Advisory Committee
Mr. T. N. Bajpay
Dr. Vinod Sinha
Dr. Binod Verma
Mr. Anil Kumar
Dr. Ram Keshav Prasad
Dr. Rabindra Sinha
Mr. Uday Varma
Mr. S. K. Sinha
Dr. Amrendra Singh
Mr. Dharmatma Saran
Mr. Ranjeet Sinha
Mr. Rajesh Sahu

Dear Friends,

Let me first thank you all for proposing my name and electing me the president of BANA. I take this as a great honor and privilege to have the opportunity to serve the Bihari and Jharkhandi community here in North America. I would also like to thank all the members for their efforts in selecting the new committee and special thanks to committee members for coming forward and taking the responsibilities.

As you may or may not know BANA has been through a lot during the past few years. I take this opportunity as a challenge to bring our organization to the next level. My objective for BANA is to make it an organization that builds a very close binding in our community here, help the community here and back in India, and make everyone feel proud of being a part of BANA. When I see people from other communities where a strong support network exists and where just belonging to that community gives you access to countless opportunities, it makes me wonder why BANA can't do the same.

I am calling upon all of you to become more and more involved with BANA and help this association in whatever way possible to move towards our mission.

Finally, I would like to thank all the volunteers for their efforts in making this picnic a success. Special thanks to Mr. Pankaj Sinha and other volunteers for coordinating and arranging the food, to Sanjay for arranging all the children activities, Mr. BB Mishra for preparing the quiz, Mr. Rakesh Sinha for taking extra step to reach individuals beyond BANA and all other volunteers who took time from their busy schedule to contact people to attend this picnic. Please forgive me if I missed anyone.

Sincerely,

Dr. G. N. Roy
President

My Dear Friends,

I would like to welcome you all at the picnic. Hope you are enjoying and having fun. I would like to thank the community for giving me the opportunity to serve as a General Secretary of BANA. I will try my best to do anything and everything possible in my capacity to make things happen for the progress of BANA.

I am fairly new to BANA and still learning lot about the community. I noticed a lot of very good things and few not so good things at BANA. No one will dispute that people from Bihar and Jharkhand are one of the richest, very resourceful and well to do communities in the US. My goal is to try to leverage that resource and bring BANA on par with the other communities here.

This newsletter is our first formal communication after the formation of new executive committee. I consider this a good step towards improving the binding, communication and cooperation among the community members.

Our discussion board is up and running at www.bajana.org. Please click on "Forum" at the main menu or got to Members Area and click on "Discussion Board". This forum is an open platform for all the individuals to put their thoughts and ideas out for public discussion.

Best Regards,

Sugriv Barnwal
General Secretary

50th Anniversary:
Mr. Divyendu and Pratima Narayan are going to celeberate their 50th wedding anniversary on august 15th at a hotel in White Plains, NY.
Mr Narayan is originally from Arrah and is a graduate of Patna Engineering College. They had been a BANA member for many years and had been aregular attendee of BANA functions. BANA takes great pleasure in congratulating the couple on their golden wedding anniversery.

Mr Abhinav (Anshu) Prasad, son of Gyaneshwar and Usha Prasad of Queens, NY was married on June 26, 2004 to Sayu Bhojwani, daughter of Vinod and Poonam Bhojwani of Belize City, Belize. Pandit Mahesh Shastri officiated the ceremony in Belize City, Belize. BANA family wishes the new couple a very happy and long married life.

Birthdays:
Kunal Srivastava (son of Sarita and Prakash Srivastava, both Ph.D.s) turned 8 on July 25.

Sarika Barnwal celebrated her birthday on July 27th at her home in Danbury, CT. BANA family wishes her lots of good luck in the near future.

Graduation:
Abhinav Gautam, 21, eldest of the three children of Sri Braj and Sarita Mishra, graduated with a Bachelor of Science (BS) and Master of Science (MS) in Computer Engineering. He completed both the BS and MS degrees with honors in as little as four years from Polytechnic University, Brooklyn, NY. Come this July he will be working full-time as a Technical Associate at the Swiss investment bank: Credit Suisse First Boston (CSFB).

Newsletter Content:
Please email us info on events such as Birthdays, Anniversaries, Graduations or anything else to editor@bajana.org, so that we can publish it in our next news letter.

Volunteers:
We are always in need of people with some free time from their busy schedule. If you would like to volunteer, please contact us at sugriv@bajana.org. We have lot of work ahead of us and need lot of help.

Joining BANA:
If you or someone you know would like to become a lifetime member, please download the membership form from our website www.bajana.org --> Members Area --> Join BANA and send it with the appropriate fee to: Sugriv Barnwal, 6 Clifton Lane, White Plains, NY 10605.

Donation:
As you know BANA is in dire need of financial help. We request all members and non-members to send us a small donation of $10, $20, $30 or whatever amount you prefer. Your name will be published in our next newsletter under donars.

Sponsorship:
If you or some one you know would like to sponsor our newsletter, put any ad on our website or even in our Vaishali magazine, please let us know.

Feel free to contact any of the executive committee members for any other questions or concerns.