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Benefactor
Patron for Life Supporting for Life Jack & Muriel Copeland Life
Alex & Marie Alonzo Regular
Prasanna Adhikary
Our members make a difference!Please join the America-Nepal Society of California, Inc. and help us build a better & stronger organization.If your name is misspelled we apologize for the error. But please make sure to bring it to our attention so that we may correct it in the future issues. If you don't see your name here, it is likely that you are either not a member or your membership has expired. Please renew your membership and help us stay in touch with you. We need your support and help to grow.
Video Cassette of Allare for SaleVideocassettes of the Nepali motion picture Allare are for sale at $15/each. Two dollars from the sale of each cassette will go to the entertainment fund of the America-Nepal Society of California. If you missed the screening of the film at Claremont in April, here is the opportunity to watch it in the comfort of your own home. When released in 1997, Allare played for more than six months in the movie theaters of Nepal, breaking the record of Nepali film running for the longest time. The price includes shipping and handling. Since there are limited number of copies of the videotape, they will be sold on first-come-first-serve basis. So please place your order now: 909-621-0783.
Benefit DinnerThe program began with a short speech by Bijay Niraula, who welcomed the audience and introduced Cari and John, the Gallery owners, Sandra Hanicutt, Veda Joshi and Deepak Shimkhada of the America-Nepal Society of California. While the majority of the audience was non-Nepali, a small contingent of Nepalis was also present. Sandra Hanicutt then read a short speech about the plight of Nepali girls who are subjected to sex slavery in the brothels of Bombay and stated the missions of both the Maiti Nepal and Captive Daughters. Then Pundit Sukavaka Deva of Lakmi-Narayan Temple in Riverside performed the shanti ceremony while chanting Vedic mantras.
Members ActivitiesThe Barka Naach |
Betsy Goodall ScholarshipUpdate by Veda B. Joshi - Director, Scholarship Fund
In 1998, the chairman of the selection committee in Nepal Dr. Shiva Dass Joshi with the help of committee members, Capt. B.M. Amatya, Kishore Manandhar, and Kayser Tamrakar were successful in selecting four new scholars from the fresh batch of SLC exam for ANS/CA Betsy Goodall Scholarship Fund. The scholars are Subhadra Amatya, Maheswari Devi Gorkhali, Sunita Shrestha, and Swasthani Khadka. We have already sent the first installment of the grant of $100 each for the first academic yet, except for Swasthani Khadka who has not yet transferred herself to the Nursing Campus.
Subhadra Amatya has passed SLC in the first division from Shramjit Kishor Secondary School, Lalitpur. She is at present studying Nursing at Lalitpur Nursing Campus. Nursing is a three-year program. Maheswari Devi Gorkhali passed SLC also in the first division from Nepal Adarsha Secondary School, Kathmandu. She is a physics student of Tri-Chandra Campus. Sunita Shrestha passed SLC also in the first division from Kanya Secondary School. She is pursuing the management courses at Public Youth Campous in Dhobichaur. On the financial side of the report, the BG Fund has received a donation of $400 in 1998. The donors are: Prof. Merrill Goodall, Stephen J. Salser, Virgil and Stephanie Day. As of December 31, 1998, the BG Scholarship Fund has a balance of $22,552.38, of which $3,586.20 is the interest available for scholarship distribution. Breakdown of account:
$20,000 in the Custom Term Account
MEMORANDUM To: Executive Members* and Board of Trustees* From: Veda Joshi, Director, Board of Trustees, ANS/CA- Betsy Goodall Scholarship fund Date: July 16, 1999 Subjects: Scholarship Activity Update - Semi-Annual Report for 1999 I have prepared this Scholarship Fund Semi-Annual Report to update you on the ANS/CA Betsy Goodall Scholarship Fund Activity. The report published in the latest issue of the "Crossroad" -- an official newsletter of ANS/CA -- is almost six month old. From the last reporting, there has been a change of the bank. The Home Savings of America where we have our account has become Washington Mutual Bank. This change took place effective June 1st. 1999. As a result of this change, the Custom Term Account No. 022-104543-8 has changed to Certificate of Deposit, Acct No. 876-1089488-6, and Saving Certificate Account No. 022-104542-0 has changed to Saving Account, Acct. No. 878-650174-8. As of June 30, 1999, Balance on CD is $20,000.00 and on Saving Account is $3,476.06 Donations: 1030.00. Interest earned: $463.83. Total Grants this year $500.00. Interest balance: $3,550.03 (Note: Interest of $70.15 from CD went to Saving on 7/1/99 only). Out of the four scholars selected on Sept 16, 1998, Sunita Shrestha who is studying Management Course from Public Youth Campus of Tribhuvan University has passed the first year course. She was from the batch of 2054 SLC Exam., whereas, other three scholars -- Subhadra Amatya who is studying Nursing Course from Lalitpur Nursing Campus, Maheswhwori Devi Gorkhali who is studying Physics from Tri-Chandra Campus and Swasthani Khadka who just got enrolled in the Bir hospital Nursing Campus were from the batch of 2055 SLC Exam. I have already sent a total grant of $300.00 to Sunita Shrestha for the first academic year. I will soon release a grant of $100.00 for her as the first installment of grant for the second academic year. So far, we have send $200.00 each to Subhadra Amatya and Maheshwori Gorkhali as the first and second installment of grants for the first academic year. They have already finished the first year exam., but waiting for the test result. The result was delayed due to the recent general election in Nepal. As soon as we get the result, and if they pass, I will send them $100.00 each for the third installment of grant for the first academic year. Although Swasthani Khadka was selected last year, the scholarship grant of $100.00 as a first installment for the first academic year was released very recently after she got transferred to Nursing campus at her request made at the time of the selection. The grant for Nursing Course is for three years. Thank you very much. ________________________________ * Deepak Shimkhada Ph.D., President, ANS/CA * Michael Kenny, 1st. Vice-President, ANS/CA * Kundan Rimal, 2nd Vice-President, ANS/CA * Anil Pradhan, Treasurer, ANS/CA * Tracy Harcourt, Secretary, ANS/CA * Judy Lipton, Member, Board of Trustees * Shambhu Kayastha, Member, Board of Trustees * Virgil Day, Member, Board of Trustees *Alan Wald, Member, Board of Trustees c.c.: Dr. Merrill Goodall, Hon/Life /Patron Member c.c. Dr. Shiva Dass Joshi, Chairman, Selection Committee/Nepal c.c. Advisory Board Members Local NewsRamayana Katha
A devotional group reading of the Hindu epic the Ramayana was held at the home of Govinda and Bindra Joshi in Torrance. Veda & Kyana, Bhuvan & Bimala families together with their sister Sudha Rajbhandary and friend Moti Amatya of San Pedro participated in the ceremony. This nine-day narration of the holy mahapuran called "Nabaah" was performed from 22nd of March to 30th of March 1999 coinciding with the auspicious period from the 5th day to the 13th day of the first two quarters of the lunar cycle in Chaitra as prescribed in the scriptures.
Sri Rajsuya Das, the priest of Sri Radha Raman Vedic Temple in Placentia initiated the mahapuran on the first day. It was graced by the visiting Swami Nava Yogendra Maharaj of Jammmu-Kashmir Vaisnavi Devi Temple in India. During the program, Govinda Bhakta devoted himself to the reading of the original Sanskrit text of Srimad Valmikiya Ramayana consisting of twenty-four thousands and odd verses. Veda, Bhuvan and Sudha together with family and friends recited the Ramayana in Nepali translated by Pandit Basudev Bhattarai. The brief summary of the whole Ramayana was elucidated by Sri Rajsuya Pandit in three days. The holy episode relates the human enactment (Avataar) of Vishnu through the heroic noble character of Rama. On the concluding (ninth) day, the holy fire offering called "Homa," was performed, presided by the priest, chanting Vedic mantras for the blessings aimed at the ultimate salvation, peace and prosperity for all living beings. Govinda and Bindra Joshi would like to extend their sincere appreciation and thanks to all who came to the pooja and especially to Sarba and Buddha Shakya, and Pushpa Tulachan for singing bhajans.
Welcome New MembersAndrew Rasmussen is a graduate of Harvey Mudd College and participated as an intern for the Pitzer College Experience in Nepal program. He currently works for Biosolutions, Inc., a wastewater consulting company, and is also a certified massage therapist. He is in graduate school studying and practicing for an MA in spiritual psychology. He plans to return to Nepal to implement integrated village empowerment and watershed management programs. He can be reached at onelove@igc.org Suzan Smith is a mayor of Claremont, a city of 37,000 residents and a home to the Claremont Colleges. Her interest in Nepal started when her son went to Nepal to work and live in Nepal and when her grandson came to visit her in Claremont, he demanded to eat dal/bhat. So she had to do some running around to prepare dal/bhat for him. Kurt Meyer, born in Zurich, Switzerland, received his architectural degree from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology and practiced architecture in Los Angeles for 40 years. He has been a Himalayan explorer for over 20 years and a collector of are books on Central Asia and Himalayan countries. In 1992, he sold his architectural practice to devote full-time to researching and documenting the architectural design and artistic traditions of the Tharu of Nepal. His photography can be seen on his website: www.asianart.com/tharu. Pamela Deuel, native of California, studied French language and journalism at Stanford University, and has an MA in multicultural education. Prior to researching the Tharu, she spent many years working in the environmental movement, both at the grassroots level ands in the U.S. Congress. Since 1992 she has concentrated on intercultural studies, together with Kurt Meyer researching, living with and recording the customs of the Tharu of Nepal Prachanda Pradhan received a Ph.D. degree in government from Claremont Graduate School in 1969. He was a Professor of public administration at Tribhuvan University in Kathmandu until he embarked upon consultancy work on water and land in Asia, Africa, and Latin America in 1981. Brian Greene went to Nepal as a Peace Corps volunteer after graduating from UCSC and UC Berkeley. Initially he was posted at Jajarkot and Rukum at the district drinking water office, but after about 14 months the US embassy decided the movement of insurgency was too hot and pulled him from there. He spent some time working in Kathmandu and then transferred to Sankwasaba. After the conclusion of his service, he worked in a private company in Biratnagar. Last year Brian returned to his home town in Ojai and will be attending Stanford University in the fall to study MBA. Brian is 28 and single. New Directions for ANSCA in the Year 2000by Ananta BaidyaAt the last Executive Committee meeting, discussions took place on how to revitalize the America-Nepal Society of Southern California. For the Society to grow and to become a meaningful organization that would serve all its members, we have to get away from just the "social gathering" events. It is time that the society's direction change to become a community service oriented organization. One of the proposals was to get the Society to provide a community service program that will function in the following manner: The America-Nepal Society will provide a network of contacts ( Human Resources) within Southern California to address the needs of its members and the community in areas such as education, relocation, information about the specific region, temporary visitation assistance, finding schooling for able and disabled children in the region, facilitation for incoming legal immigrants, health and insurance, etc. Listing of people traveling between Nepal and the United States that may be willing to accompany/assist the elderly to travel and transit from the United States to Nepal and from Nepal to the United States. Participation will be on a voluntary basis and participants can excuse themselves from the listing at any time but must notify the contact person in the Executive Body. A listing of these contacts will be maintained in the office of the Executive Body of the Association. All calls for assistance will be screened and channeled by the contact person designated by the Executive Body to appropriate contacts. The regional society contacts, however, will not address any financial needs. The contact person designated by the Executive Body will be responsible for coordinating the initial contact between the regional contact person and the individual or organization seeking assistance. The availability of this community service will be published in the region and elsewhere. This is a free service without any charges. Applicants for this service should also realize this aspect of the service and ensure that no financial burdens are placed on either the contract person or the association. As an example, we get students that come over from different regions to Southern California. From time to time, they need help in settling down in the new area. If there is a Society representative willing to assist the student to cope with housing, transportation, cultural changes, it would help the community. At this point in time, the executive needs to get a show of interest from the membership on this program. If you are interested in serving as a regional contact, please inform Deepak Shimkhada, President.
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