India Post New Service
CHICAGO: Metropolitan Asian Family Services (MAFS) celebrated Gandhi Jayanthi on October 22020 in Schaumburg with key staff led by Mrs.Santosh Kumar following the safety guidelines. The seniors joined us on Zoom. It was hosted by Kishore Mehta.
In his brief address Kishore Mehta said that all should follow Gandhiji’s footsteps pitching Gandhiji the greatness that underlined nonviolence. He observed “be the Change You want to see in the world”, and also extended the same wishes for Lal Bahadur Shastri, the second Prime Minister of India, whose birthday also falls on the same day
Eva Contractor started the event by rendering a soulful Prayer Song. Following this, Mrs. Santosh Kumar, Executive Director of MAFS/UMAS, underlined the need for on social harmony, truth, nonviolence, cleanliness, and specially woman empowerment. Present also were her sons Prashant Kumar and SagarKumar whohave successfully built their organizations to fulfill the needs of the seniors in the community.
Mrs. Kumar said there is no leader in this world like Gandhiji who had a profound influence on many including her right from her childhood. She wanted to be a doctor at first. But after reading and understanding Gandhiji’s principles, she changed her career from science to law to bring justice to the women who were ill treated in many ways in India. Following Gandhiji’snonviolenceapproach, she wanted to bring justice primarily to the concerned women of in India.
Concluding she observed that any problem of the world could be solved by following Gandhiji’s principles. She also mentioned about a book called “Lasting Legacy of Gandhi” which is the life story of Mrs. Kumar, profoundly inspired by Gandhiji.
This was followed by screening Video on some of the services rendered by MAFS and UMAS. One can see this video byclicking on the link- https://youtu.be/3CZc7srWKjE.
The program continued with our keynote speaker Dr.Mithilesh Mishra- Director of Department of Linguistics at University of Illinois, Urbana Champagne, who was y introduced by Roshita Pandey. Dr. Mishra in his speech said happy meeting see the seniors and learning from them. He alluded to the fact that Gandhiji was inspired by Swami Vivekanand.He pointed out that it wasimportant to change ourselves before expecting the same change in others. The second principle was that of Ahimsa (non-violence) and Satya (truth), which even today are important. He also emphasized that likeGandhiji one should try to align ourMann (mind), Vachan (words) and Karma (actions), which lead to powerful source of positive energy flowing through lives
Mrs. Kumar thanked him for taking the time to come and talk to meet seniors.The event continued with songs sung by singerMrs. Padma Mehta. Next, was a zoom entertainment by the senior participants. Our senior participants Ms. Tripta Malhotra from Naperville, Vakharia Kirit – Naperville, Jayesh Desai – Schaumburg, Pradhuman Pathak – Niles and Ms. Sudha Gandhi –Schaumburg, also gave speeches on the greatness of Gandhi. Ms. Pankaj Patel played the role of Kasthurba Gandhi, Kiran Patel as Gandhi and Susan Birwari as Meera. They received huge applause!
Mrs. Kumar concluded the celebration rendering an apt poem written by Ms. Rachna Srivatsavafrom California, who is a teacher, writer, poetess and a media-person.
She pleaded with the people from Bengal and the South to spread Hindi An invitation to be present at our Virtual Annual Gala on the 21st of November was extended to all and a plea for helping any form, to sustain MAFS’ services to community.
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