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Our 24th annual northeast area Thanksgiving Gathering was held on Saturday, November 28, 2009 at Ramada Inn, in South Plainfield, New Jersey. Despite bitter cold and windy weather, we had a good turnout of 70 plus people including children. The event was entirely sponsored by thirteen families. A wholehearted thought goes a long way.

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Peaceful Conquerers: Jain Manuscript Paintings at Metropolitan Museum of Art from 10 Sept 2009 to 21 March 2010 www.metmuseum.org

Victorious Ones: Jain Images of Perfection at Rubin Museum of Art from 18th September 2009 to 15 February 2010 www.rmanyc.org, (press release) Read the rest of this entry »

We are delighted to share the details of our Texas/Oklahoma Diwali 2009 celebration. We met on Saturday, Oct 3rd, at Pasand Restaurant in Richardson, Texas. We had over 50 members at the party. We had a short get-together at the beginning followed by Arti, Mangal Devo and Navkar Mantra recital. Music and Artis were brought in by Shilpa Shah. Later, we had art activities for children and supplies were sponsored by Sandhya and Sangeeta Shah. We then enjoyed dinner followed by family quiz game. Special thanks to Reeta Shah for assisting in the party planning. A big “thank you” to all the members who have always been eager to help and support our community gatherings.

The JAINA 2009 Convention in Los Angeles received coverage in the Gujarat Times. Below is a copy of their convention report (in Gujarati).

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Texas-Oklahoma Oshwal samaj organized a spring picnic on April 25th, 2009, at Russell Creek Park in Plano, Texas.

We had a good turn out of about 50 people. All families participated in the potluck for appetizers, pizzas  and desserts. Jaybhai and Naynaben Shah of Sherman, Texas, were the sponsors for dinner which was very delicious: vegetable sandwiches and Kenyan style potates with kachri. Our new members, Bindesh and Minita Nagda, along with their family also joined us. They have recently moved from Kenya and were happy to meet all other families. The weather was beautiful and adults and kids were busy with volleyball, dodge ball, biking and walking. Being on a Saturday, it felt very relaxing.

A Diwali party was organized on October 26th 2008 at Caldwell Pathshala, NJ. All the pathshala members were invited using the Evites resulting in more than 95% attendance. The dress code was Indian traditional only, where the best dressed person would be awarded. The entrance of the hall was decorated with colorful rangolis, divas, torans, etc. The inside of the halls was decorated as spectecular as the outside with a beautiful frame of Parshwanath Swami highlighted with exotic lamps. The appetizers started with chocolate fondue, a fruit punch fountain, home made fafda, etc. The afternoon started with the recital of Namokar Mantra. Followed by a game of “Diwalingo” a Diwali Bingo. After which the Bollywood stars Jitendra and SriDevi visited the Diwali party, dancing away to their hit song “Ta Thaya” of the movie, “Himmatwala”, which was the highlight of the whole event.

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The 15th Biennial JAINA Convention will be held in Buena Park (Los Angeles) near the new Jain Temple, from Thursday, July 2nd to Sunday, July 5th, 2009. Detailed information is available on web site http://convention.jaina.org/. Early bird registration runs up to April 15, 2009.

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We met at Ruchi Palace Restaurant in Carrollton, TX on the evening of Nov 1st, 2008. This year, about 60-65 guests were present at the Diwali dinner. We started with a social hour. This was followed by Arti, Mangal Divo and Navkar Mantra recital. Then all the members enjoyed a Punjabi dinner with variety of mistans. Later, in the childrens’ presentation, we had a variety ranging from importance of Diwali in Jainism, magic show and song recitals. Adults and children all participated in family game and antakshri. This year, we also planned a can food and basic home item drive on behalf of TX/OK Oshwal Samaj for a local TX food bank.

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Our annual northeast area Thanksgiving Gathering was held on Saturday, November 29, 2008, in Caldwell, New Jersey.  This year invitations went out by E-vite and an automated phone messagings system.  About 65 people attended, and spent the evening catching up with friends and relatives, and meeting several new Oshwals in the area.

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On June 15, 2008 over 40 people come together to celebrate a special Father’s Day with many friends and family at Dipak and Smita Shah’s residence in Lemont, Illinos.

Due to the weather, our planned picnic at the park was changed, but worked out for the best.

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The annual Father’s Day picnic in the New York Metro area was held on Sunday, June 15, 2008 at Haverstraw Bay Park, in Haverstraw, New York.  Over 50 people attended and enjoyed catching up, with the Hudson River as a backdrop.  There was plenty of food, including jalebi-gathiya, bagels, chai, sweet corn, veggie-kebabs, bhel, and sandwiches.

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Teaching children to appreciate differences in cultures is a key to overcoming racial intolerance, and a recent event held at Meadowbrook School Hillsdale, NJ, went pretty far toward that end.

Meadowbrook took the idea of standard lessons on cultures and ran with it. The school held its first Multi-Cultural Festival on Feb 1st 2007 and the second on April 1st 2008, in which kids could hop to Germany, skip to India and jump to Japan in the course of a day.

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Texas-Oklahoma Oshwal samaj organized a spring picnic on May 4th, 2008.

We had a good turn out of about 60 people. We were very glad to have Oshwal USA president, Mr Keshavbhai Shah, join us for the picnic. Satishbhai-Suryaben Shah were the grand sponsors for dinner which was very delicious- Ragda Pattis and Pizza. Other families participated in the potluck for appetizers and desserts. Our new Oshwal guests came from Austin, Texas, this year. The weather was beautiful and our adults and kids were busy with kite-flying, volley ball, dodge ball, biking and walking.

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The annual gathering during Thanksgiving weekend was a great success with over 60 people attending. It took place at Caldwell College, in New Jersey. There were people from babies to older adults having fun and socializing. The entire program was sponsored by a family anonymously. But we had charged people $10 per person just to cover the cost of mailing newsletters, etc.

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A Diwali dinner was celebrated on Saturday evening, Nov 3rd, 2007 at Pasand Indian Restaurant in Irving, TX.

About 40-45 guests were present. We started the gathering with children’s craft which was sponsored by Avnish/Sangita Shah and Rashmi/Sandhya Shah. The craft was a coloring activity, which almost looked like a Rangoli. This was followed by Arti, Mangal Divo and Navkar Mantra recital. Then all the members enjoyed Gughara, Mathia and Punjabi Dinner. Later, in the childrens’ presentation, we had a variety ranging from importance of Diwali, Bhajans, Hello’s in different languages and a surprise fashion show. Then, the dance floor was open for garba and dances. Read the rest of this entry »