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A monthly communiqué
July 2020 No. 7
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EDITOR'S NOTE
Since we last met on this page, IAGB kicked off its fund raising efforts in support of food pantries and homeless shelters through the Bhaag IAGB Bhaag - a 5K virtual run/walk event. IAGB thanks all the enthusiastic participants and sponsors who made this event a huge success. In June, IAGB bade a warm farewell to the outgoing Counsel General of New York, Shri Sandeep Chakravorty. Mr. Chakravorty had become a very close friend of not just IAGB but of a wide diaspora of Indian Americans from New England area. All through his tenure he built bridges and worked with sincerity, humbleness and addressed the concerns of Indian expatriates. IAGB wishes him the best in his career.
IAGB also celebrated Yoga International Day on June 21st with a roster of yoga and meditation experts joining the panel discussion. Further we are proud to Spotlight one of the exponent in this field - Prof. Sat Bir Khalsa in this issue.
Covid-19 has engulfed the nation and the world and every walk of our life has been touched by it. Simple pleasures such as hugging our friends and bar-be-queuing and enjoying the July 4th fireworks have become sweet memories of past and all of us are yearning for the return of normalcy. With the backdrop of teachers and administrators working out plans to get students back into classrooms, sporting teams trying to kick start the sporting season, entertainment industry trying to come to terms with social distancing we meet two of our beloved and esteemed New England citizens who faced down this disease and came out winning. We will meet Dr. Anil Saigal and Ranjani Saigal in our other SPOTLIGHT of this issue.
Finally, with just one more month to our 74th India's Independence Day celebrations, IAGB is all hands on deck for making this event a huge success in the current unique circumstances. We have many announcements and updates in this regard. Please stay tuned via our emails, newsletter, website (www.iagb.org) and our Facebook postings.
IAGB Cares Relief Fund to benefit local food pantries and homeless shelters. IAGB is pledging to match all donations up to $10,000.
With the uncertainty of the situation, we are keeping our future in-person events on hold, and we will keep our members updated as and when there are changes.
In this issue, you will find:
- IAGB & Sewa Fundraising
- From the Director's corner - Guru Samaga
- Guest Column - Magic of Poetry - Meena Kaushik
- SPOTLIGHT - Prof. Sat Bir Khalsa, Assistant Professor of Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School; Director of Yoga Research, Yoga Alliance
- SPOTLIGHT - Dr. Anil Saigal, Professor of mechanical engineering at Tufts University and former IAGB President. Ranjani Saigal, executive director of Ekal Vidyalaya Foundation of USA and former IAGB Director. Both are co-founders of lokvani.com, a south asian media in New England.
- IAGB Youth Excellence Awards 2020
- Call for Sponsorship in India Day Digital magazine
- IAGB Recent Events
- IAGB Upcoming events
- IAGB Community Partnerships
- IAGB Sponsors
- Our Media Partners
MARK YOUR CALENDAR: INDIA DAY 08/15/2020
Like always, we invite you to submit guest columns on diverse topics for inclusion in the newsletter. Your feedback and suggestions and welcome!! Please contact via
Email
if you wish to make community event announcements through this newsletter.
INDIA DAY DIGITAL MAGAZINE
Sending out a call for guest columns, articles, art work, poetry, and much more for submissions in the first ever INDIA DAY DIGITAL MAGAZINE. Please watch out for a separate email or write to sanjay.kudrimoti@iagb.org or yogita.miharia@iagb.org for any questions.
Please visit our
Website
to sign up for annual family/single or life membership of IAGB.
Contact Us
if you are interested in volunteering at our events.
FLATTEN THE CURVE
On July 14th, 2020 US registered 60,971 new cases of Covid-19, and number of deaths due to the virus was 773, and on the overall US recorded 3,416,428 cases of Covid-19 since the start of pandemic and a grim total of 135,991 deaths and counting as a result of this disease. (Source:
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/cases-updates/cases-in-us.html
). As the nation and the world clings on to the hope of fast tracking of vaccines (already multiple vaccines have entered human trial stage) and successful therapeutic treatment of this disease, right now is the time to listen to the health experts and follow their guidelines. Social distancing, face coverings and other recommended precautions can go a long way in making life better for all.
Please reach out to us at iagb@iagb.org if you need assistance of any sort in these difficult times.
-- Sanjay Kudrimoti & Yogita Miharia
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As the COVID-19 crisis deepened, the local pantries were flooded with more people needing the basic food items while the food and monetary donations dried up, and they were in dire need of food supplies. India Association of Greater Boston(IAGB), partnered with SEWA international - Boston to help raise funds for local pantries and shelters. We are grateful to the Sewa team for providing a platform for everyone to come together, volunteer, help each other, and give back to the community during these challenging times. The funds were distributed to five local pantries in the New England region, including Nashua Soup Kitchen, and People Helping People / Burlington Food Pantry.
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FROM THE Director's Corner
IAGB extends free daily live online yoga sessions
- Guru Samaga
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IAGB has extended and continues to offer free online live tele-yoga sessions, specifically designed to help well-being during this stressful time. We are partnering with NationalInstitute of Mental Health and Neuro-Sciences (NIMHANS) and its Integrated Centre for Yoga (NICY) located in Bengaluru to offer the yoga sessions. Initially, the yoga sessions were offered 5-days a week for four weeks in April. We saw upwards of 65 people attending these sessions regularly, and people from all over are benefiting from these sessions.
The overwhelming response compelled us .....
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The Magic of Poetry
-- Meena Kaushik
As American poet Robert Frost said, “Poetry is when an emotion has found its thought and the thought has found words”.
Often while rushing through the humdrum of life I’d find myself repeating the lines. “What is this life, if full of care, we have no time to stand and stare” by WH Davies.
What else would aptly define the....
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IAGB SPOTLIGHT
eNews edition shines SPOTLIGHT on an individual (or a team) who has (have) a positive and significant impact on the lives of New England residents.
This month we are shining the SPOTLIGHT on an individual and a husband-wife team.
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SPOTLIGHT is on
Prof. Sat Bir Khalsa,
Assistant Professor of Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School; Director of Yoga Research, Yoga Alliance
IAGB:
Prof Khalsa, thank you for being SPOTLIGHT person for our IAGB Newsletter issue. Could you briefly describe your personal journey as to how you got interested in Yoga?
Prof. Khalsa:
I was part of the counterculture in late 60s and early 70s and developed interest in the altered states consciousness. My readings further informed me about the strategies about achieving these deeper unitive states of consciousness. Yoga was one such strategy that I learned about. It had inherent advantage because it was not only using the cognitive practice of meditation but also the physical postures, the breathing, the whole lifestyle – a complete approach to....
IAGB interviewing team: Sanjay Kudrimoti
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SPOTLIGHT on Dr. Anil Saigal and Mrs. Ranjani Saigal. Dr. Anil Saigal, former IAGB President is Professor of mechanical engineering at Tufts University. Ranjani Saigal, former IAGB Director is executive director of Ekal Vidyalaya Foundation of USA. They are very active community members and co-founders of lokvani.com, a south asian media in New England.
Anilji and Ranjaniji shared their journey of COVID-19. They told us about their experience battling this terrible disease and their takeaways for us.
IAGB
: Thank you very much for your time and willingness to share your COVID journey with our readers. Do you know where or how you contracted COVID-19?
Dr. Anil Saigal
: I was in Oxford from Mar 5
th
to Mar 15
th
. At that point, there were no restrictions in the UK and life was normal. Since I couldn’t get a direct flight home, I came through JFK, where I had to spend a night...
IAGB interviewing team: Yogita Miharia
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IAGB Community Youth Excellence Awards 2020:
Call for Nominations
-- Supriya Shekar
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IAGB will recognize a maximum of two students, who demonstrate extraordinary achievement in one or more of the following areas:
- Community Service
- Academics
- Arts and music
- Sports
- Exceptional service of an altruistic nature for the greater good of the community
Eligible nominees must be rising junior or senior high school students of Indian origin, who reside and attend school in the New England Area.
Who can Nominate:
Anyone – including parents, friends and relatives – can nominate a student. Students can also nominate themselves.
DEADLINE: July 31, 2020.
Required Documentation:
Submit nominations with the following required supporting documentation by July 31 to
iagb@iagb.org
:
●
Student/school/town name, and student contact details (email, telephone number and address).
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A one-page essay in Microsoft Word on:
How has Coronavirus affected your education and personal development? How has school closure led to new study solutions?
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List major achievements in detail, using separate pages for each area of achievement. Include any supporting documents such as images, videos, etc.
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If nomination is made by someone other than the nominee, include the name of the nominating person and contact details.
The awardees will be notified via email and recognized at India Day Festival 2020 on August 15th. If you have any questions, send an email to
iagb@iagb.org
.
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CALL FOR SPONSORSHIP IN INDIA DAY DIGITAL MAGAZINE
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We are reaching out to you, the New England Indian American community.
You represent our many entrepreneurs, small business owners, cultural and regional organizations, community magnets, professionals and homemakers.
Come share your story through our India Day Digital Magazine. Let’s showcase who you are in big numbers. Sign up for our India Day Digital Magazine Ad!
We the New England Indians are...
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BHAAG IAGB BHAAG
A 5k Walk/Run Virtual Event
-- Sushil Motwani
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#bhaagiagbbhaag Virtual Walk/Run was one of IAGB’s successful fundraising events that brought people together, virtually, to get up and get moving! In this mission, people were reminded to do their physical exercise, especially during these unusual times when everyone is working from home and it is very difficult to get physical activity unless an event of this kind is organized.
It was a hot day on 20th June 2020, temperatures were expected to touch nearly 100 degrees, and it did turn out to be the hottest day so far this summer. But
, in spite of being over 80 degrees in the morning; starting at 8 AM,
we were joined by over 200 participants ...
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IAGB bids warm farewell to Sandeep Chakravorty
--Sanjay Kudrimoti
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Sandeep Chakravorty ji, has been a member of Indian Foreign Services since 1996. After serving in various capacities in India and at many Indian Missions across the globe and as India’s Ambassador to Peru and Bolivia, Sandeep ji assumed the position of Consul General of India in New York in August 2017. All through his time as CGI, NY he has been a dear friend of Indian Americans especially in New England area and has partnered with and aided Indian Americans concerns with sincere passion.
Sandeep ji first visited us here in Boston area when IAGB had organized a Visa Camp with some of our partner organizations at Chinmaya Mission in Andover in late 2017. Since then there has been no turning back. Over the past 3 years we had countless interactions with Sandeep ji in regards to various issues and matters concerning the Indian American Population.
Since the very first meeting of him with the Indian Diaspora here in New England area we observed that his mission / objective was to keep active two way communication. He time and again came here not just to talk but also listen.
Sandeep ji has been instrumental in launching Pramit – the eGovernance dashboard system which has improved the interaction process of availing the services exponentially. More recently when the pandemic shut many things down – your office including yourself have doggedly worked and kept the diaspora in the loop with constant communication and access mostly virtually.
We are very thankful to you for your service.
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India Day 2020
a multi-week virtual celebration with creative initiatives!!!
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For the past several decades, IAGB has been celebrating India Day to commemorate India’s Independence and celebrate Indian American’s rich culture and traditions, with utmost vigor and grandeur. The celebration typically draws crowds of thousands, bringing everyone together with a vibrant display of Indian pride and heritage in the heart of Boston. The COVID-19 pandemic has caught us in the midst of our lives and has forced us to adapt to the new norm. One of the most challenging ‘new norm’ is the restriction on the number of people gathering in one place at the same time, thus adding a huge question mark on ways to celebrate various special milestone socio-cultural or historic occasions, which are traditionally and historically celebrated in a grand way, welcoming a huge public gathering
The COVID-19 restrictions on the large gatherings have forced the cancellation or postponement of many events. Amidst these challenging times, our traditional in-person India Day celebrations will not be possible in Boston downtown this year. However, the celebration will move to a virtual platform with unique and creative ways to commemorate the special occasion. It will be a multi-week long celebration with multiple initiatives that will bring the entire community together. On August 15, 2020, we will have live performances from professional artists and bollywood celebrities, to everyone to enjoy from the comforts of your home. Also, dignitaries, diplomats and elected representatives from the New England region and India will be joining us to celebrate this momentous occasion. The programs will be delivered through various platforms to access easily on mobiles, PCs and large TV screens. As we look forward to celebrating India Day, we are having a number of new initiatives and activities leading to the grand finale.
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Hotstar (Star TV India) which is now part of The Walt Disney Company. Hotstar is the biggest streaming destination in India with 300 Mn users and the leading South Asian platform in the US. We have the best of Indian Entertainment,MoviesWeb Series, regional content and Sports including the IPL and Cricket World Cup. The purpose of this email was to reach out to understand how we could work with the Indian community at your workplace. We have built our reach in the US through community connects such as Cricket fests, match screenings, comedy fest etc.
Currently Streaming
Hotstar Specials- Out of Love
Showing Master Chef India
Movies- Housefull 4 and Arjun Reddy
Everything in one Platform Don’t Miss the Excitement.
Now Subscribe Using Promo Code
IAGBSTAR
for special discount.
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Newyork Life Insurance Company
At the heart of New York Life is a commitment to be there for the customers when they need -whether today or decades into the future. NY Life has delivered on that promise for nearly 175 years by investing wisely, growing a diversified mix of businesses, and remaining true to the mission as a mutual company, accountable only to their customers, not to outside investors.
People come to work at New York Life to contribute to the financial goals of millions of families and businesses each day. NY Life has a diverse, nationwide workforce that allows them to support the communities where we work. New York Life has a dedicated South Asian Unit for the past 20 years.
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At BMW of Sudbury, a Herb Chambers Company, we don't believe in providing the same old dealership experience, and we aren't interested in sticking to the status quo. We are committed to satisfying our customers' every automotive need, and we strive to create the kind of environment that they'll want to share with others. Come to this Massachusetts BMW dealer and you will find a wealth of chic and well-designed vehicles for your consideration. Browse our new 2018-2019 inventory and you'll find a large selection of
new BMW
models, including the ever-popular BMW X5 SAV®, BMW 3 Series sedan and BMW i8 coupe. We also have plenty of well-kept
used BMW
models for budget-conscious shoppers to browse, as well as trustworthy Certified Pre-Owned BMW vehicles.
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Indian Circle for Caring USA Inc., (ICC) is a volunteer non-profit organization focused on providing urgent or emergency guidance and support for our fellow community members and their families as they may encounter unplanned and unexpected events such as serious sickness, hospitalization, accidents, family crisis, and death / bereavement of a loved one. Started in August 2007, ICC has been actively building awareness in the community by working with existing social, religious, professional, services, media and other organizations as well as participation at various events. ICC has over 5,500 members and has received support of over sixty (60) organizations. In order to provide needed support to its clients ICC has built a bank of over 250 volunteers and established strategic partnership with several organizations.
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Editors: Yogita Miharia & Sanjay Kudrimoti
IAGB Communications
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