September 25, 2015

Pressing Community News!!!

From the Desk of your PCA Team .....

As we signed off last week, the weekend was a filled weekend with lots of things to be done. Before we get into the information about the week, let us celebrate an important event in Germany as the month of October begins.

German Unity Day in Germany

October 3, 2015

The Day of German Unity (German: Tag der Deutschen Einheit) is the national day of Germany, celebrated on 3 October as a public holiday. It commemorates the anniversary of German reunification in 1990, when the goal of a united Germany that originated in the middle of the 19th century, was fulfilled again. Therefore, the name addresses neither the re-union nor the union, but the unity of Germany. The Day of German Unity on 3 October has been the German national holiday since 1990, when the reunification was formally completed. It is a legal holiday for the Federal Republic of Germany.

An alternative choice to commemorate the reunification could have been the day the Berlin Wall came down: 9 November 1989, which coincided with the anniversary of the proclamation of the German Republic in 1918, and the defeat of Hitler's first coup in 1923. However, 9 November was also the anniversary of the first large-scale Nazi-led pogroms against Jews in 1938 (Kristallnacht), so the day was considered inappropriate as a national holiday.  Therefore, 3 October 1990, the day of the formal reunification, was chosen instead and replaced the "Day of German Unity" on 17 June, the national holiday of the Federal Republic of Germany from 1954.

Anniversary of the Founding of the People's Republic of China 

For China it is an Anniversary,

October 1 (1949)

The People's Republic of China was founded on 1 October 1949. Since then, celebrations of varying scales occur on National Day each year. Military parades, presided over by Chairman Mao Zedong, were held every year between 1949 and 1959. In September 1960, the Chinese leadership decided that in order to save funds and "be frugal", large-scale ceremonies for National Day would only be held every ten years, with a smaller-scale ceremony every five years. The last large-scale celebration during the Mao era was in 1969. Large-scale celebrations did not take place for 14 years amidst the climax of the Cultural Revolution. Since then, the most prominent National Day celebrations have taken place in 1984 and 1999, at the 35th and 50th anniversaries respectively. During these celebrations, then-paramount leader Deng Xiaoping and Jiang Zemin reviewed military parades of the People's Liberation Army. The 2009 parade was the first and last time Hu Jintao oversaw this task, as he will leave office in 2012 due to term limits.

For Hong Kong and Macau, it is an National Day

October 1

Multiple countries have Independence Day in the Month of October

Nigeria , October 1 (1960)

Cyprus, October 1 (1960)

Tavalu, October 1 (1978)
Guinea, October 2, (1958)
Lesotho, October 4 (1966)
Uganda, October 8 (1962)

Croatia, October 8 (1991)

Local and School Ongoings.....


Big Bad Blue

We ended last Friday with UN Day, but began the weekend with Big Bad Blue.  Our new SAISA Coordinator, Laurinda Porter and her team of volunteers came out to help our coaches from taking times for the heats, to getting food for our kids and cheering them on. To see pictures of our Big Bad Blue Volunteers, click on this sentence. 










Chirag Sherpas

That same morning, our Chirag Sherpas, were at Cauvery Matriculation School in Thoraipakkam, inaugurating the new computer lab that they had begun. The ceremony was attended by the CTO of Polaris, our Head of School and others from our school.  This is the third lab the children on Chirag Sherpas have set up. Our kids found that the English instruction in the local schools was not at the level for children passing out were able to enter colleges locally.  

Thus, it has become their passion to deliver English Instruction to the local schools through a computer adaptive program named Thulir.  Our AISC students have been raising funds since last year to open as many computer labs as possible.  Our kids have raised funds through tie-up with Corporates, our School, and raising funds through bake sales and other fund raising activities. Last year, our School donated 30 computers to begin the first last.  Since then, our kids have been moving along to live our school mission, by educating the community around us.  To see pictures of this event, click on this sentence. 

Design Saturday

Later that day, we had Design Saturday for our kids at school.  This was our way to spark the juices of our children to become creative and construct an "Angry Bird Slingshot."  This w
as a first for our school and hopefully more in a series of Design Saturdays. As a parent, I would encourage your children to participate in this event in the future.  This is not for just the engineers, but for kids who are curious "how to."  To see pictures of this event, click on this sentence. 

Mediterranean Cooking Demo

The actual week began with a cooking demo at GRT Grand with Mediterranean Cooking. This is our third cooking demo for this month. The idea behind these cooking demos is for our community to learn how to cook as if they were coming to one of our homes.  We have 27 countries represented in our school. The hope is to have 27 different cooking demos throughout this year which will cover the vast span of cuisine that we all come from.  

We began our cooking demo with Tabbouleh Salad, which was made of none other than cracked wheat! What a very healthy way to eat.  Our Chef at GRT, showed us a very simple recipe to be able to make the salad with mostly local ingredients.  The Italian Parsley, which is seasonally found at Amma Nanna.  As we were watching the Chef, we were served different Mezze from bread to Baba Ganoush, to Humus with Pita.  What a yummy manner to learn cooking. 

As we were enjoying the different Mezze, the chef began the preparation for the Shish Taouk, which is Herb- marinated chicken breast cubes, grilled and served with garlic sauce. Do you know that in the garlic sauce, he put in raw potato!  Amazing, how tasty these simple dishes are to make.  I cannot speak for the others, but for me, I felt like, I could make these dishes at home and look like a five star chef.  After this, we made Cous Cous, and then Butter Bean Stew.  Butter Bean, would sound to be such a boring dish, made our taste buds light up. The ingredients were fresh and just enough to make a punch to our taste buds.
The chef then showed us Falafel, and lasty the biggest hit of the afternoon - Hot Chocolate Souffle! 
If you would like to see more pictures of the cooking demo, click on this sentence. 

We hope you will join us for the next cooking demos. The cost of each cooking demo is Rs.1000/person.  I can speak only for myself, but being here, I am becoming a better and more international cook while learning all of these dishes. 

As you go into the Fall holiday this week, look for new and exciting adventures in this vast country or India. If you are more of a thrill seeker, hope your travels take you to new and interesting lands this next week. Do let us know about what you do when you get there...

Signing off for this week..

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Upcoming Events

September 26, 2015 - October 4, 2015 Fall Break
October 6, 2015 - PCA Meeting - 8:45-9:45 in BBT
October 6, 2015 - KPA Meeting - 8:45-9:45 in BBT
October 7, 2015 - Early Dismissal at 1:30 p.m.
October 8, 2015 - 20/21 Learning Dialogues
October 9, 2015 - German Cooking Demo at Westin, Velachery
October 14, 2015 - PCA City Tour - Pondy Bazaar
October 15, 2015 - PCA Introductory Tech Training
October 16, 2015 - R.I.S.E. Event at 4:00 p.m. in FAC (A MUST SEE!!)
October 17, 2015 - Family Dinner - Out on the Town - TBD
October 24, 2015 - Thanksgiving Cooking Demo at Design Hotel, Phoenix Market City
October 31, 2015 - PCA Diwali Mela

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New Adult Activities Begin Offered

                                                        ---------------------------

Open Positions

There are still open positions on the PCA.  We are looking for energetic persons whose goal is to enrich the lives of their kids through parent sponsored activities. We have open positions for Vice President on the Executive Team.

If you are interested, please do give us an email at pca@aisch.org.  

                                                        ---------------------------

References

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_Unity_Day
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/60th_anniversary_of_the_People%27s_Republic_of_China

September 18, 2015

From the Desk of your PCA Team .....

We have had such an eventful week.... but it does not end today.

French Cooking Demo 

The week began for us with a French Cooking demonstration at the Design Hotel in Phoenix Market City.  Chef Suresh and his team made a simple meal that made our taste buds zing.  We started the cooking demo with poached peaches, with a vanilla crumble. The crumble was made with an easy recipe utilizing the sugar biscuits that we find in any Nilgiris.  

After this was done, we got into making baked crepes.  
We started making the white sauce which was then put to the side, while the vegetables were made for crepe filling.  He made a filling of basic veggies that we find locally - starting with garlic and leeks, with onions and broccoli. The veggies were finely chopped to make the filling such that it would wrap nicely in the crepe.  As soon as the veggies were done, the white sauce was added with bread crumbs to thicken the filling.  After this the seafood filling was made. The base was made with garlic and leeks, with onions, and then basa fish with some shrimp.  As soon as the two were nearly cooked, then white sauce and bread crumbs are put in to make the filling thicker.  After the fillings were done, we filled the crepes, and baked, we got to eat. The beauty of our cooking demo was that Chef Suresh and GM Priya Roy, gave us tips and tricks of how to store the preparations and decorate our creations such that they look like five star quality restaurant food!  To see pictures for this event click on this link. 

Parry's Corner

The next day, we were at Parry's corner. This time, we began and T.Mangaram's, as it is a good landmark to begin with. From there we walked down to N.C.S. Bose Road. At the corner, we turned left and went to Monica's, a shop for toiletries and sundries. This is a very very small shop in this area.  The shop is small, but also the one that supplies many of the salons and boutiques with products within chennai. We came out of there and walked into the lane in front, which is marked with Vigneshwar Jewellery at the corner. This street is known for the retailer dry fruit goods shops.  This has prominent shops like Naval Das.  Initial look at the small shop, does not compare to the amount of dry fruit sales the shop does in any year.  The operate from the small area, but they supply product to multiple shops all throughout the city. After coming out of the dry fruit shops, we made our way to N.C.S. Bose road, turned left and walked towards Hotel Saravana Bhavan for lunch. It was noon by then.  We were walking towards the Law College and High Court.  First was lunch, before anything else.  Saravana Bhavan gave a wonderful selection of vegetarian items that made our tummies happies. The best was that each of us ordered a few different items, and shared the meals together.  My personal favorite was the paneer tikka and Chole Bhatura.  Yum!  Many of us ended our meal with a nice cup of South Indian coffee. 

As we were going towards the High Court, we passed the streets where wholesales textiles are sold from hand towels, to bedsheets, to salwar set materials.  Next came the paper/plastic goods lane, where one can find any kid of plate from square one, to round, to oblong; made from paper, to plastic to wooden ones which are

recyclable.  There one can fine cups of multiple sizes for cold to hot beverages, napkins and storage containers. We visited this lane in particular after lunch. When we visited the storage container streed, we started at the beginning of the street.  We found retailers of the paper goods. As we meandered inwards to the street, we found more and more wholesalers of the same items.  From there the next street was for cards.  An Olympic Cards sign marks the entrance to the lane. There are multiple card shops. We can get cards made for weddings, for birthday parties, for baby showers, for an engagement... in short for anything.  The next street we went past was an oddity - shoes!  The street was lined with multiple shoe shops which carried from local to multi-national brands like Reebok. By the time we had finished, it was time to return to school.  Many picked up fruit from the street vendors and headed back to school.  To see our pictures of this trip, click on this sentence. 

UN Day

Today was our UN Day! Wow!!  I can only say that !  Each UN Day I am always amazed at the amount of creativity that goes into creating pavilions. Each country tops itself from prior years.  This year we have three new entrants, Poland, Chile, and Indonesia.  Our returning countries and the new entrants out did themselves.  There was gondola themes, to multiple cut-out where one could take pictures, to legos!  What a hit for the younger ones!  There were different games on the center area for all the kids to take part in.  Many of the classes stayed for... just a bit longer.  Who can complain!
  

I have to state, from my own children, they had a fantastic time. My younger one was quite keen on getting stamps on his passport to the sticker and snacks. My older one took his chance at the floor games.  Some he became a "pro" at and to others, he was just... eh!  His friends and him had a fantastic time going around to participate in each of the pavilions and -- of course -- eat! Our children do love the snacks!  

To all of our parents, who gave of their time and money to make this an event all the kids talk fondly about.  Thank you to all of our volunteers to the mom, dad's and grand parents who came out to assist in our pavilions.  Thank you ! Our kids truly enjoyed themselves.  A job well done!  Thank you to all.  To see all the pictures of UN Day, click on this sentence. 

BUT that was not all....

As we go into the weekend today started Big Bad Blue Swim Meet!  come out on campus to support our kids by cheering them on for the meet!

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Upcoming Events

September 24, 2015 - Greek/Mediterranean Cooking Demo at GRT Grand, T-Nagar
September 26, 2015 - October 4, 2015 Fall Break
October 6, 2015 - PCA Meeting - 8:45-9:45 in BBT
October 6, 2015 - KPA Meeting - 8:45-9:45 in BBT
October 7, 2015 - Early Dismissal at 1:30 p.m.
October 8, 2015 - 20/21 Learning Dialogues
October 9, 2015 - German Cooking Demo at Westin, Velachery

                                                         ---------------------------

Open Positions

There are still open positions on the PCA.  We are looking for energetic persons whose goal is to enrich the lives of their kids through parent sponsored activities. We have open positions for Vice President on the Executive Team.

If you are interested, please do give us an email at pca@aisch.org.  To see all open positions, please see the side bar link of PCA Volunteers.

                                              

September 11, 2014

From the Desk of your PCA Team .....

Menu at Westin

This week ended with a wonderful time that many of us had with a Kerela cooking demo at the Westin in Velachery. Chef Thangathambi, and his team taught us four different times, please see the menu pictures on the right.  Sous Chef Sarvanan was the one who demonstrated. He stated we will work with three main ingredients coconut milk, coconut oil and rice.  These are the three main ingredients in Kerela cooking.  

First we started with two different curries, a vegetable stew and then an Allepy fish curry.  Both curries' base was coconut milk. Allepy fish curry's base surprised me, whose base was coconut, with a tang that was made with tomato and raw mango!  Yum! 

Second, we made the Elayappam, which is a rice flour empanada made with sweet filling and steamed; A very very healthy alternative to an empanada, which is fried!  What we learned was that the elayappam can be filled with almost any dry fruit filling or the coconut filling that we made.  We took clarified ghee and roasted grated coconut till it turned lightly in color and then added jaggery to sweeten the dish.  The sweetness of jaggery was not overpowering, but wow did the smell make us hungry.  

Lastly, to eat with each of the curries, we needed to make appams.  Appams are made to be the shape of the bowls that they are cooked in.  The recipe is not the typical dosas batter recipe, which surprised me. The chefs allowed us each to make appams. At first, we made plain appams. Then the masalas began to enter the equation!  First we did an egg appam - it is like a sunny side up egg in the appam. What a wonderful morning breakfast dish.  After this, we made some appams with cheese, samba olek, and then finally with dried fish.  All who tried the different appams found the flavors to be, in one word - YUM!

After the cooking demo was completed, we had signed up for a light lunch, which turned out to be a wonderful 4 course meal!  From starters, to a few main courses, and then ending it with a wonderful brownie and chocolates. The chocolates were three different varieties. One was dark chocolate infused with chillies. The second was milk chocolate infused with curry leaf; this was a sink or swim, as curry leaf is an acquired taste.  The last one was topped off with white chocolate infused with coconut!  What a lovely afternoon we had.  Hope you can join us next week at Design Hotel for a cooking demo for French food.  If you would like to see the pictures of the Demo, please click on this sentence. 

Apart from this week, we begin the next week a host of things occurring.  there are two wonderful events happening next week.  One is a local celebration of the birthday of Lord Ganesh, the elephant head god. and the second is our UN Day, which incidentally being held on International Peace Day.  I would like to share some history with you all about these two events.

Ganesh Chaturthi/Vinayaka Chaturthi in India

September 17, 2015

Ganesh Chaturthi, or literally Birthday of Lord Ganesh, who is the elephant headed God in the Hindu Religion.  The festival is celebrate in honour of Ganesh, as he is known as the remover of obstacles and the god of beginnings and wisdom.  Ganesh Chaturti  AKA Vinayaka Chaturthi is observed in the Hindu calendar monthd of Bhadrapada, starting on the shukla chaturthi (fourth day of the waxing moon period).  The date usually falls between August and September.  The festival is 10 days log ending on Anant Chaturdashi(fourteenth day of the waxing moon period). 

Today, family and public celebrations of this festival is highly popular in Maharashtra.  Each home, neighborhood, public youth groups (Mandal’s) and public associations will take a clay idol of Ganesh, and install it in a particular location to worship separately for the ten(10) day celebration.  Each day, there is a puja (or worship hmys) stated to the Idol.  The belief by Hindu’s is that you will call Lord Ganesha to come to bless your home so that in your home obstacles that hurt your home and life, can be removed.  During this festival there are multiple cultural activities such as theater performances, orchestra and community activities.  The songs will be songs of praise to Lord Ganesha and many plays on the life of the God.  There are many children stories of Lord Ganesha that are told to teach morals to children.   On the tenth day of the festival, Ganesh is bathed and then taken to the sea side or a water body in the town and immersed into the water.  Before the idol is immersed, the water is treated with ayurvedic  leaves and other medicinal plants to ward off viruses or infections. Thus, the visarjan (or the immersing of the Ganesh in the water) is a practical manner of fighting off water borne diseases. 

A very popular story is of Ganesh and his brother Karthik sitting at the feet of their parents.  Their parents, who are the God Shiva and Goddess Parvati, had one mango remaining. Both boys wanted the mango, but to the victor would be the spoils.  Shiva, stated to the boys that the boy who went around the world three time and completed first, would win the mango.  Karthik, the Sun God, got into his chariot and began his journey to go around the earth three times.  Ganesh  was sitting. He quietly got up and went around his parents three times.  His parents gave him the mango.  Karthik was quite upset at this, but the morale:  Parents are the center of the world for their children, all others are false. 

International Peace Day

September 18,2014

The International Day of Peace, sometimes unofficially known as World Peace Day, is observed annually on 21 September. It is dedicated to world peace, and specifically the absence of war and violence, such as might be occasioned by a temporary ceasefire in a combat zone for humanitarian aid access. The day was first celebrated in 1982, and is kept by many nations, political groups, military groups, and peoples. In 2013, for the first time, the Day was dedicated by the Secretary-General of the United Nations to peace education, the key preventive means to reduce war sustainably.

To inaugurate the day, the United Nations Peace Bell is rung at UN Headquarters (in New York City). The bell is cast from coins donated by children from all continents except Africa, and was a gift from the United Nations Association of Japan, as "a reminder of the human cost of war"; the inscription on its side reads, "Long live absolute world peace".

2014 – Right to Peace

The theme of the 2014 International Day of Peace is the Right of Peoples to Peace, reaffirming the United Nations commitment to the UN Declaration on the Right of Peoples to Peace, which recognizes that the promotion of peace is vital for the full enjoyment of all human rights.

Director of UNESCO to Vietnam, Katherine Müller, said in Global Education Magazine: "I personally identify with UNESCO’s values in the sense that I truly believe Education, Culture, Social and Natural Sciences, and Communication and Information are some of the most powerful drivers for sustainable development and peace, as a sustainable future cannot exist without sustainable peace. Raising awareness, capacity building, promoting understanding and respect for diversity, and fostering opportunities for interaction to find ways to ensure a culture of peace are all actions that will motivate people to become interested in setting peace as a priority for sustainable development."

9/11

September 11, 2014

This week also commemorates a sad and important day in American history.  September 11th, is a sad day and shocking day in American history when the World Trade Center towers were simultaneously hit and destroyed by two hijacked airline planes.  For those of us who are from America, we do feel a loss each year on this day.  To my fellow Americans, do take a moment of silence for those whose lives were lost.

To my fellow world citizens, there are terrorists attacks in many of the countries that we all come from. Sadly, there is not a country that has not been affected in our Earth. We take this moment of silence for those who were killed either as bystanders or were in the armed forces protecting.  Our hands reach to a salute especially for those who were protecting.  Their job is the hardest to protect with less regard of their own life.  My personal, salute to those who serve our armed forces around the world.  You are the unsung heroes in our lives. We salute you!

Signing off for this week.....

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Upcoming Events

September 15, 2014 - French Cooking Demo at Design Hotel, Phoenix Market City
September 16, 2014 - PCA City Tour to go to Parry's corner
September 17, 2014 - Introductory Tech Training in Hall of Lights

Septgmer 18, 2014 - AISC UN Day at Gym 
Septbmer 21, 2014 - Greek Cooking Demo at GRT Grand, T-Nagar

UN Day, Friday, September 18

The preparations for UN Day are moving forward as the date approaches. The Parade Coordinator is creating a spectacular experience for the community as we celebrate our diversity. Country Coordinators are working hard to create an engaging experience for our students at the Country Pavilions. 

Country Coordinators may be contacting you regarding the dress for UN Day. Wearing national dress is not mandatory, but many countries do dress up. Please see the PCA Blog for your Country Coordinator's name and contact information if you have questions. 

Here is a parent schedule for that day, specifically for PCA Country Coordinators and Country Pavilion Volunteers. 

Thursday, September 17

• 10:00am-8:00pm     MC E & F are open for PCA Country Coordinators and Country Pavilion volunteers to store things in. 
• 5:00-8:00pm     The Gym is open for set up for PCA Country Coordinators and Country Pavilion volunteers. Maintenance staff will be available with flat beds to help move items. 

Friday, September 18

• 8:00-8:30am     Normal Drop off for students
• 8:30am     Parents move to the FAC Auditorium to watch the UN Day Parade (seating is limited, and we will have spill over locations with TVs and streaming video of the parade).
• 9:00-10:00am     PCA Country Coordinators can access Gym for Final Set Up of Country Pavilions
• 10:00am     Parade ends
• 10:30     UN Day Country Pavilions Begin
• 3:15     UN Day Country Pavilions End
• 4:00     UN Day Country Pavilions Must Be Removed. Gym is ready for ASAs.

Elementary school and middle school students are scheduled to come to the Country Pavilions with their classroom teachers between 10:30am-3:15pm. High school students will have the option of coming during their lunch. 

High school students are reminded that they will need to eat lunch before coming to the Country Pavilions in the Gym. 

UN Day (MS)

On Friday, September 18 middle school students will be participating in the all school country parade and visiting Country Pavilions. Wearing national dress is not mandatory, but many countries do dress up. It will vary by country. The day has a normal start at 8:30, and then students will move with their class to the GYM to line up by country. 

In the afternoon on the 18th, middle school students are scheduled to come to the UN Day Country Pavilions with their classroom teachers. There will be activities and light snacks. 

UN Day (HS)

On Friday, September 18 high school students will be participating in the all school country parade and have the option of coming to the Country Pavilions. Wearing national dress is not mandatory, but many countries do dress up. It will vary by country. The day has a normal start at 8:30, and then students will move with their class to the GYM to line up by country. 

High school students will have the option of coming to the UN Day Country Pavilions during their lunch on Friday, September 18. There will be activities and snacks.  

High school students are reminded that they will need to eat lunch before coming to the Country Pavilions in the Gym. 

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Open Positions

There are still open positions on the PCA.  We are looking for energetic persons whose goal is to enrich the lives of their kids through parent sponsored activities. We have open positions for Vice President on the Executive Team.

If you are interested, please do give us an email at pca@aisch.org.  To see all open positions, please see the side bar link of PCA Volunteers.

                                                         ---------------------------

References

1) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ganesh_Chaturthi

2) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Day_of_Peace

September 4, 2015

From the Desk of your PCA Team .....

We live surrounded by 27 different cultures in this school.  So many different holiday’s and so many different celebrations are occurring around us.  We tend to be inundated with the world around us in India.  The Indian Subcontinent has multiple festivities ongoing every week, but apart from the Indian subcontinent, our friends from the 26 other countries also have things happening of which we are just beginning to scratch the surface. 

Hari Merdeka (Independence Day) – in Malayasia

August 31, 2015

I bet most of us did not even pay attention when it happened.  August 31^st is the national day of Malaysia commemorating the independence of the Federation of Malaya from British colonial rule in 1957.  Tunku Abdul Rahman, the first prime Minister of Malaysia, lead a delegation of ministers and political leaders of Malaya in negotiations with Britain for Merdeka, or independence along with the first president of the Malayan Chinese Association (MCA) Tun Dato Sir Tan Cheng Lock and fifth President of Malaysian Indian Congress Tun V.T. Sambanthan. Once it became clear that the Communist threat posed during the Malayan Emergency was petering out, agreement was reached on 8 February 1956, for Malaya to gain independence from the British Empire. However, logistical and administrative reasons led to the official proclamation of independence in the next year, on 31 August 1957, at Stadium Merdeka (Independence Stadium), in Kuala Lumpur, which was purposely built for the celebrations of national Independence Day. The announcement of the day was set months earlier by the Tunku in a Melaka meeting of the Alliance.¹

Janmashtami – in India

September 5^th, 2015

Janmashtami is the annual birthday celebration of the Hindu deity Krishna, who is the eighth avatar of Vishnu.   The festival is celebrated on the eight day (Ashtami) of the Krishna Paksha (dark forthnight) of the month of Bhadrapad (August-September) in the Hindu calendar.  Each year on his birthday, reenactments of his life are done in different manners around India.  

Raas-Leela

Raas-Leela, a dance of Raas, which is a group stick dance, still popular Gujarat during the Navaratri season.  It is an enactment of the flirtatious aspect of Krishna’s youthful days.  Many regions of India will celebrate Krishna by having Raas dances done till well past midnight, as Krishna was born at midnight. 

Dhai Handi

The Dhai Handi, or breaking of the Ghee(clarified butter) pots in enacted as part of the mischievous BalKrishna (Bal – means child, Krisna).   As a child, Krishna was a naughty child who was fond of Ghee.  Krishna and his band of cowherds would go into the houses of residents of Mathura and steal the butter.  Each night the lady owner, Gopi, would come to complain to his mother, Yashoda, that her son had been so naughty.  Each night Krishna, would deny the stealing, but would get caught as the ghee would either be in his clothing or his hair, or on his face.   The Gopis would complain, but the next day would leave ghee within some reach for Krishna to steal with his band of boys.  The women of Mathura were fond of Krishna and his group of friends and indulged the children with ghee.

Today, teams of young men or women will form human towers to reach a high-hanging pot of ghee and break it – symbolic of the ghee that was broken by Krishna and his friends.  The activity is never done alone, always in a group.  ²

Labor Day – in USA

September 7^th, 2015

Labor Day in the United States is a public holiday celebrated on the first Monday in September. It honors the American labor movement and the contributions that workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of their country.  America was a country that was built on the labor work force that came from all over the world.  Immigrants worked in fields to till the soil or later became a part of the Industrial Revolution and worked in the factories. The day is a day of honoring those who are the labor from past to present in the US. 

Labor Day Parade in New York's Union Square, 1882

Celebrations of Labor Day were outlined in the first proposal of the holiday: A street parade to exhibit to the public "the strength and esprit de corps of the trade and labor organizations", followed by a festival for the workers and their families. This became the pattern for Labor Day celebrations. Speeches by prominent men and women were introduced later, as more emphasis was placed upon the civil significance of the holiday. Still later, by a resolution of the American Federation of Labor convention of 1909, the Sunday preceding Labor Day was adopted as Labor Sunday and dedicated to the spiritual and educational aspects of the Labor movement.

Last Days of Summer in Chicago

The holiday often marks the end of the traditional summer season (although summer doesn't officially end until September 21), as students normally return to school the following week, although school year starting days now vary.³  

Now days, the Labor Day Holiday is celebrated as a nice three day holiday to spend with the family.  Many families will take the "last days of summer" in spending family time outdoors.  Being from Chicago, my favorite was spending time at the beach of Lake Michigan. 

Like I would in Chicago, hope you all have a wonderful three day holiday and a wonderful weekend.  Signing off this week....

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New Discounts

Nando's Restaurants - 10% off with a cover of Rs.1000 +
- Phoenix Mall 
- Cathedral Road

Design Hotel, Phoenix Mall, Velachery 
a) Breakfast from 7:30-10:30 a.m. daily - Net Rs.500/each 
b) Morning Tea - from 11:00 - 12:00 a.m. - Net 200/each ***
c) Lunch - from 12:00 - 3:00 p.m. - Net 900/each **
d) Afternoon Tea - from 4:00 - 6:00 p.m. - Net 200/each ***
e) Dinner - from 7:00 - onwards - Net 1200/each **

**Lunch and Dinner's have to be scheduled in advance by two days, with a set menu. Menus vary based on guest choices. 

*** Plain coffee and tea service with light cookies for snack. Additional snacks are chargeable at Net 75/snack.

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Upcoming Events

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Open Positions

There are still open positions on the PCA.  We are looking for energetic persons whose goal is to enrich the lives of their kids through parent sponsored activities. We have open positions for Vice President on the Executive Team.

If you are interested, please do give us an email at pca@aisch.org.  To see all open positions, please see the side bar link of PCA Volunteers.

References

1.       https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hari_Merdeka

2.       https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labor_Day

3.       https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labor_Day