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!