Lokvani is beginning to prepare for its grand Tenth Anniversary Gala to be held on September 9, 2011 at the Westin Hotel in Waltham. (Click here to buy tickets) . We are planning a grand one of a kind event that we hope will be memorable and enjoyable.
Manju Sheth and Anu Chitrapu, two leading members of the community are the event co-chairs. They have shared their views on why they agreed to co-chair this event and how they plan to shape this gala.

Manju Sheth:
Manju Sheth is a  physician with a passion for women’s causes and  a strong commitment to give back to the community. She works with several organizations and is on several committees of local organizations & charities  like Saheli, ATASK -Asian task force for domestic violence,Indo American Political Forum among many & also work closely with Indian Medical Association of New England as a Secretary, Chair of Culture Committee & Co chair Of Indian Women Physicians Forum. She has been involved in planning of many successful events & fundraisers in the community. Manju is  married to Dipak Sheth, also a physician and have a 13 years old daughter Shaleen.

What made you accept the Lokvani @10 co-chair position?
Lokvani team is very close to my heart.I have had the good fortune to work with this team several times in last few years and have learnt so much from them. Their passion for the community & unconditional support has always inspired me, so it was a huge honor for me to be asked to cochair this event .I know this is their first big event, the important celebration of 10 years of Lokvani and I was very touched by their faith in me .

Can you give us a description of the event with some highlights?
It is the celebration of the community and also a lot of fun at the same time. Lokvani main theme is Muse Mosaic Masti which is tied very beautifully because they inspire the community, and truly represent a mosaic of the same. The Masti is important for the evening with the party of medieval magic along the lines of Jodha Akbar movie. We also plan to have lot of music & dancing... One major highlight leading to the event is that Lokvani invites all its readers to nominate their favorite groups and individuals in an online Spotlight contest that will be ongoing through the next 8 issues. Check out the first category right here in this issue and cast your nomination!

Can you talk about how you perceive Lokvani to be a community tool?
Lokvani as the name goes has been the voice of SA community for last 10 yrs ,whether it is a little kids achievement, opening of a new restaurant, Diwali event  or Mega bollywood star like Aishwarya Rai visiting Boston. Lokvani covers it all with same passion & zeal. Everyone is important and I love the encouragement that Lokvani team provides to the community. It is very inspirational. It is also great to work alongside Anu.

Would you say Lokvani had an impact on you? If so, can you elaborate on how it did so?
I have been very blessed. Lokvani has always helped me all my community events so whether I am doing a health workshop, leadership event, one for empowerment of women or working with Intergenerational theme events, they have always helped me get the word out so I can teach people about all I know & also learn from them. It has helped me get so many opportunities to learn new things and provide a platform to share it with everyone. I am very grateful for that. On a personal note of course the friendship has been very special for me .

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Anu Chitrapu:
A resident of Belmont, MA, Anu Chitrapu has lived, studied and worked in the Boston area for over 20 years now. She received her MBA from MIT Sloan and is an an active member of the MIT Sloan Alumni group and enjoys mentoring and helping applicants to MBA programs – especially South Asian women applicants! She is a Senior Vice President at a global financial services firm and focuses on general management and technology strategy. She also serve as President of Vision-Aid, an organization that seeks to provide technology skills and tools to the low-vision, underprivileged population in developing countries. Outside of work, she is interested in social entrepreneurship with a special interest in public-private sector partnerships to promote social causes. Anu Chitrapu lives in Belmont with her husband, Rama Ramakrishnan (an entrepreneur), and her two children Rahul (13) and Anjali(10).

 What made you accept the Lokvani @10 co-chair position?
 When Lokvani first started and I heard about it from the founders, I thought it was a great idea and filled a gap that all of us South Asians in the Boston area experienced directly. Through the last 10 years, Lokvani has celebrated the achievement of the South Asian community with the founders attending and covering every event of interest to us.  Lokvani was and continues to serve as the channel through which we stay connected.  To be asked to co-chair such an organization’s 10th anniversary celebrations is an opportunity that I just had to accept. I also cannot discount the fact that the Lokvani founders are all very good friends of mine and a celebration of their brainchild is a celebration I want to be a part of! Last, but definitely not the least, I get to work with co-chair Dr. Manju Sheth, a good friend and well-known community leader.
 
 Can you give us a description of the event with some highlights?
 First and foremost, this event is a celebration of the achievement of every South Asian in the area. In fact, the inspiration for Lokvani was this rich and growing set of accomplishments, which needed to be shared and documented. So really the South Asian community serves as the “Muse” for Lokvani. As a result, you can think of Lokvani as a mosaic made up of several pieces that are very diverse yet with much in common.  And of course, in typical South Asian style, we will celebrate the muse and the mosaic with deserved fun or masti! So the Lokvani 10 event is being defined as Muse, Mosaic, Masti!
Lokvani will honor some of their early supporters and recognize several community achievements at the event, we will relegate the audience with the story of Lokvani and tie everything together with some entertaining singing and dancing. To know exactly what else will be offered on that day, you need to come and attend in person. Having worked on the agenda, I can promise you this – you will not want to miss this history making event!
 
Can you talk about how you perceive Lokvani to be a community tool?
I think of Lokvani as a chronicle of South Asian history in the Boston area. Years later, if one looks back at this period, they can find every significant event involving South Asians in the Boston area, in one or more of the Lokvani issues.  It is the web that connects all of us – be it through event, articles, interviews…what have you.  I think I can safely say that most of us turn to Lokvani when we want to learn more about an event or if we want to publicize an event and that to me shows that Lokvani is the community tool for us South Asians.
 
Would you say Lokvani had an impact on you? If so, can you elaborate on how it did so?
 I can definitely say it did and continues to do so. It was through Lokvani that I have been able to build my network of likeminded individuals who are ready to help with any cause related events. Every year, for the Vision-Aid annual fund raiser, we write an article in Lokvani as a curtain raiser to the event, and every year unfailingly I have had volunteers reach out to me with an offer to help – all because of the article. Lokvani has provided me a forum to write about and bring together people to help me with my cause related activities.  My favorite proof of this is when Lokvani shared an NDTV link of a farmer boy from Andhra Pradesh who had got into IIT Madras. My parents are originally from Andhra Pradesh, and my father grew up in a farm there so when I told them about the story, they contacted the boy over the phone using the number that was in the link and they offered him a place to stay when he came to Madras for counseling. As it turned out he stayed with a relative, but the fact that I was able to connect my parents to him, sitting here in Boston, is so amazing!

Personally, I love the interviews of entrepreneurs and community leaders and feel that every such interview published inspires me to try harder to achieve and reach heights that I did not think were within my reach. And that is because I can associate with these leaders – they are just like you and me, except they set some very high goals and reached them. And if they could, then I feel like I can learn from them and do it too.
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