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NAMA Convention 2009 at Washington, DC July 4-5, 2009
The 18th Annual Convention of North American Manipur Association was held during the 4th of July weekend at Rockville, MD, a suburb of Washington, DC. NAMA members residing at DC area hosted the meeting with great enthusiasm and vibrant. It was a team effort - each member family contributing a specific task for the successful conduct of the meeting. It will be difficult to single out a particular family but we would like to recognize the families for Guru Naba, Surjalal Sharma, Thoihen/Linthoi, Monica/Saijee, Bobo Hijam, Jai, and Sanatombi for their tireless efforts. Again, this year we had several new members attending the meeting for the first time. Their presence is especially encouraging and a great pleasure for the NAMA Team and members. We had members attending from different states including Maine, New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, Tennessee, Georgia, Ohio, Michigan, Illinois, Oklahoma, and others. We thank all the attendees and those who made great contribution for making the Conference a great success even though they could not attend the meeting. We also missed several NAMA members who could not make to the meeting because of program conflicts. We hope to see every one again in next year's meeting.
The first day of Convention on July 4th was hosted by Guru Moirangthem Naba Singha and family from 4-8 PM at his residence at Frederick, MD. It was a memorable evening for the members greeting each other and knowing several new members and first time attendees. There was plenty of good food including barbeque and Manipuri dishes to enjoy. At the beginning, each member introduced himself/herself and expressed their happiness to be able to attend and pleasure to know other members residing in North America. During the evening meeting, several agendas were discussed for the next day meeting and others including next year's venue and election of office bearers. A committee of 3 auditors was also proposed, which include Guru Naba, Nancy, and Dhrita Kumar, to look into the financial matters and expenses of the association. For next year's venue, Toronto, Canada, New York/New Jersey and Tulsa, Oklahoma were proposed for deciding on the main meeting next day. Several mechanisms for fund raising methods, sustainable activities and scholarship program were also discussed. Regarding fund raising, a housie (bingo) was played on this evening and raised some money for the association. It was a great fun. Sushil and Renu Laishram also introduced energy boosting products to the NAMA members and displayed the items neatly in the NAMA venue the next day. Some of the proceeds will go to NAMA fund.
The next day on July 5th, we had our main Convention event at the Thomas Farm Community Center, 700 Fallsgrove Drive, Rockville, MD 20850. It was a brand new facility with several amenities. The morning session started with a registration process. In the beginning, the President welcomed all the attendees and call to begin the meeting. We had Rev. Manichouba S Mairembam, DMin (Founder-President of Opening Door Ministries, India) from Tulsa, Oklahoma, as Chief Guest for the morning session. He expressed his happiness to see so many Manipuri families residing in the US and specially thank the members for inviting him to be Chief Guest of the function. He further expressed that NAMA will actively pursue and safeguard the cultural heritage of Manipur and other constructive activities for the residents of North America. Next, NAMA secretary, Lakshmikanta Laikangbam, thanked the members for their support in running the Association successfully and expressed his gratitude to host families for arranging the meeting smoothly. He highlighted the progress the NAMA is making so far and to keep the momentum going forward. Dhrita Kumar Sinha gave a speech on the prevailing situations of our homelands and to introduce scholarship programs for the growing children of Manipuri Diaspora in the US. Hori Irombam emphasized the need for incorporating programs that specifically address the need and interest of the American born youth of Manipuri diaspora. They are brought up in the different environment and culture than the first generation migrants. Therefore, specific issues need to be addressed for them. Lalit Pukhrambam gave a brief background history of Manipur (Chahi-taret Khuntapa, and background of Anglo-Manipur war and arrival of Christianity to Manipur) to emphasis on the similarities and unity of different peoples of Manipur and Manipur diaspora even though we live in different parts of Manipur, India, and Bangladesh. He emphasized that religion and geographic differences should not be a reason for disunity among the people of the same origin and cultural background. Simon H Maring spoke about the need for Manipur and North East India to remove Inner line permits by India and open to foreign visitors for "Freedom of Tourism" in our state and NE India region. Lukhoi Sougaijam delivered a speech on the importance of language in keeping the cultural identity of Manipuris outside their homeland while incorporating the good qualities - especially the work culture of the adopted lands.
This year, the NAMA Recognition Award for 2009 was given to Dr. Adhikarimayum Surjalal Sharma, Senior Scientist, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, for his continuous and tireless effort to improve NAMA since its inception in 1992. He was introduced by Amom Ruhikant Meetei, himself, a successful Researcher at the University of Cincinnati. Amom Kebola presented the plaque of Honor to Dr. Surjalal Sharma. Dr. Surjalal expressed his gratitude to NAMA members for this honor and expressed his support for NAMA in the years to come. He gave a brief account of the beginning of NAMA and how it was formed when there were just a handful of Manipuri families in the US. He expressed his happiness to see the association growing and emphasize the role that younger members of NAMA will play in the future. This award is given to NAMA member who has devoted his/her time and energy for the development of NAMA and/or has significantly contributed to the promotion of MANIPUR to the people of North America and around the globe. Executive Committee will nominate members for consideration.
After the morning session, we had our lunch break, which includes several specialties of Manipuri dishes to name a few - Nga thongba varieties, iromba, singju, ooti, chagem pomba, hawai thongba, etc. Washington area residents prepared the food and bear some of expenses on their own. As we all know, it is not an easy task to arrange so many items for such a large gathering. It requires tremendous planning and shopping around. NAMA Team and members once again thank our host families for such an extraordinary traditional culinary arrangement.
In the afternoon session, we had group pictures taken. We continued our meeting further with the selection of next year's venue. Toronto, Canada, was decided to be 2010 venue. The last time we had our NAMA Convention in Canada was in 1997. It was considered that it is appropriate to conduct our meeting once again in Canada as the number of Manipuri Diaspora has increased several folds during the last decade. Next, we had election of NAMA officer bears for the term 2009-2011. Dr. Surjalal Sharma convened the proceeding. After nomination of potential members for the various positions, we elected following members as office bearers.
Sushil Laishram, New York
Shanti Thokchom, Tulsa, Oklahoma
Lukhoi Sougaijam, Richmond, Virginia
Monica Ingudam, Rockville, Maryland
Bobo Hijam, Baltimore, Maryland
In addition, the outgoing office bearers will continue to support the new office bearers and remain as advisory members in order for a smooth transition and continuation of the NAMA activities and programs. The new office bearers acknowledged their willingness to contribute their busy time and put full effort to perform their duties for the betterment of the Association. It has also been proposed to invite members to become active members, the formalities of which will be sent out via email and phone conversations to our members.
Next, we had our kid's activity and cultural program. Prativa Amom read her own poem while Preeti Amom and Lilianne Pukhrambam displayed their newly acquired skills in clarinet and violin, respectively. Lavani Laishram and Amy Sougaijam sang songs. We can clearly notice how our kids are growing before our eyes and how much they have learnt new skills in a year. NAMA is a platform for our children to showcase their own skills and form a network of friendship among them.
Next, Guru Naba (Artistic Director, NRITYA RANGAM) introduced Nabeen Singha (his son) to play drum recitals including a 16 bit composition based on the Indian classical teen-tal, In addition, Kamalata (Eldest daughter of Guru Naba Singha) performed an Indian classical dance. Kamallata has been a classical dancer since the tender age of 4 yrs. Her first debut was on Doordarshan Television where at the age of 5 she danced Makhun Churi, a traditional manipuri dance depicting Lord Krishna as the butter theif. She learned under her father and first guru, Naba Singha. Later Kamallata's interest peaked in Kathak, a classical form of dance in India. Her gurus were Late Pandit Durga Lalji and Pandit Birju Maharaj ji, both renounced Kathak gurus in India. Her passion then slowly developed towards Ballroom Dancing and since the last several years she has been teaching and competing professionally. She is one of the top 10 female competitors placing 2nd in the midatlantic region in American Ballroom Dance. She presented a classical Kathak dance at the NAMA on July 5th from the popular movie DEVDAS to the song - Kahe Ched Ched Mohe. The original dance choreography was done by her guru Birju Maharaj ji.
Next was Trio - Jugal Bandi. In this item both the dancer as well as the drummer try to stay coordinated in playing out the taals or beat with their individual instruments. The dancer with her ghunghroos or ankle bells and the drummers with their drums. Towards the end the tempo gradually ascends and then it ends with "sawaal jawaab" meaning question and answer where the drummers play a certain taal or beat and the dancer replicas the beat with her ghunghroo or ankle bells. Jugal bandi traditionally was performed by two but now it is performed with many and this item was performed by Kamallata Singha, Guru Naba Singha on Tabla, and Nabeen Singha on the Drum Set.
Finally, we had Thabal Dance, which is one of the most exciting and eagerly awaited event of NAMA each year. Nabeen Singha provided live-drum beat for the Thabal and every participant young and not so young danced merrily and enthusiastically at the beat. The Thabal continued for 50 minutes until it was time for the hall to close. This year's NAMA Convention was a great success with the active participation from a sizable number of members, at least 60 people, and many new members. Several of our members also took the advantage of visiting several tourist sites at and around Washington DC during the NAMA Convention. Every year, we try to select a venue that can combine NAMA meeting with Summer Vacation for our families and members.
We hope to see more members once again at the 19th Annual Convention at Toronto during the 4th of July weekend, 2010.
From NAMA Executive team
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