President's Message
I hope you are looking forward to making a leap to the next millennium. The year 2000-popularly referred to as Y2K-is around the corner, and the hype has already begun. Many organizations, including professional associations and societies, are planning for grand parties, meetings, conferences and conventions in the year 2000.
In Las Vegas and other resorts, hotel rooms have already been sold out. As we get closer to Y2K, we are likely to see even more push for celebrating the turn of the millennium by various means, including world travel, outlandish parties, unexpected events, yes, even murders and suicides. Just wait, it will get bigger, crazier, and weirder. It will provide opportunities for everyone-the sane as well as the insane.
But we at the America-Nepal Society of California have decided not to compete with any groups that have planned to hold special programs to welcome the New Year 2000. Instead, we will simply sit back and watch how capitalist society makes huge profits from exploiting the mass media machine. Against this backdrop it seems pointless to organize any program-small or large-because everyone has an agenda of his or her own. So why waste time when we know very well that: 1) many of the members are not going to come to a party; 2) it would be impossible to get even a place to hold a party; and 3) it could be dangerous to be out on December 31. For these reasons, it is better to stay home and see the tamasa on the tube.
After celebrating its 25th anniversary last October, it is fair to say that our society made a transition and it, too, is entering into a new era of leadership and solidarity. Our membership has increased and the meeting attendance has improved. We have some very dedicated members who are eager to help and play proactive roles. This is good news, indeed. So we now are poised to enter the next millennium.
Over one hundred members and guests attended the February meeting. With the intent of keeping the venue central for most of us, we went to the Cerritos College campus to meet. The auditorium was nice and the parking was ample. Because of the large turnout coupled with the positive comments, it appears that Cerritos College met our needs.
In addition to the array of international cuisine, there were a few surprises. While the bountiful food some of which we had to cart away home, Prof. Merrill Goodall's son Randall and his family flew in from Oakland to celebrate Prof. Goodall's birthday. There was even a birthday cake!
At the meeting we gave out twelve free door prizes, three passes to Disneyland, and one handcrafted Nepali picture frame as a raffle prize. While the CDs were donated by Tower Records, Nepali T-shirt, vests and picture frames were donated by Jyoti Shrestha. The three passes to Disneyland were arranged by Kiran Joshi. Our goal is to award members with free door prizes to show our appreciation for their support. We hope we can continue to do this in the future.
In our 25th anniversary celebration meeting last October, we awarded several certificates of appreciation to the founding members of the Society, namely Veda and Kyana Joshi, Merrill R. Goodall, Shambhu and Bimala Kayastha, and Deepak and Kanti Shimkhada. These certificates were issued by the Golden State of California through the office of Senator Tom Hayden with the help of our advisor Sandy Brown. In order to recognize the contributions made by members, we will keep surprising them.
In the February meeting we awarded a State Certificate of Appreciation through the help of Sandy Brown to Stephanie Day for her six years of service as secretary and treasurer. Stephanie was pleasantly surprised by this beautiful award issued by the State of California. Who will be the next recipient? This goes to show that it pays to become a member.
The Society's 1999 calendar is filled with programs. Please watch for the dates and try to participate in all of them. Some of the highlights are as follows: group camping; meditation retreat; Dasain celebration with cultural program and yagna to welcome the New Year. Please let us know how we are doing. Again, thank you for your continued support.
-Deepak Shimkhada
Mark your Calendars for Upcoming Events
Here are three upcoming events you don't want to miss. The first one will be a group camping in the beautiful, wooded, mountain site of the Tujunga Ranger District of the Angeles National Forest. Space is limited, so please RSVP our Treasurer Anil Pradhan at 818-888-2656 on or before July 20. While the area provides many recreation opportunities, it is close to the Los Angeles area. We hope many of you will join us for an overnight get away. The price for camp ground, dinner on Saturday and brunch on Sunday is $10 for adults, and $6 for children between the age of 6 and 17. Free for children under 6! Please bring your camping gear, such as tents, sleeping bags, etc.
Camping
Date: Saturday, July 24, 1999
Directions:
Take the 210 West from Pasadena to the Highway 2 (exit near Eagle Rock). Go north toward the mountains. In approximately 30 minutes you will come to the junction of the 2 and the Angeles Forest Highway (there will a large sign that says Palmdale). There is an information station just to the right of this junction. Go left toward Palmdale.
Take Angeles Forest Highway past Clear Creek, Hidden Springs, Shoening Springs, and Monte Cristo. Start looking for Mt. Gleason Road (also known as 3N17). Mt. Gleason Road goes off to the left of Angeles Forest Hwy and is very close to Mill Creek. Take Mt. Gleason Road. There is a small fork where the road splits off to the left. Take the left fork. If you stay on the right you will reach a dead end at a State Camp Facility. Drive more slowly and carefully at this point for another 10 to 15 minutes. The entrance to Lightening Point Camp is marked by a large yellow bar-gate. The camp is on the left side of the road and our camp ground number is one. See you all there.
Picnic
Saturday, September 4, 1999
The next program will be a picnic in the Bolboa Park in San Fernando Valley. This is the first time we are holding our program in the San Fernando Valley to come close to the folks in that area. We hope many of you will be able to join us in the Labor Day weekend picnic. Bring cold drinks, fruits, uncooked meat and cooked food. We will have a BBQ grill for making kuhkura ko sekuwa, hot dogs and hamburgers, whatever happens to be your choice of meat.
Directions:
From I-101 (west of I-405) exit on Balboa Boulevard and go north. Cross Burbank Boulevard and a small bridge. On the right side before Victory Boulevard, you will see a small sign "Balboa Lake Park." Enter, and go up. You will see a parking lot.
Dasain Celebration
Saturday, October 23, 1999
Dasain Celebration and Shanti Pooja for the Year 2000 will be our year-end grand program with pooja, dinner and dance. The venue is Claremont. We will mail out information as the event comes closer. Right now we want you to save the date and start thinking about what to contribute to the success of the event. We need a lot of volunteers for the cultural show and other activities.
America-Nepal Society of California, Inc.
22814 S. Berendo Ave.
Torrance, CA 90502
Email: vbjoshi@aol.com
Webmaster Anita Shrestha
AMAA, Inc.