November 27, 2015

From the Desk of your PCA Team ....

The week has been a tough one for many with the weather conditions that have been. Many areas are just seeing the water clearing.  There is a sense of joy with the loss.  Many from all over the country have come forth to help flood victims with basics of clean linens, to food, and shelter.  We look at the trials relief personnel have done to help others.  It is an astounding amount of work.  There is still more that can be done.  One can be a part of it by donating funds for the relief effort.  We all hope to be an integral part of the new story for Chennai as we rebuild.  

Where did November go?  December is here.  As the month is beginning, memories of decorated Christmas trees and the taste of eggnog.  Christmas is also the season of giving. For our school, it is the time we go home or go on vacation with the family.  We look forward to meeting a few persons from the travel arena to give you ideas of where you can find unique vacations in and outside of India.  Look forward to that in our next PCA meeting.  

Here is signing off this week....

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Event Change

PCA Ball Date Change

We have had to change the PCA ball from April 9th to May 7, 2016.  We have had to do so for the following reasons:

1)  we needed a location which could house up to 350+ persons as this is the 20th anniversary ball.  Thus we look forward to even more participation this year.

2) we needed something which fit into a budget of rs.3500-3800/ticket for food.

3) we wanted a place that gave us either liquor in the meal price, or was going to give us good pricing for drinks overall.  

4) we needed a place that gave us a good selection of food.

Given these requirements, our teams did a lot of research collecting different price quotations from multiple hotels. Two hotels only give us the space -  Leela and ITC.  For our original date, April 9, 2016, ITC was booked.  We approached Leela and got a price that was well out of our budget.  Thus we approached ITC, and got a price, which fulfilled all of the requirements, but a month later.  Thus as a group of nearly 30 persons, we decided that we will choose ITC on May 7th.

We look for you all to join us for the PCA on May 7, 2016.

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Upcoming Events

November 29, 2015 - Kids Cooking at Design Hotel

December 1, 2015 - PCA Meeting - 8:45-9:45 in BBT

December 1, 2015 - KPA Meeting - 2:30-3:30 in BBT

December 2, 2015 - Early Dismissal at 1:30 p.m.

December 5, 2015 - Kids Cooking Demo at Westin, Velachery

December 7, 2015 - Christmas Tree Lighting - 6:00 p.m. at Hyatt Regency

December 7, 2015 - December 11, 2015 - Hour of Code

December 9, 2015 - PCA City Tour

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Community Events

Giving Tree

The Elementary School, Mr. Balajee, who is AISC’s Service Learning Coordinator, children and teachers, and the PCA Elementary Grade Level Representatives are sponsoring our school’s 3rd annual Giving Tree to support approximately 350 students in 6-8 area orphanages.  Please support these efforts as we move into the holiday season.

Mr Balajee and the PCA grade level representatives have been hard at work making arrangements for the lists of children we will have the opportunity to help and planning the overall project.  Our children will be involved over the next week creating the stars that will be put on the tree, led by some of our dedicated teachers in the elementary school.

The Giving Tree was set up this morning in the Elementary School Cafeteria. Please make note of the following information, which will also be posted by the tree.

1. Children/parents can take a star off the tree and purchase a small item useful to the child listed on the star.  We will include name, age, and gender of recipient on the stars. The children at the orphanages will request specific items, within reason.  We feel these requests will be in the Rs 500 price range.

2.  We would like the present to be wrapped, with the star attached to the gift (stars will be numbered and tracked so we know which orphanage they will go to and to ensure the gift is given to the correct child).  The gift is to be dropped off in a designated box in the Elementary School CIC.

3.  Gifts may be dropped off beginning December 6. The last day to drop off gifts will be on December 16.

4.  The gifts will be delivered to the orphanages beginning December 18. There will be opportunities for parents and children to help with the delivery. More information about this process will be included in this blog before we leave for the Winter Break.

If you have any questions about this project, please contact Mr. Balajee or your grade-level PCA representative.

Charity Luncheon

OWC will be having a Charity Luncheon on December 1, 2015 next month.

Flood Relief Effort

The school is no longer taking donations in-kind, but will be accepting monetary donations. You can make a cash donation at the cashier's window.

To keep up with the continuing to support the orphanage Annal Home for Children. Please follow their situation on the Facebook page and here in this blog.

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November 20, 2015

From the Desk of your PCA Team ....

This week, I look back, I remember all the areas of chennai that had water issues due to the rain.   We all saw so many drastic pictures, from water being logged at 3 feet to over two stories high.   Many families suffered due to the water.  The banks of lakes to the north of us, flooded over which caused many families to loose their basic necessities. During all the rain, our state and national civil services must be thanked. From the fire department, to police, to the national defence personnel who were deployed to help all those in need.  Chennai has always seen rain, but never this severe.  The response of our personnel terrific.  

With many in need, our school children, with the support of the school, have started a campaign to help the survivors of the floods. Many of you have received the email from the PCA grade level reps.  Please do participate.  My mother used to tell me, alone we fall, together we can make an impact. So let us, as a community (parents, students, and staff) work together to make the impact.  Below, again is the message sent to us all. 

As I look towards next week, I am reminded of the US holiday of Thanksgiving.  This is a holiday as it sounds, a day of giving thanks for all we have.  The history behind this was a day where the first Pilgrims and Indians of the US came to eat a meal together to celebrate -- that they lived!  In spring of the first year of Thanksgiving, the second settlement of Pilgrims to the US took stock of the population.  Many has died in the winter due to cold or starvation.  Many were weak.  The remaining were not sure what to grow as their seed to grow new plants was near done.  As the season began, they had also begun their friendship with their neighbors - the Indians.  Their friends had begun to show the Pilgrims how to till the soil, to sow and produce good yield of crops.  Thus, after the season was over, both Pilgrims and Indians shared a meal together to give thanks for the bounty they had received from the harvest.  Thus began the tradition of Thanksgiving. 

As we look forward to Thanksgiving, we should also give thanks to the ones who are survived the recent floods.  We should give thanks for all who have helped to make life better for all in our city.  

We hope that we can get near 100% participation from our community for relief in our area.  Hope all of you stay safe. 

Here is signing off this week....

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Event Change

We have had to change the PCA ball from April 9th to May 7, 2016.  We have had to do so for the following reasons:

1)  we needed a location which could house up to 350+ persons as this is the 20th anniversary ball.  Thus we look forward to even more participation this year. 

2) we needed something which fit into a budget of rs.3500-3800/ticket for food. 

3) we wanted a place that gave us either liquor in the meal price, or was going to give us good pricing for drinks overall.  

4) we needed a place that gave us a good selection of food. 

Given these requirements, our teams did a lot of research collecting different price quotations from multiple hotels. Two hotels only give us the space -  Leela and ITC.  For our original date, April 9, 2016, ITC was booked.  We approached Leela and got a price that was well out of our budget.  Thus we approached ITC, and got a price, which fulfilled all of the requirements, but a month later.  Thus as a group of nearly 30 persons, we decided that we will choose ITC on May 7th. 

We look for you all to join us for the PCA on May 7, 2016. 

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

Upcoming Events

November 25, 2015 - PCA City Tour - DATE CHANGED DUE TO WEATHER

November 26, 2015 - Thanksgiving Holiday - Thanksgiving Lunch at Leela - Contact Laurinda Porter for reservations

November 28, 2015 - Kids Cooking at Design Hotel 

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Community Event

OWC will be having a Charity Luncheon on December 1, 2015 next month.

November 13, 2015

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

Hope everyone came back from a few days off of relaxation and time with the family for the Diwali Holiday's.  In the south, we have what is called the receding monsoons. Typically during the month of June, the Monsoon season starts in the northern part of India, to go traverse across the plains up to the Himalayas.  Beginning about October into December, the same rain clouds come down from the Himalayas across the southern part of India, delivering the "liquid sunshine" we are getting these days.  In the Indian Subcontinent, we have multiple film songs in regards to the Monsoon weather. It is the cause of romantic moments shown in multiple movies.  The uniqueness of the Monsoon weather in India is that the weather is still warm outside with the rains.  As children, we would go out in the rain and be drenched from head to toe.  Come in, have something warm and being again with splashing in the water puddles that formed in the areas we lived.  Such wonderful childhood memories we all have had. 

Today, we thought to share with you a bit about the Monsoons....

Monsoon

Monsoon (UK: /mɒnˈsuːn/; US: /mɑːnˈsuːn/) is traditionally defined as a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation,but is now used to describe seasonal changes in atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with the asymmetric heating of land and sea. Usually, the term monsoon is used to refer to the rainy phase of a seasonally changing pattern, although technically there is also a dry phase.

Southwest monsoon

Onset dates and prevailing wind currents of the southwest summer monsoons in India.  

The southwestern summer monsoons occur from July through September. The Thar Desert and adjoining areas of the northern and central Indian subcontinent heats up considerably during the hot summers. This causes a low pressure area over the northern and central Indian subcontinent. To fill this void, the moisture-laden winds from the Indian Ocean rush in to the subcontinent. These winds, rich in moisture, are drawn towards the Himalayas. The Himalayas act like a high wall, blocking the winds from passing into Central Asia, and forcing them to rise. As the clouds rise their temperature drops and precipitation occurs. Some areas of the subcontinent receive up to 10,000 mm (390 in) of rain annually.

The southwest monsoon is generally expected to begin around the beginning of June and fade away by the end of September. The moisture-laden winds on reaching the southernmost point of the Indian Peninsula, due to its topography, become divided into two parts: the Arabian Sea Branch and the Bay of Bengal Branch.

The Arabian Sea Branch of the Southwest Monsoon first hits the Western Ghats of the coastal state of Kerala, India, thus making this area the first state in India to receive rain from the Southwest Monsoon. This branch of the monsoon moves northwards along the Western Ghats (Konkan and Goa) with precipitation on coastal areas, west of the Western Ghats. The eastern areas of the Western Ghats do not receive much rain from this monsoon as the wind does not cross the Western Ghats.

The Bay of Bengal Branch of Southwest Monsoon flows over the Bay of Bengal heading towards North-East India and Bengal, picking up more moisture from the Bay of Bengal. The winds arrive at the Eastern Himalayas with

Advancing monsoon clouds and showers in Aralvaimozhy, near Nagercoil, India

large amounts of rain. Mawsynram, situated on the southern slopes of the Khasi Hills in Meghalaya, India, is one of the wettest places on Earth. After the arrival at the Eastern Himalayas, the winds turns towards the west, travelling over the Indo-Gangetic Plain at a rate of roughly 1–2 weeks per state[citation needed], pouring rain all along its way. June 1 is regarded as the date of onset of the monsoon in India, as indicated by the arrival of the monsoon in the southernmost state of Kerala.

The monsoon accounts for 80% of the rainfall in India[citation needed]. Indian agriculture (which accounts for 25% of the GDP and employs 70% of the population) is heavily dependent on the rains, for growing crops especially like cotton, rice, oilseeds and coarse grains. A delay of a few days in the arrival of the monsoon can badly affect the economy, as evidenced in the numerous droughts in India in the 1990s.

The monsoon is widely welcomed and appreciated by city-dwellers as well, for it provides relief from the climax of summer heat in June. However, the roads take a battering every year. Often houses and streets are waterlogged and slums are flooded despite drainage systems. A lack of city infrastructure coupled with changing climate patterns causes severe economic loss including damage to property and loss of lives, as evidenced in the 2005 flooding in Mumbai that brought the city to a standstill. Bangladesh and certain regions of India like Assam and West Bengal, also frequently experience heavy floods during this season. Recently, areas in India that used to receive scanty rainfall throughout the year, like the Thar Desert, have surprisingly ended up receiving floods due to the prolonged monsoon season.

The influence of the Southwest Monsoon is felt as far north as in China's Xinjiang. It is estimated that about 70% of all precipitation in the central part of the Tian Shan Mountains falls during the three summer months, when the region is under the monsoon influence; about 70% of that is directly of "cyclonic" (i.e., monsoon-driven) origin (as opposed to "local convection").

Northeast monsoon

Monsoon clouds in Kolkata

Around September, with the sun fast retreating south, the northern land mass of the Indian subcontinent begins to cool off rapidly. With this air pressure begins to build over northern India, the Indian Ocean and its surrounding atmosphere still holds its heat. This causes cold wind to sweep down from the Himalayas and Indo-Gangetic Plain towards the vast spans of the Indian Ocean south of the Deccan peninsula. This is known as the Northeast Monsoon or Retreating Monsoon.

Western Ghats on August 28 in rainy season, 2010

While travelling towards the Indian Ocean, the dry cold wind picks up some moisture from the Bay of Bengal and pours it over peninsular India and parts of Sri Lanka. Cities like Chennai, which get less rain from the Southwest Monsoon, receive rain from this Monsoon. About 50% to 60% of the rain received by the state of Tamil Nadu is from the Northeast Monsoon. In Southern Asia, the northeastern monsoons take place from December to early March when the surface high-pressure system is strongest. The jet stream in this region splits into the southern subtropical jet and the polar jet. The subtropical flow directs northeasterly winds to blow across southern Asia, creating dry air streams which produce clear skies over India. Meanwhile, a low pressure system develops over South-East Asia and Australasia and winds are directed toward Australia known as a monsoon trough.

As the weekend progresses, the Monsoon weather will remain.  Enjoy the liquid sunshine and stay safe this weekend. 

Signing off for this week....

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Upcoming Events

November 16, 2015 - Cooking demo at Design Hotel - Thanksgiving Meal made with local ingredients
November 18, 2015 - PCA City Tour
November 26, 2015 - Thanksgiving Holiday - Thanksgiving Lunch at Leela - Contact Laurinda Porter for reservations
November 28, 2015 - Kids Cooking at Design Hotel 

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Community Event
November 22, 2015 - Our own Veronica Medina, will be working with Leela Chefs to make a delicious Mexican Lunch.  This will include starters, main dishes and desserts.
Just book your table calling to Leela Palace, Spectra restaurant.  Don't miss our very own Veronica at this event!

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References
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monsoon

November 6, 2015

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

As we begin the weekend, we are looking a at five days of time for the family.  As Diwali begins, we will hear crackers, and see chinese lanterns take up the night sky.  If you get the chance to, take the time to see the beauty of the night sky.  

Here is wishing all a wonderful Diwali holiday.  Have fun, stay safe.

Signing off for this week....

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

Upcoming Events

November 13, 2015 - Cooking demo at Westin 
November 16, 2015 - Cooking demo at Design Hotel - Thanksgiving Meal made with local ingredients
November 18, 2015 - PCA City Tour
November 26, 2015 - Thanksgiving Holiday - Thanksgiving Lunch at Leela - Contact Laurinda Porter for reservations
November 28, 2015 - Kids Cooking at Design Hotel 

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

Community Event