Club 24 Event

Event: Club 24 Event (w/video)
Report: Ruchi M
TV Asia

{Video Courtesy – TV Asia}

The evening was young and sultry as the 200 guests, including members of Club 24, community VIP’s, Board Members of ICC and selected students with their families gathered at Shangri-La Art Gallery on August 8, 2008. This quarterly meeting of Club 24 was hosted by Arti and Atul Vir at their Gallery.

The evening experienced the launch of YLDP (Youth Leadership Development Program), a program for High school students launched under the joint aegis of many of the local Indo-American organizations, including ICC, IACCGH, NetIP, IAPAC, Gujarati Samaj and BANA. The goal of YLDP is to train the next generation of Indian-American leaders by giving them classroom and practical sessions in the fields of politics, culture, business and philanthropy. In addition there will be internship and volunteer opportunities.

The theme for this evening was the country of Macedonia, one of the newly independent Balkan countries of erstwhile Yugoslavia. In the spirit of Macedonia, the guests sipped Macedonian wine and nibbled on appetizers from the same country, while a local group called the “The Gypsies” played folk music.

In addition, a slide show was put together by Amrita Vir, Nidhi Trehan drilled into the social, cultural and economic aspects of the Roma based on her many years of working in the Balkans with the UNICEF. A dance sequence by Oksana highlighted the dance and dress similarities between the Rajasthani and the Roma.

The Consul General of India, Mr. Shashi Gavai, and Rina Gavai were Chief Guests of the occasion. Mr. Gavai took the opportunity to regale the audience of his first posting as a young Foreign Service officer based in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, where he had first-hand opportunity to interact with members of the Roma community.

Club 24 is a social organization whose goals are to build bridges between Indo-Americans and the mainstream community, between different generation of Indo-Americans, and hosting charitable events for the benefit of the local community.