Monday, January 09, 2006
News from Nebraska Kirat-Rai Community
1. On Jan 6th 2006, Nebraska Kirat Rai community honored to Miss Ruru Rai for her outstanding academic achievement. She has earned a Computer Engineering (BS) degree with Magna Cum Laude from University of Nebraska. We gave her a card and a Photo frame (provided by KRSA.) on the behalf of KRSA. The recognition certificate will be given in future. The event was also farewell to her as she is moving to Kansas for her new job as a Computer Engineer.
2. The expense of KRSA general meeting with breakfast was $165. Bhim Rai Family, Dipta Rai Family and Ajay Rai family sponsored the meeting. Once we get 501c(3) if needed KRSA can add this amount as income and write off as expense and can give a receipt for tax deduction.
3. The new born baby gift (kallis) are mailed on first week of January with a congratulation letter on the behalf of the KRSA (central board).
1. On Jan 6th 2006, Nebraska Kirat Rai community honored to Miss Ruru Rai for her outstanding academic achievement. She has earned a Computer Engineering (BS) degree with Magna Cum Laude from University of Nebraska. We gave her a card and a Photo frame (provided by KRSA.) on the behalf of KRSA. The recognition certificate will be given in future. The event was also farewell to her as she is moving to Kansas for her new job as a Computer Engineer.
2. The expense of KRSA general meeting with breakfast was $165. Bhim Rai Family, Dipta Rai Family and Ajay Rai family sponsored the meeting. Once we get 501c(3) if needed KRSA can add this amount as income and write off as expense and can give a receipt for tax deduction.
3. The new born baby gift (kallis) are mailed on first week of January with a congratulation letter on the behalf of the KRSA (central board).
Friday, December 30, 2005
e-Village: a way to get to know each other
Proposed by Rajkumar Rai
Dear Kirat-Rai bandhu haru,
I would like to share a proposal with all Kirat-Rais of developing an e-Village for Kirat-Rais residing in the United States. It is a true fact that we do not know each other among many of us because we have come from many different parts of Nepal. Also, we are living in the US spreading out across the country and it is not possible for us to frequently meet with each other. So, I thought developing an e-Village would provide us with an access to know each other at least in pictures or in some kind of multimedia formats.
If we all think it is possible and necessary, I can start it collecting and posting pictures (family or single, house or apartment) to our website. There is plenty of space in our website. We can also reapply to increase the storage space if necessary.
Thank you and all the best,
Rajkumar Rai, President
Kirat-Rai Society of America
Responses (Total 5):
1. Dear Raj Kumar,
It is a great idea to set up an e-village.
2. Dr. Rajkumar Sir
Responses (Total 5):
1. Dear Raj Kumar,
It is a great idea to set up an e-village.
2. Dr. Rajkumar Sir
That is the I wanted. It is the best way to link each, to each other by many reason. Lets start our e-village.
3. RajBhai,
Sounds like a great idea as long as it doesn't add more work for you.
4. Hi Rajkumar Dai,
4. Hi Rajkumar Dai,
It is a good idea to put images of Rai individuals out on the web with their consent. It will definitely help us boost communication. It would be good to display the city, state they are residing and home town in Nepal.
I however am not sure about the pictures of Homes or apartments. I do not understand how it is going to help us yet.
I however am not sure about the pictures of Homes or apartments. I do not understand how it is going to help us yet.
5. Dear KRSA,
Not a bad idea, if people are interested to share their information with others. If there are resources at KRSA, then it is ok to provide the infrastructure where they can upload their info voluntarily... Personally, I don't like to put anything private on public domain.
Thursday, December 29, 2005
Summary of KRSA conference call meeting on 12/25/2005
Participants
1) Dr. Navin Rai –Advisor of KRSA, Washington D.C
2) Dr. Kalayni Rai – Chair of KRSA , Wisconsin
3) Dr. Raj Kumar Rai - President of KRSA, Tennessee
4) Mr. Sayat Man Rai - Chief Editor, New York
5) Mr. Dhaula Bir Rai - Coordinator of Public Relations, Boston, MA
6) Mr. Rajendra Kumar Rai- Member of KRSA, Aurora, CO
7) Mr. Shiva Kumar Rai- Board Member of KRSA, New Hampshire
Meeting Agenda
1) Magazine publication
2) Fund Raising
3) New board member nomination
4) Membership drive
Discussion and Conclusion:
1) Magazine publication
Mr. Sayat Man Rai presented a brief report of magazine publication including his collective views. In the discussion, Dr. Kalayni Rai suggested to distribute responsibilities to all committee members (Mukti Rai, Nirmala Rai and himself) including other people who can volunteer for the publication. Dr. Rai also suggested developing guidelines to produce articles and other form of writings. Alongside, Dr. Navin Rai recommended a collection of quality articles rather than focusing on timeline. Mr. Rajendra Rai showed his interest and promised to coordinate in Colorado region collecting articles for this magazine. In the conclusion, Mr. Sayat Man Rai was ready to prepare guidelines and circulate it soon.
2) Fund Raising:
Mr. Shiva Rai initiated the fund raising topic in the discussion. Dr. Navin Rai advised for seeking individual donors first rather than approaching to any big organizations, such as World Bank. He mentioned that writing fund raising proposals for individual donor would be the best option at this stage. Dr. Rai also said that, Aspen-Colorado would be the best place to seek individual donors and he agreed to coordinate this fund raising meeting soon at Aspen-Colorado. Similarly, Dr. Kalayni Rai suggested that fund raising can be done in multiple ways such as writing proposals to donors or conducting various types of activities such as writing and selling Nepali recipes book, selling/delivering indigenous goods in eBay/online, selling Nepali food in public gathering and making garage sales. Dr. Kalayni Rai accepted responsibility for fund raising activities.
3) New board member nomination
Mr. Dhaula Bir Rai explained current situation for nominating new board members. He said that he had been looking for those Kirat-Rai individuals who are interested and ready to work and donate time for the KRSA. Dr. Kalayni Rai suggested that Mr. D.B. Rai could present some of the possible names and then take further discussion from them. Dr. Rai also emphasized that KRSA could not hold its meeting without having a sufficient quorum. Mr. Dhaula Bir Rai agreed that he would continuously put his efforts to fulfill the vacant positions soon.
4) Membership drive (We could not discuss this topic due to time constraint and connection problem with phone line.)
Next meeting agenda
a) Role and responsibilities of KRSA Sub-committee (Please look Shiva Rai’s email circulation for this discussion. We appreciate it for each and every comment/suggestion in this agenda)
b) Membership drive ( Mr. Lila Rai will present this agenda)
c) If you have any agenda let us know?
Our next meeting will be on Sunday, Jan 8, 06 at 10am,
Mr. DB Rai will initiate conference call from 857-389-2291cell and 617-628-6908 Res. Please be in time. If you are interested in participating in the meeting, please contact Mr. D.B. Rai. We are trying to start meeting on time and finish on time (10am to 12p). Presently, we are having a problem in conference call connection. Please try to connect yourself and help to connect other members, if you can. If you have any problem in connection let us know immediately. We will try to connect you differently. KRSA always appreciates your help and coordination.
Thanks
KRSA
Participants
1) Dr. Navin Rai –Advisor of KRSA, Washington D.C
2) Dr. Kalayni Rai – Chair of KRSA , Wisconsin
3) Dr. Raj Kumar Rai - President of KRSA, Tennessee
4) Mr. Sayat Man Rai - Chief Editor, New York
5) Mr. Dhaula Bir Rai - Coordinator of Public Relations, Boston, MA
6) Mr. Rajendra Kumar Rai- Member of KRSA, Aurora, CO
7) Mr. Shiva Kumar Rai- Board Member of KRSA, New Hampshire
Meeting Agenda
1) Magazine publication
2) Fund Raising
3) New board member nomination
4) Membership drive
Discussion and Conclusion:
1) Magazine publication
Mr. Sayat Man Rai presented a brief report of magazine publication including his collective views. In the discussion, Dr. Kalayni Rai suggested to distribute responsibilities to all committee members (Mukti Rai, Nirmala Rai and himself) including other people who can volunteer for the publication. Dr. Rai also suggested developing guidelines to produce articles and other form of writings. Alongside, Dr. Navin Rai recommended a collection of quality articles rather than focusing on timeline. Mr. Rajendra Rai showed his interest and promised to coordinate in Colorado region collecting articles for this magazine. In the conclusion, Mr. Sayat Man Rai was ready to prepare guidelines and circulate it soon.
2) Fund Raising:
Mr. Shiva Rai initiated the fund raising topic in the discussion. Dr. Navin Rai advised for seeking individual donors first rather than approaching to any big organizations, such as World Bank. He mentioned that writing fund raising proposals for individual donor would be the best option at this stage. Dr. Rai also said that, Aspen-Colorado would be the best place to seek individual donors and he agreed to coordinate this fund raising meeting soon at Aspen-Colorado. Similarly, Dr. Kalayni Rai suggested that fund raising can be done in multiple ways such as writing proposals to donors or conducting various types of activities such as writing and selling Nepali recipes book, selling/delivering indigenous goods in eBay/online, selling Nepali food in public gathering and making garage sales. Dr. Kalayni Rai accepted responsibility for fund raising activities.
3) New board member nomination
Mr. Dhaula Bir Rai explained current situation for nominating new board members. He said that he had been looking for those Kirat-Rai individuals who are interested and ready to work and donate time for the KRSA. Dr. Kalayni Rai suggested that Mr. D.B. Rai could present some of the possible names and then take further discussion from them. Dr. Rai also emphasized that KRSA could not hold its meeting without having a sufficient quorum. Mr. Dhaula Bir Rai agreed that he would continuously put his efforts to fulfill the vacant positions soon.
4) Membership drive (We could not discuss this topic due to time constraint and connection problem with phone line.)
Next meeting agenda
a) Role and responsibilities of KRSA Sub-committee (Please look Shiva Rai’s email circulation for this discussion. We appreciate it for each and every comment/suggestion in this agenda)
b) Membership drive ( Mr. Lila Rai will present this agenda)
c) If you have any agenda let us know?
Our next meeting will be on Sunday, Jan 8, 06 at 10am,
Mr. DB Rai will initiate conference call from 857-389-2291cell and 617-628-6908 Res. Please be in time. If you are interested in participating in the meeting, please contact Mr. D.B. Rai. We are trying to start meeting on time and finish on time (10am to 12p). Presently, we are having a problem in conference call connection. Please try to connect yourself and help to connect other members, if you can. If you have any problem in connection let us know immediately. We will try to connect you differently. KRSA always appreciates your help and coordination.
Thanks
KRSA
Message from Mr. Sayatman Rai, Chief Editor - KRSA Magazine
New York
All kirat Kirat-Rai brothers and sisters, we are going to publish KRSA annual magazine including articles and creative writtings related to our Society and culture. And, this magazine will be publihed according to the KRSA mission and objectives. So, please provide us article in any of the following topics within two moths (January and February).
Topics:
(A) About the Kirat-Rai, Kirat-Rai language, Kirat-Rai culture, Kirat-Rai religion, Kirat-Rai Society (Samajik prampara bare), Kirat-Rai History
(B) Srijanatmak Lekha (Literature), Story (Laghu katha, Phutkar katha), Essay (Nijatmak,Yatratmak, Prabandhatmak kunai prakar ko pani), poem (Gajal, Muktak, Chutkila), Real experience
Send your article to the following address:
For English article
Dr. Navin Kumar Rai
1031, Grand Oak way
Rockville, Maryland-20852
For Nepali article
Sayat Man Rai 85-50, 168 st Jamaica Ave 2nd floor,
Jamaica, New York-11432
If you have any questions, concerns, or suggestions, please contact us:
Dr. Navin Kumar Rai (MD) 301-217-0455 / 240-599-6040
Dr. Kalyani Rai (WI) 414-963-8791
Dr. Raj Kumar Rai (TN) 865-946-6071
Dr. Shiva Kumar Rai (NH) 603-817-7548
Mrs. Nirmala Rai (TX) 972-570-4516
Mr. Rajendra Rai (CO) 303-882-7167
Mr. Mukti Narayan Rai (NH) 603-988-9747
Mr. Sayat Man Rai (NY) 718-206-1413
Note: Please, provide us your phone number and email address with the article.
Thank you.
Tuesday, December 20, 2005
Sunakhari and Gyan H. Rai, 87
(click the image and then pop up button at the lower right to make it bigger and readable)
Udhouli Sakewa Pictures Recently Held at Naphikot, Kathmandu
(Click the picture to make it bigger)
Thursday, December 08, 2005
Hello Kirat-Rai bandhu haru,
Please take a couple of minutes to answer the following questions and share your understanding.
How the past of Kirat-Rai is understood by you? How do you describe your past experience of Kirat-Rai culture, tradition, and rituals? What are the Kirat-Rai values and beliefs?
Please take a couple of minutes to answer the following questions and share your understanding.
How the past of Kirat-Rai is understood by you? How do you describe your past experience of Kirat-Rai culture, tradition, and rituals? What are the Kirat-Rai values and beliefs?
Thursday, November 17, 2005
Cooperation Between Yayokkha and KRSA
Recently I had an opportunity to meet with Mr. K.B. Rai, the president of Kirat Rai Yayokkha in Kathmandu. During the meeting I mentioned the proposal of KRSA to help Yayokkha in research oriented tasks such as: scholarship programs for students who do research on Kirat Rai culture, writing language books and producing television documentaries etc. Mr. Rai told me that in the past, Yayokkha had received some applications submitted by research students for funding, but due to lack of budget they could do nothing. Mr Rai was very pleased to know that KRSA is interested to help in this field. He requested us (KRSA) to be specific on the figure that we can contribute each year so it will be easier for them to make an announcement. He said Yayokkha would be very happy to work with KRSA in the mission to preserve and promote our Kirat Rai culture.
Issues of Divided Rais
I also raised the issue of the new trend among Kirat Rais subgroups who are breaking away from Yayokkha giving the reason of their distinct language and culture. On this regard he said it was the idea of very few short sighted people who found themselves in the dead-end career and had no option left to make a living. Janajati Empowerment Project was funding money to the indigenous communities for their upliftment based on their distinct language and culture. So those individuals wanted to take advantage of that and they fabricated the idea of separation.Their supporting point was that they have different language and culture than rest of the Rais. It clearly came out of that sick mentality to gain personal benefit in the name of language and culture. They do not have wide support and we should not believe that the whole community of the particular subgroup is behind those few unsatisfied individuals.
Problems
Not enough budget. Currently Yayokkha has almost 22 lakhs budget. That is not enough to preserve and promote the culture of more than 30 different Rais. Some of them are in the verge of extinction such as ‘puma’ which has just few hundreds who can speak it. Yayokkha is trying to document those languages as much as possible but now due to security reason it is also very slow and difficult.
There are two staffs in Yayokkha office and the office space is provided by the president himself. Many people question why Yayokkha does not include different Rais in the central level that would at least help solve the separation issues. Mr Rai says being in the central level you can not limit yourself to your own group, I am Bantawa but my responsibility is to look at the other groups which are in the verge of extinction. It would be wrong judgment to see central level jobs as the advantage for particular rai group he/she represents.
Mr KB Rai
Mr Rai has true devotion in the efforts to uplift Kirat Rai culture. I found him a man of integrity, very hardworking with a vision and honest. I was very impressed with his commitments and values he gives to make things better.
Mr Rai has huge collection of different Rai ethnic dresses, items and arts. He is retired British Gurkha Army and a devoted social worker who gave new shape to Yayokkha organization.
Rajendra Rai
Denver
Recently I had an opportunity to meet with Mr. K.B. Rai, the president of Kirat Rai Yayokkha in Kathmandu. During the meeting I mentioned the proposal of KRSA to help Yayokkha in research oriented tasks such as: scholarship programs for students who do research on Kirat Rai culture, writing language books and producing television documentaries etc. Mr. Rai told me that in the past, Yayokkha had received some applications submitted by research students for funding, but due to lack of budget they could do nothing. Mr Rai was very pleased to know that KRSA is interested to help in this field. He requested us (KRSA) to be specific on the figure that we can contribute each year so it will be easier for them to make an announcement. He said Yayokkha would be very happy to work with KRSA in the mission to preserve and promote our Kirat Rai culture.
Issues of Divided Rais
I also raised the issue of the new trend among Kirat Rais subgroups who are breaking away from Yayokkha giving the reason of their distinct language and culture. On this regard he said it was the idea of very few short sighted people who found themselves in the dead-end career and had no option left to make a living. Janajati Empowerment Project was funding money to the indigenous communities for their upliftment based on their distinct language and culture. So those individuals wanted to take advantage of that and they fabricated the idea of separation.Their supporting point was that they have different language and culture than rest of the Rais. It clearly came out of that sick mentality to gain personal benefit in the name of language and culture. They do not have wide support and we should not believe that the whole community of the particular subgroup is behind those few unsatisfied individuals.
Problems
Not enough budget. Currently Yayokkha has almost 22 lakhs budget. That is not enough to preserve and promote the culture of more than 30 different Rais. Some of them are in the verge of extinction such as ‘puma’ which has just few hundreds who can speak it. Yayokkha is trying to document those languages as much as possible but now due to security reason it is also very slow and difficult.
There are two staffs in Yayokkha office and the office space is provided by the president himself. Many people question why Yayokkha does not include different Rais in the central level that would at least help solve the separation issues. Mr Rai says being in the central level you can not limit yourself to your own group, I am Bantawa but my responsibility is to look at the other groups which are in the verge of extinction. It would be wrong judgment to see central level jobs as the advantage for particular rai group he/she represents.
Mr KB Rai
Mr Rai has true devotion in the efforts to uplift Kirat Rai culture. I found him a man of integrity, very hardworking with a vision and honest. I was very impressed with his commitments and values he gives to make things better.
Mr Rai has huge collection of different Rai ethnic dresses, items and arts. He is retired British Gurkha Army and a devoted social worker who gave new shape to Yayokkha organization.
Rajendra Rai
Denver
Friday, August 26, 2005
Hello Kirat Rai bandhu haru,
Namaste,
I am just trying this communication means. Looks simple, but very powerful. If anyone from our community comes across this site, please try it.
Thanks,
Raj
Namaste,
I am just trying this communication means. Looks simple, but very powerful. If anyone from our community comes across this site, please try it.
Thanks,
Raj
