Last weekend the Indo Canada Association in Ottawa had their annual diwali mela. This was the worst diwali mela I have attended. May be I should keep out from next year. Lots kept out due to the indifference of the ICA committee toward the desi populace. Some of the reason I saw first hand:
1. When the event was announced on the web site, it was made sure that the ticket price was not mentioned (web page given below). All these years, those who were not interested to watch the cultural program (same people, same stuff) could buy their food, eat and leave without buying a ticket to watch those idiotic cultural programs. This time the committee made sure that even those who just want to buy their food, eat and leave buy the tickets even if they don’t want to watch the idiotic cultural program. So I caught hold of one of the organizers and asked. The answer was “we don’t make profit out of the food”. I was puzzled. ICA is supposed to be a non profit outfit. IF they make break even or a small gain, that should be enough. Forcing people to buy tickets just to buy their food was nothing but cheating.
http://indiacanada.org/newica/Templates/Diwali%20Mela%2004.htm
2. Cultural program – First the committee made a new rule that under 14 must not perform. Just few days before the event, suddenly they changed the rule (secretly) to let under 14 perform in the event. Most of the talented kids under 14 missed out since there was no time to practice. Those who were close to the committee members, got their kids to perform. And what a mess they did, as if they were doing warm up exercise.
3. There were two dance for the same song for the Main Hoo Na song. That was ridiculous. It was embarrassing to watch the kids dance. Only those interested were their family, friends, and relatives.
4. The MCs. Oh my god! These two Canadian born north Indians cant pronounce desi words and names. The girl somehow spoke hindi with a great difficulty. The guy had a tough time to pronounce the desi names. It was very clear that they were their due to pressure put on the committee by the MCs families.
5. Tonnes of technical glitch. Right infront of MPs from Ottawa. Total breakdown of logistics and communication.
6. The committee members made sure that they refused to answer any emails to get mroe info reg tickets.
I can write more on the event. Let me stop here. It was a mess and outright cheating. Shame on the ICA committee. These folks refuse to learn. Politics as usual.
Location: Ottawa (Now in Bangalore)
Posted on: 22-11-04 14:28:21
DIO...welcome to Canada 
My Friend's daughter , 2 years back, gave a performance,,It was well appreciated. Last year they wanted to give a performance again, but apparently some new secretary had come....She did not want the same person performing and as a result.. a lot of good folks left the scene. I suppose when Suraj Harish was there at the helm, things were good !
As for MC's pronouncing Indian names ..... I am going back home for a shaadi .... He He He !
SO abhi tak kunware mere desi bandhuon.....Canadian desi ladkiyon ka Moh chhodo..Ghar (India) Jao..shaadi karo and sukhi raho 
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Agreed. Suraj Harish was better (and level headed too). Looks like he is pushed to the corner. The new committee behavior is childish.
BTW, did u move to St. Louis, MO?
Location: Ottawa (Now in Bangalore)
Posted on: 23-11-04 19:07:08
Nope...close by though.....
Suraj Harish, I heard, was more responsible in arranging the functions. I hear an Oriya Lady is at the helm of these things..(maybe I am wrong).... Thats why all good folks have backed off.. Apparently, they have a picnic also...but this year that also was a flop
-----------------------------------------------------------------
"Aur Vaise Bhi, Sharafat ki jab kapde utarti hai, sabse zyaada mazaa shareefon ko hi aati hai"....(From The Dirty Picture)
Warning !! SCAM ALERT !!
http://www.canadiandesi.ca/read.php?TID=4169 & http://www.canadiandesi.ca/read.php?TID=1379
This is a Useful Health related Tip
http://www.canadiandesi.ca/read.php?TID=3865
Please visit
http://www.cmje.org/religious-texts/quran/verses/009-qmt.php for some interesting Information ! (Especially 009.005 )
Suraj Harish knew what he was doing. He is not in teh committee anymore. Same for Mrs. Patnaik. Did a great job in the previous committee. Again she has been pushed out. Now we got some idiots.
This is the first time i went to Diwali function. I got out from there within
an hour. It was so boring. I am not a member so i paid $10 ticket.
i must agree with the fact that the mc's couldnt pronounce names that well, and the ICA mela is not always about entertaining people, it''sa bout gettinng kids involvled within our culture. I don't see why you are critising it so much. Anyways i think you are critizing this too much, I think it is great that we have this in ottawa, and it gets kids involved. Also are you sure there was the rule, kids under 14 years of age could not dance? I must admit it was a little disorganized, the bhangra dance got scheduled in at the last minute. Other than that i belive it was nice, but then again i didnt get to see ALL OF IT.
(excuse my spelling)
Also, what did you think about that dance with the three girls? They danced to nimbooda and taal? Do you think they were good enough or should we get older people?
Anyways Happy Diwali to Everyone!!
