By Ria Deshpande

Ragini Seth is an involved member of our community, and has played an incredibly active role in the India Society of Worcester for over twenty years now. Beyond ISW, she has always been actively involved in her local communities. Prior to ISW, Ragini founded and was the first president of the Golden Club, a cultural club for elderly South Asians that provided a venue for senior citizens to share their common issues and an outlet for fun activities. Ragini is also an enthusiastic member of the Northboro Junior Woman’s Club. She volunteered to be the Recording Secretary for NJWC for two years, was co-president and also was the Corresponding Secretary for the club. She is never shy about volunteering her services when the need arises. After September 11, 2001, Ragini co-founded the Indo-American Solidarity Foundation and was its President. The organization raised funds and held a vigil to show support for the victims. This same aspect of her character can be seen with all the work she has done for ISW. She is always ready to help in any capacity, whether it be initiating a new event idea or introducing new people to the ISW community. With her support, ISW’s Garba, Karvachowth, and Hindi Kavi Sammelan events have really thrived and become a great success. Through it all, she always brings her positive attitude to brighten all those around her.

As she now moves onto the next chapter of her life in Texas, I had the opportunity to ask her a couple questions about her experience with ISW. Read her story below!

How did you first get involved with ISW?

I get involved with all organizations through Shiamin, my sister. Though I came here before, I used to commute to Boston so I didn’t get the chance to be involved with any community organizations until Shiamin introduced me to ISW in 1996.

Throughout the years, what aspects of ISW were you involved with?

When I first joined ISW, I joined the executive committee as a member at large for four years. After that, I was Vice President for four years, then Assistant Treasurer for four years, and then finally President for two years. I am now a member at large again. With this, I was also a Hindi language school teacher throughout the years. I first taught older kids, and now I teach elementary school kids.

What will you miss most about ISW?

I will really just miss being a part of ISW. I enjoy giving my time to the community and I have loved being part of this volunteer organization. One of my favorite memories has been going to all the sports games. We first went to a Red Sox game in 2008, and one of our community members had a chance to sing the National Anthem at Fenway - that was really exciting. A couple years later, we had the opportunity to have our dance team perform at a Red Sox game but unfortunately, the game was cancelled due to rain! I felt so bad that they could not perform after practicing for hours and hours, so I called the Celtics and asked if our dancers could open one of their games. They agreed, and since 2010, ISW has been attending and performing at TD Garden! I have had so many fun memories with ISW, and truly I’ll miss it all.

(Photo credit: Ragoo Raghunathan)