India Association of Greater Boston (IAGB), one of the long standing non profit organizations in the area holds the distinction of an annual tradition for many years. This is the celebration of the Republic Day and the Independence Day of India with a spectacular show of cultural proportions that is enjoyed by all the residents in the area.

This year too as in the past, IAGB Annual India Republic Day Celebration will be held on January 28^th at the Lexington High School Auditorium at 4:30PM. Admission is free and by RSVP only. For more information, log on to www.iagb.org. In its recent elections it elected its  2005-2007 Executive Committee (EC) with Rajinikanth as President,  Dr. Vinod Chungi as the Vice President, Pradeep Audho as the Treasurer and Amrit Soni as the Secretary. Mohan Dali, Rita Shah, Usha Vakil and Vijay Vaswani were elected to continue as the Directors. Additionally, IAGB inducted 5 new Directors, Sutanuka Basu, Zehra Khan, Aditi Taylor, Dr. Sunil Mhaskar and Dr. Deodatta Shenai. The committee is further strengthened by Dr. Anupam Wali in the Advisory Committee and Ranjani Saigal and Sunita Malhotra in the Cultural Committee.

Lokvani spoke to IAGB’s President M Rajinikanth on the plans and activities of the organization.

Q. What are the plans for the upcoming Republic day event that is being held on January 28^th, at the Lexington High School?

Honorable Representative Susan Pope, representing Lincoln, Sudbury and Wayland in the Massachusetts House has accepted to be the Chief Guest. This year we are trying to streamline the arrangements for seating at the auditorium to minimize confusion. The entry is still free but we urge attendees to RSVP for this event through our website www.iagb.org. The advantage is you will be assured of a spot and it will allow us to organize the event smoothly and efficientely keeping in mind the school's fire codes etc.

Q.  Will you have tables for non profits and profit organizations in this event?

We will continue to have tables for Profit and Non Profit organization. Money earned from these tables along with the event brochure advertisements is the main source of IAGB funds to bring these wonderful programs to the people. Given that IAGB itself has tight budgets and its events are free of charge, we find it difficult to have any stalls without charge.

Q. What are the challenges that IAGB faces in the year 2006?

IAGB has good name recognition and its cultural events have become extremely popular. Our challenges on this front are several. Our Executive Committee is made up of individuals from varied backgrounds and brings a wealth of knowledge and ideas to continuously improve IAGB and its activities. We should strive for a better overall experience for all those who attend our events. We should expand the cultural programming to add at least one more event, which might be focused more on the musical performances given that the current events are dance oriented.

One of our longstanding challenges has been to increase our membership so that we can achieve all our goals.

Another big challenge is to cater to the needs of the high school age Indian Americans. The youth in general and high school kids in particular need greater participation in IAGB activities. IAGB in turn needs to come up with plans/events to meet their needs.

17. Will there be any particular focus this year?

IAGB will focus on starting activities for the Youth Group, attracting new members and making its Cultural Programs even better.

Q. Does IAGB collaborate with local organizations?

IAGB has always prided itself on being close to the regional organizations such as NEMM, NEKK, Gurjar, etc. Last year, we introduced a new segment in the Republic Day cultural program to focus on a region in India. Last year we started with the state of Maharashtra and will continue this year with another focus segment.

We always try to communicate with all the regional organizations as much as possible for cultural events and also any special events such as hosting Officials from Indian Consulate or Embassy.

Q. In conclusion how are organizations like IAGB relevant to the Indian American community? Has the community come of age and what are its strengths and areas that need attention?

IAGB is becoming important because the Indian American Community is growing very rapidly. This community is in a transition phase in that more and more of the population is born and brought up here versus being immigrants. Today’s Indian American kids want to be in touch with their Indian heritage while being a normal American. IAGB believes that its cultural events are a great outlet for the kids growing up here to showcase their Indian Heritage. Having said that, we at IAGB recognize that we need to continuously adapt to the needs of the Indian American community.

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