March 4, 2010 by Soma.

Judging the Pageant

AASU Pageant

Thursday, March 4, 2010, 6-8 PM

I was invited by the AASU at FSU to be one of the judges (out of 3) for the Mister and Miss Asian American Student Union. This was my first experience as a pageant judge and I was nervous as the participants before the event began. We had about dozen participants and this was the preliminary interview. As the event progressed both the participants and I became comfortable and I was happy to be part of the process.

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March 1, 2010 by Soma.

ACT Interview

Monday, March 1, 2010

Tallahassee, FL 32306

A student at School of Library and Information Studies at the FSU College of Communication and Information (www.slis.fsu.edu) interviewed me as part of his course requirement. For his Master’s project he needed to talk to a community leader and find out about the needs of the community. Using the census data he narrowed the selection of the community to Asians. Then using the Internet he found my name and sent an e-mail for the interview. You can see the interviews questions and answers here.

ACT Interview Questions and Answers

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January 23, 2010 by Soma.

Pongal Celebration

Saturday, January 23, 2010

ARH, Tallahassee, FL 32306

We celebrated Pongal Festival this evening.

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January 23, 2010 by Soma.

2010 Annual General Body Meeting

India Association of Tallahassee

Saturday, Jan 23, 2010, 2:00 - 3:30 PM

Leon Co Public Library

Tallahassee, FL 32306

The 2009-10 Annual General Body Meeting of the India Association of Tallahassee (IATLH) was held earlier today along with the Indian Republic Day Celebrations. About two dozen families attended the program.I officially became the President of IATLH for the calendar years 2010 and 2011. My team (four more people in addition to me) took over the official Executive Committee’s responsibility from the previous team. We pledged to work to make the Association more relevant to the members.A lively discussion of Association’s activities and events followed. Many people spoke about how to expand the membership.

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November 27, 2009 by Soma.

Azu Lucy Ho’s Restaurant

3220 Apalachee Parkway

Tallahassee, FL 32311

We all three of us went to Azu (fire in Japanese) Lucy Ho’s Restaurant tonight for dinner. Today was opening night for the new restaurant run by Masa Nagashima. We ordered spring roll and Lo-mein, house salad, and iced-tea and sodas.

The food came quick. Since this was long Thanksgiving holiday time, even on a Friday night (6:30 PM) the place was not very crowded. May be there were about 30 people dining.

The waiter was pleasant and Masa was very gracious. We enjoyed the food and drinks. The price was decent.  Good luck to Masa!

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November 14, 2009 by Soma.

Cultural Glimpses of India5 PM at Chiles High School AuditoriumTallahassee, FL 32312Today is the day of the annual premier event of India Association of Tallahassee. We will have about 24 programs. There will be an intermission after about 16 items. Snacks will be sold.See you all there!

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October 24, 2009 by Soma.

Aadhavan Movie | ஆதவன் தமிழ் படம்

Movies 8 Sharer Road

Saturday, October 24, 2009 8 PM

Cast:  Surya, Nayanthara, Vadivelu, and Sarojadevi 
Direction : K.S. Ravikumar | Music : Harish Jeyaraj

Due to concerted efforts of good folks in Tallahassee, we were able to go Aadhavan Tamil movie at Movies 8 on a Saturday night. It was a okay movie, long, melodramatic, and with expected ending. But, remember, we are talking about a vanilla Tamil movie. Cost of the tickets for adult was $10 and children $5.

Anyway, we enjoyed it thanks to some entrepreneurial folks in Tallahassee. Keep up the good work.

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October 3, 2009 by Soma.

5th Experience Asia Festival

Saturday, October 3, 2009; 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM

Lewis and Bloxham Parks, Tallahassee, FL

Today is the fifth Experience Asia Festival. We are expecting a large crowd today. There will be both in-town and out-of-town performers. Hope to you all there!

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September 10, 2009 by Soma.

Speak at Tallahassee City Commission Meeting

Thursday, September 10, 2009; 6:00 to 7:45 Pm

Support Keeping Palmer-Monroe Community Center Open

I went to Tallahassee City Commission Public meeting today. There I addressed the Mayor and City Commissioners and requested them to consider keeping the Palmer-Monroe Community Center open.

• It is a good and safe place for young students and kids to hang out
• Young college students can take part in community events
• Asian Coalition programs took place there and the center supported our cultural event
• Keeping kids engaged will save money later since they will not get into trouble

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September 6, 2009 by Soma.

Tallahassee Tamil Sangam Picnic

Sunday, September 06, 2009

Edward Ball Wakulla Springs State Park

Wakulla Springs, FL 32327

 With Manoharan family, Vasudevan family and our family organizing a Tamil Sangam Picnic at Wakulla Springs State Park, the turn-out was okay. Since we thought about it only a week ago,  it was the long Labor Day week-end, and a Sunday afternoon many people couldn’t make it.But those assembled set-up the picnic table in one of the covered canopy around Noon. The young ones immediately headed to the water at the Wakulla Springs itself. After swimming for about hour and half most of the people became hungry. We had our lunch.Then we started to play touch-football, volleyball, and finally the quint essential Indian sport, Cricket. Most of the kids participated in the games. Then it was to the waters again. The weather was in lower ninties and there were scatttered clouds but no rain. Finally around  5 PM we started to drive back home. It was a successful picnic.Photos from the picnic can be seen here:http://picasaweb.google.com/somabhanu/TTSPicnic2009#

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