August 21, 2010 by Soma.

Utsav/IndiaDay 2010
Saturday, August 21, 2010
Moore Auditorium, Tallahassee, FL 32306

Indian Students Association of Tallahassee (INSAT) and India Association of Tallahassee (IATLH) celebrated the 64^th Indian Independence Day, India Day, and Utsav (in Sanskrit meaning Festival) - a cultural program this afternoon. The day started out bit cloudy and muggy and so we feared for typical summer rain, but we were spared. A food, jewelry, and handicrafts fair was also held between 12:00 Noon and 6 PM in conjunction with the Celebrations.

About 450-500 people (students, children, youngsters, and Tallahassee public) came to enjoy the free program. The proceedings began with Independence celebration with flag unfurling and singing of National anthems of India and the USA. There were 20 individual items split into two segments. The earlier segment consisted of performances by young artists. This included two performances by VS and one by me.

The first one of VS’ performances was “The Great Children of India”, where VS represented Bhaghat Singh. In the second item VS and I did a stand-up comedy called, Tanjore to Tallahassee, where we parodied the clash between Indian-born adults visiting and American-born youngsters.

The event was a big success.

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August 14, 2010 by Soma.

Belt Testing Today

Saturday, Aug 14, 2010

TallyTKD.com

Today there was a belt testing schedule. All levels of Tae Kwon Do belts were scheduled for testing today and yesterday. Our belt testing was today. At the appointed time we arrived 10 minutes early. There were two sets of belt testers: one for the younger ones and one for the adults.

After explaining what will happen the testing began for both the groups. One student at a time or at times a pair of students were tested. The testing involved showing to the instructor the basic form and some escape maneuvers.

After about 45 minutes all testing were done and belt awarding ceremony will be conducted separately on a pot-luck dinner at another location. The testing went well.

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May 24, 2010 by Soma.

Governor’s Mansion Reception

Asian Pacific American Heritage Month Celebration

Monday, May 24, 2010; 6:00 - 8:00 PM

Tallahassee, FL 32301

We were at the reception at Governor’s Mansion celebrating the Asian Pacific American Heritage Month.

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April 17, 2010 by Soma.

Tamil New Year Celebrations

தமிழ் புத்தாண்டு விழா

சனிக்கிழமை, ஏப்ரல் 17, 2010

அலுமினி வில்லாஜ்

தலகாசி

11 வருட தமிழ் புத்தாண்டு விழா இன்று கொண்டாடினோம்.

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April 14, 2010 by Soma.

இனிய புத்தாண்டு வாழ்த்துக்கள்

விக்ருதி வருடம்

புதன் கிழமை, சித்திரை 1, 2010

தலகாசி, அ.ஐ.நா.

தமிழன்பர்கள் அனைவருக்கும் எங்கள் இனிய புத்தாண்டு வாழ்த்துக்கள். வருகிற சனிக்கிழமை நாங்கள் தமிழ் புத்தாண்டு விழா கொண்டாட இருக்கிறோம். வருக! வருகவே!

-சோமசுந்தரம் குடும்பம்

Happy Tamil New Year

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Tallahassee, FL 32317

We wish all Tamil well-wishers a Happy Tamil New Year. We will be celebrating the New Year this Saturday, April 17, 2010 at Recreation Hall, Alumni Village, Tallahassee, FL 32310. We welcome you to the festivities where we plan to stage children’s Tamil Drama, stand-up Tamil comedy routines, poetry recitation in Tamil and other activities. Please check the following links for more details:

• Tallahassee Tamil Sangam

• Somasundaram’s Tamil Pages

Posted in Events, Asia, Tamil, India, Community, Family | Print | 1 Comment »

April 1, 2010 by Soma.

National Census Day 2010

Thursday, April 01, 2010

 Tallahassee, FL 32301

Today is the National Census Day (Thursday, April 01, 2010), the day we all are expected to return the completed Census form. Unfortunately, as of today the return-rate (the percentage people returing their form) remains low, around 42-45% for Tallahassee and Leon County. This rate is lower than the national average and lower than other cities and counties in the State of FL.

 A public service announcement will air sometime starting today to encourage everyone to send in their forms.

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March 27, 2010 by Soma.

42nd Springtime Tallahassee Parade

Saturday, March 27, 2010; 10:00 AM to 12:30 PM

Tallahassee, Florida, USA

Today we participated in the 42nd Springtime Tallahassee Parade. Our participationin the Springtime Tallahassee parade for the third year in a row was  as a partner of Asian Coalition of Tallahassee. India Associaiton of Tallahassee members both adults and children, all clad in Indian attire,  and other members of the Indian community enthusiastically joined us as early as 8:00 AM. Then many members of ACT joined the group. In all we had about 70-80 people ready when the parade started at 10:30 AM. We were assigned slot number 103. We followed a local high school band. We walked the parade route for about 1.25 mile from the intersection of Third Avenue and North Monroe Street via Mahan Drive to all the way to Gaines Street and South Monroe Street intersection. By the time the parade ended it was about 12:15 PM.

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March 25, 2010 by Soma.

Record a video PSA

Leon County Sunshine Census 2010

 I was referred to Leon County Sunshine Census 2010 committee by a friend of mine. I then appeared at a local studio to record a video Public Service Announcement to promote the Census 2010. The PSA will run during the month of April encouraging everyone to return the completed Census form.

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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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