KPI Aug 2003 - Kashmiri Overseas Association

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eally help keep the KOA youth of California in touch with each other after the camp, and how to increase participation even further. Seema also passed around information packets about the national Kashmiri Youth Group (KYG) and their web discussion groups. Then came the most fun part of the camp — boating on Lake Cachuma! We rented a motorboat and started cruising around the lake. It was a great day with pleasant sunshine and we enjoyed the spray of water on our faces as our boat cruised in circles around the lake. Natasha quickly mastered all the controls and we all took turns maneuvering the boat. People also started splashing water on each other and soon almost everyone was drenched! We often stopped the boat for a while and just flowed with the current, as we basked in the warm sun eating Oreos and watermelon. At about 3:00 PM, we came back and assembled around a little picnic table in the park overlooking the water. We had some tasty snacks and cracked jokes about the lake water being warm and stuff. On the whole it was a great camp and everyone was really happy that we had made it there and had so much fun. We hope to have even more fun next year! Our thanks to Seema Mattoo and Monica Bhatt for planning this event and making sure that it went smoothly and that everyone was comfortable. They put a lot of effort into planning this camp and all the background details too, for which we thank them. Lastly, we want to thank all the participants who drove hundreds of miles just to be a part of this event. We hope to hold the next camp in Northern California to facilitate greater participation from that area. We look forward to keeping this annual Youth Camp tradition going! ********************************************** KOA Camp in Zone 7, June, 2003 Finally this year we had a small camp outside Chicago at Devils Lake Wisconsin. The Devils Lake is a beautiful place in the mountains of Wisconsin; this place is equidistant for Minnesota, Illinois, Wisconsin, Ohio, and Iowa etc. The idea about having camp has been there for long times, it was always being talked about. This year our chapter president and vice chapter president in Chicago with the help of other volunteers took the initiative and made it come true. The camp started on the Friday night, June 6 th , 2003 with a caravan of cars driving down the expressways from Chicago to Devils Lake Wisconsin. There was a campfire on Friday night where around 5-6 families took place and most of the families started arriving on Saturday June 7 th 2003. At the campfire there were a number of activities likes songs dancing, bhajans etc. On Saturday, most of the people arrived by 10 – 11.00 am and they started setting up the tents. Mostly families got together went for water boating, hiking, and swimming on the beach. People who did not go to beach etc. played a lot of cricket and soccer. The soccer teams were designated by hair vs people with no hair. The delicious food was arranged for lunch and dinner, everybody felt home. As the Sun started setting, all the families gathered around the campfire and Kashmiri songs, bhajans and kids playing gestures and adults played Antakshri. This went on for a long time. The rule at Devils lake is that there is a quite time after 11.00 PM, so it ended at 10.00 followed by delicious food. The weather was not very cooperative during these three days, during the night of Saturday it rained heavily and the water was inside some of the families’ tents, but in the morning it became clear but with drizzling off and on. On 6 Sunday, plan was to perform the hawan, with the help of Sunil Bahkshi, Ramesh Wali, Satish Bhatt and Rajinder Koul, who set up the canopy and the hawan kund, finally due the God’s grace at the time of the hawan it was clear and lot of people of who did not camp to participate in the hawan. Thanks to Sushma Koul of Wisconsin who had coordinated the Pundit ji, who did a marvelous job. After the hawan naveed was distributed among all people, the souvenirs from KOA were also distributed to the families, thanks to our President Sanjay Kaul. Finally after everybody had naveed, all of us together drove back to our homes, again a caravan from Devils Lake to Chicago started. This was full of fun and excitement. Sanjay Bhat, Director Zone 7 *********************************************** News from Chicago A few Kahmiri youths got together and went to Daily Herald in Chicago and told them the suffering of KP’s in Kashmir, here is the link for the article. A must read http:// www.dailyherald.com/special/passagefromindia/ paradiselost.asp Sanjay Bhat (Chicago) KOA Website We have added a new section “Live Content” on our interactive website. All members of our community can post their birth, engagement, marriage and other announcements as well as post any condolence & obituary message. Please visit koausa.org (inter-active pages) at: http:/ /www.kashmirgroup.com/kpi/anno_rep_index.jsp. Please check out this site and Sign-up as a sitemember and be part of the worldwide KP community, our home away from home. In future, all community members are requested to post any of their announcements directly at this website and it will then be published in our KPI Newsletter as well. Sachin Tendulkar operated by a KP If you are a cricket fan, you would know that Sachin Tendulkar was operated recently in Sinai hospital, Baltimore. This is to inform you that one of our community member Pankaj Kaw MD had the privilege to be part of the operating team and he was one of the 3 Hand surgeons selected to be part of the privileged team. Sachin was under his direct care before, during and after the operation. His operation (Hand surgery) was successful and he should no longer suffer from the constant pain that he had in his fingers.
KOA Election Committee Namaskar! As you know KOA’s current Election Committee, comprising of Shri Suman Hukku (Chairperson) Shri Chaman Bhan (Member) Smt. Sunita Kaul (Member), was formed in 2001 for a term of two years. Since their term is ending, KOA has to have a new Election Committee in place. Forming the election committee is part of our By-Laws. Traditionally, choosing of this committee has rotated between various KOA zones. This time I wanted to bring this honor to Southern part of the country and I recommended to the KOA Board names of Shri Anil Kaul of Zone 5 as the Chairperson of this committee and Shri Roop Bhan and Shri Rahul Jalali both from Zone 5 as the members of this committee. All three are well-respected members of the community, long standing members of the organization and current paid members. Shri Anil Kaul has served on the KOA’s board as the director from Zone 5 in early nineties. Having served as an office bearer, he understands the working of the organization, knows KOA’s election process and understands the by-laws of the organization. It stands true for Shri Roop Bhan and Shri Rahul Jalali as well, as they are also very active members of the community. KOA Board members took a vote and all the board members approved appointment of the nominated members. It is my privilege to announce the appointment of Shri Anil Kaul as the Chairperson and Shri Roop Bhan and Shri Rahul Jalali as the members of KOA’s election committee. Their term is for 2 years ending in July 2005. I look forward to working with them. I have contacted Sh. Anil Kaul, he along with Roopji and Rahulji are very willing and excited to take up this challenge for the organization. Also, I wish to express my sincere thanks to the past election committee comprising of Shri Suman Hukku (Chair), Shri Chaman Bhan (Member) and Sunita Kaul (Member), for conducting KOA’s election process in a very just and fair manner. They set up much precedence and in doing so have glorified the organization. For any further information please feel free to call me at 781-893-4982. May God bless our community? Sanjay Kaul, President, KOA Raksha Bandhan Raksha Bandhan Purnima was celebrated on August 12. Raksha Bhandhan stirs up one of the deepest and noblest emotions in the human heart – the abiding and chaste bond of love between the brother and sister. Indians celebrate this festival throughout the world. In the ancient past, a Guru would initiate his disciple with a short ceremony by tying an orange or red thread on the right wrist of the disciple. Likewise a purohit ties a thread around the wrist of a householder at the beginning of a puja. This thread is called Raksha (protection) or Rakhi. It is incumbent upon one to protect the other. In later times women began to tie “Rakhi” to men, especially sisters to their brothers. At times, a women would tie Rakhi to a person other than her brother treating him as a Dhram-Bhai. A Dharam-Bhai would then regard and respect that woman as a sister for the rest of his life. The tying of “Rakhi” does not only imply the Raksha (protection) of the female but also of the male or the brother. This brother and sister relationship highlighted by “Rakhi” goes well beyond the mere personal protection; it also implies the basic elements of an amicable and harmonious social life where all members of the society look upon themselves as brothers and sisters and as children of a common ancestry or motherland. 7 KOA Distributes Relief Among Nadimarg Victims Excelsior Correspondent JAMMU, July 11: To help their brethren and express their solidarity with those who are in distress and pain, the Kashmir Overseas Association (KOA), distributed relief cheques and ceiling fans among the victims of Nadimarg carnage, at a simple function held at Muthi Migrant Camp, Phase Two, near here this evening. Mr Amitab Mattoo, Vice Chancellor, Jammu University was the chief guest on the occasion who handed over these cheques to the survivors of the tragedy. Besides the relief cheques, the students of the victims were also provided the scholarships. Mr Divender Sharma, Deputy Commissioner, Relief, hailed the KOA’s efforts in providing assistance to the displaced people from Valley. He expressed the hope that the organization will continue to help the hapless people in future too. While paying homage to the victims Prof Mattoo in his speech said that, hoping against hope, these victims were still living in Kashmir after the mass exodus. He said all of us have to introspect that how can we contribute and help these victims. Instead of showing helplessness, we have to muster courage to face the odds and work against them, he added. He maintained that survival of pluralism in this country is dependent on the survival of this community and when we work together, we can definitely overcome such odds. Prof Muttoo said we have not to give up hope as we have faced many odds in past and every time we overcame them and survived. He expressed the hope that this time we will also overcome them. Addressing the gathering, Dr K L Choudhary, said terrorists and their sympathizers have left such scars on the community, which will never be healed. He said we all are victims of terrorism and regretted that Government has deprived this hapless community of the muchhyped healing touch policy. Healing touch was given to people in Kargil and Anantnag but this community was not considered. He said, the community has to take a lesson and do something itself for such people who are in distress and pain. He, however hailed the KOA for coming to the help of such community people from time to time. In his address, PK Convener, Dr Agnishekhar said that Kashmir is passing through a period of darkness and all the torchbearers have to unite. He said the situation is very grave in Kashmir that we have to work unitedly for bringing the people out of the mess. Prof A N Sadhoo, Ex HOD Economics J U also expressed his total solidarity with the victims’ families and assured them all help. He said, we have to hope for the better and face the odds boldly while expressing the hope that the period of uncertainty will end soon. The vote of thanks was proposed by Ramesh Bhat, a social activist. He suggested that care be taken about pysco traumatic cases and those families who lost their earning members in accidents or due to natural deaths and have no body to look after them. Mr K N Wangoo a social activist also spoke on the occasion. Earlier Mr Vivek Raina, a young and dedicated representative/liaison of KOA in J&K read the message of KOA chief, Sanjay Kaul. He also highlighted the role of the organization. Vivek Raina, assured all help on behalf of the KOA to the hapless people of displaced community. Vivek, who is himself a victim of Kashmir militancy, said that from a wide population, the Kashmiri Hindu’s now remain just a speck on the demographic chart of Kashmir valley. “ We believe that such massacres are not just an issue of cross border terrorism, but prolonged genocide planed, funded, inspired and materially aide by Pakistan”, Raina said while reading Sanjay Kaul, president KOA’s message.
Page 1 and 2: THE KASHMIRI PANDIT INTERNATIONAL (
Page 3 and 4: Awards and Recognitions KOA has a t
Page 5: number of youth and young-adults, w
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

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