KPI Aug 2003 - Kashmiri Overseas Association

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PRESIDENT’S COLUMN Namaskar! Recently concluded KOA Annual Camp 2003 at Moodus, Connecticut was a great success; we had close to seventy-five plus families at the camp. As usual it was reminiscent of a Kashmiri Khander. The biggest achievement at the camp was the participation of around 30 community youth, most of whom had come on their own to participate. This definitely is a welcome sign and we are looking forward to their continued participation and involvement in community and organizational affairs. Annual camp not only serves as a social gathering, it also serves the purpose of bringing the community together. In addition to socializing, many issues facing the community were also discussed. KOA held its annual general body meeting at the camp. We received very encouraging comments and suggestions from all members. At the camp, KOA launched a book titled, “Destruction and Injustice – The Tribulations of Kashmiri Pandits” It provides a historical perspective of Kashmir problem with all the factual information. This book is available to all members. If you would like to have a copy, we would appreciate if you donated $10 to KOA to cover printing and mailing charges. This summer, members in other parts of the country organized similar camps, one in Bay Area (Zone 9), one in the Pittsburgh area (Zone 3), one in Texas (Zone 5) and one in Chicago (Zone 7). I urge members in other parts of this country to organize similar regional camps. In this regard, I have been urging various Zonal Directors to work together to make regional camps a reality. I will work hard on it and hope to have more regional camps in other regions next year. Last year we started a “Scholarship Award” for Students in the USA. Under this program, a one-time achievement award will be given to Kashmiri Pandit college bound students living in the USA. Initially, it is planned to give out a total of 4 such awards. This year we did not receive any applications but I am hoping that our college bound youth will apply for this award for next year. Towards the year-end, we plan to come out with an updated International Member Directory, therefore, please have your membership information updated. Please check with your Zone Director/ Chapter President about it. It is my request to you; please check your information as well as of those who you know. If you know of someone (your relations, friends, and acquaintances) who is not yet a member, please urge him or her to send in their information to KOA. Shri Rajinder Kaul of WA heads KOA’s membership drive effort. All unpaid members are contacted through regular mail, e-mail or phone to renew their membership. Your mailing label shows the year until which your membership is paid, if un-paid for the current year, I urge you not to procrastinate, mail in your dues and claim your free CD, “Poozai Posh.” Your membership dues and generous donations help the association to run its activities and programs. As you know, we launched a new interactive web site last year (koausa.org interactive pages). At this web site we have added web transaction facility to make it easier for our members to pay their dues as well as to make donations for various KOA programs. Many members have made use of this facility. I encourage you to make use of it in future. Also, we have been constantly updating this web site to make it more userfriendly and useful to our members by catering to their needs. Please check out the matrimonial section, business connections section, live content section and community events listing. It is designed in a way to be most useful to our community in providing information related to our community. Its purpose is to make it possible for our community members to exchange news, views, provide business connections, and to facilitate exchange of information regarding issues facing our community. If you have not registered at this site yet, please do so now. I would like you to go visit this site (koausa.org - interactive pages) and register there as site members. A one-day youth camp was held for our youth on the West Coast, my sincere thanks to Seema Mattoo and Monica Bhat for organizing that camp. Under our new initiatives, this fall, we intend to start an, ‘Essay Contest’ for our youth. This new competition intends to promote youth interest in their Kashmiri roots, and provide a platform for them to share their thoughts and work with the community. In the last quarter, KOA had three fun-raising efforts going on. The effort for KOA Medical fund headed by Maharaj Kaul of NY, helped raise $8,500. The effort for FACT exhibit in New Delhi headed by Arun Koul, of MA, helped raise $2,250. The effort for Nadimarg victims helped raise $2,500. My sincere thanks to all donors. From time to time, KOA gets requests for medical and financial help, we always try to help to the best of our ability, which is only possible with your donations, please donate generously. My sincere thanks to those who have helped with generous donations in the past. Shri Pran Kaul of CA (contact:510-795-9641/ pkaul@slac.stanford.edu), and Shri Tej Kaul of NY (contact: 716-773-3416/tkaul@adelphia.net), are both running fund raising drives for Sponsor-A-Child and Educational Assistance programs respectively, if you need more information about these programs, call or e-mail them. If you are already a sponsor, thank you, if you are not, please join and help the less fortunate members of the community. No one else but you can help. Please provide financial support for these and other programs. On the cultural exchange front, as you know, we had Mrs. Kailash Mehra Sadhu of Jammu, who came and toured the USA from July 16 to September 2. She performed at twelve places in the US for our members. Everywhere she performed, members liked and enjoyed her show. From time to time, all KOA chapters hold social and cultural functions; I have and will continue to travel to various places/ chapters to meet membership. It gives me an opportunity to present my plans for the organization and receive comments and suggestions from the members. All KOA activities and programs are going on as planned and as per schedule. Soon it will be election time for KOA office bearers. Election are due for the positions of five board members/Zone Director for 2004-2005 term, these are: Zone 2, Zone 5, Zone 7, Zone 9, and Zone 10. It is my request to you, when the time comes, please nominate and elect those members who can devote time and effort for the community / organization and are action oriented. The organization can only be as good as the input going into it. Please volunteer your time and effort for the organization; nothing can be achieved without your active involvement and participation. Finally, please feel free to call me or any member of my team with your questions, comments and suggestions or simply to express your support. Together we will make a difference. May God bless our community? Namaskar! Sanjay Kaul, Boston, MA *************************************************** 2
Awards and Recognitions KOA has a tradition of recognizing members for their contribution to the community and the organization. It is our way of saying “Thank You.” Every year, recommendations are received from the board members and then a final selection is made. Thisyear following eleven persons (including five youth members) were selected for recognition at the KOA General Body Meeting 2003 for their efforts: 1. Smriti Nakhasi (MD): For her selfless effort and dedication in pursuing KOA’s initiative of Kashmir Language Institute and for organizing the second Kashmiri Culture and Language Course for young adults in 2002. 2. Preeti Wali (NY): For her selfless effort and dedication in pursuing KOA’s initiative of Kashmir Language Institute and for organizing the second Kashmiri Culture and Language Course for young adults in 2002. 3. Vikram Dhar (NY): For his selfless effort and dedication in pursuing KOA’s initiative of Kashmir Language Institute and for organizing the second Kashmiri Culture and Language Course for young adults in 2002. 4. Seema Mattoo (CA): For her outstanding community service, for her passion and selfless dedication to preserving Kashmiri culture and for organizing the first and second Kashmiri Youth Camp in Southern California. 5. Monica Bhat (CA): For her outstanding community service, for her passion and selfless dedication to preserving Kashmiri culture and for organizing the first and second Kashmiri Youth Camp in Southern California. 6. Vijay Kaul (FL): For his dedication to community work, and for his leadership and efforts for the KOA organization. He served on the KOA board as a Director from Zone 1 for 4 years (1999-2002). His outstanding efforts have brought the community closer together in KOA Zone 1. 7. Sarla Warikoo (NJ): For her dedication to community work, for her efforts to preserve Kashmiri culture, and for her efforts for the KOA organization. She served on the KOA board as a Director from Zone 3 for 3 years (2000-2002). 8. Suman K. Hukku (MI): For community service and leadership in maintaining democratic values of KOA’s election process. Shri Hukku served as the Chief Election Officer of KOA for the last two years (2001-2003). He ran the process very professionally and meticulously. He along with the other members of his team spent numerous hours of their time in addressing several procedural issues relating to the elections. 9. Monika Dhar (Rangroo) (CA): Monika launched Kashmiri language classes for young children and adults in Bay Area. She also led Kashmiri cooking sessions by setting up cooking workshops on weekends at the homes of different KP families. Her initiatives in these two areas have helped preserve the KP culture among Bay area residents. 10. Sudha Kaul: For her dedication and contribution towards preserving Kashmiri culture 11. Sandeep and Bhawna Sadhu (MA): For their outstanding efforts and dedication in organizing the KOA 2003 Annual Camp at Moodus, CT NEXT YEAR’s CAMP Next year, KOA’s Annual Camp will be held from Friday July 2 through Monday July 5. Please mark your calendars a year in advance. It is our appeal to the community not to plan their social functions around this community event. Members who come to the KOA Annual Camp have always enjoyed it and want it to continue. But, there is one problem, not many come forward to organize the camp and to look for new campsite. I understand that it is not an easy task and involves lots of responsibility, but unless one of us comes forward to do it, it won’t happen by itself. Therefore, I request you to come forward and volunteer your services for organizing the KOA Annual Camp. I have asked following people/groups to look for a place for next year’s camp. 1) Umesh Kaul, Vinod Raina, Anil Kachru, Hari Bhat, and Rakesh Kaul to explore camping areas in Eastern PA, NJ and NY area 2) Ravi Raina, from Canada, to look around Buffalo area in upstate NY, 3) Arvind Mattoo, Bipin Kaul, Upender Bhat of Pittsburgh area to explore camping areas in Western PA. If members do not come forward to find a new campground and help organize such a camp, we will either have “No Camp” or have no choice but to organize the camp again at Moodus, CT. I am requesting all interested members to come forward and suggest other alternatives/places and help in locating a good campground and organizing the camp. Thanks. Sanjay Kaul, President, KOA KOA General Body Meeting KOA held a “General Body Meeting” of its members at Moodus, CT on Saturday, July 5, 2003 at 6:00 pm. The president of the association Shri Sanjay Kaul welcomed all the members and declared the general body meeting open. The purpose of the GB meeting was to provide information to members and also respond to questions. In addition, suggestions and comments from the membership at large were sought. Agenda for the meeting included: 1) Board of Directors election 2002 results, 2) Introduction of Board members, 3) Introduction of Executive Committee members, 4) Membership statistics, 5) Status of KOA activities for membership in the USA which include: Calendar, Member Directory, Newsletter, Kasheer Magazine, Kashmiri Sunday Schools for age group 5 to 14 year olds, Kashmiri Institute-Language classes for age group 18+, US Scholarship Program, Youth Group and development of a website for youth, Chapter Activities, Internet Activity, Camps in other regions, Cultural activities-inviting artists and activists from India 6) Status of KOA activities to help community members in India especially Jammu, programs include: Educational Assistance Program, Sponsor-A-Child Program, Udhampur School, and Financial help to Needy, 7) Financial Report, 8) Plans for next year 9) Awards and Recognition 10) Question and Answer. At this meeting there was no agenda item that needed general body vote, if need be in future, general body vote will be conducted through postal ballots. After the Q & A session, president thanked all those who were present and declared the KOA general body meeting closed. Anupam Wali, Secretary, KOA *********************************************************** 3
Page 1: THE KASHMIRI PANDIT INTERNATIONAL (
Page 5 and 6: number of youth and young-adults, w
Page 7 and 8: KOA Election Committee Namaskar! As
Page 9 and 10: Dear Biradari Member: KASHMIRI OVER
Page 11 and 12: KOA SCHOLAR PROGRAM 2003 WRITING CO
Page 13 and 14: ZONE 3 ZONAL REPORTS The past two m
Page 15 and 16: “Hokus Bokus” (similar to the H
Page 17 and 18: the participants who came with a lo
Page 19 and 20: Community News Married 1) Neil s/o

KPI Aug 2003 - Kashmiri Overseas Association

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