1wa 1, sen 1or s

Community buzurgs celebrate the season

Sewa International

Multicultu ral Sen io rs Association ln keeping with the Positive Aging (50 years plus) Community Leadership Program, and to promote Indian culture, cuisine, and arts, the C ity of Wyndham received a grant from the Victorian government to entertain the fast growing Indian c o mmunity by ce lebrating Diwali, the Festival of Llghts.

A rangoli g reeted those of various faiths as they arrived and the four-hour long program began with a prayer - song: 't!J maalik tere b,mdc hulll'. The dignit-aries present then joined hands in lighting cbe festival lamp.

The day began with Jarasivati va11da11a which Aninya Gaur presented tlu:ough the mediLUu of a Katl1ak dance. She also offered 1Ja11da11a to Lord Ganesha.

Madhavi Vasa gave us an Indian class ica l song while Ananya Bose presented Bbaratnatyam. Kamaljeet Singh, of Sut Sangh Australia sang Heer, a poignant Punjabi folklo re, which caused members to rise on meir feer. The prograrn continued with other sp i rited dance and musical performances tlu:oughout the day.

The program organise r s were Dr Gurdev Singh Rattan, (President of MSA) and Mrs Samer Pa l Kaur. Mrs Prem

A ry a was the MC and me program was conducted in traditionally captiv ating style at the Community Ce n tre in Poim Cook, so uth -west lvfelbourne.

Joanne Ryan :MP, opened proceedings, a n d tl1e event was attended b y Lord Mayor Bob Fairclough, Telm o Languiller MP, and CS.Srinivasan, Multicultura l Commissio ner.

Featuring an abundance of talent from young and old, the day was a culmral feast. For more information, pl e ase contact Samer Kaur on samerkaut3@gmaiJ.c orn

T o celebrate Diwali, the Stonnington C ity group was overjoyed to join members of Sewa Internacional for a picnic in me holida y city of Sorrento further down south -east. A 57- seate r bus collected members at die Commrnuty Hall jn East Malvern, th en at C layton and finally from Dandenong, and was on its way Unfortunate as it was, we left man y dishearrened aspiring picnickers behind.

Animated members wished one another good tidings of the festival, and took a break at Aromas Restaurant in Rye for a lunch

Hospitable Harry, me owner, was deli gh ted to meet our group and wished ro caUt all tilings India. But we needed to hurry as we a Sorrento- to -Queenscliff and back ferr y awaited us, tl1e sun-god clement on the day

On our journey back home, we cracked jokes, ro ld srories, sang Bollywood songs, danced around, and demanded that s ucil fun outings were more frequent.

T o reminisce this wonderful outing, check our their YouTube page or for more inform ation, please c o ntact Anand Shome on ashome@gmail.com

Indian Seniors'Forum

In the monthly program Indian Seniors' Forum organises in Camberwell, yo ung and o ld wished one another the blessings of the festival and took to the Aoor to danc e. Vegetarian lunch arranged by Temple Management was both SLU11ptuous and delicious, and pre -packed festival sweets though formed the attraction of tl1e day.

For more in formation, please contact Mr S. K. Auplish, Chief

Coo rdinator, Indian Seniors Forum, on auplishsk@yahoo. com.au and also organiser Ms Jaya M a nchikanti on Jmanch.ik@ stonningcon.vic.gov.au

KISCA

Kingston Indian Senior Citizen;; Assn. Q<ISCA) hosted a Diwali festival lunch at The Fiji Restaurant in L ittle India, which they ratl1er imaginatively decorated w ith live banana plants and lndjan decor.

We began w im homemade vegetab le samosas with very Fijian green chutney. 111e difference in the Fijianlnclian lamb curry, altl1ough mjnjmal, was d istinct. j\,fy initjal impression, mat they tenderised me meat with raw papaya paste, (common practice in Indian cujsine), was erroneo u s

Centuries ago, as Fijian members ela borated, mey did n ot find Indian spices in abundance in Fiji, so they resorted to improvising. This involved using .less onions and a concentration of coriander powder.

Another typical sabzi a Fijian Indian home/ restaurant must serve i s pumpkin mash, traditionally treated ;v itl1 a cha,mka of methi-dana. We noticed the fried rice served was treated with b u tter rather ma n desi ghee They spice the daal a bit more than Indians normall y would and tl1ey are also not tandoorcrazy, but insis t upon larger tawa rotis tha n tbe pht1/kas of n orth India. Festival v1ithai in abtrndance was most welcome. A gra tifyi ng afternoon.

As President Nagaya is changing house, please call Secretary Mona Raju oo 9782 8973.

Isaw

A steadily growing membership of Indian Seniors Association West (ISAW) also celebrated Diwali in Sr. Albans, and wished tl1e other tidings of the festival. Many cook to me floor to dance on tl1e mesmerising Bollywood so n gs After tl1at, we related our experiences of the festival in our respective towm back in India. We men shared in breaking bread together. A n abundance of fo;rival 111ith11i was d1ere to sba re. For more in for mation, contact President Arjan Tuli on 9390 2818

Isca

Tbe Indian Senior Citizens Association attracted neatly 200 people who wished to celebrate Diwali togemer Secretary Dinesh Sood truly needed to yell to restrain animated members so tl1ey would give him an ear.

Commencing tbe day, Vice

President Jasbir Bedi invited 13-year-o ld Akansha to the stage, who delighted us witl1 a fast l\faratbi dance. Self-taught, the m oves and gestures calented Akansba presented enthralled us all. Later, s he also presented a BoUywood dance.

Young Kajal and Krishna gave us a Bhangra performance whi le regttlars at ISCA, Llsa and Eddie absorbed our attention w ith a captivating jive. Later, Li sa danced with Sandy to a Bollywood rune_yaad kjya di! ne kahan ho tum. Tavreen and avreen , 7 and 11 years o ld, gave us a well-re hearsed Bhangra.

President Prem Phakey w ished members me b lessings of tl1e festival and tl1anked Victorian Mulciculniral Commission

Chairman Chin Tan for tl1e grant he sanctioned for me festival. Th.is, inc id entally, being his tenth Diwal.i function of the season , Chairman Tan prai sed the community for maintaining our culture, which secular Australia encourages.

While we expacs maintain me culture of India, with equal gusto we celebrate tbe festivities of our adopted l and as weU

Jennifer Yang e:>,.'te nded Dhvali greetings from Anna Burke l'vfP, who could not attend. Prem Phakey introduced ex -Monash Councillor Robert Davies, w ho hopes to enter Parliament after me el ection, who asked members ro vote him in. 11ichael Gidley, our local MP, wished Happy Diwali to all presem and pledged his government's continuing support to ISCA. For m ore informati o n , p lease contact President Phakey on 9803 3 989