Our annual northeast area Thanksgiving Gathering was held on Saturday, November 29, 2008, in Caldwell, New Jersey.  This year invitations went out by E-vite and an automated phone messagings system.  About 65 people attended, and spent the evening catching up with friends and relatives, and meeting several new Oshwals in the area.

The evening started with two minute prayer for the innocent people who lost their lives in the terrorist attack in Mumbai. There were four classical dance performances. Two Bharatnatyam dances, by Chandni Shah (daughter of Kalpesh and Rashmi Shah, NJ) and two Oddisi dances, by Riddhi Dodhia (daughter of Manish and Jigna Dodhia). The dance performances were applaud able. Both the girls had been practicing months in advance and did an excellent job, as you all know Indian Classical dances are very hard to learn , language being the barrier. A guest singer was invited, Nanda Chakraborthy who is a famous classical dancer and a renowned Bengali singer, sponsored by (Kalpesh and Rashmi Shah, NJ). She entertained with many Bollywood songs from the black and white to the colored era. This was followed by OShwalingo (an Oshwal take on Bingo!). The Bingo consisted of all the Oshwal elements starting from, the 52 villages, last names, food, religion, language, culture, etc. This was just to touch base on our Oshwal Culture. A contest of how well the aunties could tie their husband’s ties within a minute was conducted, which caused a roar of laughter amongst the audience.  During the meeting, Keshav Shah (president) gave an update on our successful fund raising effort.

See below for some pictures from the event.