June 16th, 2020
  Dear Friend,
Thank you for your support of the eSandesh newsletter. As you can see the newsletter continues to grow reflecting how members are actively engaged in their community. If you would like to include an event or share some news about things going on with you or your community, please use this form to submit. We look forward to hearing from you! Share the newsletter with your family and friends - to subscribe click here. Follow us on YouTube, subscribe to ISW Channel here.
ISW EVENTS
ISW India Day Weekend Extravaganza, August 7th - 9th, 2020
ISW will be hosting a Virtual India Day Event spread over three days from August 7th to 9th at various times. More details of this multi day entertainment extravaganza is coming soon. Our theme this year is - Navarasa . The program will run virtually with each day bringing segments of the program with music, dance, songs, and more. If you want to participate in our cultural event please fill t his form.

Antakshari - A Day of Musical Escape, 4 pm on June 20, 2020
Less than a week for ISW Annual Antakshari Event. This will be a virtual event this year. We are ready !! Are you?
Some clarification regarding participation. While we would prefer a single location for a team (with social distancing if not from the same household), we understand that this might deter some participants from registering. Hence, it would be acceptable to have a team with members in different locations. The team members would have to find a way to communicate with each other during the event. Register at this link . More info on Facebook .
Sarita Deshpande and Amita Rao, cultural@iswonline.org
Humrahee – Sunday June 21, 2020, noon
Humrahee, ISW’s dynamic community of young at heart senior adults, have been keeping in touch with each other by phone or by WhatsApp. While all members are safe and well, we are sad to note one of our beloved volunteers and member, Dr. Lal, passed away last month and is sorely missed by his fellow Humrahee members. Since we cannot meet personally, Humrahee will be holding a Zoom meeting on Sunday, June 21 st at noon. We will be having our usual program including Yoga, chit chat and food! We would invite other ISW members to join us. For information contact Sharat Amin .
ISW 2020 Graduation Satsang – Sunday June 28, 2 pm
ISW will hold an online Graduation Satsang to celebrate the graduates in our community. We specially invite our graduates and families to join us at this online ceremony on Sunday June 28th, 2020 at 2 pm Eastern Time. Click here for for Zoom meeting details. Zoom Meeting ID: 963 6893 5944 Password: ISW2020. Contact: Nisha Bawa religious@iswonline.org
ISW Savers Fundrive – August 8, 2020, noon
Save the date Aug 8th 12 pm (noon) For the ISW Savers Fundraiser! Clean your closets and donate your surplus clothes, shoes, housewares, and other household items to Savers and raise funds for the ISW India Center expansion. Contact Sharat Amin for more info.
2020 ISW Scholarship Awards - Rashi Khanna
Each year ISW recognizes high school students for their outstanding work in academics and in the community. ISW is pleased to announce the 2020 Awards for Academic Excellence go to
  • Divya Raghunathan and Danush Chelladurai
The 2020 Citizenship Awards go to:
  • Yash Chauhan and Tanvi Manjrekar
Congratulations to the awardees for their amazing work and we wish them the best.
Thanks to the judges for their diligent review.
IYG Introduces New EC
On June 13th, the Indian Youth Group (IYG) held its very first virtual Election! Despite the pandemic, IYG worked diligently to hold a safe and fair election. We are very proud to announce the newly elected IYG 2020-2021 Executive Committee: President: Divya Raghunathan
Vice President: Gaurav Jaisingh
Co-Secretaries: Aryan Kale & Rishabh Makkar
Treasurer: Rishab Parikh Project Manager: Arnav Mishra
Click here for an update on IYG activities and Outgoing President Raunit Kohli's letter.
ISW CULTURAL SCHOOL NEWS

ISW Marathi Shala celebrated - Virtual GudhiPadva.
By Sarita Deshpande
This year, as every year, our ISW Marathi school had started preparations for the Gudi-Padva program a month in advance. All the children were preparing for the poems, songs and transcripts to be presented. The only difference was that every year we gather in a big hall at our school, with potluck, lunch together with school children, parents, teachers and family. This year we did without this but celebrated the festival virtually in this Corona environment.
दरवर्षी प्रमाणे या वर्षी ही आपल्या ISW मराठी शाळेने गुढी-पाडव्याच्या कार्यक्रमाची तयारी महिनाभर आधी पासून चालू केली होती. सर्व मुले, त्यांना सादर करायच्या कविता , गाणी , उतारा वाचन यांची जय्यत तयारी करत होती. पण फक्त थोडासा फरक हा होता , की दर वर्षी आम्ही आमच्या शाळेच्या ठिकाणी मोठ्या हॉल मध्ये जमून, पॉट लक करून सर्वजण ( शाळेची मुले, पालक , शिक्षक आणि परिवार ) एकत्र जेवण करतो, तसे न करता, या करोना च्या वातावरणात हा सण आम्ही virtually साजरा केला.
Check out the festivities and photos on the website .
ISW Cultural and Language School Summer Classes
ISW's Masti Mazaa" was a success! The free activities taught by our teen volunteers ranged from dance, art, games, writing etc. There was no restriction to the number of sessions the children could join. It was fun and enjoyed by all.
We are getting ready to announce our summer series starting July 6. Timings and topics are being finalized. These classes are targeted for ages 8 to 13. If you are interested, please send an email to yvansh29@gmail.com with the name and age of your child and the parent's WhatsApp phone number.
Ruchi Chauhan & Shiamin Melville, school@iswonline.org
YOUR PROFESSIONAL SELF
We continue with our series in “ Your Professional Self with another article on networking strategies. To contribute to this section please contact us: ProfessionalSelf@iswonline.org

Networking strategies during COVID and work-from-home
By Ragoo Raghunathan
For the past 8-9 weeks, most of us have been sitting at home, either at a make-shift office, kitchen table, dining table or bedroom nook-converted into office. Normally we would be meeting people on the way to work, at work, during breaks, on the way back home, or while grabbing a drink at your local hang-out spot. All this has become almost impossible. However, it has become paramount to keep networking. Given the uncertain times, one needs to keep constantly networking. No telling when you or someone you know might need to look for a job, a project or a business partner. So, how do you keep networking in times of social distancing. Get some tips and tricks in the rest of the article on our website.
COMMUNITY VOICES
ISW eSandesh is pleased to introduce Community Voices where we publish opinion pieces from our community. While these provide perspectives and opportunities for conversation, they represent the author's views and not necessarily those of ISW. We encourage a robust dialogue on issues and welcome all viewpoints for publication.
By Aarshiya Sachdeva
“In a racist society it is not enough to be non-racist, we must be anti-racist.” - Angela Y. Davis
As most are now aware, the recent killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and countless others have left many Americans in a state of fear, anger, and despair. Witnessing the instant outrage on social media and protests both in neighboring towns and across the globe, I, along with the other officers of the Shrewsbury High School Black History Committee, was certain that we needed to express our solidarity within our town. By creating a peaceful remembrance - a march and vigil in the center of our Town of Shrewsbury, we wanted to bring our community together to mourn the tragic loss of George Floyd and the other endless victims of police brutality. Read the rest of the article on the ISW website
ISW eSandesh asked Kavya Balaji, who had written an impassioned piece titled “Black Lives Matter - An Informational Letter to the South Asian Community” about what motivated her personally to get involved or speak out about this issue? We thought we would share her message to the community. Click here to read her message.
ISW COMMUNITY NEWS
Census 2020 - जनगणना २०२० Get Counted !
जनगणना २०२० में आज ही शामिल हो जाईये|
क्या आप जानते है की अभी जनगणना का काम हो रहा है ? क्या आपने अपनी पूरी जानकारी इस जनगणना में भरकर मुकम्मल की है?
अमेरिका में, हमारे दैनिक जीवन में जनगणना बहुत ही महत्त्वपूर्ण है| यहाँ के सड़क, स्कूल, अग्निशमन दल, अस्पताल, ज़रूरतमंद परिवारों की मदद और बहुत कुछ, यह सब इस जनगणना के परिणामों पर निर्भर करता है| प्रत्येक व्यक्ति की पूर्ण और सटीक गणना होना आवश्यक है, चाहे वह व्यक्ति किसी भी उम्र, नागरिकता या स्थिति का हो| तो फिर, आज ही जनगणना की वेबसाइट पर जा के अपनी संपूर्ण जानकारी भर ली जिये|  यदि आपको किसी सहायता की आवश्यकता हो तो हमें संपर्क करें | हमारे स्वयंसेवक मदद करने के लिए तैयार है | अधिक जानकारी के लिए निम्नलिखित वेबसाइट पर जाकर सुनिश्चित करें |
संपर्क ईमेल - census20@ISWOnline.org
संपर्क फोन - (508) 841-5115 Census 2020 - 2020census.gov Click here for more info
Community Spotlight – Dr. Saharsh Mehta
Interviewed by Ria Deshpande
Saharsh Mehta is a resident of Westborough, a former ISW School student and IYG member who attended UMass Medical School, expecting to graduate in June 2020. Instead, under Governor Charlie Baker’s decision to address the coronavirus pandemic, his batch became one of the first in the country to graduate months early in March. I recently had the opportunity to speak with him about his unique experience.
Where do you work?
I spent seven weeks in a surgical ICU unit at UMass Memorial, which is meant for patients who need non-emergent surgeries. However, due to the pandemic, the unit was converted into a coronavirus ICU for very sick patients who either tested positive or were suspected to have COVID-19. I will be starting as an orthopedic surgery resident at UMass in July. Read the rest of his inspiring story on our website!
Congratulations Class of 2020! Part 2
ISW is very proud to celebrate the high school graduations of several of its IYG and ISW member’s kids. We congratulate them and their family for this accomplishment. With the Covid crisis putting a damper on celebrations and commencements, we want to share the joy of this occasion and recognize them in a dedicated section on the website. We wish the very best to some additional graduates this week. Details on the ISW Website
Surya Namaskar with Alka Yadav Mehta
ISW member and Yoga practitioner and teacher Alka Yadav Mehta shares how to do Surya Namaskar, Sun Salutation, using a chair as a support to maintain balance. Regardless of your age or ability, we hope you can join her at home with this video.
Shrewsbury Schools Community Appeal
The Shrewsbury Schools, like many others, are facing difficult choices. The significant loss of state and local revenue due to the Covid 19 shutdown and the anticipated new costs has resulted in a huge gap between resources needed and the reality of the school budget. The School administration has reached out to the community to support their continued activities with donations to the Colonial Fund. Find out more about how you can help at the school website at: https://schools.shrewsburyma.gov/future/donate-now
Please check out ISW website and ISW FB page for other online event updates.
  Contact
India Society of Worcester
     http://iswonline.org     
Mailing Address : PO Box 136, Shrewsbury, MA 01545
 India Center : 152 West Main Street, Shrewsbury, MA 01545
508-842-9795   Answering Machine
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