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The Association is a non-sectarian one, and welcomes as members anyone with an interest in India or Indian culture. We are in the process of registering with the Department of Fair trade, and once we've done that, membership forms will be made available to anyone who's interested in becoming a member.
Our main aim is to celebrate our culture of Unity amidst Diversity and foster a sense of belonging amongst all those with an interest in India, Indian culture and Indian values.
The People
As they say, You can take an Indian out of India, but you can’t take India out of an Indian. And it is precisely to foster and nurture our culture in our 'home away from home' that the idea came up, of bringing together people from India and with an interest in all that's Indian, under one umbrella.
The seed was sown when Sangita Ghodke took the initiative to 'get up and do something'. Prompt to follow with enthusiastic support were her husband Anil Ghodke, 'never say die' friends Rohini and Shailendra Singh, Pramod Bharara and Mukesh Bajaj. Endless cups of coffee over heated discussions deep into the night led to the Preliminary meeting in Sangita and Anil's backyard, which saw a turn-out of about 20 people. Next followed the Inaugural meeting on the 9th of June 2008, with 28 individuals attending, where the decision was taken to register with the Department of Fair Trade and become an Incorporated Association.
Keen to 'wait and watch' as also to test the waters, we hosted the India Independence Day celebration at the Maroochy Neighbourhood Centre on the 17th of August, 2008. It was a huge success, with about a hundred-odd joining in.
More importantly, simply through the mailing list 'grapevine', we've managed to help out newly arrived individuals with helpful information and contacts to arrange accomodation, as well as families in need to acquire basic necessities and invaluable support. And that, is keeping with the real reasons behind forming this Association.
We hope to carry on this trend of supporting and helping one another, and make it grow bigger and better, while having fun along the way.