MAACS guests with Ravi Rawat president. (L to R) Dr. Yesh Amin, Naren Patel, an awardee in Gandhi cap, Beena Patel a community activist and Ravi Rawat
CHICAGO: Ravi Rawat, president of the Midwest Asian American Center (MAAC) said here that his organization had successfully helped 1500 immigrants gain USA citizenship and thus, pushed a process of integrating minority Asians in the mainstream society and mainstream political process.
Rawat was addressing 300 plus guests, invitees and MAAC members during an annual fundraiser gathering at India House banquet hall in Schaumburg on October 2. This being also the birth anniversaries of two Indian leaders, Mahatma Gandhi and Lal Bahadur Shastri, MAAC decided to honor them with a grand celebration lasting close to three hours. Illinois Secretary of State Jesse Jackson was the Chief Guest while Mayor of Hoffman Estate, William McLeod and Director of Illinois State Department of Professional Regulations, Dr. Yash Amin were special guests.
Rawat detailed the line of activities that MAAC rendered and continues to render even now. He said that “the Center with the help of 27 volunteers provides free English classes, citizenship classes, offers computer training, after school and summer programs and organizes educational and field trips for students and families to cultural locations in Chicago and out of Chicago.” Besides, it also hosts special presentations on health topics like preventive health measures, nutrition, screening for Hepatitis diabetes, Alzheimer and cardiovascular diseases. He indicated that his organization would pick up in coming years many more programs rendering service to the Asian Americans community.
The program started with the social hours at 6-30 pm and this was followed with the singing of National Anthem by Expo Tagyap from Secretary of State’s Office. The Indian Anthem was in the form of a candle dance choreographed by Mrs. Deval Vyas. The dance was performed by Deval Anjali Vyas, Vinayaka Amin, Maliha Amin, Ritika Rawat, and Nikita Raheja while Reet Rawat was holding the Indian Flag up in his hand and hoisting it. This was followed by a dance performance on one of the favorite bhajans of Mahatma Gandhi: Raghupati Raghav Rajaram….. by Kavita Munshi and Sonal Thakkar choreographed by Mrs. Pika Munshi.
Vandana Dalal, Executive Director of MAAC, welcomed the guests and dignitaries for their support and promised the audience a wonderful program ahead. She introduced Secretary of State Jesse White who in his brief address eulogized the contributions made by Mahatma Gandhi for making the world a better place for humanity. He also recognized the services rendered by Indian Americans here to the society and then distributed awards along with Yesh Amin to prominent Indian Americans. Vandana Dalal also introduced Master of ceremony Jairaj Bhatia. Laurie Martin came up with a power point presentation about MAAC’s past, present and future activities.
Keynote speaker Jesse White admired the MAAC board members for perusing the noble cause and announced amidst applause his continued support to this organization. Dr Yash Amin in his address observed that the programs offered by MAAC were the need of the time and offered support for its future endeavors. For the award ceremony Jesse White and Dr Yash Amin called upon the awardees on the podium. They were: Naren Patel CEO of MedStar Labs, Ayodhia Salwan chairman Hari Om temple, Ramesh Soparawala Editor India Post and Mrs. Shaila Khedkar, versatile singer.
The subsequent mind boggling performance by Jesse White Tumblers created a sensation and the entire atmosphere got vibrant. Jesse White’s presence at the floor and his participation at the end were highly appreciated. The breathtaking acrobatic movements of the team lasted 30 minutes.
October 2 being the 141st birthday of Father of India Mahatma Gandhi and 108th birthday of Late Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri, it was celebrated by cutting of a cake by Jesse White and others. Jodh Singh Rawat, a long time Gandhian narrated some of the quotes about Gandhiji by world personalities like Lord Mountbatten, Einstein, Bernard Shaw and others. George Bernard Shaw said “God talks to Gandhi and Gandhi talks to us.” The audience was overwhelmed by listening to all these quotes.
A group of Gandhians headed by Jodh Singh Rawat was noticed distributing Gandhi caps with a message “Give Peace a Chance & Save the Planet.” What touched the heart was that every second person at the event was wearing these peace caps, including Jesse White and the Hoffman Mayor McLeod.
Rawat said that these caps were sponsored by Raj Goyal of Shama Travel, Dr Indrajit Patel, Dr Kamal Patel, Medstar Labs, Dr Bharat Barai, Jagmohan Jayara, Mr. Gautam & Mrs. Jyoti Parikh, Mike Kalaria, Larry Detroja, Ayodhia Salwan, B& G Auto, Jetender Diwankar and Meghna Jewelers.
The event moved forward with a scintillating dance choreographed by Gemini Bhimani and performed by local artists. ‘The Row,’ a dance performance by Kavina Munshi, Krupa Kadiwala, Bhavi Shah, Kruti Kadiwala, Parita Shah, Parin Shah was choreographed by Kavina Munshi while the subsequent solo performance was by Mrs. Deval Vyas on the song Madhuban me Radhika nache re. Mrs. Shaila Khedkar enthralled the audience with her old and new melodies Raffle was another attraction of the event. Bob Patel was the lucky winner of American Airlines roundtrip ticket, which was the first prize while Mrs. Monjila Alim was the runner up with an I Pod Video.
Kishore Chug, Director of MAAC, proposed a vote of thanks to all the attendees and sponsors.
Omar Sheikh
