35th NABC 2015 kicked off at Houston Durga Bari Society
HOUSTON: Houston recently hosted a big extravaganza – kickoff for a prestigious mega-event in 2015. Since 1980 North American Bengali Conference (NABC or Banga Sammelan) has promoted the Bengali culture richness in USA and Canada. Tagore Society of Houston (TSH) will host its 35th version on July 10-12, 2015. TSH already erected a statue of Tagore in the heart of Texas and Houston’s energy corridor as the emblem of that vision.
The conference will celebrate the diversity and spread the rich heritage of Tagore’s borderless culture. The kickoff event was well-attended and showed real passion to have a sparking event next year and also, leave a legacy for the future. It left the audience motivated by the message of respect for tradition and giving back and also, absolutely dazzled by the perfection of the execution of the event.
35th NABC 2015 was kicked off on Saturday, April 19 at Houston Durga Bari Society Sur Auditorium. Dr. Bishnupada Goswami, head priest, HDBS Inaugurated the event and lighted the lamp. TSH President Dr. Ruma Acharya gave the welcome speech and signed the contract with Cultural Association of Bengal, President, Purna Bhattacharyya. Partha Sarathi Chatterjee, the General Secretary, explained the relevance of the theme and our mission “Celebrate your heritage; Embrace the change” and launched the theme song and video to thunderous applause.
Highlight of the day was Swami Ishatmananda Minister in-charge, Vivekananda Vedanta Society of Chicago, who addressed the gathering on Bengali – Past, Present & Future culture. In an awe-inspiring speech, he made us aware of so many nuances of our rich heritage but more importantly, called on us to truly make a difference – help humanity as our mission. His speech was a call to action similar to Swami Vivekananda’s “Arise and Awake – stop not till the goal is reached”. He extolled everyone to not only celebrate the culture in the few days of the conference but seriously contemplate building a strong foundation to help humanity. In his words, a country can progress only when everyone does it together and not a handful making tremendous wealth. Swamiji asked for wealth with conscience and not waste money and resources on materialistic pleasures of life. Let’s utilize all of them to make a difference in people’s lives. The audience was spell-bound, gave a standing ovation but more importantly, was inspired to make a difference.
NABC 2015 organizers are committed to have a long-lasting outcome on the lives of the underprivileged – through education, entrepreneurship and welfare. The fruits of the conference must show in those results. The conference kicked off the “Go Green” initiative for Earth Day with enthusiastic participation of the youths. It will be a consistent effort throughout the conference.
Dr. Sanku Bose, Co-President of NABC 2015, introduced the guests from all over USA. He was followed by Tapan Das, Co-President of NABC 2015 shared the vision statement, organization governance, high level plan. Das in his address shared that the NABC 2015 team is excited to host the prestigious 35th NABC –which will be designed around the theme “Celebrate your heritage; Embrace the change”, dedicated to celebrating our glorious Bengali culture and tradition while welcoming the exciting future.
He welcomed all individuals from USA and abroad to attend and support the incredible 35th NABC 2015 to be held in The George R Brown Convention Center, covering 1.8 million Sqft, of meeting rooms, exhibit area, and registration space will be the venue for event from 10 to 12 July, 2015.
All the different NABC committees went through their plans – the depth of the presentation and the passion of the committee members to execute the plans flawlessly impressed all. Representatives of other organizations were very complimentary of the efforts and pledged to help NABC 2015 achieve its success. Jayanta Bandyopadhyay and Pradip Talukdar, VP’s focused on fund-raising, raised pledges of about $250K for the day.
From culture to couture, from business to books, from entertainment to execution, NABC 2015 will deliver a dazzling experience in cultural Extravaganza, literary summit, breathtaking performances, business forum, and trade fair. NABC 2015 is also in discussion with Pratham in developing a Read Bengal program. In short, the potential is endless and the experience will be memorable – NABC kickoff augurs well for a tremendous conference. Finally, NABC 2015 will deliver long-lasting results for the under-privileged – it is a commitment to make meaningful and sustainable contribution for future.
In short, NABC will sparkle during the conference and the luster will remain long after!