THE GHOULS & GHOSTS WERE OUT - HALLOWEEN 2009

I was out on the bustling avenue - Liberty Avenue - this afternoon. I totally forgot about Halloween -until I hit the streets in the area. I saw kids dressed up in different costumes, chaperoned by an adult, were about gathering their candies.

Liberty Avenue was a beehive of activity with groups of kids, dressed as ghouls, ghosts, witches, princesses, zombies, etc. went about "Trick-A-Treat" in the many stores on the avenue. Despite the intermittent drizzle, the avenue was crowded with folks celebrating Halloween.

The amateur 'pic-o-grapher' that I'm, (momentarily forgetting about my errands) I took out the camera and snapped a few photos here and there. It was not easy capturing the moving folks, but I managed a few decent shots.

In between gathering the items I went for and hoisting shopping bags, I worked the camera with one hand, so quite a few shots were bad.

Anyways, New York City being the "melting pot of cultures" that it is, it was quite a site, seeing people from different cultural backgrounds participating in Halloween. I saw alot of Indians from the West Indies and India with their kids out 'trick-a-treating.' Some parents were dressed up for the event!

I still don't understand the purpose of Halloween. But I guess to blend in a society, over time, new comers are either forced to or willingly choose to take part in its existing cultural activities, just not to feel different or maybe strange even, oftentimes without asking a question or two.

You would hope, though, that with the same fervor and enthusiasm they observed Halloween, they would channel that same time and effort into celebrating their own cultural activities. It's a thought.

What I do know is that Halloween is about giving candies to the kids. All that candy! And, how much candy can a kid eat? You know, too much candy is not good for anyone, much less kids.

Here are some photos I snapped ....

A group of kids taking a break ....


This little one look dashingly handsome in his costume ...


Halloween was well and alive on Liberty Avenue ..


Cute little princess busy "trick-a-treating"


Babies who can't walk was out "trick-a-treating"!


Street scene ....

REACHING OUT TO THOSE WHO MAKE A DIFFERENCE IN OUR COMMUNITY

I received an email from a name I didn't recognized sometime last week. I opened it up and lo and behold! Someone from the President of GOPIO International, Lord Diljit Rana's office, sent me a letter, thanking me for taking leadership role as the Co-chair of the Media Council for GOPIO Intermational. Was I surprised? Of course!

I've been avoiding taking any titles in the GOPIO organization or any other organization for that matter. I just like to help people wherever I can help. I don't need a title or position to help around, plus my ego keeps me super busy trying to suppress it's ugly head as it were.

Anyways, I had an idea who may have been behind this turn of event. I asked him and my hunch was correct! Mr. Ashook Ramsaran - he is always encourging me and telling me to take on more leadership roles in GOPIO. Well, thank you, Sir. Seems like I have no choice now.

Well, GOPIO International is a good organization to get involve in. The body of people who makes up GOPIO International and all the many chapters around the globe are great people who sincerely wants to make a difference in the communities they live. They come from different walks of life and are involve in different fields of study. Great work folks, keep it up!

I want to stress that our life does not end with our immediate family alone. We've a greater responsibility to be concerned about the society we live in. We should make an effort to make a contribution to improve the standard of life around us. It's call making a difference. As the Mahatma said, "Let's be the change we want to see in the world."

So, I've decided to use this new position to reach out to deserving young people and those folks who are really making that difference in other people's life. I would like to know about those good people so that I could highlight their good work and possible network with them to get more like-minded people involve. It's networking at a whole new level. If anyone out there knows someone who is deserving, please send me a email.

My thanks to Mr. Ashook and Lord Rana for choosing me. I hope I would live up to their great expectations.

Learn more about GOPIO at: www.gopio.net


A photo of Lord Rana (middle), Dr Renu (GOPIO-Washington) & yours truly.

MR. ASHOOK RAMSARAN RECEIVES CITY PROCLAMATION

Hearthy congratulations and best wishes are going out to Mr. Ashook Ramsaran on being awarded a Proclamation at City Hall during its Diwali Celebration on Thursday 22nd of October.

For those of you who don't know Mr. Ashook; he comes from very humble beginning but has risen to great heights amidst some very challenging situations. He hails from Bloomfield Village, on the Corentyne Coast, a neighboring village from my family's -Letter Kenny Village. He migrated to the US over 25 years ago, had to work to support his family, educate himself and at the same time, make the best of what life has to offer. And , he did a fantastic job of all the above.

Mr. Ashook is the Executive Vice President of GOPIO International, a position he was nominated to at the recently concluded 20th GOPIO Convention in New York City. Prior to the new position, he held the high office of the Secretary for many years. During his tenure as Secretary, he has dedicated much of his time, effort, resources and energy to help solve critical issues affecting Indians in countries around the globe. He has helped to bridge the gap between NRIs, Indians in the Diasporas, the West Indies and those in the Indian Sub-continent. Over all, his sterling contribution to GOPIO International and the Indian community at large is immeasurable, outstanding and admirable.

Mr. Ashook is also the president of Ramex, Inc. - a company he and his family have built and which has grown in size and magnitude. Apart from running his company, he finds time to get involve in many civic and community organizations to help enhance the quality of life for the people in the those communities.

Mr. Ashook is simply a great human being with a great sense of humor. He believes in giving back to the community, helping those in need and contributing to the larger society in a positive way. He is a very encouraging, positive, sincere, honest, and hard-working individual who deserves all the honor bestows upon him. It is a great asset to have someone of his calibre in our community and greatest of all, he is one of our own - from a beautiful, tiny village on the Corentyne coast, who had walked on those "muddy rice dam," once upon a time.

Keep up the great work, Mr. Ashook. Continue to make us proud!

Some photos of the event, courtesy of Mr. Ashook.

Mr. Ashook holding the Proclamation ...

DINNER ON A RAINNY SATURDAY AT HAVELI

"It is rainning cats and dogs" in the Big Apple this Fall Saturday. Yet, New Yorkers were out and about, doing their chores. While some whined about the weather, others took the inclement conditions in their strides and go about their business.

It's somethings troublesome to hear folks describe the weather; the negative words they use, including some regular folks and some weathermen and women, when all that is happening is that the good Mother Nature is "doing her work." Call it blessings from above...and move on.

Well, as rainny as it is, my friend, Lovita and I went out to dine and catch up on things. We like the Haveli Restaurant on 101st Avenue, 113th Street, opposite the huge Sikh Gurdhawala. They make pure vegetarain food and cook it while you sit there, sipping masala tea and munch on samosas. We did just that!

The restaurant is very cozy inside, and while we ate, we talked about things of interest to us, and at the same time, enjoying the piece and quiet.

I like to eat certain Indian dishes sometimes, their taste, texture and preparation are different from our West Indian style of cooking. I still like my West Indian foods better.

Anyways, I'm a friend of the restaurant folks, and one of them told us that today that the Sikh had a big parade on 101st Avenue, onto Liberty Avenue and around some of the streets in the area.

The celebration was about a sacred jug passed on from the first GuruJi which has a hole at the base, but the milk inside do not fall out. That is a the divine power at work. It is nice to see people have unflinching faith in the Higher Being. We all need to believe in God whatever we may conceive Him to be.

My friend and I had a lovely meal, very filling indeed, great conversation and got wet as well. It's all in a rainny day's out.

Here're some photos of our evening out.

The Haveli Restaurant, very convenient ...


Beautiful painting of womenfolks making something ...

DIWALI 2009 - MAY SHARING, GIVING, GOODWILL & BROTHERHOOD PREVAIL

Diwali 2009 - The Festival of Lights - was a joyous observation for devotees at the Sanatan Dharma Mandir of NYC. Despite the inclement weather, the turn out at the mandir was good. The greatest blessing was having Pandit Yoganand Ramnarain performing Latchmi Devi Puja in the most elaborate manner - the sixteen folds of worship that is required of the devotee.

Diwali or Deepavali consists of 5 days of celebration: 2 days before Diwali, Diwali Day and 2 days after Diwali.

The first 2 days before Diwali, 2 diyas (earthen lamps filled with ghee and a cotton wick) are lit, one is placed at the Altar and the next is placed at the right side of the door, coming in from outside [sound confusing?]. Repeat the same process for the day before Diwali. Of course, devotees need to perform prayers as well.

On Diwali Day, elaborate worship is performed onto Maha Latchmi Mata, the Sacred Havan is conducted and many diyas are lit.

The day after Diwali the Goverdhan Puja is performed, which is Puja for Lord Krishna and that last day is called Bhai Dwuj (may have the wrong spelling) - a celebration for sisters and brothers.

Oh! How did forget to mention the cooking of sweets, sweets and more sweets: sweet rice (kher), laddu, mahamboge, vermicelli, gulgolla, halwa, puri, and more.

And the treat was having Pandit Yoga performing in-depth Puja onto Maha Latchmi. It was amazing. Like the other devotees, I really enjoyed the entire Puja, "charhawaying" prasadam and performing the sacred Aarti.

The celebration of Diwali has many significances. It is a celebration that helps us re-kindles the spirit of sharing, giving, goodwill, brotherhood and cleanliness and generally, it is a time when Dharma triumphs over Adharma.

The main spiritual purpose of Deepavali is to light the eternal lamps within each of us and never let it go out because that divine light within helps us to see the God in everyone and everything else. Seeing God in all, even in those considered to be the enemy, is not an easy process. It calls for intense spiritual training of the mind and senses. Celebrating festivals like Diwali helps us train our mind to become more Godly.

May Mother Latchmi enter the hearts of all and never leave.

Here are some photos of Diwali celebration at the Sanatan Dharma Mandir...

Mother Latchmi and Ganapati Baba beautifull decorated with flowers and prasadam..

Pandit Yoga reading about the greatness of Mother Latchmi.


Section of the gathering...

DINNER WITH DR. SHASHI THAROOR - MINISTER OF STATE OF EXTERNAL AFFAIRS

The Global Organization of People of Indian Origin (GOPIO), the Kerala Center and other Indian organizations in the community host a dinner and interactive session with Dr. Shashi Tharoor - Minister of State of External Affairs on Wednesday evening (10/14/2009). It was held at the Kerala Center in Elmont, Long Island.

I was quite impressed with the Minister's knowledge on Indian politics and global issues. His career is quite impressive. As an NRI, he went back to India to contest in the elections in the state Kerala and won. Isn't that phenomenal?

Some info on Dr. Tharoor gathered from the Wikipedia:

Dr. Shashi Tharoor is the Indian Minister of State for External Affairs and a member of the Indian Parliament from the Trivandrum constituency in Kerala. He served as the UN Under-Secretary General for Communications and Public Information between June 2002 and February 2007, during the term of Secretary-General Kofi Annan at the United Nations.

In 2006, he was the official candidate of India for the office of United Nations Secretary-General, and came second out of seven official candidates in the race. He is also a prolific author, columnist, journalist, human-rights advocate, humanitarian and adviser or fellow of various institutions, including the International Committee of the Red Cross, the Aspen Institute, and the USC Center on Public Diplomacy.

On 19 March 2009, Tharoor was declared as the Indian National Congress candidate of the Thiruvananthapuram (Lok Sabha constituency) in Kerala for the General Elections in 2009. Tharoor featured in a five-cornered contest against P. Ramachandran Nair of the Communist Party of India (CPI), Neelalohitadasan Nadar of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), M.P. Gangadharan of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and P. K. Krishna Das of Bharathiya Janata Party (BJP). Tharoor's political website, www.shashitharoor.in, and use of new media technologies in his campaign (including emails, voice SMS, and the use of social networking websites (Facebook and Twitter) set the benchmark for future political websites and organizing in India. He eventually became the first Indian celebrity to get 100,000 followers on Twitter

Despite the dispersal of the anti-Left vote amongst several candidates, and the challenge of being attacked as an elite "outsider" by his opponents, Tharoor won a thumping victory, defeating his nearest CPI rival P. Ramachandran Nair by a margin of around 100,000 votes (the biggest victory by any candidate in Thiruvananthapuram in over 30 years) when the results were announced on May 16, 2009.

On 28 May 2009, Shashi Tharoor was sworn in as Minister of State of the Union Government of India as External Affairs minister, in the Council of Ministers of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Best of wishes to the Honorable Minister and hope he continues to walk the path of service to humanity. It was nice of him to talk less and took questions from the audience.

Below are some photos of the events. (I think I need a new, better camera.)

Dr. Tharoor delivering his speech to the audience..


Mr. Ashook Ramsaran, Executive Vice President of GOPIO and Dr. Tharoor

COLUMBUS DAY PARADE IN NEW YORK CITY

History is a profoundly beautiful subject to some and boring to others. Listening to or reading History can evoke all sorts of emotions inside the human being. Emotions such as patriotism, admiration, love, courage, dislike, respect, disgust, etc.

Take the Mahatma, for instance. Majority of people the world over has great respect and admiration for his indomitable courage and great human spirit. Even the great American scientist Albert Einstein paid tribute to him by saying: "Generations to come will not believe that such a man as Gandhi has walked the face of this earth."

In Guyana, one of my favorite subject was History. In First Form, the History teacher told us about the travels of the ambitious Christopher Columbus, who landed in the New World in October in 1492 (If memory serves me right). He sailed with a group of criminals at the behest of Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand of Spain in search of land and wealth.

At that tender age, it was hard to distinguish the good or bad behaviour of the sailors of The Pinta, Santa Maria and (can't remember the 3rd ship's name) towards the native people of the New World.

In college over here, I recalled my professor had the good human decency to question the barbaric behaviour of Columbus's men towards the native children, women and men of the countries they landed.

I'm not going to go into details, but that professor was correct. And I wonder how the Mahatma would have thought of these historic events.

Heroism is not heroism if it is recognized at the immense pain, hardships and suffering of other group of human beings who were less fortunate and less arm than the more powerful groups. True courage is the hallmark of men and women who stand up against injustice at all cost.

Anyways, I was able to snap at some of the floats-in-waiting for the Columbus Day Parade on 6th Avenue. Enjoy ...

These little kids seems to be enjoying all the hoopla...

Chilly me ... all bundled up even before winter arrives...

This is important ... US Census 2010 ... take notice.

My favorite ... I like ships and boats...

GREAT DIWALI PARADE 2009 ON LIBERTY AVENUE

Hindus across the globe will be celebrating Deepavali - the Festival of Lights - on Saturday 17th October. In the NYC Metro area, the Hindu community organized a huge Diwali Parade, which started at the Arya Spiritual Center on 133rd Street and Liberty Avenue. The Diwali Parade here is reminisced of the Diwali Motorcade that the Guyana Hindu Dharmic Sabha organized in Guyana.

It wasn't so cold, so folks came out in large numbers to support this grand event and at the same time, enjoy the cultural presentation that is one of the main feature in the program. The floats, which were beautifully decorated, slowly made their way on Liberty Avenue and through the streets in Richmond Hill.

It was nice the see New York Bravest's participation to the fullest in helping to block streets and keeping traffic in order. Thank you very much.

I also met Rick Ramdehal, after a long time. Rick, one of our most prolific singers of many genre of music, was the host of the Diwali program. He came over to say Hi (very nice of him) and briefly talked to me about the documentary I'm producing on our ancestors' history. That was the first time "Footpaths of Our Indentured Ancestors" was talked about for one of the local television stations. Thanks, Rick! Hopefully, I did justice to the time.

I had fun at the Diwali Parade. Many thanks to the organizers of the Parade .. and for making all effort to keep our culture and the mighty flag of Sanatan Dharma flying very high. Keep up the good work folks.

Shubh Diwali to all .... May Mother Latchmi shower all with Happiness, Health & Wealth....

Some photos of the Diwali Parade - 2009 ....

Some of the women folks with their diyas ....

Robby Soman, DP of the documentary, is he taking a break?

Beautiful float with a live Maha Latchmi .....

The Tassa group really had it going .... Great job fellahs!

6TH AVENUE MANHATTAN STREET FAIR

It was a lovely Fall day. I had to be in the city today -a day when the trains were experiencing big delays. My ride wasn't too bad, though.

As I was coming out from the subway at Rockefeller Center, lo & behold! A street fair was well under way on 47th Street, 6th Avenue. Streets were blocked and we were able to walk aimlessly in the middle of the busy street!

It was nice to see New Yorkers making the most of the warm weather for outdoors' activities. And well, haggling for the best bargains in high spirits.

Here are some photos of the street affair...

Beautiful semi-precious pendants .....

High Fashion --- the Big Apply way ....

Wanna go on a bicycle ride...

GANDHI PEACE MARCH IN RICHMOND HILL

It was a beautiful day in NYC, brilliant sunshine minus the heavy wind - a great day to be out and about. So, how did you do spend your day? Care to share?

My cousin invited me to an important meeting at 3 PM today at his office - Main Street Insurance on the Avenue.

I went with good intentions to listen and participate. But, somehow, I couldn't bring myself to tune in to the meeting. It was an important meeting about a political campaign to elect one of the local officials to represent the folks in the Richmond Hill area. But, it wasn't my day to be at such meeting. So, after some time reading the local papers, I left.

And, I went to see the cultural show at the Gandhi Peace March - a march which took place from Liberty Avenue and Lefferts Blvd to the Arya Spiritual Center Ground on 133rd Street and Liberty Ave. I enjoyed this outing so much more.

October 2nd was Gandhi Jayanti in honor of the Mahatma. The Gandhi Peace March was organized by the Federation of Hindu Mandirs USA, Inc. and the speeches were delivered in his memory. His legacy of Truth and Non-violence lives on and are universal in their scope. These are values we need more than ever. For me, the Mahatma is the only person whose life was a reflection of the sacred teachings of the Bhagavad Gita.

Some photos of the cultural presentation.

A picture of the Mahatma in repose ... (Wikipedia)
These little ones were having a blast. They represent the ISCON group....
Youngsters from the Shri Trimuri Mandir singing for BapuJi ....

The Guyana Community Development Foundation Tackles Serious Issues in Guyana

Mr. Vince Ramcharran is the Chairperson of the Guyana Commmunity Development Foundation (GCDF) - a registered Non-Governmental Organization (NGO). GCDF's main purpose is to help stop domestic violence and suicide among youths, particularly in Berbice and Essequibo.

Mr. Vince lives in Prince George, Canada, but travels quite frequently to Guyana to see his work being done. He has an office in Belvedere, Albion, Berbice.

I'm very impress with the great work he, his foundation and team are involved in Guyana for our women folks and the youths. He is also very courageous and brave to tackle two of our society's greatest ills - domestic violence and suicide. These two issues have been plaguing our society for ages and going unchecked. It's time someone help put a STOP to these issues.

Thank you Mr. Vince for having the wisdom, understanding, courage and perseverance to tackle these problems. It must involve alot of work, but you persevere. Keep up the great work. The folks back home must be very grateful to you and your team.

Often time, I hear people say they would like to do this and that to help the folks back home, but Mr. Vince is actually doing the hard work and seeing results and making major difference in people's lives.

In March, he organized three community enhancement conferences held at at the University of Guyana, Tain Campus to enhance young people's leadership skills and to help them to make responsible decisions.

Topics discussed included, "Leadership,” “Peer counselling” and the final conference was on “Suicide Intervention.” I'm very happy to see one of my former teacher from Corentyne Comprehensive Secondary School, who is now the headmaster of the Winifred Gaskin Secondary School, Pandit Kamal Dhanessar, participated in the Suicide Intervention seminar. Good to see great work being done, one step at a time to help our youths back there.

At the end of each presentation the youths were involved in workshop sessions and members of the groups were then given the opportunity to present their findings on various topics to their colleagues.

The GCDF is working with a women’s group at Airy Hall, Essequibo to provide a program for domestic violence prevention with a grant of G$2 million [ US$10,000 ] which the women received from the Canada Fund. The GCDF has provided funding to a group at Vilvoorden in Essequibo for computer training, with an objective of producing a DVD for their centre, for fundraising purposes.

According to statistics, in 2006, Berbice had 74 suicides, while the figure for the previous year was 50. In 2007, there were 63 suicides in the county. Alarming indeed.

Mr. Vince noted that there is a great need for suicide intervention in Berbice as it has been found that counselling services are inadequate. He also hopes to have “outreach programmes at schools to implement these programmes effectively.”

Mr. Vince is one of the nice person who writes to me frequently and gave me pointers on how to improve the work I'm doing. I really appreciate his emails. I'm very impressed with his great work, I dedided to write about it too. Excerpts for this article was taken from emails he sent to me. Hopefully, he wouldn't mind my doing this. But, I also want folks to know about his great work and the people's need in Berbice.

Mr. Vince can be reached at: Lot 26 H, King Street,Belvedere North, Albion, Berbice, Guyana, South America.Office: 592-322-4044Cell: 592-698-2224.

Folks if anyone of you can help, please do so. Your intervention can save a life or stop the next domestic abuse. Let's act today!

I've searched for photos of the UG - Berbice Campus onl ine and I downloaded few from GINA.

One of the youngsters at the conference at Tain Campus ...

Berbice UG - Tain Campus ....
Berbice Campus ....
Mr. Vince Ramcharran .....