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. 

by Yajas Devaguptapu

Many people ask me why they should do or learn 3D Printing. Right now, I will answer that question. The answer is engineering. For example, everybody might say that it is complicated to build something. Because building you have to follow a manual and then make it, but sometimes we always have some problem, like that the instructions don’t make sense or you are missing a piece. Missing a part can be a big problem because whatever you try to do will not work. After all, that piece might be the connecting piece between two other things. This is where 3D printing comes in handy. You don’t need a 3D printer because many libraries have 3D printers. The only thing you need is the measurements of the pieces that you want to connect.

The other easy thing is 3D printing because there are many different websites for making stuff in 3D, like Thinkercad and Solidworks. If you want to create it, but let's say you don’t want to make it from scratch, I have a solution for you. There are websites where you type up what you are looking for, then whatever you type up, there would be designs, and whatever  you like, then you could get the design and print it. One website like this is called Thingiverse.

I learned 3D printing in the India Center because they had a class on it, and I wanted to know how to 3D print because I thought it would be cool to learn. I had seen some of my friends build, and I was amazed. When I went to class, the teachers showed us the websites we could use to make our own, like the ones I told you about. They also showed us how the 3D printer  worked and the science of it by taking it apart. They also showed us how to get the printer ready. I loved it. And after the basic class I also took the advanced class and enjoyed it. I also got the opportunity to help India Center teachers and help others to learn 3D printing, which was great.

Most of the time, I use 3D printing. It is not only for making pieces that I need to make things. Also, it is pieces that I can use to decorate my room, like different design pieces. These are some of the reasons why you should try 3D printing.

Have fun with 3D printing!

ISW Women Empowering Women initiative turns two!
by Kalyani Kanuri

To commemorate the two year anniversary of ISW-WEW initiative, ISW hosted a wonderful celebration on Saturday January 21st at the newly renovated ISW (India Society of Worcester) center in Shrewsbury, MA. The event featured Dr. Manju Sheth, as the keynote speaker . Manju is a renowned physician at Harvard Vanguard and creator and host of “Chai with Manju” and the creator of New England Choice Awards and “Women who Win” platform.

The program was kicked off by Prof. Snehalata Kadam, chair of WEW, who talked about her vision for a forum where women can uplift each other by sharing their experiences and transforming the “I Can’t” to “I Can”. This initiative started off as an online forum during the pandemic. Snehalata; an assistant teaching professor of Physics at Worcester Polytechnic (WPI), talked about the upcoming collaboration of ISW -WEW with WPI’s South Asian Student Association (SASA) and ISW’s Professional and Entrepreneurial Network. (ISW-PEN).

Mr. Puneet Kohli, the president of ISW, talked about the organization’s upcoming 60 years anniversary celebrations and how the organization has not only brought the Indian community together but also other communities. He explained how ISW maintains strong relationship with other organizations in Boston such as IAGB. He further talked about how the community came together to support the ISW expansion. With the expansion, ISW is now able to kick off new initiatives such as the “ISW University” which teaches students of all ages , “ISW Symphony” to support art in all forms, “ISW PEN initiative” and “ISW Sports” which recently held Game Night.

Talking about how each and everyone’s journey in life is unique and different, Manju Sheth the guest of honor spoke about how women can learn and inspire each other. Hailing from New Delhi, Manju loved to write stories from a young age and even started her school magazine. She trained in Medicine in Calcutta, London and Boston. She talked about how the demands of practicing medicine which leaves little time for other activities. Her determination, hard work and multitasking helped her to achieve her goal of being a journalist and media professional in addition to her medical profession. She strongly believes that it is important to realize your strengths and feed off of them. She was invited by India New England News to start “Chai with Manju” Over the past 10 years, she has interviewed world renowned personalities such as “Sadh Guru”, Pandit Jasraj”, “ Sudha Murthy”, “Shankar Mahadevan”, “Joe Kennedy” and most recently “Indra Nooyi”. Manju recently started a new platform, “Women Who Win,” to showcase the stories and experiences of extraordinary women in different fields.

The event also felicitated the WEW’s first group of panelists – Yogita Miharia, Director of QA at Oracle, Aditi Taylor, SVP, at MFS Investment Management, Kalyani Kanuri, Senior Manager of Finance at Quest Diagnostics, Terri Camesano, Dean of Graduate Studies at Worcester Polytechnic Institute along with Dr. Manju Sheth.

Neha Kaushal , a core team member of the WEW team, talked about what inspired her to join WEW and her involvement with SEWA, a charity organization where she was involved in an initiative to train women who lost their livelihood in new professions such as saree weaving.

Kalyani Kanuri, talked about upcoming ISW WEW events. In March the team will be hosting the “Gift of Giving” that will feature a group of panelists who are active with various charities. This event will be followed by a mental health awareness event followed in June by an educational event featuring panelists who will provide high school students and their parents with insights into choosing majors in college and life in college. She also talked about a mentorship program aimed at making the core members available to anyone who would like to learn about fields such as finance, marketing and IT.

The event aptly ended by a beautiful poem by Kajal Kaushik Dixit , a core member of ISW titled “Tu Dar Math, tu aage badh” which means “Don’t be afraid and keep moving forward”!

Additional session Sunday 7.30 am started  February 5

On the morning of January 14th, a session of Heartfulness Meditation was held at the India Center. More than thirty individuals were in attendance. The session began with rejuvenating yoga by Devesh Srivastav and introduction to Heartfulness by Shruti Sehra and George, preceptors from Heartfulness Center. Many attendees reported feeling a sense of inner peace and left feeling rejuvenated.

The sessions with yoga and meditation will continue at 9 am on Saturdays at the INDIA Center. Depending on response, additional sessions maybe added early Sunday am or weekends. Any questions please send email to iswuniversity@iswonline.org.