by Ragoo Raghunathan

This month's PEN event - 'Open Networking - Inspire and be Inspired' was a great success if you ask me. We had over 40 registrations and most of them attended the event, given that it was the Easter weekend and many had plans that were not on their minds when they registered for the event. In any case we had a great turn out. This time the event was based around getting to know the fellow attendees, their profession, interests and hobbies - all in the efforts to make a stronger membership and more wholesome ISW-PEN initiative.

We started off with introductions of the newly recruited committee members - Resmi Nair, Milind Kanitkar and Tejas Shah. While Kelly and I co-hosted the event as co-chairs we welcomed at least 8 new faces in the audience. These were people who had heard about our initiative through their friends and other networks, and were attending for the first time. The goal of this event was also to collect ideas on what sorts of events we could hold in the upcoming months, and which area each one of the attendees would be comfortable contributing in. We had 2 white board full of ideas and we are organizing them in sub groups. You will all hear more about this in the upcoming newsletter write-ups. The event ended with some creative, out-of-the box card stacking and tower building skills from the audience - which turned out to be a fantastic team building activity and brought out some laughs and arguments justifying their creations.

Overall, it was an enjoyable morning over the yummy samosas and chai while the audience got to socialize before and after the event.

Congratulations to the winners of the Chess  tournament : 

You can view all the pictures of the tournament here 

*Beginner:*

1st Place : Ana Thoras

*Intermediate*

1st Place :

Vivaan Shah

2nd Place :

Prahaas Rajasekharuni

3rd Place :

Nihanth Chilukuri

4th Place Tie:

Kabir Tiwari

Puneeth Nunna

5th Place Token Of Appreciation:

Ashwin Jais

6th Place Token Of Appreciation:

Adithya Jais

7th Place Tie Token Of Appreciation:

Anubhab Mukherjee

Diya Narendra

An article by Neha Kaushal

ISW-WEW organized this event on Saturday, April 8 th from 3:00 to 5:00 PM.

The chair of the program, Prof. Snehalata Kadam, along with our executive committee member Mrs. Anupama Deb Roy, welcomed the guests and the team members, Mrs. Neha Kaushal, Mrs. Kajal Kaushik and Mrs. Pooja Rathi, with a brief introduction about Women Empowering Women program’s mission and vision, and the importance of the much-needed event topic ‘Mental Well-Being’, in today’s world.

The event was then kicked off by our panelists, Dr. Kalyani Krishnan, Dr. Pooja Saraff and Dr. Ami Popat-Jain, introducing themselves to the audience. The panel discussion started with avery simple yet curious question – ‘what made you chose this as your career’? One of our panelists, Kalyani Krishnan talked about the unique path and her own inquisitiveness that led her to complete six degrees along with a PhD, and how she wanted to understand the holistic view of one’s emotions, before she could help them, she very specifically mentioned ‘I view you all as experts of your own life’….!

Neha Kaushal & Snehalata Kadam, the event moderator, then engaged the panelists with a question that comes to every individual’s mind – ‘What is mental health? When do we know we need to work on our mental health’? Pooja Saraff, our panelists mentioned ‘when you’re not feeling yourself, and its starting to affect your life’, that’s your first flag. The highlight of this discussion was ‘Don’t set the threshold too high to go see a therapist, and it’s ok to seek help’, as Ami Popat-Jain quoted. The discussion ranged from what the panelists had seen over the past two years, specially post pandemic, how it affected the social anxiety issues in different parts of the society, how kids missed out on their social development with their peers during the pandemic, and how as individuals we are all still trying to settle back and bring back normalcy in our own lives.

A key aspect of this event was when the floor was opened to the hall full of audiences, that ranged from some teenagers, young professionals, curious parents and even grandparents. We had questions ranging from how do we get our grandkids to get away from screen time, to the three top reasons for mental health issues in the past five years, to raising awareness in the community, and how the younger generation is more aware and open to talking about mental health well-being, etc. The event concluded by providing the audience with some useful information on how to find a psychologist, family therapists, and sharing the contact information of our panelists.

If you missed out on the event, here is a link to watch the recording: https://www.facebook.com/iswonline/videos/610174184001898.

Please feel free to reach out to us if you would like to get in touch with the panelists for further communication.

by Abhijeet Nikte

ISW Sports Committee has been organizing a lot of sports events.

There are regular table tennis tournaments and socials on Monday evenings and Saturdays afternoons. They are a big hit with the community with several people signing for these events. The players having an amazing skill with table tennis and there are different formats of play - singles and doubles with doubles being the most popular.

Carrom is another sport that is gaining some traction on the indoor front. We will have more of these tournaments/socials so that people with all different skill levels can participate.

Please join the ISW Sports WhatsApp group to stay tuned for more sports events.

Weather is getting better and soon Pickleball will be all the rage…

by Abhijeet Nikte

ISW Sports’ monthly Game Night on March 17th was very well attended, albeit slightly with fewer people than the registrations led us to believe. People came in to play some games and had a stress-free time (other than the stress brought on by wanting to win the games they were playing ).

The players achieved their goals enjoying the Indian tea and biscuits to refuel themselves (Thanks to Shilpa Kulkarni). As has been the case in the past, there was an array of games set up for players to take part including table tennis (a very big hit of late), carrom, chess, board games and playing cards.

As spring dawns, please lookout for Pickleball to be in full swing on the court created for it near the back parking lot starting next week, weather permitting.

 

 

Selfless Community Service: Women Leaders Bringing a Positive Change Across the Globe
by Snehalata Kadam

ISW-WEW organized this event on Sunday March 19th 2023 at from 3:00 to 5:00 PM.

The chair of the program, Prof. Snehalata Kadam, welcomed the guests with a brief introduction about Women Empowering Women program’s mission and vision. The event then started off with a solo Sitar performance from one of the panelists, Mrs. Usha Verma, who played the popular bhajan, Vaishanava janato. Many felt nostalgic, remembering their childhood memories growing up with that composition.

Neha Kaushal, the event moderator, then engaged the panelists enquiring about their motivation for their community service. The panelists all commented that any community help starts at home with what we learn from our parents and the environment where one grows up. All agreed that we watch and learn, and many times emulate our parents’ humanitarian work.

A key aspect of community service is, if you are supporting the community, help comes pouring in. The strength behind community work was the enormous support of volunteers who work and give their time and efforts as best as they can. Supporters who cannot help with time and energy usually come forward with donations. There has been huge support by community volunteers especially during the pandemic.

One of the audience questions was how one can manage time, especially with familial and professional responsibilities. The answer was we make time because that kind of volunteer work brings happiness and peace to ourselves along with the satisfaction of helping others and it doesn’t feel like work. Many a times, it feels like being selfish, we are doing community service for our own happiness. In response to an audience question, it was said that family definitely comes first and so one needs to prioritize what’s important and how to manage it all. The event concluded with a beautiful performance titled “Jhansi ki Rani” by Shivangi DebRoy, a student of Mrs. Kalaimangal Anbalangan’s AmudhaSri Dance School.

  

 

On March 18th,  India Society and LearnQuest Academy of Music kicked off their new partnership with a memorable classical music evening at a sold out event at the new India center.  The program  featured beloved local artists and renowned local artists who enthralled classical music lovers. 

The program kicked off with a  Hindustani vocal recital by Mrs. Swati Panda , accompanied by Dr. BG Parulkar on harmonium and the inimitable Amit Chatterjee on the Tabla. 

The second segment moved to Carnatic classical with Dr Revathi Ramaswami on the Veena accompanied by Shri Pravin Sitaram on the Mrindangam. 

The grand finale was rendered memorably by Apratim Majumdar on the Sarod, with Amit Chatterjee on the tabla.

"We are looking forward to many more such  joint events in the future," said Mrs Sarita Deshande, chair of India Society's "Symphony" initiative, which aims to make India Center a hub for arts in all forms.  

"We are glad to have found such a wonderful classical music loving community  in the heart of Massachusetts" said Mr. Pradeep Shukla "We look forward to a deep partnership with ISW and  to welcoming the community to our 15th Musical Conference, first time after the Pandemic. " The Conference is  from April 7th - 9th in Weston, MA. 

ISW hosted its annual general body meeting on Sunday, Jan 29th at the India Center. 

The ISW General Body elected a new Executive Board for 2023 - 24. The following members were elected to the board : 

• President - Mr. Puneet Kohli
• Vice President - Dr. Jagan Srinivasan
• Secretary - Mr. Balki Chandrakasan
• Asst. Secretary - Mr. Mukul Agrawal
• Treasurer - Mr. Asish Bhattacharya
• Asst. Treasurer - Mrs. Sakshi Gurao
• Chair, Cultural Committee - Mrs. Amita Rao
• Chair, Religious Committee - Mrs. Geetanjali Virmani
• Chair, Cultural School - Mrs. Ruchi Chauhan
• Chair, India Center Committee - Mr. Chella Palaniappan
• Member-at-large - Mrs. Smita Manjrekar
• Member-at-large - Mrs. Anupama Deb Roy
• Member-at-large - Mr. Kamlesh Khilnani
• Member-at-large - Mr. Rajesh Khare
• Member-at-large - Mr.  Abhijeet Nikte

The Following members were elected to the ISW Committee on Governance 

• Mr. Rajiv Dayal – Chair
• Mrs. Meera Gupta
• Mr. Ashish Cowlagi

The President’s Volunteer Service Award was awarded at ISW's Annual General Meeting to our most outstanding volunteers and to recognize the impact they have made for ISW 

The Lifetime Achievement Award for  Health Stop (established in 2005) and for  ISW Cultural & Language School (established in 1992) was awarded to Carolyn Marie Passey.

The Lifetime Achievement Award for  Health Stop (established in 2005) was awarded to Dr. Sahdev Raj Passey

The Lifetime Achievement Award was awarded to the Building Expansion Committee  comprising of Rajiv Dayal, Ashish Vijayendrarao Cowlagi and Puneet Kohli

The ISW Community thanks them for the countless hours of service devoted to ISW 

Due to inclement weather - the Free Health Stop is cancelled for Jan 25.  If you have an Urgent Healthcare need - please visit your local emergency Department. 

Remember - we follow Worcester Public Schools policy for emergency cancellations due to weather.