President’s Message

Jai Jinendra!

Thank you very much, each and every one of the donors, for your generous donation and overwhelming support for the Kachchh earthquake relief fund.  We have collected over $425,000.00 thus far and have far exceeded our expectation! All the credit for this goes to individual donors and dedicated members who made all the efforts to collect the contribution for earthquake victims, from members as well as non-members, on behalf of KOJAIN. It is heartening to note this spontaneous support and generosity from all the donors and volunteers.

We are especially thankful:

To college students for raising funds on college campus
To school students and their parents for their fund raising efforts in schools
To members for organizing the Earth Quake fund raising event
To doctors for raising funds from the hospital staff, nurses and their colleagues
To all our dedicated members who have raised funds from their colleagues and their corporations

KOJAIN was very successful in generating this overwhelming support because our organization has a strong base and much of the credit goes to Harilal Shah (our past president) and his team for laying the solid foundation for KOJAIN. Our team has tried to make it a stronger organization and we hope that new team will take it to the next level and make it even stronger.

You might have seen on our Website the list of fund distribution; the updated list has been printed in this newsletter.  We have been in communication with the NGOs from Kachchh right after the earthquake and have used the following criteria for distribution of funds.

We have honored the request of the donors for the earthquake project of their choice, provided. recipient organization is a non-profit organization working on earthquake project.

News from Region 1:  Southern California:

q       Matrimonial News: 

Congratulations to the newlywed and their families:

·         Parag Praful Shah and Hetal Manahar Gala got married on January 21, 2001.

·         Dr. Rajeev Shantilal Gala and Darshana Vira got married on 1/4/01.

·         Purba Dilip Pal and Kurus Aelavia got married on December 11, 2000.

Congratulations to the following engaged couples and their families:

·         Sneha Harilal Dedhia and Ajay Parikh got engaged on November 23, 2000.

·         Samir Hemant Nagda and Alisha Shah got engaged on June 10, 2000.

q       New Arrivals:

Congratulations to the new parents:

·         Munjal and Dimple Chheda are proud parents of a baby boy Dhruv on February 16, 2001.

·         Mitesh and Zeenat are proud parents of their second child Avinash on November 20, 2000

·         Welcome to Vishal Bhaskar Dharod of San Berdino. Vishal comes from India to join the University of San Berdino from March 2001 to complete Master of Computer Science.

·         Welcome to Surji & Urmila Gada coming back from Japan after several years.

q       Educational Achievements:

Congratulations to the students and their parents for completing the under graduate degree:

·         Bhavin Jitendra Shah completed the B.S. in computer science from the University of Southern California in May 2000.

·         Sasha Bharat Gala completed B.S. in Sociology from the University of  California Berkley in June 2000.

q       Tapsvis of Last Paryushna:

Southern Californian Kachchhis and Jain Center of Southern California celebrated a successful completion of “Shrenik Tap” by our own Shri Ashok Savla.

In “Shrenik Tap” Ashok had started with one Upvas and one Beyashanu, then 2 Upvas and one Beyashanu, 3 Upvas and Beyashanu and continue in ascending order of Upvas and one Beyashanu till he reached 8 Upvas and Beyashanu. Then descend down to seven Upvas and one Beyashanu, six Upvas and Beyashanu in a descending order of upvas and one Beyashanu till he reached to one upvas and Beyashanu. In all, out of 79 days Ashok had 64 Upvas and 15 Beyashanu. This is a humungous achievement. He had “Mas Khaman” in the previous to last Paryushana and to his credit are “sixteen Upvas” and numerous “Athais” during past Paryushana.  We bow to this historic achievement by Ashok in U.S.A.

Congratulations to Shri Vijay Chheda, Shrimati Daksha Yogesh Gala for completing atthai  in the last Paryushana, and Harshana Ashok Savla  for completing Aaxai Nidhi Tap.

q       Sad News: 

Condolences to the following families and their friends due to the demise of their loved one:

·         Shrimati Manibai Lalji Narshi Shah passed away in Mumbai on March 27, 2001. She was the mother of Shrimati Urmila Surji Gada and Nanima of Nita Bankim Shah and Seema T.J. Johnson of  U.S.A. Manibai was eighty-five.

·         Shri Praful Tokarshi Shah passed away in Mumbai on January 8, 2001. He was the son of Laxmiben Tokarshi Shah, the elder brother of Pankaj Malti Shah, Dr. Kastur Dilip Vira, and Bharti Kishor Vira, and father of  Parag Shah of Petaluma in Northern California, all are of U.S.A.   Prafulbhai was fifty six. 

Diwali Party:  This is to inform you all that the forthcoming “The Kachchhi Diwali Party—2001” will be held on Saturday Nov. 3^rd, 2001 at Peacock Restaurant in Diamond Bar. The details will be sent in September. Please send us email address if possible, if the same is not there in last directory to: assavla@yahoo.com.  Jai Jinendra from Meena & Nalin Chheda & Jyoti & Dhiraj Dedhia.

Anyone from Region 1 which includes the state of Arizona, Colorado, Hawaii, New Mexico, Southern California and Utah, wish to share the news worthy item please contact Kalyanji Mota at (714) 956-0405 or e-mail at  kalyanjim@hotmail.com 

News from  Region 2:   Northern California:

1.     Nikita  (daughter of Harakh & Hema Rambhia,   village:  Gundala)  Rambhia  graduated in Chemical Engineering from the University of Berkeley,  Dec 2000.

2.     TAPAN SHAH   (son of  Smitaben Shah,  village: Kodai)  got married in May, 2001 with JAYSHREE DEDHIA (village: Kapaya) in Fremont,  California.

4.   Sagar Chheda (village Rayan) got married to Pallavi in Mumbai during December 2000.

5.   Over 70 KOJAIN families are residing in the San Francisco Bay Area cities.

6.   Jain Center of Northern California celebrated the First Anniversary of Jain Derasar (Bhavan), located in Milpitas, during August 4 - 5, 2001.

News from  Region 3:   Texas Area:

1.   In April, Sarita Gosar had her Bharatnatyam Arangatram. She has been
 practicing for one year, and she has actually been learning dance for 9 years.

2.   Jessica Vora went to Harvard on a trip representing the Hastings High
 School Speech and Debate Team in February for a Tournament Of
Champions  (TOC).

3.   Alpa Dilip Chheda will be graduating this summer from college with a
 degree of Bachelor of Science in Industrial Engineering. She went to college
 for five years and studied abroad for some time. She was in internship
and has a minor in Spanish and Math. She spent one summer in Mexico.

4.   Mili Gosar won an essay competition in the Houston Jain Center –
 Houston, where she won $200.

5.   Jessica Vora and Shital Gosar will graduate from high school. Jessica will be going to UT in its Honors Program. Shital will be going to a HCC

Obituary: 

Dr. Manish M. Dedhia passed away May 28, 2001 after short illness. Son of Manilal& Bhanumati Dedhia (village: Bhujpur) currently in Saginaw, MI. He is survived by his brother Dr, Param, his grand parents, several uncles, aunts and cousins in USA and India.

Kishor Chheda passed away in April 2001 after short illness. He was very much involved in our KOJAIN activity and was the first one to publish our KOJAIN directory. He served as director of KOJAIN from Chicago area.    

News from Region 8: New Jersey

Diwali Party:  This is to inform you all that the forthcoming “North East Diwali Party—2001” will be held on Saturday Nov. 10th, 2001 at Royal Albert’s Palace in Raritan Center.

The details will be sent in October by email. Please send us email address to Dinesh Chheda echheda@aol.com if you want to be informed.  To participate in program contact Vimla Chheda vnchheda@aol.com or (203) 372-4958

News from Region 9: New York

My trip to India by Chhotalal Bheddah: 

On Tuesday, April 3rd I left Chennai for Mumbai in the afternoon flight. Lex Jain came to see me at the airport. We had very pleasant discussion  about his presentation for VRTI.  Later on we were joined by Vijay Chheda and Lal Rambhia for our flight to Ahmedabad. Tulsibhai Gajra and his colleagues were at Ahmedabad airport to receive us. 

After meeting with organizers we were informed that security would be very tight and people without clearances would not be allowed at NGO Conference for the early morning session on April 5th.  Vijay Chheda and others who had come all the way had to fly back the next day to Mumbai. Tulsibhai Gajara and his friends went to Mandvi via taxi.

On April 4th our day began  early . We reached Bhuj by a 12-seater plane provided  by Raymond. Upon arriving at the Bhuj airport we were informed that the Clinton plane was late by two hours. Since we had lots of time we were taken to city for snacks and tea by Suresh Mehta and Bimal Shah. At the guest house I had the opportunity to see my sister and her two children. We  all were very happy to see each other as Nalini lives in Bhuj and was lucky to escape with her children from her fifth floor apartment on January 26th.

In the afternoon we reached the airport to receive President Clinton and the first group of delegates who had joined him in Delhi. President Clinton and a convoy of 25 cars left the airport to see Anjar, Ratnal and Bhuj. All the delegates were in three buses. The temperature was around 110 degrees. We spent the next five hours in a bus with poor air-conditioning - a fact of life in Kutch. President Clinton stopped in Anjar to place flowers where many children had disappeared at the time of the earthquake. There was only one survivor . At Lalan College campus we saw an extensive relief effort by Red Cross. The whole campus was set up with tents, supplies

flight to Ahmedabad. All in all the five hour visit in intense heat at Bhuj was exhausting but gratifying.

   After touring the area and seeing the devastation first hand we were happy to see that the life coming back . We saw that the people had enough food supplies, medicines, tents, blankets. Presently the problem now is of rehabilitation with new houses and other facilities. This will only happen when Gujarat Government removes debris and gives NGOs permits to build new houses and communities.  The April 5th session with NGOs lasted about two hours. Sushmaben Iyengar was representing Abhiyan . VRTI and Bidada Hospital were part of Abhiyan. As I had reached the hall early, I took the opportunity to distribute the updated version of material about Bidada and VRTI to the press, TV media. and important dignitaries . Vijay Chheda and Lex Jain had updated Bidada and VRTI reports on their letterheads.. The April 5th session with NGOs was broad based. President Clinton and delegates from American India Foundation [ AIF ] used this session to get as much information as possible as to what can be done from America to assist NGOs. At the end of the session, we had group photo of the delegates with President Clinton. President Clinton spent nearly an hour with Keshubhai Patel and other ministers getting additional information and the future plan by the Gujarat Government towards rehabilitation of Kutch and other affected areas. President Clinton then went to see the Swaminarayan Temple . After spending some time with Pramukhswami Maharaj, he went to Sabarmati ashram . Later he returned to the hotel for the trip to Bombay. There was a general feeling that the Gujarat Government could have done more than just one hour meeting, as President Clinton had specifically come for earthquake relief. They could have arranged a state dinner inviting the leading industrialists of Gujarat and gained substantial publicity. On the 5th - evening we left for Mumbai and stayed in Taj for the evening of 5th and 6th. I missed the early session with Sharad Pawar and lunch at Ambani's as I wanted to see my friends Vasant and Pushpa Gala. After visiting the Jain temple in Walkeshwar, we went to see Sunil Dutt at Breach Candy Hospital. He was pleased to see me.  He seemed weak after the plane accident and felt that he would have to stay at the hospital for few more weeks. The  evening of April 6, the entire who's who of Bombay were at Taj for a gala dinner in honor of President Clinton.  I was lucky to have a photo with the President and exchange pleasantries with  the man of the hour. The early morning of 7th I left for New York and arrived JFK  safely  traveling more than 25,000 miles within a week.  The tour though hectic was worth every mile

News from Region 7:  Washington, DC area

Monthly Kachchhi VIEE Group Get-togethers:

Kachchhi monthly get-togethers were held regularly every first Saturday of the month. In addition to social programs, each meeting included different general knowledge speeches by experts.  Recent topics covered were: Symptoms and Preventions for major medical diseases,  Importance of exercise and diet, Early detection and details of breast cancer, and how to improve your personality.

Educational Achievements:

Congratulations to the following students for completing their degree courses:

Jiten Maheswary for receiving M.S degree in Computer Science from Virginia Tech University

Sonal Bhavsar and Jeenal Chheda for completing High School

Alaska Land and Ship Cruise on July 6-17, 2002:

After arranging an excellent cruise in November 1999, we have arranged a land sightseeing and  ship cruise to Alaska on July 6 thru 17, 2002.  The land visit will be from July 6-10, and the cruise will be from July 10-17.  Both will start from Anchorage, Alaska.  Land package will cover luxury rail transportation, sightseeing, city tours, riverboat cruise, gold-mine tour, and  overnight stay at hotels in Anchorage, Denali, and Fairbanks.  Charges will be $1125 per person for double occupancy, and $990 per person for triple occupancy.   Group rate charges for the southbound cruise package range from $1177 to $1627 per person for the first 2 persons in the cabin; and $ 897 per person for the 3rd and 4th person in the same cabin.   Expenses do not include airline transportation and food expenses during land tour (vegetarian food arrangements will be made) .  The deadline for reservation is Oct. 15, 2001.  For further information please contact: S. Krishnamurthy at 877-457-4746, e-mail: skrish@cruise1.com, or krishsu@aol.com, or Kanti Gangar at 301-598-3093.

Vijay Chheda of Tustin, California has been appointed as convener of KOJAIN 2002 by Los Angeles Kachchhi community. The dates and place has not been finalized. It will be provided whenever available.

Scholarship01

KOJAIN is soliciting candidates for one or more 2001 Scholarship. In last three years we have awarded fourteen scholarships, with awards totaling $10,000. KOJAIN is very thankful to Nitin & Leena Doshi of Syosset, NY for sponsoring scholarship00 by donating $5,000 also Arvind and Asha Vira of New Orleans, LA for sponsoring  this years scholarship by donating $5,000 towards scholarship fund. Scholarship criteria and submission requirements are: 

Only KOJAIN members and their dependent family members (spouse/children) are eligible. Applicants must be a college first-year by fall 2000. All applicants must:

1.             have a 3.0 Grade Point Average (G.P.A.) on a 4.0  scale.  Must have a 3.0 overall, or a 3.0 for the last full year of school.

2.             be a current high school senior. Must submit a full transcript including Fall/Winter 2000 year grades.  Photocopies are acceptable.  If mailed by school, the transcript must still must be post-marked by September 15, 2001.

3.             provide one written recommendation and character reference from a teacher, counselor, friend, or a KOJAIN member (not related to applicant).  Recommendation must be submitted with application package.

4.             list and briefly describe awards and/or extracurricular services and activities on a separate page.  Provide enough information so that the selection committee will understand the nature of your activities.

5.             provide two self-addressed number 10 business sized stamped envelopes.  The first will be used to acknowledge the receipt of your completed application.  The second will be used to provide the result of the competition.  All applicants will be notified by October 15, 2001.

6.             submit a typed, double-spaced essay on any topic.  Essay must be at least one page and must not exceed two pages.

7.             provide results of American College Testing (ACT) or Scholastic Aptitude Testing (SAT), or other entrance examinations scores as applicable.

Please mail all materials and two passport size photographs (except transcript if necessary) in one package, unfolded in a 9" by 12" (or larger) envelope postmarked by September 15, 2001 to Dinesh Chheda, 14 Paris Pl., Parsippany, NJ 07054

Treasurers Report

Dear Donor:

Thank you for your contribution and overwhelming support for the earthquake relief fund. We have collected over $400,000 as of June 30, 2001.

We have already sent funding for the following projects: 

1 KVO Seva Samaj - For Ramania, Gundala, Nani Tumbdi, Vadala, Kotadi (Mahadevpuri)      $11,000
2 Bidada Sarvodaya Trust                                  $20,000
3 Yusuf Meherally Foundation                           $30,000
4 Bhojay Sarvodaya Trust                                  $10,000   
5 Shri Sangh (Ratadia Ganeshwala- Buniyadi school) $2,500 
6 Ramania School                                                   $25,000   
7 Ratadia Ganeshwala- Buniyadi School    $25,000
8 Veerayatan-School project (near 72 Jinalay, Kachchh)  $50,000   
9  Bidada Sarvodaya Trust various amounts  to (250 KOJAIN families in Kachchh)                               $50,000   
10. Bhojay Sarvodaya Trust (Mota Ratadia school and/or housing)                                                $25,000  
11 Abhiyan Sushma Ayangar                                   $20,000
12 Kachchh Ekam                                                  $11,000
13. Shikshan Prasarak Samiti                     $4,000  

Grand Total:                  $283,500

Excerpt from various Indian Organizations:
It is heartening to note that so many people of Indian origin have spontaneously come forward to help their brethren in time of distress. By grace of the Almighty the spirit of brotherhood is still intact.

Aswin C. Shroff
Trustee  -- VRTI

Your generous and well meaning donation will go in a long way in relieving the unimaginable suffering that the population is passing through. It is this gesture of fellow feeling and high sense of duty and humility of highest order which you have shown is extremely heart warming and encourages us in our activities. 

Rajendra Pasad
Trustee – Bhojay Sarvodaya Trust

Bidada Sarvodaya Trust thanks you for the generous support you provided to the earthquake victims.

Vijay Chheda
Trustee – Bidada Sarvodaya Trust

Kachchhi Oswal Jain Association of North America

Individual Nomination Form

To,
The Election Committee, KOJAIN

We, the undersigned, would like to nominate Shree/Smt_______________________, for the position checked below  (one nomination per form)

___            President

___           Vice-President

___            Secretary      

___            Treasurer

___            Regional Director for Region # ______                                               

Note: A nominee shall contest for one position only. Both sponsors and a nominee must be a  KOJAIN member as of August 31^st 2001.  One member can not sponsor multiple candidates. (For clarification and/or your membership status, contact either Secretary or Treasurer)

Sponsor# 1 Name: ______________________________            Signature/Date________________________

                  Address:_______________________________________________________________________

Sponsor # 2 Name: ___________________________________Signature/Date_________________________

              Address_________________________________________________________________________

                                    ****************************************************                       

To,

The Election Committee,  KOJAIN

I, Shree/Smt________________________ accept above nomination for the position of _________________, and if elected agree to serve in this capacity to the best of my ability for the advancement of the cause of  KOJAIN.

Signature/Date____________________________ Address____________________________________________

Please return the completed form to Jayanti Lodaya 6 Bryan Dr.  Voorhees, NJ 08043,  postmarked no later than September 15th, 2001.

The top Fifteen Donors

Visit www.kojain.com for complete detail.

Kachchhi Oswal Jain Association
14 Paris Place
Parsippany, NJ 07054

(from first page)

1.        Right after the earthquake , we have sent funds for rescue and relief  operation to NGOs like Bidada Sarvodaya Trust, KVO Seva Samaj etc.

2.        We have received 180 applications from families who have been affected from earthquake and we will be distributing funds through Sarvodaya Trust.

3.        We will be utilizing our funds for long term project like housing, schools, hospitals etc. and will be working with Abhiyan, Veerayatan, Bhojay Sarvodaya Trust, Bidada Sarvodaya Trust etc. for carrying out these projects.

We will welcome any suggestions from our donors, in writing, for the distribution of our remaining funds.  If you have any project in mind then please send us the details regarding the planned project, cost estimate and the detail about NGO who will carry out the project.  We will review the project and will consider for allocation of funds.

Once again, this earthquake relief project would not have been successful without the dedicated work of volunteers and generosity of all the donors. Your involvement, support and cooperation are very encouraging and deserve all the appreciation!

Sincerely,
Tansukh Maru
President