The Indian community of the greater Boston area welcomed Hon. Ambassador R. S. Jassal, Deputy Chief of Mission, Embassy of India, Washington, DC on Monday January 9, 2006 at the Bombay Club in Cambridge, MA. Ambassador Jassal had recently served as Indian Ambassador to Israel and Turkey. The event was coordinated by M. Rajinikanth - President, and Anupam Wali - Past President of the Indian Association of Greater Boston (IAGB). Some of the other members of the community attending the event included Dr. Poornima Sangal, Shiv Kapuria, Vinod Kapoor, Chand Pasha, Dr. Narendra Shah, Usha Vakil, Kuber Sampath, and Ravi Sakhuja.

“It is a waste of an opportunity if one visits a city and not interact with members of our community,” said Jassal. The last time he was here was 17 years ago. “In 1988, it was difficult to represent India. India was in near economic catastrophe, there was insurgency in J&K, and the community here was very small. Since then a lot has changed. India is seen as a player in the global scale, and we have the Open Skies and the Defense Framework agreements in place, and are preparing for President Bush’s visit to India,” said Jassal.

Ambassador Jassal talked about the Indian civilization and attributed India’s some of India’s current success to India as birthplace of eastern religions and its ability to adapt to foreign cultures, the taxation system, the link to trade via the silk and spice routes, and its multilingual society.

Ambassador Jassal emphasized that dual citizenship is now a reality and the details are available on the Indian Embassy’s website at www.indianembassy.org. In addition, the updated website discusses the July 18, 2005 framework and many other topics of great interest to the Indian American Community.

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