Fun Daal-bati Picnic by Madhya Pradesh Mitra Mandal

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Photo: Navin Mediwala

HOUSTON: Madhya Pradesh Mitra Mandal (MPMM) organized its 7th annual Daal-Bati picnic on Sunday, Octover 26,  at Bear Creek Park, in Houston, Texas.  It was attended by approx. 200 people who enjoyed fresh made Daal-Bati, Poha-Sev, Jalebi, Jiraman and garma-garam Chai during this daylong event.  The feeling of togetherness, the bonding between families and friends and the fun atmosphere made this gathering quite unique and entertaining.  Everyone joined hands to volunteer in various areas: cooking batis, serving food or performing on stage.

After new families made introduction, everyone played Picture Housie (Tambola) which was prepared by one of the members. This was about places in MP or personalities who belong to MP. Everyone got to know interesting facts from MP while enjoying the quizzes.  Weather being perfect for outdoors, several members took on sporting avatars to play Cricket and other games.

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One of the highlight of the event was live message delivered via phone by Shri Kailash Vijayvargiya, Cabinet Minister from Madhya Pradesh who handles Housing and Environment as well as the urban development portfolio. He felicitated MPMM for keeping roots of India alive in USA and also shared of great progress possibilities of India under leadership of our Prime Minister. This live Phone Call was coordinated by Jitendra Muchhal of New York, who also belongs to MP and an avid Daal-Bati fan.

For the past couple of years, response to this picnic has been so overwhelming that RSVP had to be closed 2 weeks before the event, to ensure that picnic is managed well by the volunteers.

MP Mitra Mandal is an informal community group made up of people who have come from Madhya Pradesh or Chhattisgarh to Texas. These states reflect “unity in diversity” in true sense which is visible amongst the people who attend MPMM events in Houston.  This group was started by Ashish Bhandari and Nikhil Jain in Houston in the year 2002. Today it’s grown to over 200 families belonging to various cities like Indore, Bhopal, Jabalpur, Bilaspur, Raipur, Gwalior etc., who are also registered on the group’s website http://www.mp.abindore.com .

This unique Annual event has been covered by various media groups in Houston as well as in India in the past.