We had a picnic on the Father’s Day as is almost a tradition for us now. We had a record 67 Oshwals attended the picnic. The previous attendance record was held at same location four years ago. The location is central to the metro NY area Oshwal community. It was an excellent day with fun filled activities.

This year, we planned a dinner event to celebrate Father’s Day on June 20th, 2010, at Taste of India Restaurant in Willowbrook, Illinois.

We had approximately 25 people attend the event. All the families had enjoyed a Indian dinner buffet, had excellent time catching up with each other and enjoyed the conversation. Everyone enjoyed the Father’s Day dinner because it was a very relaxing Sunday for all. In true celebration of Father’s day, many of the children treated their families to this special event.

Thank you for making this event successful and truly special.

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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.

The evening started with the delicious appetizers as people started arriving. Everyone enjoyed tasty appetizers – bhel, batata vada, papadi ganthia and desi chai, while catching up with friends and relatives. Children played several games afterward and prizes were given to everyone. They really enjoyed the games and they were happy to be here. Our sincere thanks to Bina Beed for planning and conducting games for children.

Prior to dinner, election was carried out / held for next two year term and executive committee was elected. Results will be posted on website in a separate report. Then, mouthwatering Gujarati and Punjabi style dinner was served. People sat and chat in groups while eating dinner. Paan flavored ice-cream and paan were served after the dinner. We would like to thank Jayanti and Vijya Galaiya, and Kanchan Shah for selecting and making arrangement for the delicious food. During dinner, Keshav Shah reminded everyone about our plan for publishing the updated Oshwal Directory in 2010.

It was a great get together and everyone enjoyed it. Our special thanks to the families who contributed to cover the cost of the event. The event was sponsored, however we collected nominal token for raising money for our association as we have a minimal balance. At the end we had surplus of $500 for our association. We also would like to thank committee members and area representatives for helping out.

See below for some pictures from the event.

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

JAINA 2009 Convention report from Gujarati Times (PDF)

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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.

This was followed by a Diva decorating competition by the pathshala students. After which everyone danced away to the beat of garba music. Then everyone enjoyed delicious Jain Punjabi food which was totally in sync with the festivity. A round of Dandiya Ras concluded the enjoyable afternoon.

The glamour and the splendor of the party became a novelty for some, and an inspiration for others.

Our Halari Visa Oshwals get-together and meeting will be on the afternoon of Saturday, July 4th, for two hours. The official program will include location (hotel and room number) and time. We can also have an informal gathering on Thursday night. Please let us know if you are planning to attend the convention so that we can advise the organizers about the size of the room we will need. You can RSVP to convention@ oshwal-usa.org [Email address: convention #AT# oshwal-usa.org - replace #AT# with @ ] if you have registered for the convention or are planning on registering.

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.

Similar to last 3 years, we had started our preparations for months in advance. This social gathering would not have been possible without the constructive suggestions, endless support and generous help from our Oshwal members. We also had few long-time ‘friends of Oshwals’ attend the event. At these occasions, children and adults of all ages appreciate the strength of a close knit community and make long-lasting friends.

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.

The evening started with two minute prayer for the innocent people who lost their lives in the terrorist attack in Mumbai. There were four classical dance performances. Two Bharatnatyam dances, by Chandni Shah (daughter of Kalpesh and Rashmi Shah, NJ) and two Oddisi dances, by Riddhi Dodhia (daughter of Manish and Jigna Dodhia). The dance performances were applaud able. Both the girls had been practicing months in advance and did an excellent job, as you all know Indian Classical dances are very hard to learn , language being the barrier. A guest singer was invited, Nanda Chakraborthy who is a famous classical dancer and a renowned Bengali singer, sponsored by (Kalpesh and Rashmi Shah, NJ). She entertained with many Bollywood songs from the black and white to the colored era. This was followed by OShwalingo (an Oshwal take on Bingo!). The Bingo consisted of all the Oshwal elements starting from, the 52 villages, last names, food, religion, language, culture, etc. This was just to touch base on our Oshwal Culture. A contest of how well the aunties could tie their husband’s ties within a minute was conducted, which caused a roar of laughter amongst the audience.  During the meeting, Keshav Shah (president) gave an update on our successful fund raising effort.

See below for some pictures from the event.

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.

We all enjoyed the food (bhel, sandwiches, chili moogo, vada, papdi-no-lot, falafel, cake, ice cream, watermelon, bean salad, and many more!) which all the families prepared and many card games. This allowed each of us to catch up with our fellow Oshwals.

This event was successful and future plans of more family-oriented gatherings was discussed.

Special thanks to everyone who helped out!

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.

Thanks to everyone who attending for making this event a success.  Click on the picture to the left to view photos from the event.

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.

During the Multi-Cultural festival, each class traveled to at least seven different countries, gaining stamps to their faux passports along the way. Three of these” countrified” classrooms contained parent presentations one of which was India, the show stopper of the whole festival.

The trip to India was the greatest hit. I volunteered to represent the country India along with three other Indian friends from Hillsdale. Overnight the Art room transformed from an ordinary classroom to an exotic Indian Mela, with bright gaudy colors. We had sections like Arts and Crafts , Spices and Food, Music(Tabla, Sitar, Payal, etc.), Religious books along with books in different scripts, Currency of India, Yoga, Body Art (Henna, Bindis, etc.), Costumes with different textures and embroideries, (mainly Saris), Jewelry, A place of worship, (temple), etc.

To welcome all the “Atithis” (guests), we placed Torans on the doors displayed a beautiful Rangoli at the entrance with Diyas, etc. Of course the main highlight was the Flag of India.

The students on arrival were greeted with a Namaste, and educated with a slide show which comprised of what India really was. The students made a rakhi, which was then taken as a souvenir. The female students were mesmerized with the clothes, jewelry and the body art. Thus the students traveled India without spending a fortune on “Palace on Wheels” and left breaking the myth that India was only a “Land of Snake Charmers”.

Dr.Cozine (the principal of Meadowbrook School) who was attired in a beautiful Indian Shalwar Kameez, dramatic dangling earrings and a Bindi (which I had lent her) credited the enthusiasm and hard work of the teachers, students and parent volunteers for the success of the program.

As a token of appreciation of our hard work an article was published in two local newspapers, “Pascack Valley Community Life” and “Pascack Press” along with our pictures. These can be viewed, here.

This made my daughter Chandni K. Shah very proud of her origin and heritage as we reside in a predominantly American neighborhood.

Jai Jinendra,
Rashmi K. Shah,
Secretary at HVO Samaj – USA.

(link to newspaper article: If it’s Tuesday, it must be Belgium)

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.

Keshavbhai notified us about 3 main fund-raising agenda for Oshwal community, mainly related to computers for Halari Visa Oshwal Boarding and Kanya Chhatralay, Jamnagar, Gujarat, Oswal Yatrik Grah, Palitana, and Oshwal Mahajanwadi in Bangalore.

It started with delicious appetizers as people came in. The food and paper products were taken care of by Mrs. Vijaya Galaiya. Once everyone was there, several games were played as a part of entertainment along with music and grand finale with Dandia Raas.

Everyone seemed to have fun. Before starting dinner program a new committee was elected by everyone’s vote with the help of the existing committee members.

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.

Similar to last 2 years, we had started our preparations for months in advance. This social gathering would not have been possible without the constructive suggestions, endless support and generous help from our Oshwal members during the planning and event time. We also had few long-time ‘friends of Oshwals’ attend the event. During this dinner, we also discussed and came to a conclusion that annual Diwali celebration and spring picnic helps us meet each other and celebrate as a big family. At these occasions, children and adults of all ages appreciate the strength of a close knit community and make long-lasting friends.

As many of you may be aware, we as Halari Visa Oshwals have been involved in JAINA for several years and we have significant impact every time we are involved. I have seen it from JAINA at Chicago to Canada to Philadelphia to Edison. We have been involved at several different levels.

To re-cap our involvement in JAINA at Edison:

We had Oshwals from different corners of the word at Edison JAINA. From Kenya Rangoli group, from England HVO president of UK, Ahswin Shah and Secretary, Shailesh Shah; several guests from India, from coast to coast of Canada and all over the USA. We had a get together on Saturday afternoon in the Sheraton and created a mini Halar in Edison.

The opening prayer was performed by Misty Shah of Vestal, NY.

Evening cultural program: Chandrakant and Ishani Shah (MA), not only co-ordinated the evening programs, but also performed Hasya Chintamani, and Ahm na Odkar. Written and directed by Chandrakant Shah.

There was a fabulous display of Rangoli Samovasaran by a Rangoli group from Kenya.

Many of you may be aware JAINA does significant work in conjunction with Virayatan and the Virayatan stall was managed by Arun Shah (NY) and his family.

Swami Shrut Pragya, has ashram in Rajkot and lots of followers of his yoga teachings. His US institutions stall was managed by Velji Bid(NJ) and his family.

Acharya Shushil Kumarji co founded JAINA with Gurudev Chitrabhanu. We have two of our Oshwals are very active in his Ashram Siddhachalam in Blairstown, NJ.

Tansukh Maru (NJ) is a presentative to United Nations as Non Governmental Organization from Siddhachalam and Jayanti Galaiya (NJ) has been a senior trustee of Siddhachalam for many years.

JAINA recognized few people for doing outstanding work in various areas. Our own Manu Shah of Hanover, MD was recognized for doing such a work in Silver Spring, MD Jain center.

Raju Shah (DC/MD) has been active in YJA for many years and Deepa Galaiya (RI/NJ) is North East regional representative of YJA. YJA is Young Jain of America, a chapter of JAINA for our youths.

Jai Jinendra.
Jayanti Galaiya

This year, the Statue of Liberty and NYC skyline were the backdrop our New York Metro area picnic, held on Fathers Day, Sunday, June 17,from 10am to 4pm, at Liberty State Park, in Jersey City, NJ.

We had a fun filled day with a record attendance of 58 adults and children. The weather cooperated for the day, with the sea breeze helping cool us off. We had jalebi-gathiya, bagels, and chai for breakfast. We grilled sweet corn and set up a fresh sandwich bar for lunch. For desert we had chilled watermelon and ice cream.
Kids took the opportunity to fly kites with guidance from the adults, and many people enjoyed walking along the waterfront.