NY) nickpatn@yahoo.com 212-799-2122

Chapter Presidents:

New England: Budhinath Padhy: padhy23@charter.net 508-393-9362,

New York: Joy Gopal Mohanty: jgmohanty@yahoo.com 610-461-8757,

New Jersey: Sujata Parida: supari21@yahoo.com 908-541-9946,

Maryland/Virginia: Lipishree Nayak: lipishree@aol.com 301-306-1995

Washington: Alpana Das: sdas@gmu.edu 703-591-5099

Southern: Prabhir Dash: pdash@home.com 615-790-4099

Ohio: Birendra Jena: jena-1@worldnet.att.net 330-494-2618

Ozark: Nigam Rath: nigam_rath@umsl.edu 314-542-9808

Michigan: Anjali Misra: amisra1986@aol.com 810-733-8219

Minnesota: Sudipta Tripathy sudiptatripathy@yahoo.com 952-445-7989

Southwest: Niranjan Tripathy: tripathy@unt.edu 940-382-7305 Southeast: Raj Mishra: rajmishraus@yahoo.com 910-799-8587

Chicago: Meenakhi Panigrahy: mpujari@core.com 708-985-5767

Canada: Maloy Bisoi: maloybisoi@yahoo.com 647-284-1132

Coordination Committees:
(1) OSA Planning and Constitution: Sitikantha Dash (MN), dash@uaslabs.com, 952-931-9400 and Amiya Mohanty (KY), amoh@iclub.org 859-623-7146

(2) Membership Drive: Prasanna Panda (CA), panda_pk@hotmail.com, (949) 859-4044 and Pratap Dash (MD), pdash@hns.com 301 987-8962

(3) Educational Activities: Sukant Mohapatra (NJ), skmohapatra@ieee.org 732-332-0235 and Rabi Mahapatra (TX) rabi@cs.tamu.edu 979-694-1060

(4) Women's issues: Annapurna Pandey (CA), pandey@cats.ucsc.edu 831-427-1232 and Lipishree Nayak (MD), lipishree@aol.com 301-216-2254

(5) Welfare and Emergencies: Namita Das (PA) namitadas@yahoo.com, 814-237-6362 and Nivedita Mohanty niveditamohanty2002@yahoo.com

(6) Orissa Development: Devi Misra (AL), dmisra@bellsouth.net 256-883-5499 and Gopal Mohapatra (TX), gkm@aiol.com 281-807-6787

(7) Art and Culture: Pratap Das pdas@bop.gov 301-972-8059, Sri Gopal Mohanty mohanty@mcmaster.ca 905-648-0203, and Purna Patnaik (CA), purna.c.patnaik@saic.com 760-436-8277

(8) OSA Seminar and Awards: Niranjan Mishra (ONT), nmishra@personainternet.com 705-522-3909 and Birendra Jena (OH), birendrajena@hotmail.com 330-494-2618

(9) Youth Activities: Likun Mishra (GA), likunmishra@hotmail.com 404-321-7818

(10) Electronics e-mail, web, etc.: Joy Gopal Mohanty (PA), jgmohanty@yahoo.com, 610-461-8757 and Sanjay Sahoo, sanjay_sahoo@hotmail.com, 240-631-0859

The new executive committee members invite comments/suggestions from OSA members for the betterment of the institution. However, to address the issues effectively we would like to have any opinion to reach to us by October 30, 2003. We would prefer to have a single long mail instead of frequent short mails. All the issues will be addressed in the December issue of the newsletter.

PROPOSED PLAN OF WORK BY DIFFERENT COMMITTEES

(Please give your feedback/suggestions directly to the committee coordinators)

From the Newsletter Editors (Bigyani Das and Sura Rath):

According to the present constitution guidelines The Editor is responsible to:

(1) Publish the OSA Newsletter at the end of each quarter. We have set up the calendar as:

August 15th: Welcome to the OSA members by the Executive committee/ members with convention highlights and plans for the coming year (Articles due by July 20th)

September 15 (Additions to August Issue): Articles due by August 22 /Modifications August 31/Publication by September 7/Mailing by September 15

December 30: Articles Due by December 5/Modifications December 15/publication by December

22/mailing by December 30

March 15: Articles Due by February 20/Modifications March 1/publication by March 7/mailing by March 15

June 15: Articles Due by May 21/Modifications May 31/Publication by June 7/Mailing by June 15

(2) He/she is also responsible for the contents of the newsletter. We will go through the initial contents by individual authors and if we have questions, we will contact them before publishing any item.

(3) Each Newsletter (except the August issue) shall include, among other items, a) the President’ note: 1/2 page (approx.); b) the Secretary’s note: 1/2 page (approx.); c) local chapter activities: 1 page (approx.); d) non-political Orissa news and other Oriya news 1 page (approx.); e) a section on the youth and women 1 page (approx.).

[We plan to distribute OSA newsletters only electronically. What is your suggestion? Please contact the editorial team Dr Bigyani Das and Dr Sura Rath by October 30, 2003 with your opinion on this plan. Thanks. If you would like to volunteer for newsletter distribution, we would like to hear from you.]

(1) OSA Planning and Constitution (Sitikantha Dash and Amiya Mohanty):

Constitution and Planning Committee invites suggestions and comments from OSA members if any amendments to OSA constitution have to be made. Please send your comments by November 30, 2003. We have already received some suggestions from our OSA members. These suggestions along with yours will be reviewed and recommended to OSA Executive Committee to review and recommend amendments to OSA constitution if necessary. With due process, which involves the approval of general body, amendments to OSA constitution if any, will be made. Some of the suggestions are:

1. Change the position of Vice-President to President Elect. The President Elect will become President when Presidents term

expires to ensure continuity between terms.

2. Management of OSA convention by OSA officials along with host chapter.

3. OSA Finance and management.

4. Establishment of standing committees to maintain the continuity of OSA functions.

5. Membership Dues.

(2) Membership Drive (Pratap Dash and P.K. Panda):

Here is the tentative plan of action for membership drive:

1. We shall contact each current life member through personal emails and phone calls requesting them to become patrons/benefactors.

2. Help will be taken from the presidents of Local OSA Chapters in convincing members in their local chapter who are not OSA life members yet to become a life member before Dec'2003 to take advantage of the lower membership fee.

3. A team of volunteers from the current OSA members will be formed to actively pursue the membership drive in different areas like California, Seattle, Canada, New York, New Jersey, Washington DC, Chicago, Ohio, Dallas/Huston, Atlanta.

4. During May 1st - June 30th, reminders will be sent to the current annual members to renew the annual membership and also at the same time we shall encourage them to become life members.

5. The newcomers will be allowed to register in OSA website even though they do not want to become member immediately. As we shall have their contact information in our database, we can contact them and encourage them to become a member.

(3) Plan on OSA Educational Activities (Sukant Mohapatra and Rabi Mahapatra):

Communication, Recognition and Funding Resource:

· Facilitate consolidation of volunteering efforts in OSA website, enabling effective communication between different organization/individuals and optimal resource utilization to aid educational activities.

· Recognition of individual and groups for their contribution and explicit achievement (e.g., funding a chair position in an Orissa University, training, infrastructure development activities) for educational development of Orissa, via OSA web, news letters etc.

· Coordinate and provide information on funding sources to apply for scholarship (i.e. www.ffe.org) and activate fund raising, specifically for educational development in Orissa.

Primary Education

· Encourage and facilitate OSA members to adapt a primary school in their village/city or area of their own choosing and facilitate development activities with long-term impact.

· Setup some process/activities for encouragement/awareness/competitiveness in the filed of science and arts among primary school students.

Higher Education

· Maintain database on OSA website regarding scope of higher education and scholarships in USA & Canada, interested faculty contacts, and student contact list in various universities.

· Inform the faculty of Orissa about the collaborative research/travel program through OSA faculty members abroad.

· Assist with resources for standard tests (GRE, GMAT & TOEFL). Collection and distribution books, journals, and CDs for libraries in educational institute/universities in Orissa.

· Develop mechanism to help technical institutions to avail information on technology trends and how to benefit out of it.

· Coordinate OSA members visit to institutions in Orissa for seminars and short courses in various disciplines in institutes/universities.

(4) Women’s Issues (Lipi Nayak and Annapurna Pandey):

Women have been an integral part of the success and achievements enjoyed by the Oriya community in America and in pursuing our dreams in all spheres of life. We find ourselves playing a greater and bigger role in shaping our future as well as that of the next generation. This journey however has not been easy. In today's world more than ever as demands to fulfill and perform multiple roles and responsibilities rise, we find we are left with problems of our own to grapple with.

Some of the issues facing us now are as follow:

1. Adjustment in a new culture

2. Marital conflict

3. Lack of preparedness for challenges in life

4. Lack of support

5. Raising a family in a foreign land

6. Balancing multiple roles

7. Lack of satisfaction within ourselves

8. Underachievement

9. Domestic violence

10. Discrimination

As the list grows, we find ourselves needing support and solutions to deal with them more than ever. At this time we invite our fellow sisters to read this and respond to us by sharing their thoughts, concerns, ideas, and advice as they deem fit. We shall review and send a reply. We are hoping to make a discussion forum at our website for providing support to one another. This will increase our awareness of our problems and help us learn to cope with them as well. We are looking for your participation. THANK YOU!

(5) Welfare and Emergency (Namita Das and Nivedita Mohanty):

This is an initial proposal and we welcome any new ideas/advice. The main objectives of welfare and emergencies are to:

1. Set up a "SUPPORT GROUP".

We would like to have this support group to help Oriyas in USA & CANADA. More than financially, we are willing to lend ears, listen, and support and help as needed. For example; whenever an Oriya comes to this country he/she can contact somebody from this support group volunteer for help. O.S.A is like our extended family, so let us help our oriya bhai/bhauni to succeed in their dream.

2. Set up a SUNSHINE FUNDING GROUP for emergencies:

The Sunshine fund will be used to help an Oriya in a dire financial need. Each case will be reviewed by the executive committee with support from the local chapter to provide possible support. One can contribute to this fund, which is tax deductible. We know that many oriyas are doing charitable work individually; it would be nice if it can be under the umbrella of OSA. The fund will be managed by the respectable organizers. We will keep all the information on the web. We would like to hear from anyone who is willing to help us to build this support group.

1. Annual Convention has been the main forum to display Orissa's cultural heritage. OSA should strengthen its efforts to promote Odissa's culture at this forum by encouraging a higher degree of participation related to Orissa's art and culture and recognizing the quality of presentation. Some suggestions are: (i) to allot exclusive stage time for this purpose, (ii) to organize a poster session and/or game-quiz session for youths and children on topics related to Orissa, (iii) to give awards similar to Subrina Biswal Award by IAFF and (iv) to regularize the Oriya poetry reading session and Oriya Section in the Journal.

2. OSA should encourage and support any activity to promote Orissa's art and culture by any other group, organization, and individuals in whatever manner it can best do. For last 20 years, performing artists from Orissa have been brought almost exclusively by Center for World Music in San Diego. Two international festivals on Odissi have been sponsored by IPAP, Washington DC. OSA should keep close working relationship with such organizations. It may be in the form of co-sponsorship or partnership and it may be a simple recognition and appreciation.

3. A list of Odissi schools, dancers, organiztions promoting Oriya culture in North America should be published at the OSA web site and annually in the OSA sovenior issue. OSA should thus provide resources for someone looking to learn dance and music of Orissa.

The Awards and Seminars Committee plans to establish guidelines for presentation (including judging) of awards through the OSA and organizing and conducting Seminars during the Conventions.

The following are the preliminary thoughts. With input from interested individuals and past recipients, judges and convention organizers, we will be able to prepare a plan of action for these.

(c) Establishing new OSA awards to recognize outstanding service made by individuals/ groups for Humanitarian Service, Entrepreneurship, and Contribution to Oriya Arts and Culture etc, and to name the awards to commemorate illustrious personalities in Orissa.

(d) Establish awards to recognize Youth and Children involvement in promotion/ presentation of Oriya art and culture in the OSA Conventions as well as for free-lance contribution, humanitarian service (locally and/ globally), and outstanding academic contribution etc.

A priority list will be prepared with flexibility to changes as time and situation warrant.

Recommendations will be made to make the seminars viable (financially)as well as manageable within the time frame of the Conventions.

The Awards and Seminars Committee welcomes input, and suggestions from interested individuals.

-Encourage Service and Participation at national conventions – Provide incentives for youth to work registration booth, NGO booths, MC functions, and other service work at OSA conventions. This not only instills more knowledge within youth about Orissan culture and arts, but also encourages service work and volunteering, promoting good will within our community.

-Organize a diversified collection of youth events at OSA convention (“Youth day”) – This should be a conglomeration of various activities that would be carried out in a “youth day” which will be an elected day during convention. Following are some proposed activities:

· Career/networking seminars with a panel consisting of successful Oriyas that have worked in various capacities within the U.S., e.g. Corporate CEO, medical doctor, attorney etc.

Newsletter/Website:

-Careers/Networking Message Board (this is tentative based on demand and expected level of traffic to this webpage)
-Matrimonials – Allow single Oriyas within the United States or abroad to publish their profile for matrimonial matches.
-Career or job ads
-Continue Youth Profile for Newsletter – select one youth member from a different career background every quarter to interview and publish in the newsletter.

Volunteering/Outreach Program in India

Select one youth member every year to work/volunteer in Orissa (ie rural villages) for a 1-3 month assignment. Individual will have airline ticket paid and stipend during visit. Look at collecting money to support this endeavor by means of sponsorships (e.g. Thrive, or another NGO).*

*This is a tentative plan and can only be executed if funding is available.