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India Association of Minnesota
February 2024 Newsletter
51 Years Supporting the Indian Community
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To our Newsletter Readers: If you do not see our sponsor logos, you have not reached the end of the newsletter. Immediately below the last article you will see the following message. Please click on it.
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2024 IAM Connect India
IAM's 2024 Connect India for community partners and invited guests
will be at the end of March.
Watch for more information.
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India Association of Minnesota
2024 Team Updates
IAM Associate Board
Nithya Balakrishnan Mathad
IAM Nominations Committee
Sreeni Checka - Shanti Shah - Niru Misra
Kiran Bandi - Babu Chimata
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IAM Introducing a New Website
India Association of Minnesota is excited to announce that the launch of IAM's 50th Anniversary Website - IAMN.org is approaching! The IAM website team has been working around the clock for the last couple of months to deliver an excellent website, so you can enjoy the best possible experience. Check out the website this weekend.
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IAM's Inaugural Literary Showcase
On Saturday, January 13, 2024, India Association hosted its first Literary Showcase at the Minnetonka Community Center. In spite of the snow and frigid weather, the attendance was impressively large.
After being greeted at the registration desk, guests mingled with others and visited with the authors at their tables, while enjoying refreshments.
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The IAM planning team included Ram Gada, Sreeni Checka, Vijay Balakrishnan, Meena Bharti, Shruti Joshi, Sayali Amarapurkar, Fazel Haris, Srividya Vaidyanathan, Mangala Acharya and Alice Northrup. Joining on the day of the event were Riya Bharti, Vipasha Verma, Sunitha Pillai, Analabha Dutta, Sanjay Terakanambi, Hina Kapoor, Hasmukh Patel and interns Anand Seemakurthy and Mayank Jain. As always, past IAM presidents support the events. Godan Nambudiripad (1990) and Ramesh Muniswamy (2006) were in attendance.
The formal program began with a welcome and remarks by 2024 IAM President Meena Bharti. Sreeni Checka, 2020 IAM President/2024 TAC Chair addressed the attendees about how the event origniated because of a conversation between 1989 IAM President Vijay Balakrishnan, Ram Gada and himself. Sreeni also honored Neena Gada and a moment of silence was observed.
Lead for this event, Shruti Joshi then took over as emcee. She introduced Santosh Sharma who recited a poem in Hindi.
Shruti introduced the panelists, Vijay Balakrishnan, Preeti Mathur, Sumi Mukerjee and Savita Harjani. Vijay was the moderator for a discussion about their experiences as authors. Each one read an excerpt from their books. A short question and answer period followed.
The event ended with the attendees again being able to interact with the authors and get a signed copy of their books.
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The Literary Showcase was made possible by the generosity of Ram & Neena Gada.
Ram spoke to the crowd at the end of the program. He spoke about how important this event was to both him and Neena and that she had wanted to attend. He expressed his hope that this would become an annual event and be expanded.
India Association of Minnesota thanks everyone, planning team, event volunteers, authors, bloggers and attendees for making this a well attended and successful event.
|  | The authors and bloggers were introduced by Shruti Joshi and each one spoke to the assembly during the program. The authors represented at the Literary Showcase: Vijay Balakrishnan, Savita Harjani, Preeti Mathur, Sumi Mukherjee, Sangita Kalarickal, Nina Hamza, Cyril Mukalel, S.P. Jayaraj, Payal Doshi, Suchi Sairam, Pallavi Dixit, Nigar Alam, Feroza Mehta, Venu Thayanithy, Shakun Maheshwari, Kamalika Chandla and Harisha Krishnappa. The bloggers: Mish Sen (author & blogger, Shivangi Singh and Ruby Anik. The Thinking Spot also had a display at the Literary event. | |
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UpDate Your Information
India Association of Minnesota requests that you update your organizations 2024 information. Please help us update the IAM Outreach WhatsApp chat and the IAM Outreach records. Send the names, positions, emails and telephone numbers of your leadership team to info@iamn.org. Thank you for your help. A member of the Outreach team will be contacting you soon.
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IAM Membership
India Association of Minnesota invites you to become a sustaining member of the organization. As the Indian population in Minnesota increases, it is more important than ever that the community be involved in the activities of IAM as it represents our common interests.
The benefits are many, including participation in the annual election of IAM officers and board members, running for a seat on the board or becoming a part of the IAM committees (Government Relations, Cultural, History and SAARI).
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For more information send an email to contact@iamn.org and an IAM board member will contact you. To become an IAM member Click Here or click on the QRcode.
Welcome to new IAM members
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Upcoming IAM Calendar of Events
Event/Date/Venue
- Connect India, March 31, TBD
- IndiaFest August 17, Minnesota State Capitol Grounds
- Visa Camp, May End, TBD
- Flint Hills Family Festival - June 1st
- International Yoga Day in partnership - June TBD
- IAM Cricket Tournament (Recommended new event) - TBD
- Indiafest 2024 - August 17th
- IAM Picnic- TBD
- NonViolence Day - Oct 2nd
- Dhanyawaad - TBD
Watch for coming events in future newsletters, on Facebook and the IAM website www.iamn.org.
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Government Relations & Civic Engagement | |
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2024 is an Election Year!
Every citizen has an obligation to perform their civic duty and participate in the election process.
To vote in the Minnesota Presidential primary on March 5, 2024, you can register in advance by February 13, 2024. You can vote by mail now through March 4, 2024.
Your vote matters!
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Black Citizenship in the Age of Jim Crow
Minnesota Historical Society
Explore the African American fight for full citizenship and racial equality that unfolded in the 50 years after the Civil War.
When slavery ended in 1865, a period of Reconstruction began, leading to such achievements as the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments to the Constitution. By 1868, all persons born in the United States were citizens and equal under the law. But efforts to create an interracial democracy were contested from the start. A harsh backlash ensued, ushering in a half century of the “separate but equal” age of Jim Crow.
Dates: February 3, 2024 - June 9, 2024
Where: Minnesota Historical Society
345 W. Kellogg Blvd., St. Paul, MN 55102
Tickets: Click Here
For more Information: Click Here
https://www.mnhs.org/
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February is Black History Month
February 1 - 28, 2024
"This National Black History Month, we celebrate the vast contributions of Black Americans to our country and recognize that Black history is American history and that Black culture, stories, and triumphs are at the core of who we are as a Nation."
To read entire White House proclamation Click Here
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MAAHMG Celebrates Black History Month with Series of Events
"The Minnesota African American Heritage Museum and Gallery (MAAHMG) celebrates Black History Month 2024 with a new art exhibition by Azania Tripp titled Okra and Indigo, which is a culinary storytelling art experience that shares the story of historical chefs within the Black community and Black Minnesotan’s relationships with food. The exhibition opens for previews February 6 and an opening reception is February 10, from 2 – 5 pm at the museum, 1256 Penn Avenue N., Minneapolis, MN. Admission and parking are free. There will also food from local vendors at the reception."
To learn about Black History Month events at MAAHMG Click Here
https://www.maahmg.org/
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Schubert Club Mix & Shruthi Rajasekar
PARIVAAR is a celebration of community as family. The concert features live music, live painting, film, theatre, food, photo station, coloring station, specially-commissioned sculpture, and the work of over 100 South Asian artists. Shruthi Rajasekar has curated this event with the Schubert Club to highlight that the South Asian community of Minnesota is truly a family. Come dressed to celebrate!
Date: Sunday, February 18, 2024
Time: 3:00 PM,
Where: Ordway Concert Hall.
The concert features music from Nirmala Rajasekar's ensemble Maithree with Senator John Hoffman (D-34) on drums, live painting by visual artist Ta-Coumba T. Aiken, South Asian food during intermission with some other surprises, and a brand new musical work by Shruthi Rajasekar that involves film, theatre, and over 100 community artists.
To purchases tickets: Click Here
Friends & Family Code: PARIVAAR50
Tickets are FREE for under 18s and students with ID
Watch Trailer Here
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School of India for Language and Culture (SILC)
SILC invites you to SILC MELA 2024. Come and enjoy this annual event full of great food, fun games, henna, a bazaar and more. Tickets sold at the door.
Date: Saturday, February 10, 2024
Time: 11:00 am - 1:30 pm
Where: Como Park Senior High
740 Rose Ave W, St. Paul, MN 55117
silcmn.com
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Marathi Association of Minnesota (MAM)
MAM is very excited to kick start the 2024 MAM events with Makar Sankranti.
Date: Saturday, February 10th, 2024.
Time: 3:30 - 8:30 pm
Venue: Eisenhower Community Center,
1001 MN-7, Hopkins, MN 55305
Free to MAM members; Non-members: Adults $20, Kids $15
Please use the links below to RSVP and participate in the various cultural programs. Competitions will be announced in early January. The deadline for RSVP and cultural entries is January 27th, 2024.
To attend Sankrant RSVP Here
For Cultural program Register Here
Please visit our website for 2024 prorated membership.
For questions: contact us at mam.committee@gmail.com
https://www.mnmarathi.org/
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Asha USA
SAHELI: AshaUSA South Asian Women’s Affinity Group facilitated by Dr. Niloufer Merchant & Dr.Sayali Amarapurkar
Does life feel too much to handle by yourself sometimes? Come join this online group. It will be a time to sip chai, slow down and enjoy some sisterhood! We will connect about issues related to personal wellbeing, social connections, impact of cultural practices, and immigrant experience as a South Asian woman, all from the perspective of understanding the impact on our nervous systems and ways to regulate ourselves and our relationships.
Sign up for this once a month online group to connect with like-minded women who are trying to balance the same daily issues as you.
When: Once a month, 6 sessions total
Who: South Asian Women between ages 45 to 70 years old
Time: 7.00pm to 8.30pm
Dates: Feb 15, Mar 14, April 11, May 9, June 13, July 11, 2024
Where: On Zoom
Cost: Free
To sign up https://forms.gle/NNpH8Kbpk7xQwTmQ6
Group Limited to 20 women.
Dr. Niloufer Merchant, Ed.D., is a licensed psychologist, educator, community advocate, and Tedx talk speaker (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-NQT0C9iKM), currently in private practice in Maple Grove, MN.
Dr. Sayali Amarapurkar, Ph.D is a Family Social Scientist with award winning community work as well as a South Asian Cultural consultant.
Questions: Email ashausa2014@gmail.com
https://www.ashausa.org/
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Indus Music & Arts
After the huge success of Valentine’s 2020 and Raga Boyz concerts, Indus Music and Arts, a non-profit organization with its mission to promote contemporary music with origins in the Indian Subcontinent while giving back to the community, in association with Swaravedika, invites you, your family and friends, to attend and enjoy this electrifying Valentine’s themed live music concert, featuring some of the best professional musicians across the country.
Valentine’s 2024
Date: Friday, February 16, 2024
Time: Social hour 6:00 pm, Show starts 7:30 pm
Venue: Eisenhower Community Center Theater
1001 MN-7, Hopkins, MN 55305
For more information and tickets please visit http://tinyurl.com/v2024fb .
For partnership, sponsorship, group tickets, or to get more actively involved with Indus Music events, please contact 612-695-8262 or indusmusicandarts@gmail.com . We appreciate your continued support and look forward to seeing you at the concert.
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Minneapolis Institute of Art (MIA)
Rama and Lakshmana Arriving at the Rishyamukha Hill
c. 1700 India
The John R. Van Derlip Fund 2022.86.3
Currently on Display in gallery 211
This painting was once part of a loose album with over 270 illustrated passages of the great Hindu epic, The Ramayana (The Adventures of Ram). The famed “Shangri"
Ramayana series is believed to have begun in the 1670’s, completed over the subsequent decades by several distinct groups and/or individual traveling artists working under the patronage of regional kingdoms in the Himalayan foothills of Northern India. In this scene from the “Monkey Chapter” of the Ramayana, we see the blueskinned Ram (an incarnation of the Lord Vishnu), followed by his dutiful brother, Lakshmana, pluckily climbing Rishyamukha Hill where they seek the assistance of the Monkey King, who, in turn, raises an army to save Sita (Ram’s wife) from her captor in Lanka.
https://new.artsmia.org/
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Science of Spirituality (SOS)
SOS invites you and your family to the One-Day Meditation Camp. All are welcome to this free event. Learn the skills needed for meditation.
Date: Saturday, March 2, 2024
Time: 9:00 am - 4:00 pm
Where: SOS Meditation Center
4054 Van Buren St. NE, Minneapolis, MN 55421
Pre-register by February 28, 2024: Click Here
http://sosmn.org/
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Ragamala Dance Company
Avimukta: Where the Seeker Meets the Sacred
Honoring the memory of ancestors in an intimate ritual for the stage. In Avimukta, both dancer and viewer experience the divinity of the seeker meeting the sacred. Featuring solos by mother/daughter creators and performers Ranee, Aparna, and Ashwini Ramaswamy that contrast the ceremonial unison of the company, Bharatanatyam becomes a full-bodied, ecstatic prayer celebrating the inevitable dissolution of life. Directed by Ranee Ramaswamy and Aparna Ramaswamy.
Date: May 4 & 5, 2024
Where: The Cowles Center’s Goodale Theater
For tickets Click Here
We hope to see you here in the Twin Cities or on the road this year!
https://www.ragamaladance.org/
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Neena Gada
"IAM is honoring one of its own who dedicated
her life to bettering our community"
The above quote highlights Neena Gada's commitment to supporting Indian culture and the diaspora in Minnesota. It was featured on each slide of a slideshow that told her remarkable story at Connect India in 2016, when she was honored as IAM's 2015 Person of the Year.
Srimati Neenaben Gada, 81, left us on January 6, 2024. She will be greatly missed by her husband of 56 years, Ram Gada, daughter Lisa (Thomas) Norton, son Ketan (Ayesha) Gada and grandchildren, Nikhil & Neena Norton and Rayaan & Arya Gada. As we mourn the loss of this incredible woman, let us remember her with gratitude for all she did for the Indian community as well as everyone she met in her adopted state and country.
Community Leader, Philanthropist, Mentor, Founder, Visionary and Friend
Her contributions to the Indian community are immeasurable. Neena, as we all knew her, was one of the five founders of the School of India for Language & Culture (SILC) in 1979. She served SILC in various capacities from its inception for 20 years; first as a teacher of the Gujarat language, and as the Principal (1984-1986) and then as President (1987-1989). She organized a souvenir fundraiser for the 10th, 20th & 30th SILC Anniversary Celebrations.
Her service to the community included serving as a Director on the Minnesota State Grant Program, “Compass Community Art Fund” awarding grants to local artists for various art projects in 1982.
Always active in women’s issues, she was a founding member and leader of the Asian Indian Women's Association (AIWA). She was also a founding member of the Minnesota Asian Indian Democratic Association (MAIDA) in 1994, serving as Vice Chair in 1994 and as Chair in 1995 . She participated in many political fund raising and campaigns from 1994 on.
Neena remained mindful regarding conditions in India, serving as a Committee member of the KOJAIN group supporting activities of Kutchchi Mahila Vikas Sanghathan (KMSV) in Bhuj, Kutch. Along with her husband Ram, Neena was instrumental in sponsoring the Minnesota Medical Mobile Van (Path Program for Women) for Shree Bhojay Sarvodaya Hospital under Gujarati Samaj and IAM sponsored programs in Kutch during the 2001 Earthquake Rehabilitation which also included one new village construction, Vijaypar.
It was important to Neena that she educate Minnesotans about Indian culture. She was the General Chair for Festival of Nations for 12 years. She also taught Indian Folk Dancing to Inner City Children for the St. Paul School district. She coordinated workshops and Seminars for the Children’s Home Society for parents adopting Indian children. She was one of the Narrators for the IAM Oral History Project (2004) and SILC Oral History Project (2002) conducted by IAM under the auspices of the Minnesota Historical Society.
And finally, Neena was an Active Member in 1982 for the revitalized India Association of Minnesota (IAM); serving as Vice President (1982-84) for two terms and as a
Trustee on IAM’s Trustee Advisory Council, as well as the IAM Operations Manual Committee. She stayed dedicated to maintaining and supporting Indian culture and the community till the very end.
We will miss her immensely.
Our heartfelt condolences & prayers are with the Gada family.
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Science & Art Co-exist in St. Paul Teacher's Bharatanatyam Dance Classes
Suchitra Sairam was an MIT graduate and a vice president at Ergotron. Then she got a calling to teach dance.
Before her students arrived at the bright and airy dance studio called Kala Vandanam in St. Paul's St. Anthony Park neighborhood, Suchitra Sairam reflected about her unusual journey from dancer to engineer to corporate executive to creative entrepreneur and educator.
By Sheila Regan Read StarTribune article here
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Happy Valentines Day!
Wednesday, February 14, 2024
On February 14th, celebrate your family, friends and loved ones by giving them a token of your appreciation on this special day.
India Association of Minnesota wishes everyone a Happy Valentine's Day!
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This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund.
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