|
|
January 2004 Special
January is the first month of the year. This year we have
created a flower garland with four Odia poems on New Year
Reflections (Nababarsara Anuchinta). The flowers in the garland are:
The thread in the garland is the article on "Establishing Oriya Identity"
by Mrs Swapnalata Mishra, Michigan. I hope you enjoy our New Year 2004
special columns.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Bigyani Das, Columbia, MD
The Thread - EsTABLISHING Oriya Identity
Kumara Purnami in Michigan - Swapnalata Mishra "Mommy , when is the next kumar purnima?"- asked both of my daughters right after we watched the MI-OSA Kumar Purnima celebration video on the next day
of the celebration.
"Next year", I replied. "Why can't it be every month, full moon comes every month", questioned my younger one. I asked her, "Why do you want kumar purnima every month ?"
She immediately replied, "So I can dance with my friends. We can have fun every weekend ."Without giving me a chance to tell her any thing her matured ten-year old sister replied ,"You just have to wait ! ." Not only this year, but also every year Odia moms of young children like me in Michigan have to go through same experience after kumar purnima celebration. We parents feel relaxed and want to move forward with our pending weekend works. Children miss all the fun they were having during practice time. They want it back ! I remember when I was growing up, for me kumar purnima means "nua jaamaa", "chaunra mula chanda puja", fun with friends in the moonlitt night and the thrill and sensation in the whole town for upcoming Laxmi Puja (famous festival of Dhenkanal). Now after living here in a different atmosphere with a different social system for a long time, I could feel the same spirit and thrill in the air here two months before the kumar purnima, only because of MI-OSA's kumar purnima celebration as its annual function. I am glad, we are getting an opportunity to share the thrill and pleasure that we had in our childhood during this time of the year, with our children giving them some wonderful experience to save in their memory bank.
My involvement with OSA, MI chapter's kumar purnima celebration started only from 1999 and is comparatively new than the few Oriya families who are living here for more than 30 years. God bless those initiators who decided to celebrate the tradition as the OSA-MI annual function sometime in late 80s. Since there is no record it is hard for everybody to remember who proposed or took the first initiative, but the old-timers still remember how much fun they were having in this yearly gathering .It was always a much awaited event. The motto was worry free fun, so food was always being catered. So that ladies do not have to work. In early 90's by the effort of a few people (with an artistic heart) like late Dr. Kalyani Mishra, Mr. Shirish Mishra, Mrs. Puspa Nayak and Mr. Amit Chakraborty, the celebration became colorful with the addition of a cultural program to the function. Mostly children were participating in dance and music. All Odia families (about 20 ) were getting together to have fun in the following Saturday of kumar purnima untill 1995. Michigan Oriyas missed the celebration of Kumar Purnima for 3 years. In the mean time many children had left home for colleges. Many new Oriya families with young children came to live in Michigan. Mrs Anjali Mishra accepted the responsibility as the president of OSA-MiI in 1999. She tried to revive the cultural flow again with her own personal effort by arranging the Kumar Purnima celebration in 99. She organized the annual function of OSA-MI with a cultural program after four years of silence with the support of few Oriya families with young children. Many children got a chance to share their talent with the Oriya community for the first time. Some talented grown ups also came to light. We all enjoyed it so much that we waited for the next Kumar Purnima. Again in 2000, Mrs Mishra planned it one month ahead of time and we along with our children got a chance for the second time to celebrate Kumar Purnima with cultural program. Again more participants and more fun ! We started planning for next year's cultural show. Annual cultural program became the main attraction of the celebration of Kumar Purnima. But, Mrs. Anjali Mishra's term got over in 2001. Looking at the growing number of participants and necessary expenses, continuity of the tradition with a cultural program became a question for many of us because of finance and work load. Mrs. Puspa Nayak and Mr. Jogesh Panda accepted the responsibility as the next president and secrtary in 2001, and they decided to continue the tradition of Kumar Purnima celebration as the annual function with a colorful cultural program. Mrs Nayak gave me a chance to serve the community by picking me as the cultural coordinator for her term. Surprisingly it became a grand celebration with a big cultural program with delicious feast. For the first time 24 children and 15 adults participated in cultural program. Almost 30-40 families enjoyed the celebration .Many volunteered to help on the spot. The success was definitely a team effort. This is the kumar purnima what helped OSA-MI to be organized and efficient enough to move forward with a we-us and our feeling in the entire Odia community of Michigan. For celebration of this particular event we needed more money, time and energy. We did not have enough but we decided to move forward with a positive spirit only because of the unique delightful smile we see on our children's face when they are together for the practice and performance. Again 2002 celebration became bigger with a big budget along with almost 40 children's participation in cultural program and their parent's direct involvement with the planning and organization. There were several committees to take care of responsibilities of the program. As the cultural coordinator I got a chance to witness the selfless service, devotion, sincerity and dedication of some of the members, both new comers as well as the old timer. 2002 celebration of kumar purnima proved the OSA-MI much more stronger and confident than before. That helped OSA-MI to organize Guru Kelu Mohapatra's Odissi dance performance in Michigan in 2003 March. OSA-MI could even help NGO ISWO of Dhenkanal (with Mrs. Ranu Mohanty's supervision) to provide drinking water to a girls school near Dhenkanal, Orissa. Mrs. Nayak lead the chapter to present various cultural programs as a chapter in 2003 OSA convention at New Jersy. OSA-MI own the Pramod Pattnaik award for the second time.
OSA-Michigan chapter got a new name as MI-OSA from 2003 . MI-OSA again celebrated its popular event, Kumar Purnima Celebration on Oct 18th 2003 under the leadership of its new president Mrs. Rina Mohapatra and Secretary Mr Arun Tripathy with delicious dinner and a fabulous cultural show with more than 50 children and 25 adult participating in it. Mrs.Mamlu Tripathy was this year's cultural coordinator. The cultural show of 2 and half hour was full of dance ,music and skits.This year's new addition to the celebration is the stage decoration by Smriti Panda. It was awesome ! The theme took all of us back home villages for a moment with the "Jhotipaka chala ghara" and a banana tree in its front with Devi Laxmi in a corner of the stage . Although I am not yet so clear how much MI-OSA is helping our children to know our traditions and culture by celebrating kumar purnima and other events, however, I am sure it is creating an opportunity for all of us to enjoy an weekend by providing the back home loving atmosphere to our children here in Michigan with a united spirit.
The sounds of laughter and joy come from the sharing are the best sound of the world .Children know it better than us ,they want to have it again and again ! We need to create opportunity ......they will find the connection to our identity ! ( I hope....) So tradition should go on ..... ! Thanks,
|
