Three days of networking for all age groups.
AB Wire
The Maheshwari Mahasabha of North America’s (MMNA) 8th biennial convention, hosted by the New England Chapter, was held at Stamford Hilton, in Stamford, Connecticut, from July 1 to 4.
The Chief Guest, Mridula Sinha, Governor of Goa, was unable to attend in person. She sent a video message complimenting the work of MMNA in bringing the community together to keep Rajasthani sanskar (heritage) rooted in the younger generation.
The Special Guest of Honor, Consul General of India in New York Riva Ganguly Das, delivered a message of goodwill towards the community and looked forward to working with the community leaders.
The Guests of Honor Vinod K. Agrawal, Special Chief Secretary, Govt. of Telangana, Govind Chandak, prominent businessman, Dr. Kamal Taori, retired IAS officer, all spoke at length about the issues close to their hearts, according to a press release.
A lifetime achievement award was conferred on Hanuman Das Lahoti hailing from Detroit, Michigan. This award is given for dedicated lifetime service and for helping in the advancement of the Maheshwari community.
MMNA President Parag Bajaj was given a special excellence in leadership award for his many initiatives including matrimonial website and for his inclusive leadership style.
The most notable highlight of the convention was the record attendance by the Maheshwari youth as 120 of the 650 attendees were youth ages 21 to 35, known as RAYS (The Rajasthanis Abroad Youth Samaj).
“We were pleasantly surprised with the number of youth who not only attended the convention this year, but also actively engaged in our RAYS events! After months of hard work and planning, this weekend definitely exceeded our expectations,” said Priya Malani Manchanda, President of RAYS.
Heartened by the enthusiastic response from the younger generation, one of the founding members of MMNA, Vimal Sodhani of Sodhani Foundation, declared a major initiative to assist MMNA in providing seed money to develop young entrepreneurs. The foundation plans to donate $100,000 each year to MMNA.
“I felt that there is great potential of developing a few of our youths as entrepreneurs by helping them financially,†said Sodhani.
MMNA has an existing Educational Fund that has helped scores of needy students. Over $40,000 was raised during the convention to augment this fund.
Little known are the many Maheshwaris that still reside in Pakistan. A record contingent of 60 people of Pakistani origin attended the convention.
The convention catered to all age groups with their diverse interests. Both Sakhis and RAYS held several breakout sessions to keep the Rajasthani culture and tradition alive and increase awareness among the youth.
During Sakhi Milan, snack packs and backpacks with school supplies were assembled and later donated to Inspirica homeless shelter in Stamford, CT and Cradles to Crayons located in Boston, MA. Women assembled pencil pouches with supplies for a school in Rajasthan and made plush toys for hospitalized children in Stamford. In keeping with the spirit of 4th of July, women made bracelets and wrote letters to US troops.
A number of breakout sessions were held for all age groups through-out the three-day convention, including College Planning, Business and Entrepreneurship, Taxes/Estate Planning, Retirement, and Matrimonial. While the young singles connected through speed dating, their parents pooled their resources in two matrimonial sessions.
MMNA maintains a matrimonial website with profiles in its database limited to US residents only. Since its creation, several alliances resulting in marriages have taken place. Explaining the rising rate of youth participation, the Convention Convener, Mona Khaitan, surmised that “frequently families tend to hold a mini reunion during the convention. Once here, the youth identify with the inclusive and relevant programming organized by RAYS and join future events willingly without any need for further coaxing.â€
The first evening spotlight was on Youth 13 to 35 years old who entered into a friendly competition in MMNA’s Got Talent (rang night). The audience was amazed at the variety and sophistication of the acts.
The non-competing New England host chapter’s grand opening performance of modern day composition of the Ramayana got rave reviews. The visuals in the background were superb and the modern era songs fit the historical story of Ramayana perfectly, all done with great finesse and sensitivity.
The Saturday Chapter Bollywood Masala Night (tarang night) was a fierce yet friendly battle among all chapters’ enactment of Bollywood stories with individual twists. The New England host chapter produced a welcome musical extravaganza with its own unique song composition.
On the very glamorous Sunday Gala Night (umang night), several New England luminaries in singing and dancing performed. All the artists lead professional lives as IT consultants, engineers, and faculty while being passionate about music as well. One of the lead singers - Anuradha Palakurthi, unveiled a new song written in Marwari specifically composed for the convention.
Emcees Archana Panda and Preteesh Shrivastava kept the audience engaged with situation appropriate poetic humor and could not restrain themselves from dancing with the audience towards the end of the program.
Three internationally recognized kavis, Ana Dehalvi, Mahendra Ajnabi, and Sardar Manjit Singh, visiting from India, joined well known ‘kavitri’ Archana Panda from Bay Area on stage for Kavi Sammelan.
After the convention, co-convener, Abhilasha Rathi, said: “IMRC 2016 planning started with just a few people but many joined hands and came together to become one large MMNA family. Many volunteers had not attended any previous convention but their dedication made this a memorable event for all the age groups. This experience will motivate many to continue attending upcoming events and participate in MMNA activities.”
Added Pushpa Heda, President of New England Chapter, “Our team leads and volunteers worked day and night, in addition to their full time jobs, to make this convention successful. The most important part of this convention was to bring our community and the younger generation together.”
The force behind this convention, 80 year old Prabhulalji Rathi, founder member of both MMNA and New England Chapter, was quoted using a famous quote by Henry Ford, “Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success.â€
MMNA, a non-profit organization, has been in operation for more than 30 years. With 9Â chapters across North America, it caters to the needs of Maheshwari /Rajasthani individuals and families in North America. It maintains links between similar organizations in India and Europe. Its major charitable contributions are towards education and social work.