Diwali Night 2012 WHEN: November 17th, 2012 at 5:30 PM
WHERE: Rose State College Auditorium
6000 Trosper Rd, Midwest City, OK 73110
Cross Streets: Between Paris Rd/Hudiburg Dr and Tinker Diagonal
Oct 312012
Diwali Night 2012 
Apr 012012
India Association of Oklahoma
P.O.Box – 720529, Oklahoma City, OK- 73172
Website – www.iaok.org
E-mail: iaokorg@gmail.com
Indu Singh, President : 722-4631
Bobby Verma, Vice President: 285-7199
Anil Singh, Secretary: 715-1029
Vivek Khanna, Jt. Secretary: 364-0653
Meena Rastogi, Treasurer : 735-3009
Oklahoma City GupShup – March 2012
FROM THE PRESIDENT’S DESK
Dear Members and friends,
Namaste! The buzzwords this year are – Entertainment! Entertainment! Entertainment! The Association is hosting two sizzling entertainment programs for its members and friends in April. The first of these is a “Musical Nite” with acclaimed vocal sensation – Gopi Kamath from Dubai on April 21, 2012 at the Express Event Center located at 8512 Northwest Expressway in Oklahoma City. Tickets for what promises to be an unforgettable “Musical Nite’ are $25 for members and $35 for non-members. Tickets for children under twelve years of age will be $10. We welcome all members and friends to join us in celebrating a night of Indian Music from an acclaimed singer that we know so well.
Also, based on popular demand, I am happy to announce that after a gap of nearly two years, the Association will host a “Kavi Sammelan” on April 28th 2012. The event will be held at the Gujarati Samaj’s premises located at 2900 N Santa Fe in Oklahoma City.
The Executive Committee has also finalized dates for the Association’s other regular annual events. These are:
1. ‘Picnic’ June 2nd 2012 from 5:30pm to 9:00pm at Andrews park in Norman.
2. ‘Mela on August 25th from 5:30 to 9:00 pm at the Stars and Stripe Park in Oklahoma City
3. ‘Diwali’ on November 17th at the Rose State College.
The 2012 Members’ Directories are under preparation and we hope to mail these to you by the end of March 2012. If you have not renewed your membership yet, please do so urgently to ensure that the Directory is mailed out at the earliest.
The Ethics Committee of the Association is being expanded it has also become necessary to approve some amendments to the bye-laws of the Association and these are enclosed in this newsletter for comment by the members. At the end of thirty days, the Executive Committee will consider the responses received and will take appropriate steps.
I urge all of you to become involved with IAOK in whatever capacity you prefer. The IAOK is strong because of your support and contributions!
Indu Singh
President
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AMENDMENTS TO THE ASSOCIATIONS BYE-LAWS
Amendment # 1 (new) page No. 2, after article III.
Article IV A
Ethics and bylaws committee and its responsibilities:
4.1 A Definition: The “ethics and bylaws committee “shall consist of five members and is responsible to resolve any issues arising regarding interpretation of the byelaws, constitution, complaints by any member/ member of the executive committee and subcommittee. This body will act as a trustee of the India Association of Oklahoma in order to assure a fair and efficient functioning of the Association. This body will conduct a proper hearing in the presence of all the concerned parties and then decide by majority of its members. The decision of this body shall be binding for all the parties.
4.2 A The “ethics and byelaws” committee members shall be elected amongst past presidents of the Association. Total of five (5) members will be in this body. Among its members there will be a chairperson. Chairperson will be responsible for conducting, hearing and over-seeing over all functioning and performance of the Association. Chairperson will have the same voting power as any other members of this committee.
4.3 A The term of the chairperson and ethics and byelaws committee members will be for two years.
Amendment #2 page 2
Article IV
4.1.1 The Association agrees to protect, indemnify, defend or cover costs of defense for, and hold harmless its Executive Committee members, officers and volunteers, against any demand or claim for damages or liability established for damages or injuries to any person or property which rise from or are connected with or are caused or claimed to be caused by the acts or omissions of the Association, its Executive Committee members, officers or volunteers, in performing the duties and responsibilities of the Association provided, however, the Association’s duty to indemnify and hold harmless shall not include any claims or liability arising from the negligence or willful misconduct of the Executive Committee, its officers, or volunteers.
Amendment # 3 page 5
Article V
Term and election procedures
5.1 Term for the executive committee officers will be two years. At the end of two years the committee will be reelected term of president will expire and all other officers will be upgraded. (Vice president will be president, secretary will be vice-president, joint secretary will be secretary and treasurer will be joint secretary)The process of upgrading will leave a vacant position of treasurer.
5.2 Elections will be held approximately a month in advance of the yearly Diwali function based on a convenient date for the presence of most numbers of officers.
5.3 Election of Executive Committee members shall be done by Executive committee members and sub-committee members only. Nomination for the position of treasurer and subcommittee members shall be invited.
5.4 Election will be announced and Association members can be present at the time of election but shall not vote.
5.5 In case of a major objection by Association members (one-fourth of its members), any Executive Committee member will be removed from the committee a reelection for that position will be performed by the general body where all members can vote. The request to remove an Executive Committee member will be submitted to the president in written with signatures from at least one-fourth of Association members. If the officer in question is President him/herself, the written request will be submitted to the Vice-President who will consult with the past president for an action submit written complaint to the ethics and bye laws committee for appropriate action.
5.6 Members of the new executive committee will select the treasurer and the subcommittee coordinator by majority of the votes among its members only.
5.7 The new Committee will be announced toward the end of the Diwali function and via the Newsletter.
5.8 Persons nominated for the position of President and Vice-President should have served on the Executive Committee for at least two and one term(s), respectively, as voting members. The President and Vice-president can serve only for a maximum of two consecutive terms. They may serve again, in the above posts, after a gap of at least four six years. A unanimous decision by Executive Committee and the Sub-Committee can extend the term of any other officer.
5.9 Executive Committee members other than the President and the Vice-president can be re-elected to serve up to a maximum of four consecutive terms, as long as they are willing to volunteer for Association activities. Subsequent to four consecutive terms, they may serve again in the above posts, after a gap of at least two years.
5.10 The election shall be conducted by secret ballot.
5.11 5.10 If an Executive Committee member misses more than 50% of the Committee Meetings, the Executive Committee has the right to eliminate him/her from the Committee (added) with the approval of the chairperson and members of the “ethics and bye laws committee.
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COMMUNITY BUZZ
- On December 8, 2011 Dr. Gautam Dehadrai was nominated as “Physician of the Year” by nearly 3,000 employees of Norman Regional Helath System for their work and dedication to the community over the past years.
- Vivek Khanna was selected as the first ever Ambassador of the Airport Cooperative Research Program for the five state (AR,LA,NM,OK, TX) Southwest Region for a two year term beginning in January 2012.
If you have any newsworthy detail that you would like to share with the members of the India Association, please feel free to email it to one of the Executive Committee members by the end of each quarter.
INDIA ASSOCIATION OF OKLAHOMA
P.O. BOX 720529
OKLAHOMA CITY, OK 73172
Apr 012012
Coming Soon:
- “Musical Nite” with acclaimed vocal sensation – Gopi Kamath from Dubai on April 21, 2012 at the Express Event Center located at 8512 Northwest Expressway in Oklahoma City.
- “Kavi Sammelan” on April 28th 2012. The event will be held at the Gujarati Samaj’s premises located at 2900 N Santa Fe in Oklahoma City.
The Executive Committee has also finalized dates for the Association’s other regular annual events. These are:
1. ‘Picnic’ June 2nd 2012 from 5:30pm to 9:00pm at Andrews park in Norman.
2. ‘Mela on August 25th from 5:30 to 9:00 pm at the Stars and Stripe Park in Oklahoma City
3. ‘Diwali’ on November 17th at the Rose State College.
Sep 152011
MELA 2011 was indeed a successful event! Most of the crowd showed up after 7:00 PM, and surely came in great numbers as the weather had cooled some what. It seems that this Mela may have attracted more people than previously, as the whole area was jam packed.Nine food stall representing different regions of India were ready with their mouth watering food to serve and they did a fantastic job! All the hard working volunteers arrived at the park around 4:30 pm and set up all that was needed to get ready for the big event. For two hours, the volunteers worked non stop to ensure every detail was addressed.
This year we did see many locals at the Mela, along with our Indian community, all digging into their pockets for the tickets that they had purchased as they entered the park. Anil Singh was in charge of tickets and he did an excellent job. One can’t say if there was one particular stall that did better than others, but for the Indian community and as well some American that came, the samosas were the most sought after item and got ‘Sold Out’, much faster than anticipated. This was a disappointment to many. So, next year, we will know better and will order more. Just like last year, the pan stall was the busiest during the last hour. Thank you Mr. Neeraj Khanna, for this brilliant idea. The volunteers for the children’s games stall did an outstanding job. They kept our little ones and not so little ones busy and entertained.
To our excitement, positive comments were heard from all that came. For less than $8.00, they had a delicious feast and many said they had never tasted any Indian food as amazing as what they tasted at the Mela. This event needs to be more advertised to the Oklahoma City community at large.
Pictures of the event will be soon posted on the website for all to enjoy.
It would be worth while that we thank all the hardworking volunteers that made this event possible. In no particular order they are: Rakesh Prasad, Sujata Prasad, Nita Saran, Kaushal Saran, Anil Singh, Pramod Vedrevu, Deepak Walia, Vivek Khanna and his son Dhruv Khanna and Mike Lulla. There may be some others helping too and IAOK thanks all. We would like to also thank all the members for helping out with cleanup, which is always the hardest part of any event. As a team, all the volunteers mentioned above and few more, pitched in.
Mr Sakar Kutty did an excellent work with covering the mela –he is a news reporter and his article and video clip was seen in TV Channel # 801-named USA weekly news and Daily Oklahoman, Times of India, The Hindu and The Indian Exprress.
Sep 152011
