Hello Dear Asha/ICMAP Volunteers !

Spring is around the corner (and doing a very good job staying hidden behind the confounded corner), and all of us must be eagerly awaiting the Spring Break. A great, great opportunity is coming up for Asha and ICMAP a few weeks after spring break. Vasantotsav is on April 11th to be precise. The Tippecanoe Arts Federation will be collaborating with Asha and ICMAP for a cultural event, and it is up to us to decide what we would like to put up. The plan currently stands as follows:

1. Have activity and food booths in the afternoon 1:30 pm - 5:00 pm
2. Concert 5:30 - 7:30 pm
3. Dinner 7:30 pm

1. Activity and food booths

The following are on the cards:

a) Mehendi booth: Charge a small amount for applying mehendi, perhaps teach simple patterns if we have the talent available among volunteers

b) Saree wearing: This draws on an idea used in the Global Fest. People (mostly ladies) are taught how to wear a saree, and a picture is taken.

c) Merchandise stall: Sell small packs of mehendi, trinkets, jewellery etc. Contributions to the trinket and jewellery inventory are requested

d) Food stalls: Selling chai, dhokla, chaat. (list to be appended depending on availability of volunteers)

Please, please suggest more ideas if you come up with any.

ICMAP will be conducting Intro to Indian Music sessions of 30 mins, in both Karnatik and Hindustani music. Suggestion: Any one interested in taking up dance sessions ?

Another suggestion is: This event is expected to bring in a large non-Indian crowd. Many people have heard about the number of languages we have in India. It would be great if we can come up with a 1-2 page pamphlet with simple sentences in as many Indian languages as possible, written in the native script. We can have it at the merchandise booth and sell it for a small price. Again -- volunteers needed.

2. Concert and Dinner

The tentative plan for the concert is to have a dance, a musical perfomance by MG Road, the home brewed band of the Purdue Indian expatriate population, and a vocal performance by Rahul.

Latent dancing prodigies called upon to grab this opportunity to showcase their art. Dhruv Singh has agreed to co-ordinate the troupe, please contact him at dhruv.singh@gmail.com

The concert will be followed by dinner. Calling loud and clear all volunteers willing to dedicate themselve to the noble cause of feeding the hungry. The menu is still open, and will be decided based on the talent pool available.

3. Publicity

Publicity is perhaps the most critical part of this event, more so for this one than any other Asha event. 30 mins of your time will go a great way in making this event a success. Please sign up for posting flyers in your department / apartment complex. Also, as the date of the event approches, I request all to change Orkut/Facebook/chat client status messages to promote the event.


This event has its Facebook avatar, "Vasantotsav: An Asha/ICMAP/Tipp. Arts Fed. Event". Please join the event. Your response is desperately called for. Comment on the blog, reply by email, at vvcshekhar@gmail.com, call any Asha volunteer you know. We are in need of as much manpower we can avail of. Please let us know if you would like to volunteer, indicating what you'd like to help out with and how much time you will be able to devote.

Hoping for an overwhelming response :)

Chandra