CHICAGO: The four-day convention of the American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (AAPI) held in Chicago at Sheraton Hilton Towers from Thursday, May 23 was easily among the best organized by this premiere ethnic organization. It was evident from the attendance of an array of dignitaries, physicians from across the country, a number of informative seminars, meets of many a member medical organization, lavish entertainment and well thought out lunches and dinners.
The credit for this awesome show should go to the highly motivating leadership at the helm (Narendra Kumar and his team), the Convention Committee (Dr Birendra Marwah, Dr Uman Joshi, Dr Prem Rupani, Dr S Swaminathan and Dr Satya Ahuja) and a number of volunteers who included a good number of second generation Indian physicians. There was not a single dull moment and as Dr Ashok Jain of Michigan put it “those among us who did not come to this meet have admittedly missed a lot.”
The first four days of the gala that continued into Monday, May 27 celebrated the leadership and displayed the achievements of outgoing AAPI President Dr Narendra Kumar, culminating on Sunday night in the handing over of the gavel and torch to young Dr Jayesh Shah. The mornings filled with well-attended Continuous Medical Education (CME) while the evening banquets provided relaxation with varied entertainment.
The lunches and dinners close on the heels of mini-summits, panels featuring distinguished speakers and politicians representing Indo-US convergence, could not have been better timed.
Senator (D) Dick Durbin and American Medical Association (AMA) President Dr. Jeremy Lazarus, and AMA VP for Corporate Diversity Eric Peterson spoke over lunch on Friday while Senator (D) Harry Reid, Rep. (D) Tulsi Gabbard, and VP of Foundation for the Advancement of International Medical Association (FAIMER) Jack Boulet spoke the next day. Saturday dinner banquet featured Indian Ambassador Nirupama Rao and Congressman Peter Roskam (Ill. 6th Dist.), while Sunday’s dinner was graced by the speeches of Illinois Governor (D) Patrick Quinn, Union Cabinet Minister of Overseas Indian Affairs Vayalar Ravi, and Chris Kaplan from Boehringer Ingelheim.
Physicians and for a change, Media people were recognized during the course of three days. Awards were conferred by the attending dignitaries. Congressman Ami Bera could not make it to the Convention but in a televised message applauded AAPI and the Indian American Physicians for their unequivocal commitment to the give their best to the health care system here and the society at large.
Recurrent themes across the speeches were the centrality of unity-in-diversity to the cultures and civic life of both nations, Asian immigration as the legitimate and necessary continuation and expansion of the earlier influx of white settlement, urgency of healthcare and immigration reform in the US, tremendous contribution of Indian American physicians to healthcare in their countries of origin and adoption especially for the underprivileged, and AAPI’s growing political clout as the second largest association of medical professionals next to AMA.
Lazarus, Peterson, Boulet, and Kaplan spoke of India’s contribution to medicine and the various Indo-US and public-private partnerships taking shape. While the US politicians underlined their close and longstanding personal ties to the Indian community through autobiographical sketches, Nirupama Rao recalled her three years as Ambassador to indispensable neighbor China to underscore the people-to-people relationship that underwrites the Indo-US relationship at the grassroots. Of Samoan-Caucasian parentage, Gabbard affirmed her attachment to India through her adopted Hindu faith and its gift of the Bhagavad Gita as the bedrock of her political commitments.
The evening entertainment was designed around parallel themes such as introducing the beauty of the city and its cultural life to out-of-town visitors, bringing here to Chicago the diversity idiosyncrasies of the motherland, and overall to show that hardworking Indian doctors could be also artistically gifted and fun-loving people. While the Sheraton stands along the scenic river walk, the Friday evening lake cruise – following the indoor fashion show – offered wider views of the cityscape, with socializing over dinner followed by dancing.
Saturday evening featured Bollywood singer KK (Krishna Kumar Kunath) whose passionate and melodious voice enthralled many but some preferred to enjoy the Chicago blues elsewhere in the city. Performing in North America for the first time on Sunday, Soorya Festival from Kerala directed by Soorya Krishnamoorthy offered nonstop medley of Sanskrit chants, male acrobatics, classical Bharata Natyam and Kathak, tribal and fusion dances, movie songs from the regional languages (Hindi, Tamil, etc.), and thumping percussion exchanges.
“King of Comedy” Raju Srivastava from Mumbai obliged the Americanized professionals, who still filled the hall well past midnight, to rollover with fits of laughter as he reminded them in Hindi of their often rather “primitive” roots in India. Attendees could be overhead day-after-day singing the praises of the Windy City.
It was an awesome gesture from Indian Overseas Minister Vyalar Ravi to meet on one-to-one basis the Indian media and representatives of associations and other Chicago community activists in his suite at the Sheraton Hotel. He patiently listened to various complaints and suggestions, and was gracious enough to admit some of the structural weakness in the Indian system of justice, problems in OCI implementation and assured to forward some of the views expressed to the right departments.
Indian Consul Gangte had taken initiative to organize the meet and he also sought to clarify some of the points raised during the discussion.
Formally inaugurated by Sen. Durbin on Friday afternoon, the exhibition hall featured a wide range of pharmaceutical products, medical services, support systems, and also other vendors of Indian clothes, jewelry, handicrafts, even real estate, retirement homes in South Asia, and matchmaking services for professionals. A major sponsor of the convention was Bharat Matrimonial, which offered a well-attended standup comedy on miscommunication between the sexes, particularly those brought up in a Desi environment.
Ramesh Soparawala & Asian Media USA
