FICA is an organization dedicated to serving the needs of the Asian Indian Community in Northeast Ohio. From its humble beginnings as a student association in 1962, it has grown to be the voice of a diaspora of over 20,000 and on the increase. FICA helps Asian Indian families assimilate into the mosaic of greater Cleveland. FICA hosts an annual event to celebrate Republic Day. The event, dinner and performances took place on Saturday January 25, 2014 with the theme “A Look into Our Future".
FICA Board Chair Chittaranjan Jain and President Asim Datta gave updates.
Congratulatory letters were received from Governor John Kasich and US Senators Rob Portman and Sherrod Brown. Updates were given on the Shiksha Daan program and Project Sewa as well as FICA in general. The keynote address was given by Dr. Ronald M. Berkman, President of Cleveland State University. Dr. Ramesh Gehani made introductions and special recognitions and two FICA Awards were handed out. The Lifetime Grand Benefactor of FICA award was presented to Dr. Mohan Lal Bafna and the Friend of the Indian Community Award was presented to Cleveland Mayor Frank G. Jackson. The Feature Presentation was called “A Look into Our Future" and was developed and performed by Asim Datta and Raj Pillai with the assistance of Jay Masurekar and Venky Venkatesh.
Thanks to Anjan Ghose and Michael Sreshta for these photos. As always, if you can help identify anyone in the photos, please let us know.
FICA Board Chair Chittaranjan Jain
FICA President Asim Datta
Ray Gehani
Anjan and Kathy Ghose
Awardees Dr. Mohan Bafna and Mayor Frank Jackson
with CSU President Ronald Berkman
Mohan Bafna, Asim Datta and Ray Gehani
National Anthems
Mayor Frank Jackson and Ray Gehani
Mayor Frank Jackson
Michael and Flavia Sreshta
Raj Pillai and Asim Datta
Award winners
Sujata Burgess, Gauri Wagle Masurekar,
Kathy Ghose and Sowmya Venkatesh
Chittaran Jain, Mohan Bafna, Mayor Frank Jackson,
Ronald Berkman, Asim Datta and Ray Gehani
Sanjay Garg
Valarie McCall, Chittaranjan Jain,
Mayor Frank Jackson and Nisha Jain
Dr Shanta Kampani
Mayor Frank Jackson with Sowmya and Venky Venkatesh
Republic Day 2014 Main Page (this page)
Page 2 - Faces in the crowd at Republic Day 2014
Page 3 - More Faces in the crowd at Republic Day 2014
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