By NITISH S. RELE - [email protected]
Indian Americans throughout Florida are gearing up to celebrate
the 60th annual India Independence Day festivities. Here are a few of
the events we have put together that are happening in your community.
TAMPA BAY
The Federation of Indian Associations of Tampa Bay will hold the
free event on Saturday, Aug. 18 at India Cultural Center. Cultural/folk
dances will kick off at 3 p.m. followed by a best-dressed freedom
fighter show from 4 to 4:30, with flag hoisting between 4:30 to 5 p.m.
Thereafter, awards for best children�s folk dance, best dressed freedom
fighter, best academic student of Tampa Bay, best regional state booth,
best young entrepreneur, and certificates to cultural program
participants, as well a Bharat Seva Award will be given.
India Cultural Center is at 5511 Lynn Road, Tampa. For
information, call FIA President Dr. V. Rao Emandi at (727) 842-1005 or
President-Elect Dr. Krishan Batra at (813) 963-9857 or click on
www.fia-tampabay.com
ORLANDO
The Indian American Chamber of Commerce of Central Florida (IACC)
will commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Indian Independence Day at
7 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 17 by holding a big party with music, DJ, dance
and dinner.
IACC is inviting everyone to attend the party to celebrate the
growth of India as a democratic nation with an amazing and successful
economic future. The event will be held at Clarion Hotel (Orlando
International Airport), 3835 McCoy Road, Orlando.
Tickets are $50 per person and free for IACC members. To RSVP or more
information, call Laurie Mooty at (407) 481-8191 or email
[email protected]
MELBOURNE (SPACE COAST AREA)
The Indian Association of the Space Coast (IASC) will observe
India Day on Saturday, Aug. 18 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at Melbourne
Auditorium, 625 E. Hibiscus Blvd. The association is inviting
participants, choreographers and vendors.
For information, call Kumkum Pandit at (321) 761-0284, Rekha Vyas
at (321) 727-0844 or check out www.iascbrevard.com
MIAMI/FORT LAUDERDALE AREA
More than 25 local Indian organizations, under the umbrella of
the South Florida chapter of the Association of Indians in America
(AIA) will hold Independence Day celebrations on Sunday, Aug. 19 in the
South Florida area. The noon to 3 p.m. event at the Omni Auditorium
(BCC North Campus), 1000 Coconut Creek Blvd., Coconut Creek, will be
held indoors. Parking and admission to the event is free.
"We bring to the local community again, a joint celebration of this
historic date in South Florida, and take pride in exhibiting our
unified diversity," says Sabiha (Saja) Khan, president of the South
Florida chapter of AIA.
This family-oriented event will feature a cultural program with a
patriotic flavor, indoors in the auditorium from 12:30 p.m. to 2:30
p.m.
For the food lovers, local Indian restaurants will offer a
mouth-watering selection of Indian cuisine. An outdoor food court will
provide ample seating.
For information, call Sabiha (Saja) Khan at (954) 577.9330, Joyce
Campos at (954) 752-7573 or Kitty Singh (954) 753.1635.
To participate in the cultural program, call Jayashree Sivaraman at
(954) 428-3476 or email [email protected]
TALLAHASSEE
The India Association of Tallahassee (IATLH) will hold Indian
Independence Day celebrations on Saturday, Aug. 18. The 4 p.m. event at
Heritage Hall, 500 S Bronough St., Tallahassee will be accompanied by a
variety entertainment program.
IATLH also is inviting members and non-members to submit a logo for
IATLH on or before Aug. 2. For the exact specifications of the logo and
procedure for submitting it, check the IATLH Web site at
http://www.iatlh.org. The winner will be announced during the
Independence Day celebrations on Aug. 18 and the logo will be adopted
as the official logo of IATLH.
For more details, call Srinivas Kishore at (850) 321-4705, Priya Ashok
at (850) 907-2022, Soma Thayumana at (850) 219-9799 or click on
http://www.iatlh.org.
JACKSONVILLE
The Indian Cultural Society in Jacksonville will celebrate India�s 60th
Independence Day on Sunday, Aug. 19 at Mandarin High School, 4831
Greenland Road. For more details, email [email protected].
KHAAS BAAT COMPLETES 3 YEARS By NITISH S. RELE and SHEPHALI J. RELE - [email protected]
It�s been challenging but fun. We have continued to grow in the
three years since we launched Khaas Baat. The fruits of our dedication
to serving the vast and ever-burgeoning Indian American community in
Florida are evident as we reach 22,500 households throughout this
wonderful state of ours.
Khaas Baat is now mailed free to homes and offices of our readers
throughout the entire state of Florida every month, including the East
Coast, greater Miami area and West Central Florida. Indeed, we are
proud to be the ONE AND ONLY Florida publication to offer comprehensive
coverage of events in the Florida Indian community.
We are pleased to present original articles and columns mainly
written by Florida-based writers. A special thank-you to all our
columnists for their sincere efforts. Also, our readers have come to
depend and rely on our Events Calendar before making plans to attend
the functions in their hometowns. Essentially, we present all the news
about upcoming events in one place � Khaas Baat.
We hope that this will continue to bring in more advertisers so
we can focus on the job of serving you � our readers. If you have a
Florida-related story idea or know about an upcoming event in your
city, drop us a note.
SHAKTI PERFORMS AUG. 25 IN FORT LAUDERDALE
The Shakti Dance Company of Los Angeles (www.shaktidancecompany.com)
will present an Indian classical dance, �Shiva-Shakti� on Saturday,
Aug. 25 in south Florida. The 7 to 9:30 p.m. event will feature
legendary vocalist Lakshmi Shankar.
Presented in the grandeur and beauty of Bharata Natyam, �Shiva-Shakti�
is inspired by hymns and chants, and mythological stories based on
ancient Hindu texts and scriptures. It recreates the powerful dance of
Shiva-Nataraja along with his consort Shakti.
The dancers include Mythili Prakash, Ajit Bhaskaran Das of Malaysia,
Viji Prakash and an ensemble of 15 dancers of the Shakti Dance Company.
The musicians include vocalists Debur Srivathsa and Vidya Harikrishna,
VedaKrishnan on the tavil, Mahesh Swamy on the flute, Krishna Kutty on
the nattuvangam and Harikrishna Kalyanasundaram on the violin.
The presentation will be at Broward Center for the Performing Arts, 201
S.W. Fifth Ave., Fort Lauderdale. Tickets range from $39 to $100. For
more information, click on www.browardcenter.org or call (954)
462-0222.
GANDHI ESSAY COMPETITION ENTRIES SOUGHT Story provided by Gandhi Memorial Society
The Gandhi Memorial Society is inviting high school and college
students to submit entries for the first annual Gandhi Memorial Essay
Competition 2007, celebrating the anniversary of dedication of the
Mahatma Gandhi statue on the University of North Florida campus in
Jacksonville.
The competition is open to students studying in Northeast Florida.
There will be I, II and III place awards for entries each from college
and high school students.
Each essay may address one of the following or related topic � �Mahatma
Gandhi/The relevance of Gandhi in Today�s Society,� �The teachings of
Mahatma Gandhi,� and �The message of Mahatma Gandhi.�
The length of the essay is between 500 to 600 words for college
students. It should be 300 to 400 words for high school students.
Completed essays must be submitted by Aug. 31.
The essay can be emailed to Ramesh Vashi, chairman, Gandhi Memorial
Society, at
[email protected]
All the entries should include the name and address of the student
author, name and address of the school the student is attending as well
as the name of the lead administrator from the college or school (e.g.
president, principal), and an e-mail contact address for the student
author and his/her lead administrator.
The awards will be announced at the Gandhi Memorial site on UNF�s
campus on Oct. 2, at 6 p.m. during the celebrations of �Conflict
Transformation and Peace Awareness Week�. The award-winning essays will
be read by the student authors on that day at the monument site.
Judges for the essay competition include Dr. Ravindra Kumar (ex-vice
chancellor of CCS University, Meerut), Dr. Tom Serwatka (vice
president, University of North Florida) and Sarla Vashi (educator).
For more information, call Ramesh Vashi at (904) 519-7907, Ashok Bazaz
at (904) 642- 6139 or Rajiv Gupta at (904) 745-3765.
CALLING ALL VOCAL TALENT! By Shephali J. Rele
For the first time this year, there will be a new event at the India
Festival organized Gujarati Samaj of Tampa Bay on Oct. 27 at the USF
SunDome in Tampa. Called Voice of Florida, the singing competition in
collaboration with the Pandit Jasraj School of Music will feature some
of the best vocal talent in the state.
If you would like to participate in the vocal contest, applications
with entry fee and audition tape must be submitted by Sept. 15. For
further details and to print out an application, click on the Samaj Web
site at www.gujaratisamaj.org or e-mail Smita Patel at
[email protected]
Contestants should be over 18 years of age. Singers will be chosen
through advance auditions to perform during the festival. The winner
will be announced in a grand finale at the end of daylong program and
will receive a round trip ticket to India, courtesy of Travel Kings.
HUMOR COLUMN OVER & ABOVE
Hopefully, some of you have heard of Behram Contractor. And if you
have, you must have read the �Round and About� column by the late and
renowned Mumbai columnist and co-founder of �Mid-day� newspaper. This
column and many others, hopefully to follow, are a tribute to the
greatness of the popular figure in Indian journalism that was Mr.
Contractor a k a Busybee.
Read �Over & Above� by our columnist, who uses the pseudonym Scribbler
for now. Do e-mail us your views at [email protected] Maybe we can
urge our columnist to contribute more such pieces for publication in
Khaas Baat on a regular basis.
So the rain gods blessed the Indian cricket team during the first test
match with England at the historic Lord�s, which resulted in a draw.
The best batting lineup in the world, only on paper of course, failed
against the inexperienced English bowlers. Maybe, India doesn�t need
�star batsmen� like Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly and
WS Laxman but some fine young pace bowlers. Besides, bowlers win
matches, do they not?
On the eve of India�s 60th Independence Day celebrations, it�s sad to
see its President Abdul Kalam retire gracefully to private life. The
largely ceremonial post of the head of state of the world�s largest
democracy is now occupied by India�s first woman president, Pratibha
Patil. Welcome to Rashtrapati Bhawan, Madam President.
Say what you may about U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney, the man is
going to ensure that the Indo-U.S. civilian nuclear energy deal goes
through. We learn that he has personally expressed an interest in
making it happen. �A strategic partnership in the 21st century also
requires a new and realistic approach to nuclear energy,� says Cheney.
And as we know, what Dick wishes, happens (look at Iraq!)
Mr. Amitabh Bachchan has pledged never to return to politics again.
Well, that�s good to hear. As long as the Superstar of all Superstars
(A �Baadshah� is no Superstar, by the way) continues to act in
meaningful roles (�Cheeni Kum�), we say Mr. Bachchan, stick it to �em
critics, ponytail or no ponytail!
London Mayor Ken Livingstone has kicked off a three-month India Now
season by sailing a replica of the Taj Mahal on the Thames River. The
mayor�s office says that more Indian companies are listed on the London
Stock Exchange than in New York. And London accounts for a third of
India�s rapidly rising overseas investment in Europe. Thank you, Mayor
Livingstone and Namaste London!
Story provided by Miami-Dade Transit
Harpal S. Kapoor, who has served as interim chief for Miami-Dade
Transit since March, has been permanently appointed as director.
Kapoor has more than 28 years of professional experience, with 22 years
in public transportation. As MDT's director, he heads the largest
transit system in Florida and the 12th largest in the United States,
with a fleet of about 1,000 buses, the 23.5-mile Metrorail system and
the 8.5-mile downtown Metromover system.
�I�m honored and grateful to have the opportunity to continue to serve
Miami-Dade Transit and our customers in my new capacity as director,�
Kapoor said. �I look forward to working with the mayor, the board of
county commissioners and all our employees as we continue our efforts
to enhance customer service while further improving the efficiency of
our operation.�
Kapoor holds a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from
Kurukshetra University in Haryana, as well as a degree in business
administration.
Mental Health Column
It is time for the Tampa Bay community to have a forum where voices can be expressed, respected and heard. This column will provide just such a corner. In time, I hope there will be enough interest generated when you, the reader, will begin to request certain topics of discussion.
Send your questions and concerns
FINANCE SECTION Finance | Financial advice | Immigration | Special Needs | Accounting | Business | Labor Law | Asset Protection RECIPES Check out the new recipes submitted by Khaasbaat readers from all over Tampa Bay. Also read features on new food businesses and books. Read Story |
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