The Uttaranchal Association of North America (UANA) came to Boston  to hold its seventh annual convention at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology campus on July 23, 2005. The day-long series of events that included a seminar and colourful evening cultural program, drew over 250 people from all over the Eastern United States and Canada to share in celebrating the culture of Uttaranchal, one of India's Himalayan states.

UANA has been bringing together families and individuals for such events since 1998. This is the second time the Boston Chapter has hosted the convention, repeating the great success of the third convention that took place in 2001. The convention was also a sort of homecoming for the seminar section of the convention, as it was originally initiated by the Boston chapter also in 2001.

This year the seminar briefed the audience about the general situation of Uttaranchal, as well provided a space for various projects and campaigns to present their work. In his introductory remarks, Jaspal Singh, one of the Boston organizers, pointed out that in a survey that was held last year on the occasion of the 4th anniversary of the formation of the state, a large majority expressed disappointment. Most of those surveyed saw little change, except for increased pollution, congestion, crime, and corruption that has accompanied rapid development. However, Jaspal also described three positive outcomes including the formation of a smaller government closer to its people, a literary renaissance in the regional Garhwali and Kumaoni dialects, and drive amongst the people to take advantage of the fresh beginning afforded by statehood and its affirmation of a regional identity.
Rajiv Rawat, a graduate student at York University, Toronto, Canada, gave the first presentation of the day on the Nanda Devi Campaign. He showed a video he had put together over the past year on the local people's struggle for sustainable livelihoods in the park lands surrounding the Himalayan peak of the same name. He also encouraged the audience to visit the web site www.nandadevi.org that he had also designed to support the campaign. Rajiv was one of the lead organizers of the previous 2001 convention in Boston and had returned to the US for the expressed purpose of participating in this seminar.

Jack Croucher, a graduate of MIT and native of Cape Cod, reported on the work of Appropriate Technology India. Formerly a Peace Corps volunteer assigned to Uttaranchal in the 1960s, Jack has continued to travel between Massachusetts and the Himalayas on a yearly basis. During this time, he has been engaged in efforts to improve the living conditions and livelihood of the people. His projects have included organic honey collection, silk weaving, and various other eco-friendly micro-enterprises. These endeavors had been given a small grant by UANA to further consolidate these efforts and Jack was very pleased to give an inspiring update on the progress achieved by these endeavours.

Manisha Sharma, an Association for India's Development (AID) Boston Chapter volunteer, made a detailed presentation about AID's work and philosophy as well as the two projects that its partners (Jeevan Saathis) were carrying out in Uttaranchal. AID is well known among Indo-American college students and professionals for the high quality of its development work in India. In her PowerPoint presentation, Manisha talked about various interrelated aspects of their work and projects inspired by the SEVA (service), SANGHARSH (struggle for justice)  and NIRMAN (creation). She also provided a detailed biography of their highly skilled partners that included an eminent Indian woman mountaineer and a joint PhD-MBA degree holder in environmental management.
Rounding out the presentations, Dr. R.S. Bakhuni, a director of UANA from Ohio, gave a report on his educational project called GYAN. The aim of the project was to provide training to the children of his village and other neighbouring villages that would enable them to compete with the children from big cities. While small scale, his project has been funded almost entirely by his own considerable out-of-pocket expenses, which has included the building of a school centre and the paying of salaries of qualified school teachers.

On the whole, these presentations generated a lot of interest and discussion amongst the participants and their friends. Meanwhile, other convention attendees had the option to go on campus tours of Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Others still took in the various sights of Boston. In the afternoon, Mike Dwan and Namrata Kaur led a workshop on Bhangra at the cultural program auditorium which was a success for both chidren and adults. This was followed up by the setting up of exhibits and displays of various projects and organizations such as the Nanda Devi Campaign, AID, Child, Relief, & You (CRY), and Gangadham, a commercial theme park venture in the sacred city of Hardwar.

The evening cultural program itself was a great success with children storming the stage to perform both traditional Himalayan dances and more contemporary Bollywood flavored numbers. Hosted by Pushp Kumar, the coordinator of the Boston chapter for the last four years, the program boasted almost four hours of acts, the majority from the New England and New York/New Jersey/Pennsylvania Tri-State regions. Gorgeously dressed in a diverse variety of costumes, girls also dominated the show with their choreographed dance moves.  By the end of the evening, the audience had joined the dancers on stage, bringing to an end one of UANA most successful conventions thus far.Bollywood Cafe of Lexington catered the event, while decorations were proved by Alankar Decors of Northboro.

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