Ananda Sangbad 2022 Q3

Ananda Sangbad

A Quarterly Publication of Ananda Mandir, New Jersey July 2022

The AGM at Ananda Mandir

TheAnnual General Meeting of Ananda

Mandir was held on May 15, 2022. Due to recent surge in COVID-19, it was decided to hold the AGM virtually. Approximately 47 life members joined the meeting, which satisfied the quorum requirement.

General Secretary Arun Bhowmik started the meeting at 12:30 pm with a short welcome address to all attendees. We observed a minute of silence to remember our life members (Haimonti Chaudhuri, Pronoy Chatterjee, Provat Sinha and others) who passed away recently.

In place of Jai Prakash Biswas, the President of Ananda Mandir being away on a business trip, Arun Bhowmik presented a brief overview of various activities and our performance during the pandemic. He mentioned that even under the challenging circumstances, we did well in the areas of fund raising, major Pujas, and all routine activities of Ananda Mandir. He thanked all that worked tirelessly throughout the year.

Financial overview was presented by Chanu Das. It could be seen from Chanu’s report that financially we did very well during the pandemic year since our last AGM. We had a healthy net revenue of about $764K for 2021 (before taking into account the loan repayment amounts). There was a $200K donation by one of our life members and a donation of $100K from Merck & Co. Additionally, $170K of loan balance was forgiven by some of our loan givers. The financial report has been duly

Reported by

Arun Bhowmik, General Secretary

reviewed and certified by an external auditor. The audit report will be made available in July.

Arun Bhowmik then presented an overview of Tagore Hall finances. We had practically no income from Tagore Hall in 2020 due to the pandemic. Things improved significantly during 2021, and 2022 so far has been very good. This year, we already have over $130K of bookings, exceeding our budget of $100K for the year.

Regarding Trustee election, Kamalesh Sirkar mentioned that there was no need for an election this year since no current trustee retired, and no trustee’s term had expired.

Mita Sinha presented the Puja Committee report. All major Pujas and the monthly routine pujas were held properly following the regulatory pandemic guidelines. It was quite remarkable that all puja activities were conducted efficiently without shutting down the temple even for a day. Our Puja committee provided an exemplary service to the community during the challenging times. The Puja committee conducted over 200 private pujas to serve the community members. Total revenue collected by the Puja committee was over $316K. We followed pre-registration process for all major pujas which worked very well.

Mita thanked all volunteers for their great support. We provided numerous end-oflife rituals, and 104 shraddha

ceremonies were conducted (many times two in a day) by our priest at the request of community members.

Construction update was presented by Ashok Rakhit. The front gate has been installed to secure the property. Very attractive nameplates have been attached to the concrete pillars, the area at the gate has been landscaped. A 7 ft tall bronze statue of Rabindra Nath Tagore has been fully installed on the lawn in front of Tagore Hall. Ashok also reported that Ananda Mandir is working on starting a School for Arts and Culture (AMSOA) in our premises. Some modifications to our front house are being made to set up the school.

Sajal Mukherjee presented an elaborate report on the activities of the Cultural Committee. Ananda Mandir has established itself in the digital platform as well as live shows on the Tagore Hall stage. Very attractive programs were presented during Durga Puja, Bani Bandana, Naba Barsha, and Pochishe Baishakh. In 2022 there are plans to present a Summer Festival in June, a live JATRA for Bijoya, and some musical presentations with classical singers. Sajal mentioned the need for additional marketing to promote our programs, and the need to invite young active community members to form a “Kids Group” to manage their cultural programs.

Financial Planning, Cur-

DURGA PUJA-2022

rent Financial Status, Loan Repayment Plan– This important topic was discussed in detail by Anjan Lahiri who is involved in Planning, Budgeting and Expense reporting activities for Ananda Mandir. The total revenue for 2021 ($1.14M), generated a net revenue of over $764K after all expenses, which was truly outstanding. We were successful in lowering our liability from $3.06M in January 2021 to $1.99M in January 2022. Anjan thanked many loan givers for foregoing their loan interest which helped our bottom line, and to those who forgave their outstanding loan amounts. Based on our current status, it appears that we should be able to pay back 75% of our loan givers in 2 years which would be a great achievement.

Community service– Utpal Sengupta mentioned that we have been involved in major community service, like Blood Drive, Food Donation etc. Ananda Mandir will be providing our facilities again on August 15 for Blood Drive. Ananda Mandir has been donating canned food items each month to the Township Food Bank.

Other Committees, Accomplishments, Challenges, and Issues were discussed by Debajyoti Chatterji. He stated that there are about 25 other committees with about 100 volunteers who work behind the scenes 24/7 to keep the institution functional, clean, make sure the place runs like a “well-oiled machine”. Fund-raising Committee, Food Preparation Committee, Maintenance Committee, Publications Committee, and Community Relations Committee, are some of the committees whose work is not always directly visible, but these committees play a huge part in the overall performance of the institution. He presented an overview of the activities of the FundRaising Committee over the past three years because the Annual Fund-Raising Campaigns have brought in al-

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Ananda Mandir

Calendar of Events (Dates are subject to Change) Please check our website frequently www.anandamandir.org

Tel: 732-873-9821

NOTE: If a particular Puja time is not listed, please contact temple or visit our website: anandamandir.org

JULY(*)

RATHA JATRA

Friday, 01

BIPADTARINI PUJA

Tuesday, 05

ULTORATH JATRA

Saturday, 09

SATYANASRAYAN PUJA

Saturday, 09

SHYAMA PUJA

Thursday, 28

Sahitya O Alochana (*)

Cultural Program (*)

AUGUST (*)

RAKHI PURNIMA

Friday, 12

SATYANARAYAN PUJA

Friday, 12

SRI KRISHNA JANMASTAMI

Friday, 19

SHYAMA PUJA

Friday, 26

GANESH CHATURTHI

Wednesday, 31

Sahitya O Alochana (*)

Cultural Program (*)

SEPTEMBER (*)

SATYANARAYAN PUJA

Saturday, 10

BISWAKARMA PUJA

Saturday, 17

MAHISHASURA MARDINI

Sunday, 25

TIL TARPAN

Sunday, 25

SHYAMA PUJA

Sunday, 25

Sahitya O Alochana (*)

Cultural Program (*)

OCTOBER, 2022

DURGA PUJA

Saturday, 01 – Wednesday, 05 (See Details in Box)

KOJAGORI LAKSHMI PUJA

Sunday, 09

SATYANARAYAN PUJA

Sunday, 09

MAHA KALI PUJA & DIWALI

Monday, 24

Sahitya O Alochana (*)

Cultural Program (*)

(*) See www.anandamandir.org or Call Mandir for details

Special Religious Services:

Upon request, the priest of Ananda Mandir offers services such as in-house Shraddhas, Rituals associated with Cremations (Antyesti Kriya), Shraddha Anniversaries, Pre-wedding rituals (Naandimukh, Ashirwad, etc.), Upanayan (Paitey), Annaprasan, Wedding Ceremonies & Wedding Anniversaries, Griha Prabesh (Bhumi Puja), Consecrations of new cars (New Car Pujas) and others. If you have needs for any of the above or more, please feel free to contact Biswabhai @ 732-873-9821

Ananda Sangbad

A Periodical Newsletter

Published By ANANDA MANDIR

(A Tax-Exempt, Non-Profit Organization)

269 Cedar Grove Lane Somerset, NJ 08873

Phone: 732-873-9821

Website: www.anandamandir.0rg

***

Guru

Chakravarty

Executive Editor

All queries, articles, news reports and letters should be directed to guruchakravarty@yahoo.com

Phone: 908-752-3065

***

For general information, please contact the following executives of

Ananda Mandir:

Jai Prakash Biswas President

Debajyoti Chatterji Vice

President

Overcoming the insecurity!

Spring is here and a summer of fun and joy is soon to embark upon us. Families are planning their summer vacation to take the children to long awaited trips to the beaches, the national parks, or even sight-seeing tours out of the USA. Restrictions in air travel with regard to COVID protection are becoming optional choices. Testing for COVID is still required for international travels but not required for domestic flights.

Passengers in domestic travel still have to sit next to each other, as most people choose not to wear masks anymore.

Friends are getting invited to the evening dinner parties at home as fear of COVID infection is disappearing like a bad dream.

authorization of the applications from vaccine manufacturers this age group.

Most states no longer require masks in school districts as of March 11, 2022, although the mandates may change depending on severity of outbreaks. The staff and customers are no longer required to wear masks in restaurants, though unvaccinated individuals are strongly encouraged to do so. These facilities are now permitted to operate at full capacity, without regards to six feet of distance between the seats. Wearing masks in movie theaters is optional, unless local laws require to do so.

most significantly for groceries and automobiles. It has been tough for the automobile industry to supply vehicles, both new and used ones, which is affecting the consumers adversely.

and random violence in public spaces are continuing to bring the feeling of insecurity even in places considered to be safe.

Will life become normal as before? Unlikely, at least not in a short order.

Still, there are signs for optimism, and the insecurities are slowly melting away. The human nature urges people to be with each other, to eat, laugh and talk with others.

Anjan Lahiri Vice

President

Ashok Rakhit Vice President

Arun Bhowmik

General Secretary

Chanu Das Treasurer

Pradip Majumdar

Assistant Treasurer

Yet there is a cloud of insecurity hovering over us. COVID-19 cases are rising across the country, driven by the very contagious sub variant Omicron, according to the data from the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention. No vaccine is still available for children under age 5, although the US Food and Drug Administration is considering emergency use

Most business workplaces have been able to function with their employees working remotely, but now, they are starting to enforce their office attendances at least on a part-time basis. Manufacturing companies cannot perform without the physical presence of the workers, however, they too are relaxing their mask requirements wherever they can. Because of supply chain problems in manufacturing, prices of goods have risen in all areas,

The current state of politics has added to the sense of insecurity. While there have been ideological differences between the Democrats and the Republicans, they really did not affect the average people too much. However, the differences have now widened so much between the liberals and the conservatives, that these are creating anxieties in the community. The attack on the Capitol Hill on 06 January, 2021, was unprecedented as well as unexpected. A rock solid election system in America is now shaken to its core, and people are unsure about the voting process in the next Presidential election cycle in 2024. Partisan bickering about the Critical Race Theory, the Great Replacement Conspiracy Theory, QAnon and White Supremacy have infected the political process, fueled by the unrestricted social media. School shootings

It feels good to be in a setting where we can enjoy each other’s company and relax. The community clubs are set up to provide such settings. They are gearing up to start their usual socio-cultural activities. Together, we provide support to each other, strengthen each other. The togetherness acts as a pillar of emotional support to stand against all insecurities.

Getting involved with Ananda Mandir can help to overcome the feeling of insecurity!

Guru Chakravarty Executive Editor

A CELEBRATION OF THE LIFE OF HAIMONTI CHAUDHURI

(July 18, 1928 – May 2, 2023)

Born in Kolkata almost 94 years ago, our beloved Haimonti-di saw many dramatic transitions in both Indian and American societies and in her personal life. She came to the US in 1954 with her husband, late Naba Krishna Chaudhuri, and her two toddler daughters, Minu and Binu. Dr Chaudhuri worked as a post-doctoral researcher in Katonah, NY, for two years. The family then moved to Madison, WI, for another two years before returning to India. During these years, Haimonti-di spoke no English, had very few friends, did not drive and had to raise two young daughters. But she was highly adaptable and quick to learn, qualities that served her well throughout her life.

The family returned to America in 1963 and lived first in Worcester, MA and then in Ardsley, NY. In 2000, Dr Chaudhuri accepted a position in Ciba Geigy Research Labs and settled in Chatham to be near their beloved grandchildren, Lily and Timmy. He and

Haimonti-di also joined Ananda Mandir as Life Members, and Naba-di soon became a member of the Board of Trustees.

After Naba-da’s passing in 2008, Haimonti-di transformed herself into a strong, independent and disciplined person who was loved and admired by all who came to know her. She loved Ananda Mandir and ICC -- and attended virtually all the major events. She was a core member of Evergreen Club and tried not to miss any of the meetings.

With Haimonti-di’s passing, Ananda Mandir has lost a true friend, well-wisher and a caring benefactor. We will miss her dearly. May her soul find eternal peace.

Our sincere condolences to Minu Chaudhuri and Binu Wrynn (daughters), Paul Wrynn (son-in-law), grandchildren Lily (Frank Annor, husband) and Timothy Wrynn (Maria, wife) and great grandchildren, Jacoby Wrynn, and Charley Annor.

BECOME A MEMBER OF ANANDA MANDIR AND PARTICIPATE IN THE COMMUNITY ACTIVITIES TO ENRICH YOUR FAMILY

MEET DR. DIPAN RAY

Pharmacist, Educator, Thespian and Organizer

Early Life and Education

Dipan was born in Kalighat, Kolkata, in a middle-class family. His father was a government employee in the Food & Agriculture Department. Dipan was the youngest in a family of two sons and three daughters. When he was only seven years old, he lost his father to Hepatitis B. No vaccine was available at that time, and Dipan’s father did not receive proper medical care. This tragedy left a lasting impact on Dipan’s psyche, and from that early age, he wanted to be a doctor when he grew up, so that he could “treat and cure sick people”.

Fortunately, Dipan’s brother, the eldest in the family, was 14 years older than Dipan and had just finished his BSc degree. He found a job in the Ordinance Factory in Kashipur, Kolkata, and could take care of the family. Dipan finished his Higher Secondary exams in 1970 and received first class marks.

At that point, Dipan wanted to go to a medical college (because of his childhood dream of becoming a doctor) but family finances precluded that option. He toyed with the idea of studying Geology or Chemistry. When his brother suggested that he study Pharmacy at Jadavpur University to be “close to patients and their medical needs”, he jumped at the idea, although Pharmacy was a relatively new program at the university with uncertain job prospects. Dipan liked to study pharmacy and graduated with high marks.

Armed with his B. Pharm degree, Dipan decided to follow his close friend, Dulal, and apply for a Green Card (Permanent Resident Visa) to the US. He received the visa approval in 1974 but unlike Dulal, Dipan decided to stay back in Kolkata to financially help the family. But he nurtured a keen interest for advanced studies and research in pharmacy and wanted to enroll in the M. Pharm program. Much to his delight, he found a full-time job in Reckitt & Coleman, a UK-based pharmaceutical company (famous for consumer products such as DETOL). And he secured a Govt of India scholarship for his M. Pharm degree! This was the “best of both worlds” for Dipan because he could earn a salary while completing his Master’s degree. With this dual arrangement, Dipan finished his M. Pharm program in two years. During this period, his elder brother had to move to Hyderabad, so the financial responsibility for the family fell entirely on Dipan’s shoulders.

In 1984, ten years after his original Green Card had been approved, Dipan returned to the US Consulate in Kolkata to re-open his permanent resident visa application. He was granted a Green Card quite quickly, and soon thereafter, arrived in New

By Debajyoti Chatterji, New Jersey

Editor’s Note: From time to time, we have featured articles on exemplary members of our community and presented their life story and achievements to our readers. We have traditionally focused on successful entrepreneurs because our community has relatively few such role models. This time we are focusing on an individual who is serving the community in multiple ways. As a pharmacist-educator and a tireless advocate of public health and immunization, he is well known in the NY-NJ health care community. As a passionate stage actor-director-producer of theatrical plays, he has entertained us for many years. And as an “organizer with a mission”, he has gifted to the community the South Asia Theater Festival (SATF), an annual theatrical extravaganza, for 15 long years!

group named Epic Actors Workshop Association with this group helped Dipan’s growth as an actor. Subsequently, Dipan organized a group of his own, Smaranee, and ventured into the world of semi-professional acting. This group sold tickets to its productions and entered in national and international drama competitions, including some in cities outside West Bengal.

Early Years in America

group in NJ at that time, Dipan established NJ as the new home for the Epic Actors Workshop and began his theater life with enthusiasm.

Starting in 1997, Dipan had participated in the New York International Fringe Festival that brought together hundreds of experimental plays (and actors, directors and producers) in many languages and from many countries. He was smitten by this concept and dreamed of organizing something similar for the South Asian theater community. And organize he did, although it took almost five years for him to do so. In 2006, Dipan presented to the theater lovers in the NJ-NY area the first “South Asia Theater Festival” (SATF). He succeeded in bringing together – for the first time in America – South Asian theater groups from many states and several languages for a two-and-half day program. The festival was held at the George Street Playhouse in New Brunswick, NJ, and was a huge success. 2021 marked the 15th anniversary of this transformative theater festival.

York with $20 in his pocket as an immigrant, with no jobs in hand.

Early Exposure to Performing Arts

Besides being motivated from his childhood to serve the sick, Dipan was introduced to the worlds of poetry recitations and theatre productions by his father before his untimely passing.

Dipan’s father was an amateur but a dedicated actor in his office club productions, and Dipan accompanied him to many of the performances. When Dipan was only four years old, his father urged him to recite a poem at a neighborhood Durga Puja cultural program. A reporter from Anandabazar Patrika, a well-known Bengali daily newspaper, published a rave review, and Dipan’s father was elated. This opened totally new doors for artistic expression to Dipan. He came to realize that a much larger, and very different, world existed outside of studies and sports – and that he might excel in this world. Thus inspired, Dipan soon organized and directed a play, Mukut that involved only his playmates! Success beget success, and he started playing major roles in dramatic productions at his school.

The love for theater that had germinated during Dipan’s high school days really blossomed when he attended Jadavpur University. He met up with another theater lover, Dhruba Dutta, and they joined a theater

Upon arriving in America, Dipan’s first priority was to find a job, and the second priority was to pursue graduate studies in pharmacy. Fortunately, Dipan soon ran into Dhruba Dutta, his actor friend from Jadavpur, at a picnic in New Jersey. Dhruba helped Dipan find a position in the quality control department at Duramed, a pharmaceutical products company (located in Long Island, NY) where Dhruba was working. Outside of work, the two theater lovers began planning drama productions for the Bengali community. And in his very first year in the US, Dipan played a leading role in a play, Babuder Daal Pukurey, under the direction of Nirmal Ray at the Jersey City Durga Puja.

Dipan’s Long Island years were highly eventful. He earned his M. Pharm and PhD degrees from St John’s University, passed his Pharmacy License Exams, got married, joined industry as a research scientist, and bought a home. Even with such a hectic life, Dipan pursued theater with a passion. He networked with a number of well-known theater enthusiasts in the NY-NJ Bengali community. These interactions resulted in the establishment of a theater group, named Epic Actors Workshop, in 1988, under Dipan’s leadership. This group staged many plays, mostly in the NYC area

Birth of South Asia Theater Festival (SATF)

Dipan moved to New Jersey in 2001 to work for International Specialty Products Inc. (ISP) in their Formulations Development Department. Since there was no organized theater

Every annual presentation of SATF has required a huge amount of hard work on the part of Dipan as the overall organizer. That has ranged from inviting and screening theater groups from around North America, arranging hotel and other local logistics for the theater groups, negotiating with the venue management, soliciting sponsors and donors for funds, dealing with eager vendors for the festival, organizing an army of volunteers, etc. He was also instrumental in inviting well-known theater personalities from India as directors or keynote speakers! Above all, he had to keep a tight control over the finances because SATF was not (and is not) in the business of losing (or making) profits.

Volunteering as Public Health Educator & Advocate

While Dipan has been extremely passionate about theater, his first love has always been his childhood dream to “treat and cure sick people”. As a licensed pharmacist, he has tried to make that dream a reality by being an articulate and objective educator, a staunch advocate of immunization and other preventing steps to minimize the spread of infectious diseases, and an eager volunteer in public health crisis situations.

As a faculty member at the Tuoro College of Pharmacy in NYC, he has taught hundreds of students on the proactive roles a pharmacist can play in combating epidemics. Personally, during the COVID 19 outbreak he has appeared on numerous online pro-

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Dr Dipan Ray

A BRIEF HISTORY OF RAMAKRISHNA MATH AND MISSION

Introduction:

Talking about Shri Ramakrishna, Mr. Christopher Isherwood, a writer of worldwide repute and early practitioner of Vedanta in America said, “This is a story of a phenomenon. I will begin by calling him simply that, rather than “holy man”, “mystic” “saint”, or “avatar”; all emotive words with mixed associations which may attract some readers, repel others. (Isherwood 1965).

In November 1894, when Vivekananda was staying in the United States and was very busy in conducting public and private lectures, he wrote a letter to Alasinga Perumal (dated 30 November 1894), one of his most beloved disciples. In that letter he wrote—The life of Shri Ramakrishna was an extraordinary searchlight under whose illumination, one can really understand the whole scope of Hindu religion. He was the object-lesson of all the theoretical knowledge given in the Shâstras (scriptures). He showed by his life what the Rishis and Avatâras really wanted to teach. The books were theories, he was the realization. This man had in fifty-one years lived the five thousand years of national spiritual life and so raised himself to be an object-lesson for future generations. (Vivekananda 1894) (https://vivekavani.com/xxv-alasinga-letters-swami-vivekananda/).

What is “Vedanta”:

Very often, we encounter the word “Vedanta” whenever we visit one Ramakrishna center either in this country, or overseas including India.

Vedanta is one of the world’s most ancient spiritual philosophies and one of its broadest, based on the Vedas, the sacred scriptures of India. It is the philosophical foundation of Hinduism; but while Hinduism includes aspects of Indian culture, Vedanta is universal in its application and is equally relevant to all countries, all cultures and all religious backgrounds.

Vedanta affirms:

• The oneness of existence

• The divinity of the soul, and

• The harmony of all religions.

A closer look at the word Vedanta is revealing. “Vedanta” is a combination of two words: “Veda” meaning “knowledge” and “anta” meaning “the end of” or “the goal of”. In this context the goal of knowledge isn’t intellectual; limited in scope that we acquire by reading books. “Knowledge” here means the knowledge of God as well as the knowledge of our own divine nature. Vedanta, then, is the search for Self-knowledge as well as the search for God.

What do we mean when we say God? According to Vedanta, God is infinite existence, infinite conscious-

By Partha Ray, Texas

ness and infinite bliss. The term for this impersonal, transcendent reality is Brahman, the divine ground of being. Yet Vedanta also maintains that God can be personal as well, assuming human form in every age. Most importantly, God dwells within our own hearts as the divine Self or Atman. The Atman is never born nor will it ever die. (https://swamivivekanandafoundation.org/blog-whatis-vedanta/).

na jāyate mriyate vā kadāchin nāyaṁ bhūtvā bhavitā vā na bhūyaḥ ajo nityaḥ śhāśhvato ’yaṁ purāṇo na hanyate hanyamāne śharīre Gita 2/20

Sub-Schools of Vedanta

Broadly speaking, there are three main branches of Vedanta:

1. Advaita Vedanta

2. Vishishtadvaita

3. Dvaita

Early Phase of Planning:

After his return to India, from his first USA trip, in early part of 1897, Swami Vivekananda returned to Calcutta following a short stay at Darjeeling, with Swami Brahmananda, Mr. G C Ghosh, and others. Swamiji had long entertained the idea of starting an organization for spiritual, mental and material service with the cooperation of the monks, the devotees and the general public. He thought over the matter at Darjeeling, and now he gave a definite shape to this idea by calling a representative meeting of all the monks and devotees on May 1, 1897, at the house of the late Balaram Bose, 57 Ramkanta Bose Street, Baghbazar, and Calcutta. At this meeting, by unanimous decision a new organization was inaugurated, and in the second meeting of May 5, the following aims and objectives s were adopted.

“The association (Sangha) shall be known as the Ramakrishna Mission.

“The aim of the Sangha is to preach those truths which Shri Ramakrishna has, for the good of humanity, and preached and demonstrated by practical application in his own life, and to help others to put these truths into practice in their lives for their temporal, mental, and spiritual advancement.”

“The duty of the Mission is to conduct in the right spirit the activities of the movement inaugurated by Shri Ramakrishna for the establishment of fellowship among the followers’ of different religions, knowing them all to be so many forms only of one undying Eternal Religion.”

“The aims and ideals of the Mission being purely spiritual and humanitarian, it shall have no connection with politics. Anyone who believes in the mission of Shri Ramakrishna, or who sympathizes or is willing to cooperate with the aim mentioned aims and objectives of the Association, is eligible for membership.”

After the resolutions were passed, office bearers were appointed. Swami Vivekananda himself became the General President, while Swamis Brahmananda and Yogananda became the President and Vice-President respectively of the Calcutta center; Mr. Narendra Nath Mitra, a disciple of the Master and a solicitor was elected Secretary, and Dr. Shashi Bhushan Ghosh and Sharat Chandra Sarkar, Under Secretaries and Sharat Chandra Chakravarty, Reader of the Scriptures.

On February 13, 1898 (124 years back), the Math shifted from Alambazar to Belur (near Calcutta) at Nilambar Mukherjee’s Garden house on the Ganga. This was necessitated by two reasons. The “wretched house” at “Alambazar had received an “awful shaking” from the great earthquake of 1897. Which damaged the building. But a more pressing reason was the need of being near the plot of land meant for the permanent site of the monastery, for the purchase of which an agreement had been entered into on February 3, 1898. The plot was ultimately secured for Rs 39,000/-, donated by one Miss Henrietta Müller on March 4, 1898. The land was right on the Ganga, one eighth of a mile to the north of the above-mentioned garden house. There was much work to be done there. Fortunately, by then, Hari Prasanna, a disciple of the Master, had resigned from his service as an Executive Engineer and joined the monastery as a Brahmacharin. Two years later, on August 9, 1989, he took the vow of monasticism and changed his name to Swami Vijnananda. The supervision of the construction naturally devolved on him, while Advaitananda, persuaded to come from Varanasi, assisted him in the preliminary work such as grading the land, which was very uneven, because it had been used as a sort of dockyard for repairing small craft. There was a one storied building for dwelling purposes with two rooms on the northern side and another on the south, connected by a verandah facing the Ganga. There was also a separate block for servants. The place was scarcely habitable. Swami Vijnanananda’s task was to remodel the main building by adding some more

rooms above as well as one on the southern side. Another with a couple of rooms above to serve as a shrine and a kitchen, a store and refectory below, had to be completed before the monastery or the Belur Math, as it came to be known, could be housed there. All this took a year. Mrs. Ole Bull’s handsome contribution made the construction of the shrine possible, and enabled Swami Vivekananda to make an endowment for the monastery.

All this time the remodeling of the buildings and leveling proceeded satisfactorily. On November 12, 1898, the day preceding the Annual worship of Kali, the Holy mother visited Belur, and sanctified the new Math premises by worshipping the Master there in the picture kept in her own shrine.

The consecration of the Belur Math was fixed for December 9, 1898, though the monastery could be housed there only from January 2 next year. On December 9, Swami Vivekananda worshipped the vessel containing Shri Ramakrishna’s ashes in the shrine at Nilambar’s gardenhouse, and himself carried it on his right shoulder from there to the new premises, remarking on the way to a disciple: “The Master once told me, ‘I will go and live wherever it will be your pleasure to take me, carrying me on your shoulders, be it under a tree or in the humblest cottage”. Placing the casket on a special Asana (seat) spread on the ground, he again worshipped it and performed Homa. Then a rice porridge cooked by Swami himself was offered to the Master, and all present partook of the consecrated food.

The year 1899 saw the birth of the Bengali fortnightly Udbodhan, under the editorship of Shri Trigunatita. At a later stage the press had to be sold off owing to difficulties of management. But the journal converted to monthly from its tenth year continued, till it became the nucleus of publication of center of Ramakrishna Math.

In 1897, the Ramakrishna Mission Association founded by Swami Vivekananda, had by now existed for two years. It functioned almost wholly as a forum for discussions of religious topics under the leadership of the monks, who played the leading parts. In fact, it was becoming evident that that the monks themselves had to bear the brunt of the “Mission work” also, though could count on their lay brothers help in various matters. And when the Belur Math came into existence, the Mission as an organization, was silently pushed into the background. “The Life of Swami Vivekananda”states, “Soon after this Math was established as the central

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STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN

I have always wanted to draw or paint a picture which symbolizes our life on this earth. Let me first describe what I mean by “our life on this earth”. We can say that life is simply a collection of all experiences we go through over a certain period of time, from the time we are born to the time when we die, which results from our having five senses and a brain to process all the input. I did not want to paint real people, animals, objects or landscapes to represent life but create an abstract symbolism. Being a student of physics, my first thought was to start with the goal of graphically representing our lifespan on a spacetime plot.

It is easy to understand that, along the time axis, our lifespan can be represented by a certain segment of the axis. I can even use a bright colored patch across this segment to indicate awareness of life for a strong visual impact. Everything before our birth and everything after our death is dark in the sense that those periods are unknown to us and can be represented as black color. One can even select different colors to represent different phases of life but I would simply use a uniform bright color such as yellow or gold in my first effort.

Now let us consider the space axis. There are, of course, three space axes but to keep my picture simple, I wanted to use just one space axis to represent the extent of what we experience with our senses. Time axis can be the x-axis and the space axis can be the y-axis on a two-dimensional graph.

The interesting fact is that all of our experiences are spatially limited; as a result, during our lifetime, we can-

not enjoy everything that the universe has to offer even if we use all of our five senses to the fullest. We can only see a range of wavelengths in the visible spectrum, hear sounds with wavelengths in the audible range. We cannot see or feel really tiny entities like microbes and we are overwhelmed by gigantic objects, only being able to sense small parts of them.

Even when it comes to smelling and tasting, there is a whole array of items that we cannot detect. That is why we use hound dogs to go after smell of missing persons or criminals and there are many herbs we cannot taste. This inability can be correlated with mechanical dimensions associated with the objects being sensed. We cannot taste or smell extremely tiny beads and we cannot taste or smell the ocean or mountain ranges for example.

It is fair to say that, from a purely mechanical dimension point of view, there is a range of dimensions that are associated with our lives. This range extends, let us say, from a fraction of a micrometer to several thousand kilo-meters and all of our experiences are confined within these two limits. We may be able to use special tools such as microscope and telescope to observe things beyond this range to a certain extent but the fact is that our lives would be largely unaffected even if we could not do that.

So, if we take our y-axis to represent distance to symbolize extent of our senses our life has meaning only when y lies between two numbers, one being very small and the

the rectangular box along the x-axis, hundreds if not thousands of times. Our lifespans could vary from one incarnation to the next and therefore widths of these rectangles would also vary. The heights of the boxes would, however, be identical because if we come back exactly in the same human form, the limitations on our sensing abilities would remain the same!

those of the original box.

other being very large. This y dimension can be just the two extremes of mechanical distances which can be felt by touch, wavelength of light seen by the eye, wavelength of sound waves affecting our hearing, size of particles we can taste or smell. In our visual representation we can again paint areas on the graph above and below these two numbers as dark.

Since the larger number can be thousands of kilometers and the smaller number a fraction of a micrometer, the scale along y has to be logarithmic in nature in order for our graph to fit into a regular graph paper or canvas. I will assume, somewhat arbitrarily, that the larger number is 10^ (+10) meters and the smaller number is 10^ (-10) meters. As a result, the yvalues would be restricted to between –10 and +10 on a logarithmic scale. Our graph or picture would lie entirely between two horizontal lines, one going through the point y=10 and the other going though y= -10.

If we look at the resulting picture symbolizing life it looks like a bright rectangular box against a black background. If we believe that we have only “one life to live” then its graphical visualization is just that - a somewhat depressing prison-like confinement - a bright rectangle against a dark background!

As a next step I wondered about reincarnations. Where do God and reincarnations fit into this picture? If all of our reincarnated lives were to be exactly like our present life then we can simply extend the graph by repeating

The interval between these rectangular boxes I.e., the period between successive reincarnations varies from person to person. All the boxes would lie above the same horizontal line.

Hindu yogis have been saying for thousands of years that we do not come back to a similar life. In fact, our goal is to come back in a more enlightened state by engaging in good deeds. Also, as Sri Yukteswar revealed to Paramhansa Yogananda (Ch. 43, “An Autobiography of a Yogi”), the experience between reincarnations is highlighted by additional senses and positive (bright) surroundings. So, the regions between rectangular boxes should not be painted black but perhaps by some incandescent light and the extent of this illuminated region in the vertical direction should be beyond the boundaries of the bright boxes, signifying more heightened sensing capabilities.

By Basab Dasgupta, California continue

As we get more and more enlightened in successive incarnations the dimension of the boxes in the vertical direction would increase because we would have more than just five senses perhaps by meditation or extra-sensory perception to experience a variety of new entities. The result would be vertical dimensions extending beyond

Eventually, after countless number of reincarnations, the bright rectangular boxes would become larger and larger in height and so would be the incandescently illuminated regions between the boxes. Ultimately, there would only be an all=pervasive bright region throughout my graph paper. That would symbolize God and this state is nirvana!

Now if I try to incorporate these pieces on a very large canvas my painting would start to look like a number of small illuminated cottages in the darkness of night, gradually changing to taller and taller structures with appearance of considerable background illumination rising up to the sky between the structures as well if we follow the horizontal axis.

That is an abstract painting alright, but does it resemble any object or physical phenomenon from our life on this earth which might be a metaphor of this painting and perhaps can be used to explain life itself? What came to mind is a journey from some remote village in Nevada (or any other part of the country, for that matter) toward the city of Las Vegas at night along a straight path (the x-axis) -perhaps a country highway. The trip starts with small cottages lined up along the route. The buildings start to get taller and more lit as we approach the city. The city skyline is, of course, packed with outlines of high-rise casino buildings. Even the horizon between the buildings start to show an illumination which pervades the sky.

Reaching Las Vegas after a long journey at night might

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Meet Dr Dipan Ray

Pharmacist, Educator, Thespian and Organizer

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grams (some sponsored by Ananda Mandir) to debunk rumors and misinformation and educate the public on what to do and not to do.

Last but not the least, Dipan has unhesitatingly jumped into crisis situations whenever called to do so. He was a key member of a US medical team that went to Haiti in 2010 to help the people who were affected by the devastating earthquake. At the time of writing this article, Dr Dipan Ray has just returned from Poland after serving with the International Relief Society to provide basic health care to refugees from Ukraine.

Dr Dipan Ray is a truly valuable and a highly respected member of the NJ-NY Bengali community.

The AGM at Ananda Mandir

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most 50% of our annual revenue for each of these years.

Open Floor Q & A –One member suggested an additional priestas Biswabhai’s back up when needed. A few senior Trustees responded by stating that we do have Guru Chakravarty, Debashish Mukherjee, Suman Banerjee and a few others who are available to support us when Biswabhai is unavailable, which is very rare.

Stairway

this moment it appears to be cost prohibitive and not quite feasible from engineering point of view for township approval, but it will be explored some more.

to Heaven

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Dipan Ray organizing a pharmacy unit in a Polish shelter for Ukrainian refugees

A request was made by a life member to start our popular Ananda Sandhya program again. The Cultural Committee and Arun Bhowmik will look into re-starting this program. The location will likely be the lobby of Tagore Hall. Some attendees asked about a ramp or an elevator to go to the temple basement. At

Some questions were asked about the adequacy of our current safety measures against major vandalism, or safety of our premises and the priest. Management will look into some kind of small hand-held alarm system in addition to the full scale alarm system that we currently have in place.

Arun Bhowmik ended the meeting at 2:30 pm with concluding remarks, thanked everyone for their participation. The meeting ended with a happy note with all feeling comfortable about how the institution is being run and managed.

be symbolic of arriving at the heaven at the end of a marathon cycle of reincarnations. Just like heaven, Las Vegas is full of light, music, entertainment, magic, wealth, fairies, and food. We do not know what goes on in the heaven. That completes the metaphor because “what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas”!

A Brief History of Ramakrishna Math and Mission

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seat of the monastic order, The Ramakrishna Mission Association ceased to function. But whether the monks worked under the aegis of the Math or of the Mission – their hands were always full; for India had not then many organizations to serve her during her ever-recurring woes.

Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission are worldwide, non-political, non-sectarian spiritual organizations which have been engaged in various forms of humanitarian, social service activities for more than a century. Inspired by the ideals of renunciation and service, the monks and lay devotees of the Math and Mission serve millions of men, women and children, without any distinction of caste, religion or race, because they see the living God in them.

Although Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission are legally and financially separate, they are closely inter-related in several ways and are regarded as twin organizations.

These twin organizations have set in motion a non-sectarian, universal spiritual movement which has been silently working for more than a hundred years to catalyze the spiritual regeneration of humanity.

The chief catalyst in this ongoing transformation is India’s ancient religious philosophy known as Vedanta. Although several other systems of philosophy arose in India at different times, they were confined to small groups. Vedanta alone has remained the dominant philosophy of India’s religious tradition from Vedic times to the present day. In modern times this ancient system of thought has been purified, unified and energized by Sri Ramakrishna, and expounded

in the modern idiom by Swami Vivekananda and thus made available to all people all over the world without any distinctions of caste, creed or race.

The Ramakrishna Order does not believe in conversion, nor does it indulge in the occult or the sensational. The Order places utmost importance on personal spiritual unfoldment and selfless service. Inspired by the idea of the harmony of all faiths, its centers encourage adherents of different faiths to meet in a spirit of friendship and mutual appreciation, and to learn from one another without having to give up one’s own faith. In the words of Sri Ramakrishna: “God has made different religions to suit different aspirants, lives and countries … all doctrines are only so many paths; but a path is by no means God Himself. Indeed, one can reach God if one follows any of the paths with wholehearted devotion.”

Motto: The motto of the twin organizations is ATMANO MOKSHARTHAM JAGAD HITAYA CHA, “For one’s own salvation and for the welfare of the world”. It was formulated by Swami Vivekananda.

Ideals: Work as worship, potential divinity of the soul, and harmony of religions are three of the noteworthy ideals on which these two organizations are based. It is this ideal of service to man as service to God that sustains the large number of hospitals, dispensaries, mobile medical units, schools, colleges, rural development centers and many other social service institutions run the twin organizations.

Headquarters: The headquarters of Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission are situated at Belur, West Bengal, India. The entire campus of the headquarters is popu-

larly known as ‘Belur Math’. Sprawling over forty acres of land on the western bank of the river Hooghly (Ganga), the place is an hour’s drive from Kolkata. (https://belurmath. org/about-us/).

Branch/Centers:

As of 1 February 2022, the Ramakrishna Math and the Ramakrishna Mission have 231 branch centers all over the world. Of these, 175 centers are in India and the remaining 56 are in 24 other countries (15 in Bangladesh, 14 in the USA, 3 in Brazil, 2 each in Canada, Russia and South Africa, and one each in Argentina, Australia, Fiji, France, Germany, Ireland, Japan, Malaysia, Mauritius, Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, UK and Zambia). Further, there are 40 sub-centers (15 within India, 25 outside India) functioning under the above branch centers.

Since most of our readers are living in the USA, a complete list and the details can be obtained at the website, (https://vedanta.org/north-america-centers/)*.

A center at Seymore, Connecticut was recently inaugurated on November 12, 2021. Information of the center is available here at (https://vedantavvcc.org/)*.

Ramakrishna Math was registered as a Trust in 1901 by Swami Vivekananda himself and Ramakrishna Mission was formally registered in 1909 under the Registration of Societies Act XXI of 1860. During his first trip to the USA, he established the Vedanta Society New York in November 1894, and he established the Vedanta Society of San Francisco in April 1900 two years prior to his death on 4th July 1902 on Independ-

ence Day of the USA.

Both Shri Ramakrishna Math and Shri Ramakrishna Mission (RKMM) were legally established about 20 years after Thakur’s departure). The principal architect, leader, visionary was Swami Vivekananda. Even though Swamiji didn’t live to see his fortieth birthday, his influence, his message will continue to inspire the present and the future generation yet to born for next few thousand years. In his own words: “The Math will be the central institution for the practice of religion and the cultivation of knowledge. The spiritual force emanating from here will permeate the whole world, turning the currents of men’s activities and aspirations into new channels. From here will be disseminated ideal harmonizing Jnana, Bhakti, Yoga and Karma. The time will come when by the mere will of the sannyasins of this Math will vibrate into deadened souls of men. All these visions are rising before me.”

References:

1. *Thanks for the information received from Swami Sarvadevananda, the minister and spiritual leader of the Vedanta Society of Southern California,

2. History of Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission by Swami Gambhirananda, Advaita Ashrama, 3rd edition 1983

3. Vivekananda, a biography, Swami Nikhilananda, Advaita Ashrama, 3rd Edition 1975

4. Ramakrishna and his disciples, Christopher Isherwood, Advaita Ashrama, 7th Edition 1994

5. Sri Ramakrishna, the Great Master, Swami Saradananda and translated by Swami Jagadananda, Madras Math, Mylapore, Madras 600004

JASMINE

By Pravesh Lal, New Jersey

Note: Pravesh and his wife Shuchismita run a small business, growing plant and flowers familiar to people from South Asian countries - such as Joba (Hibiscus), Beli/Juhi (Jasmine), Korobi (Oleander), and Jhumkolata (Passion-flowers). They supply loose flowers and garlands made from these flowers to local temples and people in the community for various pujas, celebrations, and ceremonies. Pravesh may be contacted at pushpashree.usa@gmail.com)

(Editor’s

The First Jasmines

A poem by Rabindra Nath Tagore

Ah, these jasmines, these white jasmines!

I seem to remember the first day when I filled my hands with these jasmines, these white jasmines.

I have loved the sunlight, the sky and the green earth; I have heard the liquid murmur of the river through the darkness of midnight; Autumn sunsets have come to me at the bend of the road in the lonely waste, like a bride raising her veil to accept her lover. Yet my memory is still sweet with the first white jasmines that I held in my hands when I was a child.

Many a glad day has come in my life, and I have laughed with merrymakers on festival nights. On grey mornings of rain I have crooned many an idle song. I have worn round my neck the evening wreath of Bakulas woven by the hand of love. Yet my heart is sweet with the memory of the first fresh jasmines that filled my hands when I was a child.

I still remember my first encounter with “jasmines.” When I was around 10 years old, I spent my summer holidays visiting my favorite Masi in the village of Kalagargh, in Uttar Pradesh in India. Located near the foothills of Himalayas, my Masi’s home had a beautiful garden. One section of the garden had about thirty Jasmine plants. Every evening, just before sundown, she would send me to collect the jasmine buds. I would fill up a whole bucket with the buds and bring them to the Puja room and cover the bucket with a wet towel. The following morning, my mother, masi and my grandmother would make malas from these jasmine buds. By the time the garlands were ready for the morning puja, the flowers would start to open and fill the whole home with a beautiful fragrance. Just a whiff of fresh jasmine flowers

lilacs, and forsythias. Jasmines are native to the tropical and subtropical regions of South and South-East Asia. They have also been cultivated historically in Algeria, Morocco, Egypt, China, and France. Jasmines grow mostly as shrubs or climbing vines and are perennial, evergreen plants with thick green foliage and fragrant flowers. The countries of Indonesia, Philippines, Syria, Tunisia, Saudi Arabia, and Pakistan have adopted Jasmine as their national flower.

In the Indian subcontinent, Jasmines have been around and used since the Vedic times. Some of the well-known varieties you may know about are Beli-phul, Chameli, Chandini, Jati, Jui, Kundo, Malligai, Malati, Mallika, Mogra, Motia, Mullai, and Tagar. Most people associate jasmine with white flowers, but there are yellow and pink varieties as well.

Many ancient mythologies have associated the Jasmine flower with deities of love, beauty, purity, and divine blessings. South Asian Indian mythology links the flower to Kamadeva, Greek mythology to Aphrodite and Roman mythology to Venus. Christians associate jasmine with Virgin Mary. In most South Asian, Asian, and Persian cultures, flowers of Jasmine symbolize beauty, purity, good fortune, and love.

Uses of Jasmine

As decorative offerings at Hindu temples, Beli-phul is offered to Sri Ram, Chameli is given to Hanuman ji, Lord Vishnu likes the Kundo flowers, Ma Durga likes Mogra, Dattatreya is offered Jui and Tagar is given to Brahma-ji.

Growing

You can buy Jasmines as a potted plant from your local nursery or Indian grocery stores, or they can also be grown:

From Seeds: Soak the seeds in warm water overnight and plant in a starting soil mixture and keep in a warm and moist environment. The seeds may take up to a month to germinate and from here will take another 3-4 months to be ready to flower.

By Layering: In this process, a long and healthy branch of the plant is chosen and gently bent to push its middle part beneath the soil. To make sure it stays in place in the soil, you can use a U-shaped pin or a piece of rock to pin it down. In about two or three weeks, you may see new roots sprout at the point where the stem is buried in the soil. You can separate the new plant by cutting off the branch connecting to the original plant.

By Cuttings: I think this is the most convenient and quick way to produce new plants from existing plants. Cut about 6” of stem from a healthy branch and strip the leaves from the bottom 1/3 of the stem. Insert the bottom end in rooting hormone powder and place in a small planter with damp soil. Covering the pot with a plastic bag to retain moisture and warmth has given me reliable results. Alternatively, I have also used a glass of water, placed in a warm location, to put the cutting. Both these options have allowed my cuttings to begin rooting in a couple of weeks to a month, depending on the time of the year.

brings back memories of those summer vacation days and my time with the family.

Jasmines in the USA

In the US, we can buy boxes of loose or strung jasmine flowers imported from India. Air travel has made it possible for these jasmines to be harvested, packed, and shipped here within a span of a week. However, there is no substitute for garden fresh jasmines from your own potted jasmine plant.

Have you considered adding Jasmine to your garden? Many South Asians are attracted to this sweet smelling, fast-growing plant and buy them for their homes. I remember visiting a family in NJ, where a giant 30-yearold jasmine bush occupied a corner of their living room!

Types

Did you know there are over 200 distinct types of Jasmines? True Jasmines belong to the family of plants called Oleaceae (or Olive family). Other members of the family include olives,

Jasmine flowers, either by themselves or along with other flowers, are used to make garlands, headgears, and floral jewelry that are worn by people in various cultural events like weddings, annaprasan, dance and music recitals, and in various festivals. In many cultures, women wear the small jasmine garlands called “Gajras” in their hair daily, or on special occasions.

Apart from the decorative and religious use of Jasmine flowers, commercially they are used for making many beauty and health products. Perfume industry is by far the biggest user of jasmine flowers. Jasmine oil is one of the most widely used scents in the perfume industry and is also one of the most expensive components as well. Around 8000 flowers are processed to obtain one ml of perfume oil and is sold for hundreds of dollars per ounce.

Jasmine flowers are brewed to make infusions, tinctures, and compresses for Herbal and Ayurvedic formulations to be used as aphrodisiacs, sedatives, antiseptic, antidepressant, antispasmodic, and analgesics. Candles, soaps, massage oils and incense sticks made with jasmine oil are an essential component of Aromatherapy to improve mood, help alleviate stress and insomnia.

Caring

All jasmines prefer full sun to partial shade and thrive in the warm weather. However, you need to protect them from the harsh afternoon sun. They grow well in regular, welldrained garden soil with moderate levels of soil fertility and moisture. Very few varieties of Jasmines do well in cold zones so you will need to bring the jasmine plant inside your home for the winter.

Jasmines do well in containers/ pots as well. When outdoors, during the summer, I water once a day, keeping the soil slightly moist, but not soggy. If you are going to grow jasmine as a houseplant place it near a south facing window or a partly sunny spot to encourage growth. Fertilize Jasmine twice a year with a balanced granular fertilizer (i.e., equal ratios of nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium [NPK]) However, during spring and summer, you can also feed the jasmines a liquid fertilizer that has high Potassium(K) and Phosphorus(P) ratios, every two weeks to encourage the flowering cycle.

Early spring is the time to repot and prune the jasmine plant. If the plant has overgrown the pot or you start seeing the roots, prune out the

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Sketched by Shuchismita Lal

Sketched by Shuchismita Lal

Puja Activities for Apr-May-June 2022

By Mita Sinha, Chair, Puja Committee

Ananda Mandir puja activities have been going well so far in 2022. Although COVID did not leave us completely we are still maintaining our regular puja schedule. Devotees have started to come to the temple regularly and on special puja days, temple is almost full.

The month of April was busy for us at Ananda Mandir. It started with Basanti Puja from April 7th and ended on April 11. On April 9th, we had Ram Nabami celebration in the Temple. A lot of devotees visited the Mandir. We had our monthly Satyanarayan Puja on April 10th in the evening. On April 15th, we celebrated our Bengali New Year. The Mandir was open the entire day and people dropped by all day long. It is customary for the Bengalis to start the New Year with a temple visit, so, a lot of people came all day long.

Our Nababarsho cultural function was celebrated on April 23rd at Tagore Hall (Read more below in the next article). We had our monthly Shyama Puja on April 30th. After the puja and arati we all had boxed food.

The month of May was equally busy this year. On

May 3rd, we had Akshya Tritiya Puja. This puja is dedicated to Lord Vishnu. It is celebrated by Hindus, Jains & others. This is considered the best day to start a new business. In some of the Hindu households some people buy gold, silver or other valuables on this day.

On May 9, we celebrated Rabindra Jayanti, also popularlyknown as “Pochise Baiusakh”. This year would have been his 161st birthday. At Ananda Mandir we have a statue of Rabindra Nath Thakur, and an auditorium named Tagore Hall. So, on this day, the statue was decorated with garlands and flowers. We had a cultural program of Rabindra Sangeet and reading of Rabindra Nath’s poems and songs that evening at Tagore Hall (Read more in the next article).

May 15 was the memorial celebration of the highly revered Shri Ram Thakur at our Temple. He had lived in undivided Bengal in the middle of 19th century. We have a lot of followers of Ram Thakur in and around this area. Every year we celebrate this evening with Kirtan. The kirtonias came from out of state to sing for this special

occasion. This was a special day in our calendar. The temple was full of devotees, a great celebration for all of us. The evening ended with Satyanarayan Puja. We had boxed dinner after the Puja.

The month of May ended with Phalaharini Kali Puja on May 29. This is a highly auspicious day for the Bengali community. This is a puja of Goddess Kali in the month of Jyeshta in Bengali calendar. We had elaborate puja of Ma Kali, followed by home and arati. The temple was almost full with devotees on this day and we all had an enjoyable

dinner.

On June 9, we had Dashahara Puja. The puja was in the morning and some devotees visited the Mandir on this day. The next Puja in the month of June was our monthly Satyanarayan Puja. This puja was very well attended by our devotees.

On June 14, we had Snan Jatra of Lord Jagannath at Ananda Mandir. This is a morning puja observed between 9 am to 10:30 am. This is the annual holy bath festival of Jagannath.

The monthly Shyama Puja was observed on June 28,

in the evening and the temple was full of people. Our monthly pujas are always well attended.

We are doing well at Ananda Mandir. Please come and visit the temple as often as you can. All the dates of our Puja services are posted in our website at www.anandamandir.org. If you want to get some private puja done at your place or at the temple, please call at 732-873-9821 and schedule your puja. If no one is available to accept the call, please leave a message and someone will get back to you.

NABABARSHO & RABINDRA JAYANTI

By Sudipta Choudhury, New Jersey

Nababarsho

Ananda Mandir celebrated Nababarsho not only to welcome a new Bengali year but also dedicated that celebration towards humanity. Various organizations and

individuals staged a cultural fest. Our established Anandadhwani group opened the show by singing the very inspirational Tagore song: “Shonkocher biuvalata nijerey opomaan” under the leadership of Sri Arun Bhowmik. Next performance was

by a few of Anandamandir members on the theme War and Peace. The song “Juddho noy tolo awaj” resonated the theme of the presentation. Amongst the other organizations were RDM, Nrityalina, IMGE, and Bornomala. The popular modern songs were presented by Shrabasti Ghosh Palit and Atanu Ghosh. Ms. Shankari Bhattacharya from our older generations recited Tagore’s Sho-

nar Tori. A four hour show of dance, recitation and songs captivated the audience.

Rabindra Jayanti

Anandamandir celebrated Rabindra Jayanti on May

9, 2022. The bronze Tagore statue was garlanded by our priest Biswabhai. The community members gathered in the evening and marked this very day by a cultural program at

Tagore Hall. The lead performers were: Dilip Karmakar, Arun Bhowmik, Ira Ganguli, Amitabha Sengupta and Susmita Biswas. At the sway of the song and recitation the entire mood was elevated to where the audience also joined in singing “Ananda Dhara Bohichhey Bhuboney”. The grand finale again reminded us of the influence of Tagore on Bengalis in this far away country till today.

Anandadhwani group singing at Nababarsho Celebration at Ananda Mandir

Rabindra Jayanti observed at Ananda Mandir

Celebration of Shri Ram Thakur Utsav at Ananda Mandir

SPRING FLOWERS

Compiled by Guru Chakravarty, New Jersey

The Tulip Festival in Srinagar is a grand affair of natural beauty where flower beds are scattered upon several terraces. Your trip to Kashmir in April 2022 would not be considered complete without visiting Asia’s most extensive Tulip Garden. This magnificent festival in Srinagar is celebrated every year with full fervor and joy. The Floriculture Department organizers announced plans to plant 1.5 million tulip bulbs of 62 varieties in 2022 Tulip Garden. The picturesque garden sprawls over 30 hectares. In short, the Tulip Festival in 2022 will take your breath away!

Here is an assortment of spring flowers that are commonly grown at homes here in New Jersey.

Petunias are one of the most popular annual flowering plants in the spring. They are easy to grow and come in a kaleidoscope of different colors and sizes. Petunias can be grown in hanging

smaller than petunias, but no less spectacular, and just as attractive to the hummingbirds. Calibrachoa require eight hours of sunlight per day and well drained growing media. They generally grow best

baskets, planters or garden beds, and with the right care they will continue to bloom throughout the summer and into the fall. As a bonus, hummingbirds will frequently visit petunias to drink nectar from their trumpet shaped flowers.

Calibrachoa is a relative of petunia that looks similar but is actually a different species. They are

in a hanging basket or a planter and they do not require dead heading.

Fuchsia is another excellent flowering plant for hanging baskets. There are approximately 100 different species of fuchsia, most of which are native

can be 3 to 4 inches across. These woody vines are frost sensitive, so it is best to grow mandevilla in containers if you are planning to bring them in for the winter. The plants can also be grown in the ground and treated as annuals once the weather

to Mexico and Central and South America, though some species are also native to the Caribbean, New Zealand and Tahiti.

Canna is a tropical plant with large leaves and magnificent clusters of red, pink, yellow or orange flowers that attract hummingbirds and bumblebees. They have continued to be a popular choice since the Victorian era, where they were used as the focal point of flower beds. Some varieties of cannas can reach heights of 5 feet or more, though there are also dwarf varieties that are well-suited for containers

Mandevilla are also popular tropical plants that produce showy trumpet shaped flowers that

has warmed up. Mandevilla will benefit from having a trellis to climb on and the flowers are sure to bring hummingbirds to your yard throughout the summer.

Reference:

1. William Erikson of the Agriculture and Natural Resources Agent for Rutgers Cooperative Extension of Monmouth County

2. Courier News

3. Internet

(Writer’s Note: Inspired by an article on Mother’s Day Flowers authored by William Erikson of the Agriculture and Natural Resources Agent for Rutgers Cooperative Extension of Monmouth County, I compiled this assortment of spring flowers for the pleasure of our readers.)

Calibrachoa

Fuchsia

Petunia

Canna

Mandevilla

Iinspected the printed list in my hand, as I do before every delivery. ‘Affamato, Affamato, I don’t see the name on the list’- I uttered under my breath. ‘These people have been on my list for the past year or so. Must be a mistake.’ I exclaimed.

Marie, the admin person looked at me straight, “No, it is not a mistake. They have been taken off the list.” She paused for a breath, “They can’t eat any longer.”

“Can’t eat any longer? What do you mean by that?”

I was incredulous.

“Well, I believe they are close to the end of their lives. Perhaps they have moved to a hospice.”

It is a surprise for me because Mr. Affamato, a tall, thin, and frail-looking man, answered the doorbell only about three months ago. He opened the door with a feeble ‘Good morning.’, took the packages of food for him and his wife, and closed the door with a ‘Thank you.’ Then for the past month or so, a note on the door specified that I must leave the package at the door. Now, ‘they can’t eat anymore’ – as Marie specified. It is far too fast – I contemplated forlornly.

Not everyone is the same way. In my last weekly round, I met this charming lady for the first time. She must be in her sixties to qualify for this service, but she looked much younger – ‘I haven’t seen you in this route before.’ -she bellowed. Then there is Cathy, a very pretty woman who beamed at me – ‘Where have you been hiding?’ Perhaps it is the earthred shirt that I was wearing- I pondered. Greta walks slowly, her hands shaking, perhaps due to Parkinson’s. The other day she called me inside – to lift gallon water bottles from the floor onto the kitchen top. Robert, whenever he opens the door appears to be dressed up formally and impeccably as if he is about to leave for a party. He, who looks like he is in his eighties told me that he is into longevity research. These elderly people keep enriching me in various ways as a ‘Meals on wheels’ driver.

As my age progressed to a point that I no longer wanted to carry on my regular teaching and scientific research jobs at the university, I looked long and hard at the senior years ahead of me. ‘Doing science’ is for younger people who can keep up with the pace that science moves with a sea of new information

LEGACY

By Rahul Ray, Massachusetts

and techniques – I reasoned. Teaching is rewarding but can be a drag sometimes.

I need a new career, perhaps not full-time, but a parttime vocation that can be satisfying in my ripe years. It cannot be a money-making affair. If I have not made money by now, I will not make itat this stage of life - I chuckled to myself self-consciously. This took a load off my mind – a vocation that can fill my mind, but not my pocketbook! It is needless to say that I feel comfortable with our family’s financial situation.

Armed with this confidence, I recently made a long stride at a pastime that I long hankered for but could not fulfill. But let us keep our focus on Meals on wheels.

In search of a new calling in my senior years, the idea of giving back to society weighed heavily on my mind. All immigrants, including myself almost without fail try to hold on to the cultural, social, and religious heritage of the land that we still call ‘home’ but chose not to live there. However, almost in no time, the new society, with its unique social, cultural, and other aspects seep into our being. We rapidly start assimilating those values to become ‘new Americans’. For me, belonging to the American society quickly opened my eyes to many facets including the awareness of charitable giving that permeates every level in this societywith dominant JudeoChristian values.

Here, giving to others is taught almost from the very beginning. My two sons often brought back papers from school about charitable giving to some cause or other. On Halloween night, little children go around the neighborhood, trick or treating for candies. Many of them carry orange UNICEF paper boxes to collect money for the world’s children. It was most definitely an eye-opener for me - children are taught early in their life to give to the less fortunate through their school. In other words, charitable giving is hammered into their mind through the schools they go to.

I do not mean to imply that the Indian society that

I was born into is devoid of charitable giving. Many nongovernmental organizations, including Bharat Sevashram Sangha, and Ramakrishna Mission are perpetually involved in helping the poor and down-trodden. Yet, the idea of charitable giving, leaving out donations strictly to religious causes and institutions, is neither taught nor it is institutionalized. Therefore, helping the poor and downtrodden monetarily or otherwise is left to individuals with a big heart or a high ideal.

My mother was one such person. She was a communist party activist, and even with her family’s meager resources she felt compelled to help the poor. Therefore, smitten by her ideals she regularly visited nearby slums to help poor women to get them connected to people and places where they can get at least an elementary education for free. She also tried to get shelter and legal help for women who were abused by their husbands.

It is not a surprise that I inherited my mother’s penchant for charitable work, which is why the idea of charitable giving in American society drew my attention so strongly. When our two sons were growing up, my wife and I gave them small sums of pocket money every month as is customary. We mandated that they set aside a certain percentage of that money, and at the end of the year, they give that money away to any charitable organization of their choosing. On various parents’ days and Christmas etc., we encouraged them to give money to a charity of their liking. We,

like many others, have been giving to various charitable causes for a very long time. For me, this is what it means to be a good American.

However, I have not offered my physical labor to any charitable cause, except for acting as a server for a few weekends in a soup kitchen in Boston, led by the late Swamy Sarvagatananda, the minister at the Ramakrishna Mission, Boston. Therefore, after I decided to retire instead of hanging on to my career, I looked up various avenues to offer my service. This search led me to meet with Pam Norton, a very pleasant woman, and staff at the Council on aging in the town I live. She, herself a driver of Meals on wheels encouraged me to join the rank.

I looked up ‘Meals on wheels’ (MOW) on the internet. The website for Meals on Wheels, Tampa summarizes the motto and modus operandi of MOW succinctly- “Meals on Wheels operates in virtually every community in America through a network of more than 5,000 independentlyrun local programs, supported by over two million volunteers. While the diversity of each program’s services and operations may vary based on the needs and resources of their communities, all are committed to delivering nutritious meals, friendly visits, and safety checks that enable America’s homebound to live nourished lives with independence and dignity.”1

For a brief history of this program, I quote from the same website again –“The first-ever home-delivered meal program in the United States began in Philadelphia in January 1954. A social worker pioneered a program to provide nourish-

ment that met the dietary needs of homebound seniors and other “shut-ins” in the area who otherwise would have to go hungry. Most of the volunteers were high school students, who were dubbed “Platter Angels.” The “Platter Angels” would prepare, package, and deliver food to the elderly and disabled through their community.”1, 2

The MOW program has thrived since to significantly improve food insecurity among elders. The MOW program has also significantly reduced government expenditure by contributing to the general good health of the seniors, thus reducing their need to seek medical help through hospitals, nursing homes, etc.

A pertinent question to ask in this context is -what is the funding source to run

this program? The answer is complex because various resources are tapped into to provide meals for seniors. Most interestingly, more than 75% of funding comes from individual donations, and foundation funding.3 Federal block grants under the Older American Act enacted by President John F. Kennedy, and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) also contribute towards, albeit small, funding for MOW. Then, there are volunteer cooks, drivers, and administrators who make sure that the entire operation runs seamlessly.

This is right in my alley regarding giving back to society. However, the first thing that came as an obstacle was my pompous ego- it is beneath my status as a professor at a major university and a prominent scientist to do this job. But, my late mother, from somewhere I know not, insisted –‘Khokon, no job is below your dignity when you are helping mankind.’

Thus, for the past two years or so, once a week I have been knocking on doors delivering meals to the elderly, enquiring about their general well-being, and whenever needed to report to the administrator. It is an entirely new experience for me, far away from my teacher/ scientist self.

Things became truly hard

A SALUTE TO SHAOLI MITRA

(1948 - 2022)

LEGACY

| continue from page 11

By Mandira Chattopadhyay, Ohio

Ifeel an incredible bond with Shaoli Mitra. We both attended Rabindra Bharati University (though not at the same time) when it was in Jorasanko Thakur Bari, we acted on the same stage, and participated in the annual intercollegiate drama competitions. Those competitions were vigorous, and the teams were judged by eminent drama ‘gurus.’

In Tagore’s drama ‘Dak Ghar,’ Shaoli Mitra gave a stellar performance. That was indeed a classic work of Shaoli Mitra. She took acting as her meditation. She was fully committed to her acting. It is interesting to note how both Shaoli Mitra and Alice in ‘Alice in Wonderland’ go through similar struggles and adventures in their lives.

Shaoli Mitra was privileged to be raised in a family of drama icons with Shambhu Mitra and Tripti Mitra as parents. She however, steered her own path. Of course, we have to admit that she grew up in a drama community. It is said that her mother,while struggling as an actor, and getting tired of her midlife, admitted that she was groomed by her husband Shambhu Mitra who pushed her to the edge. But Shaoli Mitra was probably a born artist who wanted to go through all the challenges and adversities. So, she mastered all the skills needed to be an actor in true sense.

At a very young age she realized that drama and music are interconnected. The true singers have to be deeply involved when they sing, otherwise they become

stereotypes. Shaoli Mitra, therefore, practiced music vigorously so that she could feel the emotions needed in her acting, and to make sure that her voice did not crack while she performed.

‘Dak Ghar’ was staged many times by other actors. Shaoli Mitra realized she lost the tender voice of Amal despite her extensive voice practice. So, she taught other actors the nuances of the drama. Before she acted out any role, she would strive to master the characteristics of the role to be played. Then, when she began to act, it came out like a waterfall. Even in her young age she realized that very well. The holy book Gita refers to something similar: “Thinking should be embedded in our brains, and when the action is imminent, it would arrive spontaneously.”

We cannot deny that when actors play different roles, they develop communication skills and understand the human beings better. The perfect example is none other than Vladimir Zelenskyy, the current president of Ukraine who as a successful actor has won the hearts of all Ukrainians and the world.

Shaoli Mitra was a superb makeup artist. As she grew older, she did not want to play the role of Amal in ‘Dak Ghar’ anymore. When her students commented, “Shaoli di, you are an outstanding makeup artist. You can cover up your age with makeup”. She denied that she could cover her age. Instead, she taught them the dramatic skills very religiously. Her

the beginning, like Alice, she did not realize what was happening to her. As she moved on through the full circle of her life, Shaoli Mitra like Alice had to face all sorts of obstacles.

students would comment that she was weaving a garland of flowers as she taught them the artistic skills.

Tagore once commented that acting should always be believable. Shaoli Mitra was very good at it. In ‘Dak Ghar’ she mesmerized the audience by acting the role of Amal. She was a very kindhearted woman. When she was directing a play, if she was not able to include someone, she would personally go to the person and apologize as to why such decision had to be made.

She was a highly spirited woman. She was superb in portraying the anger and fury. In the dramatic monologue she showed her anger like Nandini in ‘Rokto Karabi’ saying to the king about his fragility, “Aren’t you afraid of me?”

Ever since the first showing of ‘Dak Ghar,’ Shaoli Mitra was nurturing in herself the seeds of artistry of drama. For her, acting was an emotion suspended in disbelief, a concept also held by Tagore. Tagore once commented that the business of acting was not a mundane affair, but a very serious endeavor. Shaoli Mitra took acting with full sincerity, and when people did not appreciate her sincerity, with all the social forces she had to face, she succumbed into illness both physically and emotionally. She started moving around with a closeknit group of friends and became extremely private. That circle of friends was her sole comfort zone.

I see a great parallel of her life struggles with those of Alice in ‘Alice in Wonderland.’ Life is like a maze, and you must go through it. In

Lewis Carroll, the author of ‘Alice in Wonderland’ wanted to say in a nonsensical way all the idiosyncrasies, dogmatism in the church, the eccentricities and ruthlessness of the world. Alice would face all sorts of harassment from the Red Queen and the Knight, and became scared of the impositions and limitations imposed on her. Similarly, Shaoli Mitra was cross with the authoritarianism of the society. She realized that like Tweedledeeand Tweedledum in ‘Alice in Wonderland,’ people are fighting for nothing. Shaoli Mitra felt pressure from the outside world and realized that we are all prey and preyed upon.

‘Alice in Wonderland’ ends with the Red Queen saying, “Off with your head!” Hearing that Alice did not shed her tears nor did she make a pool of tears like she did earlier, and told the Queen that it was all nonsense. Shaoli Mitra probably wanted to say the same thing as she was tired of the nonsense from the society. She moved into oblivion far away from the public and stayed with her close-knit circle.

People might question why Shaoli Mitra and her father Shambhu Mitra did not want any publicity following their deaths but left the world quietly. Shaoli Mitra’s last wish was that the news of her death would only be announced once her cremation rites were over. Both father and daughter did not trust how the social media would react to the news of their deaths. They might have just announced them as a routine event. When Tripti Mitra passed away, only ‘Doordarshan’ announced her death, that too very casually. That was a great insult.

Shaoli Mitra was afraid that the energy she spent on the drama would not be appreciated by the society. But she was always respected by eminent members of the drama circle. Following her demise, the legendary theater personality Rudra Prasad Sengupta remarked, “An era has ended! The superstar is gone!”

during the severe COVID pandemic. COVID or not, elders would be hungry, or worse go without food if I did not deliver the meal to their doorstep. There were risks involved, and I had to take all necessary precautions like wearing masks and maintaining a safe distance (still in practice, but somewhat relaxed). Yet, I managed to deliver freshly prepared meals and enquire about their general well-being.

It is said that anapple does not fall far from the tree. Our younger son, Karna lives in Brooklyn, NY. He is a socially conscious and politically left-leaning person. Prior to the end of 2019, he worked for a non-profit company for several years till he gave up his comfortable job to follow his passion of becoming a full-time musician. But, with the emergence COVID pandemic with its severity, his wish was cut to the quick before it got off the ground.

The Borough of Brooklyn in New York City is home to countless poor and elderly people, and people of color. They were hit the most by the pandemic. Elderly people could not go out to buy food and literally starved. Karna and a few of his friends banded up to obtain fresh food and delivered it to the doorsteps of hundreds of poor and elderly. I do not exactly know where money and other resources came from to run this massive effort, made extremely dangerous by the pandemic. Lately, he and his co-workers have taken the stop-gap measure to the next level by forming a cooperative to distribute fresh and nutritious food to the poor and elderly, much like the MOW program. This is his vocation, at least for now. Therefore, today he is a benevolent entrepreneur, carrying on his passion for music on the side. He would have made his grandmother very proud if she were alive today.

1. https://mowtampa.org/ history/

2. Photo credit: https:// en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Meals_on_Wheels (Delivery of Thanksgiving meal in Montana, 2011)

3. https://www.theseniorlist.com/blog/meals-onwheels-funding/. Also, photo credit.

Nominations Solicited for 2022 Gayatri GaMarsh Memorial Awards for Literary Excellence

TheGayatri Memorial Awards were established in 2010 by Jerry GaMarsh to honor his late wife, Gayatri GaMarsh. The program is administered through the Awards & Recognition Committee of Ananda Mandir, Somerset, NJ.

Two cash awards are usually given each year to recognize outstanding works published in North Americabased literary magazines. One award is given to an author of Bengali works, and another is given to an author in English. Each award consists of $500 in cash and a commendation plaque. Under certain situations, co-winners may be selected for an award category.

An author may nominate himself/ herself -- or may be nominated by third parties. Each nomination must be submittedthrough email and supported with copies of one of the following:

Two (and only two) works of prose (essays, short stories or plays) published in North America-based Bengali or English print or digital magazines within the last five years. The submitted articles should not be more than ten (10) pages long. Longer articles may be disqualified. Books or book chapters will not be considered.

In case of poetry, submission may consist of up to four poems, each ofreasonable length (2 pages or shorter).

A combination of prose and poetry may be submitted as well. However,

please submit no more than one short story, essay or play and two poems.

Please note that unpublished works of literature will not be accepted. Full publication references must be given for the articles submitted with each nomination. Articles published in magazines or websites outside of North America will not be considered.

Nominated authors must be 18 years or older and residents of North America.All nominations and correspondence should be submitted electronically.

Each nomination should include a short biography of the author. Judging, however, will be based primarily on the supporting publications. Judges’ decisions will be final.

Members of the Awards & Recognition Subcommittee and the judges cannot submit nominations for themselves nor can they be nominated by third parties.

Deadline for nominations (with supporting documents) for the 2022 awards is August 31, 2022. Awards will be announced and presented in the Fall of 2022.

Please send nominations (with supporting documents) toDebajyoti Chatterji (debsmee572@gmail.com)

In case of questions, please email Debajyoti Chatterji (debsmee572@ gmail.com) or Guru Chakravarty (guruchakravarty@yahoo.com).

Nominations invited for 2022 Kishalay Awards for Young Authors

The Kishalay Awards for Writing Excellence were established by Ananda Mandir in 2016. This program is designed to recognize superior writing skills of school age children who are kins of AM members. Nominations are hereby invited for the 2022 Kishalay Awards. Following are the basic rules that govern the award administration:

1. There will be two award categories: (a) Awards for writers in the 9 to 13 years age bracket, and (b) Awards for writers in the 14 to 18 years age bracket.

2. In each age category, the first-place winner will earn a cash prize of $300, and the runners up will receive a cash prize of $200.

3. The contest is open only for school age children and kins of Ananda Mandir members. The contestants for the awards need to reside in the US, and preferably enrolled in a high or middle school.

4. A contestant will need to be nominated by a member of Ananda Mandir or be self-nominated following the nomination rules set forth herein.

5. Contestants over 18 years of age will be automatically disqualified.

6. Number of submissions is limited to two (2) per contestant per year. Only English prose (essay, story, report, article, etc.) would be considered, and the length is limited to 2,500 words.

7. Submission of published article in any magazine (school or others) is highly encouraged although unpublished work will be accepted as well.

8. Nominations should include a short biography of the author and his/her connection to Ananda Mandir.

9. Deadline for nominations (with copies of the submissions) for the 2022 awards is October 30, 2022. Awards will be announced and presented by the end of the year.

10. All nominations will be made using the Nomination Form downloaded from Ananda Mandir’s website. All completed forms should be supported by the submitted piece(s) of work of the young author.

11. Nomination forms are available on Ananda Mandir’s website at anandamandir.org

12. In case of questions, please email Subrata Bhaumik (bhaumik.subrata@gmail. com).

REPORTING FROM A WAR

By Tathagata Ghosh, New Jersey

Thewar in Ukraine brought to fore the importance of accurate reporting. Without accurate reporting, sometimes it is difficult to know who the aggressor was and who the victim was. Relief and aid does not reach when the world is unaware or indifferent to what is happening in a conflict zone. When Russia decided to attack Ukraine, that part of the world was probably farthest from the minds of most new organizations. Then within a few days, most of the western news organizations had a presence in Ukraine. Most of them landed up in the western part of Ukraine that was relatively peaceful with less chance of conflict.

I had watched a Netflix series from the second world war of actual video and photographs and it was evident that it would be close to impossible to know the truth unless there were reporters and eyewitness and cameras recording what was happening. Again it would be naïve to think that the army that embedded the reporters would let all footage through without censoring. Initially the reason that war correspondents were allowed in was probably the government could use the footage as propaganda. It sometimes worked but in many cases like in Vietnam, the excesses of the army was also captured and also helped to turn public opinion against the war.

Every country has their own new organizations biased towards to the political institutions in power. They normally have a slanted view of the war and the truth hence it is of utmost importance to have an independent press. Most dictatorial regimes suppress and independent press.

I have noticed a lot of antipathy against the so-called western media when they cover these wars. That may be so, but you certainly don’t find any reporters from non-western countries even when they have their citizens there. Case in point was when a large number of foreign students including Indians were trapped in Ukraine but there was no Indian press there to listen to them. The only eyes and ears was the much maligned western media. The Indian press was mostly reacting to Western press reports. On the other hand, Al-Jazeera is still reporting on Ukraine. Their focus may be more as a third party observer and hence may be more accurate that Western reporting.

The native reporters in Ukraine turned into wartime correspond-

ents just because they were on site. Some of them in the more sensitive parts of Ukraine were only the native reporters remained and they contracted with other news agencies to provide them news from Ukraine. As in other wars, the news agencies of the opposing side are targeted so as to cut off the people from the news. Russia did target the news infrastructure but fortunately Ukraine was able to rebuild quickly. Also the internet infrastructure was boosted by the use of Elon Musk operated Starlink (a satellite based system)so the local internet connectivity remained for the besieged people.

The Russian news agencies are muzzled for the most part. Except for a few pockets of resistance or reporters who fled Russia, there was no proper account of the war beyond the the official version. So the Russian view of the war is mostly controlled by their state media and hence the Russian people will never know the truth about the war.

It has to be emphasized that reporting from war zones is one of the most difficult assignments for a reporter and many reporters have died and been wounded in pursuit of a story. That is why only the most seasoned and hardened new organizations even attempt to cover a war

Two regions that suffered from a lack of reporting as well as disinterest recently was Aleppo in Syria where the Syrian Government and the Russian army annihilated the opposition held Aleppo. There was just limited reporting from Aleppo and the cruel bombardment continued with very little assistance to the locals and the civilians. The Syrian refugees streamed into Europe and are still in many places. Similar brutality happened in Chechnya by Russia. A small country of only about 1.5 million people were bombed and destroyed into submission. There was almost no coverage of Chechnya and Putin could have his way with this small country.

During this conflict with Ukraine, a few of my schoolmates, started to post the Russian state version of the events in Ukraine through www.rt.com. It was shocking because other than a handful of people including myself, nobody pushed back at the justification of genocide and war crimes. That is one of the basic reasons why proper reporting is required. Else the devil will get their way and nobody will be the wiser.

FRIDAY BEFORE HALLOWEEN

By Anooshka Sen, Age-

Report on Evergreen Club Activities

(January 1 to June 30, 2022)

By Debajyoti Chatterji, New Jersey

“Anooshka, walk faster, look at the big gap in the line”. Maddie told me as we walked down the sidewalk.

“OK, OK” I answered her, walking a little faster down the sidewalk and I saw my mom holding out her phone, ready to take a picture of me. When I reached her, I stopped and looked straight at her phone for a few seconds before I kept on moving with the line.

Soon I went past her and went up the stairs. Then I went down the other sidewalk and stopped where all the parents had gathered up, holding their phones. It didn’t take me long to find my mom because she was right in the front row.

Soon the school was over and I was walking home with my mom. “Would you like to go trick or treating in downtown with Mia? I am working so Mia’s mom offered to take you”, my mom asked me, waiting for me to reply to her.

“YES, YES”, I answered throwing my backpack up in the air.

“OK, then go home, drop off your backpack and dress up for the Halloween as well as for the cold weather. Also eat something and then you can go trick or treating”, mom said. It’s chilly and windy today and you must be hungry she added and we headed to our house.

8

years, New Jersey

Note: Evergreen Club is an “open forum for seniors” to enjoy each other’s company and exchange experiences, issues and insights in a relaxed, informal setting. Any member of the community who is 55 years of age or older is welcome to join. Please call (908-507-9640) or email debsmee572@gmail.com, if interested.

Sincethe onset of the pandemic-induced restrictions in March, 2020, Evergreen Club (and other similar cultural and social programs of Ananda Mandir) had to move to Zoom videoconferencing for all group sessions. To a large extent, such sessions have been very successful, with good attendance and active interchange between members. Evergreen Club managed to squeeze in a couple of inperson meetings (and lunches) when the pandemic loosened its grip on the community.

During the reporting period, we held meetings on the following dates:

Saturday, January 29 (Zoom)

Sunday, February 27 (Zoom)

Sunday, April 3 (Zoom)

Sunday, May 29 (In-person Pizza Party)

Saturday, July 2 (Scheduled)

Only the meeting on Sunday, May 29 was held over pizza, snacks and sweets at Ananda Mandir Front Building. This “pizza party” was a much needed in-person get-together. Although a sumptuous lunch was not organized, members enjoyed meeting their friends face to face for the first time after November, 2021. We mourned the passing of Haimonti Chaudhuri, the eldest member of the Evergreen Club at age 94. She was a core member from the beginning and loved

YOUTH SECTION EVERGREEN CLUB COMMUNITY NEWS

attending Evergreen Club meetings. We will miss her dearly.

We are hoping to go out as a group for lunch to a nearby restaurant (Stage House Tavern) on July 2, if the pandemic maintains a relatively low profile.

All the other sessions during the reporting period were held over Zoom and followed our regular format of songs, readings, travelogues and sharing of experiences and concerns on a wide range of subjects.

Following our past tradition, we are not planning to organize Evergreen Club meetings during the rest of the summer.

We wish you a very happy and enjoyable summer!

Indian and Pakistani Women Diagnosed with More Aggressive Breast Cancer at Younger Age

It seemed little weird to trick or treat on Friday, but I didn’t care about it much as it will be so much fun to trick or treat after a year of living in fear. Slowly the world is coming back to normal activity with still some COVID restriction of course. My mom texted Mia’s mom to pick me up. I got in the car and sat down, Mia was eating checkers.

“What” Mia asked, looking at me?

“Nothing” I answered with a smile, looking at her.

“Anooshka, do you want any snacks”, Mia’s mom asked me.

“No, I have some in my house”. I replied, taking my Red Riding Hood costume’s hood off.

“So you are little Red Riding Hood this year, I like your costume”, Mia’s mom said.

“Yes, I am Red Riding Hood. Thanks” I answered.

In a bit we arrived at the downtown. I opened the car door and stepped out on the sidewalk. Mia ran ahead of me.

“Mia, come back!” Mia’s mom said as she turned around.

“I see candy in that store over there!” Mia shouted joyfully, pointing at the store. We went in.

“HAPPY HALLOWEEN” the lady in the store said giving one candy to each of us.

“Thank you” we both said to the lady and left the store.

After trick or treating for a while we were a little exhausted.

“I’m tired, can we go home” Mia grinned “Guess so” Mia’s mom answered. We stopped at Starbucks to take some rest. Mia emptied her candies on the table. Mia’s candies were piled in front of her.

“Mia, you’re going to lose some candies” I told, moving my candies to one side of my basket. Mia and I started to count our candies.

After that Mia’s mom took us back home. It was lot of fun and lot of candies too. I hope we have similar Halloween every year.

SouthAsians are the fastestgrowing major ethnic group in the United States with breast cancer rates increasing within the population, but little is known about the disease in this socio-culturally unique population.

The study, published in the International Journal of Cancer, examined the characteristics of breast cancer in Indian- and Pakistani-American and nonHispanic white women in the United States using data from the National Cancer Institute’s Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results Program. The researchers, who are part of the Rutgers School of Public Health and Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey, reviewed incidence data among Indian and Pakistani women between 1990 and 2014.They also reviewed disease characteristics, treatment, and survival data between 2000 and 2016 for 4,900 Indian and Pakistani women and 482,250 non-Hispanic white women with breast cancer.

“Our results provide an insight into breast cancer in Indian and Pakistani women, suggesting several hypotheses to guide future scientific studies to better understand the risk factors influencing disease etiology and prognosis,” said Jaya M. Satagopan, lead author and director of the Center for South Asian Quantitative Health and Education at the Rutgers School of Public Health.

Prior cancer research has shown that fewer Indian and Pakistani women participate in scientific studies and that several sociocultural factors may delay their seeking health care. Research also has shown poor mammogram screening rates in Indian and Pakistani women, which is linked to a lack of family support, lack of transportation, modesty, fear, beliefs that cancer is divine punishment for past deeds, having lived in the United States for less than 10 years, low English proficiency and a lack of faith in the health system.

The study recommends identifying strategies to better engage Indian and Pakistani women in breast cancer studies, and to improve interactions between health care providers and Indian and Pakistani women to identify sociocultural factors associated with screening decisions and health care use in this population.

“As the South Asian population in the United States - and especially in New Jersey - grows, it is imperative that we work to promote health equity in cancer prevention, screening, early diagnosis and treatment through community engagement and a team science approach,” said Anita Kinney, director of the Center for Cancer Health Equity at Rutgers School of Public Health and Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey and professor at the Rutgers School of Public Health, who is also one of the study’s authors.

Source: Press Release from Rutgers University

Youngest Bengali Billionaire in America

Sanjit Biswas is an American Internet entrepreneur and computer scientist and cofounder of Samsara, an Internet of Things company headquartered in San Francisco, California that provides hardware and software for connected operations.

He also co-founded and served as CEO of Meraki, Inc. (now Cisco Meraki), a cloud-managed networking company now part of Cisco Systems. Sanjit Biswas holds degrees from Stanford and MIT.

In 2007, he was named to the

MIT Technology Review TR35 as one of the top 35 innovators in the world under the age of 35. Biswas believes, “There has always been a constant churn of new companies coming in, old companies dying out.”

Source: Internet

Donations for Ukraine War

Reported by Mita Sinha, New Jersey

Ananda Mandir donated $2,500 to “Hope for Ukraine” organization to support the people of Ukraine suffering from Russian ag-

Report on Writers Club Activities

(January 1 to June 30, 2022)

gression. This was made possible due to gracious donations made voluntarily by attendees who visited Tagore Hall on April 23rd. to attend our Naba Barsha celebra-

tions. Sajal Mukherjee, our cultural secretary, took the initiative and made all the arrangements to handover the donation check. Yuriy Boyechko, the President of “Hope for Ukraine” came to Ananda Mandir on the evening of May 2nd and our President Jaiprakash Biswas handed over the check to him. There were few Ananda Mandir members were present at the temple for this special occasion. This was a donation for a very good cause. We were glad to help Ukrainians in a very small way.

GSCA CORNER

Reported by Pradip R. Das, New Jersey

Annual General Meeting

On Saturday April 30th, GSCA conducted its virtual annual general meeting of members.

After duly meeting quorum, the meeting started off with a welcome note by the chairman of the board.

This was followed by an address by the secretary and the treasurer’s report for the past year. Subsequently, the budget for the current year was also approved by the members. The coordinators of the nine GSCA committees then proceeded to report on their activities for the past year and give their thoughts and suggestions for moving forward. A lively Q & A session that ensued was constructive and provided insights into the active involvement of members in the organization.

Baishakhi 2022

On May 21st, GSCA celebrated its first in-person event of the year at the New Beginnings Church of Nazarene, Edison. In spite of the extremely hot weather, 100 individuals attended this spring event. This was a free event for all members while nominal fees were charged to non-members.

In spite of a relatively short time for planning, a wonderful array of on-stage performances were lined up by GSCA. The cultural program commenced with a children’s talent show, followed by members’ musical performances. The next two items were a vocal performance by a NJ based singer and then a lively short drama, also by local performers. During the 30 minutes intermission, Bengali snacks were served to all present and hot/cold beverages.

The main performer for the afternoon was a young singer from Canada, Sirsha Chakraborty. Her repertoire included old and modern tunes, classical based ones as well as jazz. In 2014, she won a national singing competition in Mumbai, India, judged by renowned singer and composer Shankar Mahadevan. She made her Bollywood playback-singing debut alongside maestro Ustad Rashid Khan in the theme song of the movie Wedding Anniversary.

GSCA Philanthropy Update

Since 2012 and as beneficiaries of GSCA philanthropy, 31 needy students in India (West Bengal) were able to complete their respective fields of studies: 15 in MBBS, 7 in Engineering, 4 in BSc Nursing, 1 Cost accountant, 2 MSc and 2 BCom (honors).

Additionally, GSCA provides one time scholarships to six graduating high school seniors at Plainfield High School entering colleges every year.

Currently in India, GSCA is supporting 36 students: 18 MBBS, 7 BSc Nursing, 7 Engineering and 4 Science students.

The lives of many young people, and their families as well, have been altered profoundly as a result of GSCA’s benevolence.

By Debajyoti Chatterji, New Jersey

Note: Writers Club meetings are open only to “active writers” who are willing to present their own writings (in Bengali or English) to their peers. Readings of third-party authors are not permitted. Club members are welcome to share their poems, short stories, personal narratives and essays – whatever they prefer to write. After each presentation, a constructive Q&A period follows. If you are an active writer and would like to join our club, please send an email to debsmee572@gmail.com.

During the reporting period, Writers Club held Zoom video sessions on the following dates:

Friday, January 21 Friday, February 25 Friday, April 1 Friday, April 29 Friday, June 24 (Scheduled) There was no session in May.

At these sessions, members typically present their original writings and then receive constructive feedback from their peers. Because a session lasts 2 to 2.5 hours, we can accommodate only 6 to 7 authors, each getting an allocation of 25 to 30 mins, including time for the readings and constructive feedback

afterwards.

During the reporting period, we implemented some of the recommendations from the brainstorming session held (on October 29, 2021) on new formats and themes for future sessions.

For example, the February 25 meeting was designed partly as a workshop and partly as a regular presentation-discussion session. The workshop part was led by Nupur Lahiri, a well-known author-member. She shared some “do’s and don’ts” of good writing, aided by short videos of three famous novelists sharing their advice.

The April 1 session was a workshop where the members were given several pairs

of short articles, written by different and unnamed authors, to review. Each member was then asked to explain why they felt that some writings were better than others. The objective of this workshop was to sharpen our understanding of the finer aspects of the “art of writing: This workshop was facilitated by Shamita Das Dasgupta and Nupur Lahiri, wellestablished authors and respected members of our club. In future sessions, we plan to continue experimenting with ways to make our sessions both fun and educational.

Wishing all our members and friends a very enjoyable summer!

U.S. Drug Supply Is Even More Reliant on India than Thought

An ambitious data probe highlights how dependence on one country could pose risks for the quality and supply of critical medicines. The results of its huge data-mining probe by the U.S. Pharmacopeia were startling: Indian factories, the data showed, provide a vast amount of ingredients that go into the generic drugs

Americans take.

Active ingredient production, the USP found, is far more concentrated in India than was previously understood given the FDA’s limited data, which had made China look like a more dominant player in the pharmaceutical supply chain than it really is. Active ingredients are what make a drug effec-

NJPA Corner

Reported by Chanakya Ganguly, New Jersey

OnMay 16th, 2022, the world celebrated Buddha’s Birthday.Spirituality can put us on the path of freedom with expanded capability like Buddha. Yogic Practice can form character, strengthen the mind, expand the intellect. The uncontrolled mind drags us down, but the guided mind frees us, so we can gradually progress in the Noble Eight-Fold Path of the Buddha – Virtue (Right Speech, Action, and Livelihood), Meditation (Right Effort, Mindfulness, and Concentration), Wisdom (Right View, Resolve). It is a matter of practice, self-study rather than intellectual knowledge.

Yogic Practice and Introspection can help realize the ten rules of Japanese IKIGAI. Yogic Practice of gentle movement, no rush, to find and do things that makes one connect can help realize these Rules: 1) Stay Active & never retire 2) Take it slow 3) Don’t fill your stomach 4) Surround with good friends 5) Get in shape for your next birthday 6) Smile 7) Reconnect with Nature 8) Gratitude 9) Live in the moment, without past regrets or future worries 10) Find,

tive against a particular disease or condition.

It’s well known that Indian factories have struggled with quality issues over the years. What’s more, there’s nothing stopping the Indian government from cutting off supplies of certain drugs to protect its domestic stockpile.

Source: Internet

follow your passion(s), people to connect & live.

Yogic Process with caloric restriction can help provide a way for healthy aging. Medical progress towards any viable Alzheimer’s treatment has been slow, nonexistent. Some things good for healthy aging are - healthy eating, yoga, meditation, exercise, and avoiding obesity (another related, epidemic). A 12-minute daily meditation has revealed positive mind healing effects in the brain MRI scans. Regular meditation practitioners like among Tibetans have shown a lower rate of dementia, better memory and agility.

Aetna Health Insurance CEO, Mark Bertolini, states that majority of people feel that the Healthcare system is broken. He suggests building a Sustainable Healthcare system, using Yoga, Naturopathy, Acupuncture and making alternative medicine as part of the mainstream as he sees serious gaps in modern medicine without which Universal Healthcare will not be possible. He says, wellness needs to move away from employers, and be more community based.

Stay upbeat, calm, composed, and rugged, focused this summer, and have a bright summer ahead. Information about upcoming events will be available on our Facebook page “NJPA Parivar.”

Jayprakash Biswas handing over a check to Yuriy Boyechko