Cultural Center of India, Virginia (CCIVA) President s Corner Sanjay Mittal It feels great to see our community base grown due to the innovative initiatives and programs in the last 9 months since newsletter s release. We rolled out our membership portal where within a minute a new CCIVA member info can be added. Our outreach efforts helped us to expand CCIVA's brand. I feel proud to share that we received 1000 likes due to success of our Social Media campaign this year. Annual 2017 Spring Carnival and Mother's day picnic was attended by more than 450 community members, a huge increase from previous years. This year's Diwali party is being attended by over 700 people that speaks volume of the support CCIVA now has in the community. I want to thank my dedicated and passionate executive team, volunteers, board of trustees, life members, business sponsors that helped CCIVA s vision turn into fruition. I promise that we will continue to strategize and work harder each day to expand our programs and initiatives both in the quality and in the execution in the coming year. The last three months of 2017 were eventful and surpassing previous quarters. On demand from community, we will be bringing three concerts in the months of October and November 2017 in addition to the CCIVA Diwali party. Please look in the newsletter for information on these concerts. Through this newsletter, I would like to make a personal call to everyone specially the corporates to become a corporate sponsor or an event sponsor or just provide help by volunteering. If you are interested, please reach out to me at sanjay.mittal@cciva.org I would like to close this by saying the famous words of Mahatma Gandhi 'THE BEST WAY TO FIND YOURSELF IS TO LOSE YOURSELF IN THE SERVICE OF OTHERS'. Jai Hind!! 1 1
CCIVA lined up fun, sporty and cultural events, the Entire Summer! CCIVA kept the RVA Indian community together with traditional events starting January of this year. We kickstarted the year with the celebration of the Republic Day. We were just flowing with the sweet memories of the Valentine s Day dance party that we were all swept away with the first ever Voice of Richmond musical show! Star studded comedy play was organized in March. Mother s day picnic became a huge Spring carnival! Sporty skillsets were exhibited in the Tennis Tournament. We hosted an evening with Jolly da, a Bollywood singer in early June and then jumped on to our Annual Trademark event Taste of Event. Abundance of Patriotism filled CCI hall on the Independence day. CCI hall was filled with colorful Navratri Celebrations with live DJs, Garba and dandia dancers. In addition, CCIVA board and executive team members supported the community social issues and concerns at the Safety Forum held at CCI. We had numerous guest speakers coming up at enriching and enlightening us with inspirational talks. Community was honored to hear Dr. Amritaben Patel. This newsletter is crafted to walk us through series of programs conducted by CCIVA with your active participation. Upcoming CCIVA events for the rest of the year 2017..yes, we are not done!! Events Date Location Diwali Celebration October 21st Cultural Center of India, VA VVYO and CCIVA Annakut October 22nd Cultural Center of India, VA Jalaram Jayanti October 27th Cultural Center of India, VA Sudhir Narain & Avirodh Sharma Live in concert October 29th Cultural Center of India, VA T-10 Cricket Tournament November 4th, 5th Tuckahoe Middle School Ishq Sufiana Live in Concert November 10th Cultural Center of India, VA Minu Bakhshi Live in Concert November 19th Cultural Center of India, VA CCIVA Kids Christmas Party December 17th Cultural Center of India, VA AIF New Year Party 2018 December 31st Cultural Center of India, VA Glimpse of 2018 Events Friday, January 26, 2018 INDIA REPUBLIC DAY CELEBRATIONS Friday, February 17, 2017 CCIVA Valentine's Day Party Saturday, March 3, 2018 Voice of Richmond March, 2018 Gujrati Drama Saturday, April 14, 2018 Punjabi Mela Sunday, May 13, 2018 CCIVA Spring Carnival and Mother's Day Picnic Wednesday, June 9, 2010 Taste of India Wednesday, August 15, 2018 Independence Day Celebrations 10/9/2018 to 10/20/2018 Navratri Celebrations Nov-10-2018 Diwali Party Monday, December 31, 2018 AIF New Year Party 2019 Date and other details to follow on Tennis, Cricket and Chess Tournaments in 2018 Cultural Center of India, Virginia (cciva.org) The Outreach, Volume1 Issue 3 2
Mother s Day Picnic / Spring Carnival May 6th, 2017 CCIVA hosted the annual picnic as GRAND Spring Carnival at Deep Run Park. This was one of a kind event with fun activities, games, attractions for all age groups and the continuous flow of mouth watering food, and a record turnout of folks! Face painting, moon bounces, snow cones and cotton candy stations, magician showing tricks, making hot pakodas, pani puris, watermelons, Bollywood music and the delicious food were the key highlights that kept all folks engaged and excited!! 3
CCIVA Tennis Tournament - May 13th, 2017 It turned out to be a Perfect day to play at CCIVA Tennis Tournament! Such a sporty bunch! Below are the results Women s Doubles Winner Vandana and Sunita Finalist Pooja and Vidhi Women s Singles Winner Vandana Finalist Pooja Men s Doubles Winner Pramod & Sanjay G Finalist Rakesh and Amar Mixed Doubles Winner Pramod and Vandana Finalist Dr Shah and Sunita Boy s/girls Singles Winner Esha Finalist Snehal 2018 Tennis event will expand categories due to an overwhelming interest and response!! CCIVA Tennis ROCKS! 4
Taste of India June 10th and 11th, 2017 This year s Taste of India carried the Traditions, Dreams, and Beyond theme. It was a two day event highlighting the amazing culture of the Indian sub-continent serving up Indian delicacies, showcasing cultural aspect of India through dances, Indian crafts, jewelry, clothing and festive atmosphere. 5
71st Independence Day celebrations at CCI CCIVA celebrated India s 71st Independence day on 15th August at CCI. This was a full display of patriotism on a week night through cultural programs, speeches by the dignitaries from the community and the political spectrum. 6
Miscellaneous activities.. CCIVA leadership team at Jolly da Bollywood Concert Jolly Mukherjee concert The legends of Bollywood, was well attended by over 300 people and was a huge success with live musicians. 7
CCIVA Navratri celebrations September 21st to 30th, 2017 CCIVA kicked off the 9 days Navaratri festival celebrations. Professional Bollywood singers were invited from India to perform on the weekends. CCI hall was packed with colorful garba dancers and music. Ambe maa Aarti was performed with great devotion each night. Kids garba was the highlight! Cultural Center of India, Virginia (cciva.org) The Outreach, April 2017 Volume 1 Issue 3 8
Newsletter Editor s corner, Vandana Shukla What a busy third quarter! I almost ran out of Indian dresses to wear as non-repeat I am sure I am not the only one! :-) Thanks to the Taste of India that helped restock the wardrobes for many!! We continue getting an overwhelming response and support from the community on these editions of Newsletter. Our effort continues to deliver content that is absorbed by the entire community across all age groups, and create enthusiasm to participate in all the events that are for you all. This year, we have delivered few on demand tasteful programs in addition to what our events calendar captured at the beginning of the year. Along with leadership team, we are thankful and want to acknowledge the contributions of our community members who are committed and continue to volunteer to enable us to be excellent. Go Volunteers! CCI Facility Rental Cultural Center of India has 20,000 sq. ft. event space which includes ball room for 500+ people for banquette, very large performing stage, dining hall for 250 persons and full commercial kitchen. Also, it has parking for @300 cars. It is located in very prestigious iron bridge subdivision off Route 10 near Wal-Mart in Chester. many organizations uses it for the prom night, charity and non -profit fund raising, weddings, and social celebrations, etc. Rent is subsidized for all communities. We do allow your caterer to serve the food and drink. Please call Nita Pansuria for your reservation 804-536-2524 Cultural Center of India, Virginia (cciva.org) The Outreach, January 2017 Volume 1 Issue2 9