Is it going to be Dean, Kerry, Edwards, Clark, Lieberman or Kucinich? Undecided voters got a chance to listen to all the representatives of these candidates at the home of Karti and Mohan Chandra in New Hamphire. The India Association of New Hampshire conducted this all town meeting with Niharika Acharya of Voice of America doing a televised shoot of the proceedings for a feature on Aaj Tak , a 24 hour Television channel in India.

IANH members and volunteers had been busy the entire day working at the soup kitchen in chilly temperatures and serving hot meals to more than 100 to 150 of the homeless before finally converging here at the meeting. As many as 40 people turned up here to hear from various Democratic Presidential campaign representatives.

Ms. Mini Timmaraju, Executive Director, New Hampshire Senate Democratic Caucus addressed the audience and served as the moderator. Dr. Vanita Shastri, President, Indian American Forum for Political Education - Massachusetts chapter spoke about the Forum’s various activities for the year. Mr. Prithvi Kumar, Dr. Tej Dhakar, and Mr. Himanshu Desai of IANH coordinated the meeting.

Mr. Vijay Batra, Delegate to the Democratic National Convention for Gen. Clark said he was attracted by Wesley Clark’s humility and was certain that he would not behave like a politician by making empty promises. Dr. Ravi Pandit, Associate Professor School of Hospitality, Southern New Hampshire University representing Sen. Kerry Campaign called Kerry ‘hotter than curry’ and a longtime survivor and felt he was the right candidate with the right credentials. Mr. Siddharth Das, Delegate to the Democratic National Convention for Gov. Dean spoke passionately on Dean’s early opposition to the war in Iraq and to the Patriots’s Act and asked voters not to be confused. Ms. Madhuri Tallapragada, Volunteer for John Edwards Campaign called Edwards as a man with a compelling story to tell that touched a chord in her and was all praise for his wife Elizabeth. Mr. Himanshu Desai gave a brief introduction to Rep. Kucinich’s candidacy and clarified the information about voter’s status that may register as independents but would like to vote for a democrat. Ms. Timmaraju provided literature from Sen. Lieberman’s campaign.

Toby Chowdhary said that his guiding principle in choosing a candidate has always been “ what would Mahatma Gandhi do ? “ and promptly said that in his case he thought John Edwards to be the Right candidate. The members then participated in open discussion on topics ranging from Gen. Clark’s party switch to effectiveness of Gov. Dean and Sen. Kerry to voters in November. Gargi Das, a passionate campaigner for Dean put forth some forceful arguments. Shanti Nair , a member asked for information on issues that were pertinent to the community. The event was recorded for television broadcast to audiences in India through “Aaj Tak” channel. Niharika Acharya who televised the entire proceedings said that she had come to cover the primaries for the Indian audience but the focus was on how the local Indian American community is involved in the political process.

A report with input from IANH.

India Association of New Hampshire hosts dinner service at Manchester Homeless Shelter

Press Release Fourteen members of the IANH Public Service group visited the New Horizon Shelter for the homeless in Manchester on Sunday January 25 to cook and serve hot meal to over 200 guests. An IANH member paid the entire cost of the meal. IANH had successfully hosted a similar event last summer.

The volunteers were divided into the dinner preparation and counter service teams. Vandana Dhakar, Kala Kumar, Prithvi Kumar, Rita Batra, Usha Dasari, Vijay Mehra, Nagendra Bhanu, Ninder Singh, and Gurmit Kaur of the dinner preparation team started their assigned duties at 10:00 AM. The team prepared lentil vegetable soup, vegetable lasagna, garlic bread, and fruit salad.

Barinder Ahluwalia, Padma Mathur, Sarwan Aggarwal, Vijay Mehra, Sima Mazzu, Prithvi Kumar, Tony Epaphras, Ajit Kumar, and Lalba Rani of the service team set up the tables and served the meal at 4:00 PM. The shelter provided beverages. This event was recorded for broadcast to audience in India through “Aaj Tak” Television channel and Voice of America.

Our next dinner service is scheduled for Saturday May 22 at the Nashua soup kitchen. Dinner service at the local homeless shelter is one of IANH core Public Service activities. Additionally, IANH members donate food and grocery items to the shelter every month. Members leave these items at specific drop off locations in Manchester, Bedford and Nashua, which are then collected and delivered to the Shelter.

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