About Time

I just go this wonderful email from Anand Jha in Bloomington, Indiana, a follow-up to a phone call earlier in the day. Wow, this is great. About time.

Parmendra dai,

Attached is message from Lalit bhaijee who is actively involved in creation of a much needed organization of terains of nepal. My job is to help him spread this news to as many Terains as possible. I thought you would be an excellent start. Please spread this message. I do think we should have a separate organization to meet and organize than the conventional Nepali convention.

We shall talk on phone shortly. I will call you. I am disappointed that India has offered some arms to RNA.

Attached Message:

It was nice talking to you yesterday. As per our discussion I'm sending you some information on Association of Nepalese Teraians in America (ANTA). Please spread the information to as many Teraians as you can. Association like ANTA has been long due in USA. Talk to them and ask them to be members of ANTA. I would also appreciate if you can send me the contact (name, email/phone) of the Teraians you may know in USA. Please feel free to call if you have any comments/suggestions. We are counting on your participation and cooperation.
Take care and do stay in touch! Thanks!
Sincerely,
Lalit Jha

Two Attachments:

April 15, 2005

Fellow Teraian(s) and Friends of Terai:

We are delighted to announce the recent formation of the Association of Nepali Teraian in America (“ANTA”). ANTA was formally registered with the State of Texas on March 30, 2005 as a non-profit organization.

The mission of ANTA is to promote Advancement and Awareness of the Teraian’s Identity, Linguistic and Cultural heritage, and facilitate close ties, Cooperation and Networking among Nepali Teraians in North America.

In addition to the aforementioned primary goal, ANTA’s key objective is also to promote cooperation and strengthen ties with other Nepali Organizations in North America. By cultivating closer relationship with different organization; ANTA will seek to promote harmony, better cooperation and greater unity amongst all people of Nepali origin living in North America. Members of ANTA will be participating in the upcoming ANA 2005 forum, to be held in Dallas from July 1- July 3. At this forum, we plan to present the missions and objectives of ANTA and discuss related issues. We encourage fellow Teraians to make extra efforts to attend the ANA Convention and show up in a large number for the historic ANTA inauguration forum.

We cordially invite all Nepali Teraians living in North America and also all those who would like to participate in our association’s noble mission, to join ANTA. Please show your support to our association by becoming it’s Life Member ($100.00). The other ANTA membership categories and fees are: Family Membership ($25.00), Individual Membership ($20.00) and Student Membership ($15.00).

The ANTA web-site www.terai.org with detail information will be up and running soon. Please make sure to visit our web-site scheduled to be on-line by the end of May.

If you have any question or need additional information, please feel free to contact any of the following Founding Members of the ANTA. We look forward to hearing from you.

Very Truly Yours,

Ratan Jha, President – ratanjha@gmail.com, Houston, TX
Mukesh Sigh, Secretary – mukeshsingh@hotmail.com, Columbus, OH
Jay Mandal - Jpmandal@gmail.com, Chicago, IL
Dr. Pramod Kantha - kanthap@missouri.edu, Columbia, MO
Naveen Dutta - ndutta@avaya.com, Denver, CO
Annapurna Deo- annapurna_deo@hotmail.com, Cary, NC
Lalit Jha, Treasurer - ljha@jeo.com, Wahoo, NE

NAME OF THE ORGANIZATION:

Association of Nepali Teraian in America (ANTA)

MISSION:

The mission of the Association of Nepali Teraian in America (ANTA) is to promote the Advancement of the Teraian's identity, Awareness of Language and Cultural heritage, and facilitate close Ties, Cooperation and Networking among Nepali Teraians in North America.

OBJECTIVES:

Association of Nepali Teraian in America (ANTA) is a non-profit and non-political organization devoted to strengthen close relationship among the people from Terai in North America and committed to work towards enhancement of Teraian's identity and welfare.

The objectives of the Association of Nepali Teraian in America (ANTA) are to:

Promote close cooperation among people from Terai in North America.
Develop network of people from Terai in North America
Provide support to people from Terai in North America in time of need and difficulties.
Promote advancement of the Teraian's identity, awareness and cultural heritage.
Promote harmony, cooperation and strengthen ties with other Nepali organizations in North America.
Help people/organization from Terai in Nepal though monetary funds as well as other means for the social welfare programs.
Provide educational help to the promising Tertian’s students through sponsorship program in Nepal or abroad.
Provide resources and assistance to the Teraian students coming to USA for higher education.
To promote woman’s cause and equality.
Build and develop relationship with local partners and different organization in Nepal and North America for the advancement of Teraian culture and heritage.