Mr. Raghunath & Mrs. Reeta Prasad
Western Union
Mr. Lal & Mrs. Veena Singh
Mr. Vijay & Mrs. Aparajita Singh
Mr. Sanjeet & Mrs. Sangeeta Rai
Dr. Birendra & Mrs. Hema Lal
Mr. Frank Lee (Sugar Creek Square Ltd)
Mr. Madhusudan & Mrs. Abha Choudhary
Mr.
Sanjay & Mrs. Nivedita Thakur
Mr. Rajiv & Mrs. Geetika Kamal
Mr. Yusuf & Mrs. Shahda Sultan (US Carpets & Floors)
Colony Builders Inc.
Mr. Prafull & Mrs. Madhu Kumar
Mr. Anil & Mrs. Soni Mishra
About BANA..
Bihar Association of North America (BANA) is an organization of people of Bihar origin residing in North America. BANA was formed to preserve and promote social and cultural heritage of Bihar. The organization came into existence on March 27,
1992 and since then it is providing a common forum for cultural and social interactions
between its members. View our
About BANA page for
more details
Another successful year of
Academic Fest (2008) concluded....
The Bihar Association of North America (BANA)
organized its signature event The BANA Academic Fest – 2008
on Saturday, August 9th at the Stafford Campus of
Houston Community College. The BANA Academic Fest
encompasses the mission of BANA as it attempts to preserve
Indian heritage by fostering academic and cultural
excellence. As a testament to its commitment, BANA has
organized the Academic Fest for the past eleven years. The
Academic Fest has become a widely recognized trademark of
BANA and has continued to receive a great reception year
after year. This year, with lots of participants and their
parents, the Fest was brewing with excitement.
Students from the 1st through 12th
grades participated in a multitude of events including
Debate, Math, Speech, Spelling, and Vocabulary. In addition,
a new category, the Science Fair, was created this year for
middle and high school students to present a science
project. By doing so, students were encouraged to understand
the scientific method in more depth as they presented their
projects to respected professionals.
The event began with a
presentation about BANA and its mission, immediately
following which, a description of the Academic Fest, its
schedule, and its rules were presented. Students were led to
their respective contest rooms to begin a long, event-filled
day. To make this event a reality, countless judges,
organizers, and volunteers gave days and weeks of their
time.
The
response from all who participated in the event from
participants to judges was overwhelmingly positive. Abhishek
Dasgupta, the 1st place winner in the Elementary
Math competition, stated, “I really liked this year’s
Academic Fest. It was pretty fun.” Karuna Kankani, the 2nd
place winner in the Middle School Speech competition
similarly commented, “This year’s event was really fun. It
was my first year winning something in the BANA Academic
Fest, so the award made my experience even more enjoyable.
However, every year, even when I didn’t win something in the
Academic Fest, I still had a great time.”
Dr. Jaidev Goswami, one of the judges in the High
School Debate Competition, was overjoyed that BANA provides
“such an excellent forum for children to come together and
discuss an important topic in a surprisingly professional
manner.” This year’s debate topic asked participants to
contend whether or not capitalism is the solution to
poverty. Professor TRN Rao, another judge for the High
School Debate Competition, was “very happy to see BANA
organizing this Fest. I congratulate the leadership of BANA
for performing such a tremendous job.”
The
Bihar Association of North America attracts a diverse
membership with outstanding leaders and professionals in a
multitude of fields such as education, engineering,
medicine, and research. Many individuals and businesses gave
very generous contributions towards this year’s Academic
Fest. Mr. Arun Sharma, the Coordinator for this year’s
Academic Fest, expressed great satisfaction at the end of
this fantastic event: “This event is getting better year
after year as we are executing it very successfully. We all
feel and organize the Academic Fest program like we are all
one family”
As
BANA chapters and affiliate organizations exist throughout
the United States and Canada, the organization one day hopes
to conduct this event on a much wider scale across the
United States. By doing so, it hopes to unite individuals
towards a joint cause of fostering cultural and educational
values while unfolding the academic talents of this nation’s
children. Dr. Madhusudan Choudhary, the current president of
BANA, would also like BANA to expand its initiatives to
India also. His dream is that “one day, we will hold a great
talent search across India to search for its brightest
minds. We will then finance the education of those
individuals and send them to the best institutions in the
world.”
The much-awaited BANA
Picnic 2008 finally arrived to a cool and crisp morning of
April 6, 2008 at the Eldrdige Park, Sugar land. The
beautiful setting of lush green grounds, blue expanses of
water in the ponds, and a beautiful sunny day helped to get
the morning off to a great start.
The eager cricket team members were getting the grounds
ready, setting up the wickets and warming up for the keenly
contested match between the Katy and the Sugar land teams. So
too were the barbeque grills getting lit up in the pavilion
while the banners and the tables set up in the main hall.
BANA members and their families and friends showed up by
around 11 and the picnic was in full swing by then.
The cricket game was being played in full earnest with the
Sugar land team batting first and making 81 runs in 12 overs.
The Katy team won by two wickets. The delicious aroma from
the grills were wafting through the area as everybody made
there way to the pavilion to enjoy the mouth-watering
chicken tandoori while the vegetarians had special meat-less
burgers served to them.
The enthusiastic BANA members got an opportunity to connect
and chat; to remember past meetings and plan for future
events. Equally busy were the children who participated in
spoon race, sack race, and sprint events with full
enthusiasm and excitement. The ladies, besides catching up
with each other's hectic schedules, displayed their athletic
abilities with the three-legged race and spoon race. The men
displayed their prowess by running a 100 yd dash. Other
sports events, which generated great participation, were the
tug of war between boys and girls team and Katy versus Sugar
land team.
On the completion of these sports events, it was followed by
a sumptuous lunch where the very generous and skilled BANA
members had brought a large variety of food items for all to
share and enjoy. The hall was overflowing with the entire
BANA family enjoying their lunch together.
The after-lunch event started with a very surprised BANA
President, hearing the announcement of his birthday, who cut
the cake and the entire gathering wished him a very happy
birthday. The official business of BANA general body meeting
followed. Each of The executive committee members presented
the events that were forthcoming for the rest of the year.
The pledge drive that was conducted during the picnic was a
great success and showed the spirit of our members to
encourage us for our efforts. Awards and gifts were given to
all kids and the winners.
The concluding event of the afternoon was Antakshari where
all the assembled participants displayed their musical
talent to an enthralled audience. Sweets and tea were served
to all. It was a very exciting day for the BANA members who
came with their full enthusiasm and vigor. Their lively
participation in all the events that were hosted, the
excellent food that was brought by them and their help and
co-operation that was often asked impromptu and given
whole-heartedly made this picnic a memorable event.
Annual Report 2007
Another
successful year for BANA has come to a close. What started
as a small gathering of about ten families 15 years ago has
grown to become a well known and respected organization
among the Indian community in Houston area. True to its
motto of ‘fostering academic and cultural excellence’
BANA enhanced its reputation by organizing Academic Fest
2007 and also a very successful social and cultural
extravaganza Cultural Carnival 2007. Success of both
these events have proven yet again to the community about
the professionalism and harmony of its members. BANA is
fulfilling its responsibilities of preserving and promoting
the social and cultural heritage of India and in particular
of Bihar. During 2007 BANA also started doing charity work
in India by sponsoring academic institutions such as Balika
Vidyapith and Ekal Vidyalaya Foundation. All this could be
possible only because of the determination and
professionalism of BANA members many of whom are outstanding
professionals in advanced fields like, engineering,
technology, medicine, education, and research. We can
safely believe that, though, another year has come to a
close, our success has only begun. Wish you all a very
happy New Year.
About Bihar...
Bihar has a very rich history. It was called Magadha in ancient times. Its
capital Patna, then known as Pataliputra, was the center of the Mauryan empire,
which dominated the Indian subcontinent from 325 BC to 185 BC. Emperor Ashoka
was the most famous ruler of this dynasty. Bihar remained an important place of
power, culture and education during the next one thousand years. The Vikramshila
and Nalanda Universities, were one of the oldest and best centres of education
in ancient India but unfortunately got destroyed by the maruading invaders
during the medieval period.. More--
