The
Fremont Hindu Temple with the Bay Area
Oriya
Community will be celebrating the 18th annual
RATHA JATRA
FESTIVAL
during
July 13 thru 21, 2010. We would like to request you
all to join us with family and friends on this auspicious occasion
to celebrate this Grand Festival of Orissa.
The details
of the Festival Program are as follows:
Sri Ganesh Pooja 2009 was performed on the actual Pooja day by the Bay Area
Odia community. We had record attendance from the community. Thank you for the
support for the community events. We would like to hear your feedback and what
can be improved for next time - please send your suggestions directly to me.
Though San Jose Goshti had the privilege of being the organizing
committee, volunteers from every Goshti helped to make this Pooja a
success - please pardon me if I have left out names of some volunteers -
it is a plain oversight.
Our community Purohita Debendra babu conducted the Pooja in an able
way and Surya bhai and Anju Appa as karta made sure all aspects of
Pooja was well planned. Lot of devotees bought flowers and bhoga
for the Pooja - we received comments from many participants on how
good the bhoga was.
In the decoration side - Madhumita didi, Tita Apa, Mita Moharana,
Amlan, Sambit, Subrat led the effort and got support from many
community members.
On the cultural activities Mita Moharana led the effort with help
from Gayatri Joshi, Tarun, Twisampati Mitra and Satyajit Sahoo. Our
sincere appreciation to the kids and parents who took the time to
practice and entertain the community.
On the kitchen activities we had lot of help - it was led by Kashida,
Amiya, Saroj, Ashish, Kishore, Biplabi, Kamal, Kamlesh, Muna,
Rajesh.... I really can not do justice on reciting names of
volunteers who helped on kithen activities, cutting vegetables and
serving. As the Pooja was performed on a Sunday, there were close to
thousand temple devotees joined the preeti bhoja. In fact lot of
volunteers joined in to start the second round of cooking as we ran
out of food.
Lot of young volunteers Ishani, Akash, Vanani, Sonali, Sanika,
Roshni and Ruhika helped out on various activities.
Ram bhai's lassi was a hit as usual. Shesa did a professional job on
the collection front and he had it all sorted out before the event
was wrapped up. Dillip's help on the on site logistics was very
crucial and timely.
Our sincere appreciation to all the volunteers that helped out to
make the Pooja a success.
Community assets:
Ganesh Murti is with Amlan
Community speakers are in the Fremont temple Saraswati hall
San
Jose Gosthi Puja Committee
December 31, 2008 New Years Party (Castro Valley, CA)
Report by Tarun Tripathy
The Bay Area Oriya New Year Party was held on Wednesday, Dec 31st
2008 at the Palomares Hills Clubhouse in Castro Valley, CA. It
was a huge and remarkable success!
The party was organized by the San Jose gosthi. The event was
marked by extraordinary high-energy dancing through the night,
hitherto never seen before. People danced non-stop to the latest
Hindi, English and Oriya hits.
There were individual dance, karaoke and stand-up comedy items
that were well appreciated. Special effects such as music
visualization projected on the wall and artificial fog enhanced
the disco feeling!
The food was amazing with home-cooked authentic Hyderabadi
biriyani topping the culinary charts! A well thought out Puja
at 11:45 PM (thanks to Anju Apa) followed by bubbly champagne
at 12 AM marked the onset of a brand new 2009. What followed
afterwards was an uncontrolled frenzy on the dance floor with
the volume pumped up to the max!
Feb.
23rd, 2008 (Fremont, CA)
Report by Tarun Tripathy
This year we celebrated Saraswati puja at the Fremont Hindu Temple
(www.fremonttemple. org). Saraswati, the goddess of knowledge, music and
arts, showered us literally with sparkling droplets from the heavens --
those who got a little wet, consider yourself lucky!
The Calnet community (once again) did it right - this time the event was
managed by the Tri Valley (Castro Valley, Plesanton, San Ramon) "gosthi" - Sapan bhai, Guli, Tiki bhaina,
Tuni nani, Sanjib bhai, Niranjan bhaina, Kamal, Dillip bhai, Suvasis,
Tushar, and Sanjib Dash. Of course, a lot of volunteers pitched right
in.
The food was scrumptious and one could see many non-Oriya guests
appreciating the various authentic Oriya dishes - ghaantaw, chanaa dal,
kobi bhaja, puri, raita, khatta, papad etc. Of course there was the
ubiquitous lassi and the much required chaa! The food department is
key in any Oriya event and this time around, a lot of hard work went
in with people working the night before.
The decoration was done by Sanjib bhai and Soma and turned out to be
beautiful. The puja was well organized with lots of people coming in
to offer pushpanjali.
The cultural program was excellent with Dillip bhai (and his team)
taking charge. There were various programs - Saraswati Vandanaa,
Classical Bandish, Group Songs, Family Quiz, Odissi dance, Oriya Drama,
Percussion and to top it off, a live band incorporating Oriya
artists from local bay area bands. Thanks to the Gurukul members,
Archana Dash, CPSD Gosthi, Mitrada, Monalisa Bebortha, and Satyajit
Sahu for directing these programs. The Oriya drama, "Michua Radhua"
stood out for it's puerility! Amidst candies flying at high speed,
the quiz was enjoyed by all. The band played many contemporary numbers,
topping it off with a sizzler from "Johnny Gaddar", with heavy bass
and a fine piece of guitar solo.
Hats off to the people who stayed back till the end to clean up and
return the venue to normal.
There is also another miracle to report -- during the Saraswati Puja,
many came forward and donated towards Lord Jagannath Sthapana. According
to Sudam bhai, already 80% of the target has been achieved. Think about
it - only Ma Saraswati could have enabled this!
Photo
Upload: In order to know each other by
face and name in this ever growing oriya
community in California, we are requesting
you all to upload your family photo in the
calnet site. This is the best way to place
each other. In a typical community events it
is very difficult to remember everyone. So
please help your community in uploading your
family photo (less than 145kb) to our calnet
site now. It is safe, secure and visible only
to calnet members . forgot password
? click
here
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