Community Service 2013-2014

A Note from Sanskriti of New Jersey Executive Committee
Sanskriti of New Jersey, originally known as “Asian Indians in Livingston” (AILIV), is a
non-profit 501(c) (3) organization, which was founded in Livingston as a volunteerdriven, grass-roots organization by a few dedicated individuals a few years ago. In the
last couple of years, the organization expanded from its Livingston roots, to involve
Indians from neighboring towns like Short Hills, Millburn, Summit, Maplewood, Cedar
Grove, Parsippany, Chatham, the Oranges, and others. As such, in 2011 its name was
changed to “Sanskriti of New Jersey” to represent all people of Indian origin and
heritage living in New Jersey. Presently, the organization serves an area composed of
over 3000 Indian families with more than 500 active members.
Sanskriti of NJ has stayed true to its slogan, "Bringing India to your Door Step!" by
organizing a variety of events: India Fest, Garba, Diwali Dinner, Holi picnic, Indian
music concerts, Karaoke, Sports and fitness activities, as well as fund raising efforts to
support charities in the U.S. and India.
Sanskriti of NJ takes pride in passing on our rich cultural heritage to our next
generation and offers classes for children in Indian Languages (Hindi and Gujarati)
and Indian Culture at Sanskriti School, on Sunday mornings. In addition, we run a
unique, one-of-a kind, India Immersion Summer Camp every August.
We hope to continue to grow and bring new and exciting programs and events to our
community.
We look forward to your continued support in our efforts.
Thank you.
Happy Diwali!
Executive Committee
Sanskriti of NJ
Highlights of some Sanskriti of NJ Events
Garba/Dandia, September 2014
This year's Garba and Dandia was held at the Heritage Gym on September 2oth. As with every year,
the event keeps getting larger. This year we had over 400 adults, teenagers and children dancing to
the melodious and traditional tunes of Nila Patel and Group. The hall was rocking with practically
non stop music from 8pm to midnight.. We are very proud to bring the community together for this
event. Thanks to all the volunteers and sponsors who made this event possible. For information on
next years Garba, contact Jayesh Shah, Nitin Maniar and Ketan Bhuptani
India Fest, June 2014
India Fest is Sanskriti of NJ’s annual showcase of the incredible cultural talent that resides within our
community to the audience at large. It takes place in an open air theatre staged outside the YMCA,
Livingston, NJ. This show attracts a very large audience numbering in the thousands from Livingston
and the neighboring towns. The free event includes lilting Indian music, memorable dance
performances by gifted and talented artists from the local Indian community, delicious Indian food
and drinks, handicrafts, jewelry and clothes exhibition, henna and children's games. It is truly a fun
day for all to enjoy!
Holi Picnic, April 2014
This annual event provides children, adults, and seniors with an opportunity to get into the spirit of
Holi and have fun as they color each other’s faces with gulal, shouting Holi Hai! The community got
together and enjoyed a delicious lunch of freshly prepared dosas, idlis, and other delicious foods,
special games for children, cricket for all, and antakshari competition.
Diwali Dinner and Dance, November 2013
In keeping with its annual tradition, Sanskriti of NJ celebrated Diwali by organizing a dinner and
dance evening for the community. It was a sold-out event attended by close to 300 adults and 90+
children. Guests, dressed in their Diwali finest, gathered in the beautifully decorated ballroom at
Ramada Inn in East Hanover to enjoy the festivities. They spent the evening tasting wine, enjoying
live singing, and dancing to the rollicking dance music by DJ Montu Singh. The children were kept
entertained by a juggling show by B.Happie Entertainment, various activities by professional baby
sitters, and a fun movie. Attendees were also treated to a delicious Indian buffet dinner by Rasoi. In
addition, Sanskriti of NJ had a silent auction and raised funds for Sanskriti School.
Cricket Team 2014
The community representing World Champions of Cricket, India, need to have its own Cricket team.
Indeed, we have our very own!
Our team was founded few years ago with a goal to bring the passion for this sport in India to your
doorstep. We play every Sunday from late April to mid-October every year in Livingston, and take part in
tournaments across NJ to add the spice of competition for our players. This year, in August 2014, we had
the distinction of reaching the quarter final stage of YFS tournament and were placed 9th overall amongst
38 teams from tri-state area!
Our form of play is based on ICC regulation hard tennis ball cricket. The team is fully funded by its own
members and has all necessary equipment. We play on matted surface at 25 Byron Place in Livingston,
the ground located at the Burnet Hill Elementary school.
Although we play hard to win and enjoy winning very much, every year the most fun we have is on
Father's Day when we play cricket with families from our community, including kids as young as 5 years
old!
Our current active team membership lands at 20 players, however we invite new players throughout the
year. If you think you played well in the past or are currently an active player, please don’t hesitate to
contact us. We consider a good workout on Sunday morning our priority and have a lot of fun playing the
game we love … so no skill level is barred.
To join please use the contacts below. For the upcoming season (2015) you will pay a onetime fee of $20.
Beyond that there are no other fees or equipment of any kind required; all that is required is your
commitment to play regularly on one day a week from 7 am to 10 am! The team also welcomes support
including sponsorship to sustain its activities.
For more details or to join us please contact:
Ketan Bhuptani at 973.901.6606 at [email protected] or
Rahul Shah at [email protected]
Music Concerts 2014
This year we had three very popular major musical concerts. We were thrilled to have
internationally renowned Padmashree Dr.Prabha Atre give a concert performance for us.
We started the year with Bollywood Night on March 29th 2014 with the talented doordarshan artist
Vaishali Patankar regaling the audience with old and new Bollywood songs.
The highlight of the year came on April 26th 2014 when Prabha Atre ji performed and charmed the
audience. She was accompanied by her shagird, Dr. Chetna Banawat (Vocal), Kedar Naphade
(Harmonium) and Vikas Naregal (Tabla).
We ended the year with a big bang of double concerts in vocal and an instrumental duets. We
celebrated the Dipali Mahotsav (Dipotsav) on Oct 11th 2014. The evening started with Shree Omkar
Dadarkar (SRA Scholar and Pt.Ravishanker’s shagird) accompanied by Anil Khare (Tabla), and
Suresh Benegal (Harmonium). The second half of the evening was a mesmerizing instrumental duet
performance by Shree Parthosarothy (Sarod), Shree Partha Sarathi Chatterjee (Sitar) accompanied
by Amit Kavthekar (Tabla).
We are thankful to Livingston Board of Education for the use of Heritage Middle School auditorium
(at a nominal cost) for our music concerts.
Karaoke Club
This is arguably one of the most fun event offered by Sanskriti of NJ on a continuous basis.
Approximately every six weeks passionate fans of Bollywood from our community get together and
showcase their singing skills in an informal tmosphere. They are invariably accompanied by a large
group of Bollywood fans who just want to enjoy great songs being performed live by some of their
own. Songs from new and old movies, ghazals and bhajans are performed based on a pre announced
theme of the evening.
We started the Sanskriti Karaoke club in June 2012 with a gala show attended by over 85 singers
and listeners.
The most khubsurat aspect of this event is the enthusiastic support of young singers from our
community, who are still in their teens and early twenties but have great love for main stream
Indian music. This becomes evident when they sing old classical songs effortlessly. We invite you to
join the excitement!
We arrange each karaoke evening using our modern set of instruments including Shure
microphones and Yamaha mixers and speakers. The song lyrics are projected on a large screen for
the singer and anyone else to sing along. So come out of your days of bathroom singing and join us in
our next event. For more details, please contact:
Milind Sapre (Email [email protected], Cell 551-208-2486) or
Ketan Bhuptani (Email - [email protected], Cell 973-901-6606)
Ping Pong/Table Tennis Club
Our Table Tennis program presents another excellent opportunity to play the game, have fun, have an
amazing workout and provides a fantastic network opportunity! We play every Monday from 7:30 pm to
9 pm at 47 Billingsley Dr, Livingston, NJ 07039. We play singles or doubles and are looking to expand the
program to include Saturday morning games as well.
Look for an announcement of an upcoming Table Tennis tournament for our community. We are working
on setting up logistics at this time.
For more information or to start playing please contact Ketan Bhuptani at 973.901.6606 or
[email protected] or Chandramouli Sastry at 347-587-9637 or 973-994-1059
Executive Committee Members
Advisory Committee Members
Sanskriti School 2013-2014
Sanskriti school, the educational wing of SANSKRITI OF NEW JERSEY, was launched in 2010 with the
mission of providing a nurturing environment for children to learn and appreciate the rich and diverse
cultures, heritage, and values of India in a secular environment. This all-volunteer school, currently offers
Language classes in Hindi and Gujarati as well as Indian Culture on Sunday mornings (10:00-12:00) in
Livingston. The student-centered curriculum is implemented in class with the use of interactive multimedia, hands-on activities, and creative projects. Here are some of the highlights of the school:
Enrichment Workshops: New for this year, students will have the opportunity to immerse themselves in
6 week workshops (April-June) on topics like Indian Dance, Music, Film making, Folktales, Play acting,
Cooking, Sports, among others.
Festivals: Students celebrate Indian festivals like Diwali by decorating diyas, making ladoos, rangoli, etc.
and playing Holi with gulal.
Sports: Students taking Culture class play sports/games on a regular basis. For the most part students will
play desi sports like kabaddi, kho-kho, lagori, langri taang, cricket, badminton as well games like carom,
etc.
School Library: Students love the Sanskriti school library, which is open twice a month and allows
students to check out books to read at home. With the money collected through silent auction during
Diwali party 2012, we were able to purchase books (fiction, non-fiction, poetry, mythology, bilingual) on a
variety of subjects related to India, the Indian subcontinent, as well as the Indian Diaspora in the U.S. and
around the world. As we build the library we hope you will donate used or new books to it.
Parent Portal: The school portal is up and running thanks to the hard work of volunteers at Sanskriti. A
password protected web space, parents are able to access all kinds of information related to the school:
Class calendars, homework, description of projects and deadlines, weekly summary of the class work, etc.;
School Closings (due to inclement weather); Events; Newsletter among other things.
For more information about Sanskriti school, please contact
Irma Maini, 201-602-7324, irma. [email protected]
Nimita Shah, [email protected]
Heritage Day 2014
Students at Sanskriti School participate in an annual celebration of Indian Culture based on a new
theme each year.
2014: Natural Wonders of India: Students performed skits and presented projects on the amazing
diversity of the flora and fauna, mountain ranges, river bodies, topography, and wildlife of India.
2013: Indian Food: The hall was set up as “an Indian Food Mela” where guests could sample dishes
from four different regions of India. Students showcased the regional diversity of Indian food in fun
and creative ways by quizzing the audience as well as making arts and crafts using lentils, spices, etc.
2012: Indian Weddings: Students did a dance-drama reflecting the diversity of wedding rituals and
traditions in different parts of India. They also displayed their projects on a wedding of a relative.
2011: Indian Mythology: Students performed a skit, “The Lake of Questions” from the Mahabharata
India Immersion Summer Camp 2014 (August 18-29, 2014)
Sanskriti of NJ had a very successful summer camp and got lots of positive feedback from the parents as
well as students. The camp was held during the last 2 weeks of August, when many other area camps are
closed
The camp had many structured activities and gave campers a safe, fun and warm environment to spend
their day. The camp offered early drop off as well as late pick up, extending the day from 8AM to 6PM.
Following is the synopsis of the 2 weeks:
Yoga/Meditation: Each day started with a yoga/meditation session. Most kids enjoyed this time and
actually looked forward to it.
Workshop: This section had information session on the theme of the week. This year’s theme for Week 1
was Famous Indian Personalities. This included personalities from Indian politics, (current and past
including some freedom fighters), Indian sportsmen and women, scientists, Indian artists, musicians, as
well as Indian business men and women. Kids learned about their achievements and enjoyed relevant
video clips of these famous men & women. For Week 2, the theme was Transportation in India (taught by
Irma Maini) where children learned about the various modes of transportation from elephants to
rickshaws to trains to cars. They compared means of transportation in the cities with that in the villages in
India. This section generated a lot of curiosity amongst the kids.
Music: Children learnt one Hindi song each week, which they also performed during the parent gathering
each Friday. In week 1 they learnt “Lakdi ki kathee” from a Livingston based professional vocalist, Urmi
Battu, & in week 2 it was “Nanna Munna Rahi Hun,” which was taught by a talented volunteer parent,
Archana Gollamudi. Both weeks, the kids put up a fabulous show.
STEM: Science-Technology-Engineering-Math related projects led by Erik challenged the children
throughout the 2 weeks. Each camper got an opportunity to build a rocket that actually took a flight over
40 feet! They also used their creative minds in building a platform out of straws and tape that safeguarded
a raw egg from breaking when dropped from a height from over 6 feet!
Cooking: This was a big hit again!! On the menu were chick pea salad in a lettuce boat, shev puri, bhel,
aaloo tikki roll, naan pizza Yummmm! Thanks to Chitra Rochlani for leading this segment.
Arts & Craft: This was another fun part of the camp’s daily schedule. Several interesting and creative
projects (3D Taj Mahal, paper flowers, lanterns, masks, etc.) were completed and were on display during
the parents gathering each week. The art director/organizer/instructor was the supremely creative Punam
Bhargava.
Bollywood dance: We were able to offer Bollywood Dance during week 2, which was possible due to
generous time commitment by the very talented brother sister duo from Livingston, Ashka & Sunny Seth.
We appreciate their time and enthusiasm. Children had fun and gave a great performance on Friday based
on a Bollywood medley.
Desi Sports: Without doubt, this session was one of the most popular! We played the kids favorite games
like cricket, badminton, kho-kho, kabbaddi, dodge ball, lagori among others.
We want to thank all the volunteers for making this camp a success. We also want to acknowledge Erik
Mortensen, who was the camp director and did the job very well and Erin Pilsbury who assisted Erik very
ably. Neeta Juvekar & Nimita Shah took the lead in organizing this year’s camp.
Community Service 2013-2014
Community Service is an integral part of the Sanskriti School’s curriculum. Sanskriti School children
from 5 years through 13 years participate and share their community services’ experiences with
each other. This has been another amazingly successful year of giving!
Here is a glimpse of the activities and events that the children enthusiastically participated in:
As part of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day 2014 celebrations in Livingston, Sanskriti children participated
in the following activities:
Food Drive – The children assembled 100 sustainable lunch bags and 50 toiletry kits for Bridges
Outreach organization. Bridges Outreach organization located in Summit provides meals and more
to homeless folks in Newark, Irvington and New York City. For more information, please visit http://
www.bridgesoutreach.org.
Remembering our Troops – Children remembered our troops overseas who are overseas by
writing letters/notes or adding their personal touch with attaching crafts and drawings. These were
then delivered to Operation Write Home, an organization that supports our troops in service by
sending them positive messages and greetings. For more information, please visit http://
operationwritehome.org/.
This past May, the Community Service and Sports Dads teams collaborated on a special sports day:
Fun Fundraiser– Sanskriti children raised funds for SOFKIN by participating in carom tournament,
cricket matches and water balloon games. The donations helped buy 31 pairs of school shoes for the
SOFKIN children in India. SOFKIN is a non-profit organization with the vision to equip all students
with the education, skills and character they need to lead empowered lives. For more information,
please visit www.sofkin.org.
October 2014 was the annual ‘Community Service Month’ in honor of M.K.Gandhi’s legacy of giving
back to the community:
Trash Tacklers – For a third year in a row, Sanskriti children, teachers and volunteers particated in
the clean up activity at Tulip Springs Picnic Area in West Orange. As always, it would not have been
successful with the coordinations of South Mountain Conservatory volunteers, Nicky Lazar and
Tracey Woods. For more information, please visit http://www.somocon.org/.
Thanks to all the enthusiastic teachers and volunteers who continue to grow an environment for our
children to learn, participate, and grow their appreciation and the importance of community service.
Thank you for your
generous donations and support!!
$1000 and more
Nitin & Dr. Madhavi Maniar
Dr. Mehul & Dr. Maya Shah
$150 - $499
Ram Putcha
Nitin & Renu Khandwala
Manubhai & Nimaben Parikh
Haren & Neelaxi Bhatt
Jai & Dr. Ami Parikh
$149 and under
Shailesh Patel
Manish & Smiti Bhalodia
Anurag Rochlani
Anupama Gupta
Minesh & Rajal Kusumgar