Report by Janet D’Souza
Pics by Jerson Marques
Mississauga, May 12: The Family Social was organized by the Mangalorean Association of Canada (MAC) on May 5 at the Palacio Event Centre, Mississauga was a remarkable demonstration of organization, dynamic and pulsating music, delicious food and pure uninhibited fun.
Attended by a record number of guests, the 500 plus crowd danced the night away to the melodious music and fantastic singing by the band, The New IIlusions and the extremely talented DJ Kaya.
The emcee, Peter Sheth created an ambience of comfort and enjoyment. The theme of the Family Social was ‘Go Green Around the World’, a meaningful endeavor to encourage sustainability and preservation of our environment through careful use of resources and digital technology. MAC has ushered in inspirational innovations and automation for their events such as electronic ticketing and payments and digital souvenirs and hopes to encourage others to embrace and practice ‘Go Green’.
The evening began with the MAC theme song, a song that offered its listeners and viewers a window into the beauty of not only the Canadian landscape but also into the history and the essence of the pioneer association. Maxim D’Mello, president of MAC welcomed the guests in his opening speech and spoke about the numerous new initiatives and programmes introduced in the past year.
A key component of MAC’s objectives is to partner with parents on their students’ journey and invest in their growth and advancement. In addition to the existing 1st year university entrance scholarship, MAC has now introduced a second scholarship for continuing students who successfully move to the 2nd year in their field of study. The association plays a very important role in providing a platform for developing leadership especially among the youth of the community through sports.
MAC helped organize a cycling and volleyball tournament and many young adults and children enthusiastically participated in both these events. Maxim reiterated the benefits of becoming a MAC member and described the introduction of a new advantageous discount model from partner sponsors for the purchase of products and services.
Sponsors are the pillars, source of encouragement, motivation and vital to any successful event and the generosity of numerous sponsors helped make the Family Social rewarding and fulfilling. With gratitude, MAC expresses its deepest and most sincere appreciation of the following top sponsors: P K Sabharwal, President/Broker of Record, Newgen Realty Experts and Ronald Colaco and family who were the eElite sponsors. They were most grateful to Ronald Colaco, an advocate and ardent supporter of MAC, who graciously sponsored the Family Social for a second time.
The gold sponsors were: Ravi Fernandes of Trinity Auto & Tire Center Inc., Everest Vijay Dante of Udupi Madras Cafe, Ajith Someshwar of CSI Group, Seven Islands Shipping Limited and an anonymous well wisher from Dubai.
Vijay Dante, vice-president of MAC, invited the elite sponsors center stage and felicitated them with a beautiful bouquet of flowers. He also called upon the gold and all other sponsors including their spouses for a special sponsor dance while highlighting their selfless gestures of magnanimity. Volunteers are equally indispensable and their significant offer of time, skills and talent empower an association and increase its impact and visibility. MAC honored an exemplary couple, Paul and Irene Mathias, who embody sacrifice, dedication and commitment and are always ready to help at all events year after year.
Vijay Dante invited Paul and Irene to the stage and Ronald Fernandes, past president of MAC, awarded them a plaque for their considerable contributions.
The main feature of the Family Social were two amazing and enthralling dances choreographed by the artistic director, Suma Nair of Sampradaya Dance Creations and performed by Naynika Nair, Raiya Arya, Hansika Vusikamalla and Dinu Tilaksena. Sampradaya is an award winning professional dance company that specializes in creating a wondrous blend of classical and contemporary dances. Sampradaya Dance creations has a worldwide audience and they have toured across Canada and internationally to India, US, Indonesia and Ireland. Founded by Lata Pada, a skillful and accomplished Bharatanatyam dancer, choreographer and teacher, Sampradaya is deeply committed to teaching and performing dance and inspiring Canadians to appreciate the rich and traditional dance form, Bharatanatyam. Lata Pada is renowned and acknowledged as one of Canada’s most important artists and advocate of the arts especially dance. She was the first South Asian artist to be awarded the national honor of the Order of Canada in 2009. She was also awarded the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman by the President of India in 2011 and in 2012, was bestowed the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal for her immense contributions to the Canadian community. In 2013, Lata was inducted into the Inaugural Mississauga Legend’s Row for her expansive and limitless influence in the City of Mississauga.
Lata’s vision of redefining Bharatanatyam to be more contemporary has precipitated into extraordinary and remarkable solo and group productions. MAC is indebted to Lata Pada and Sampradaya Dance Creations for their support and enabling the Mangalorean community a glimpse of the creativity and passion for Indian dance practiced at the academy.
Dinner was announced with a beautiful prayer led by Fr. Roshan Loy D’Souza, the spiritual director of MAC. Catered by Palacio Event Centre, the buffet was a sumptuous mix of salads, vegetables and meat created to please all kinds of palates. With numerous dance sessions for youth, seniors and everyone else, the evening came to an end with a vote of thanks by Cynthia Lewis, general secretary of MAC.
MAC expressed its genuine and heartfelt gratitude to the guests who attend the social despite commitments and busy schedules. MAC recognized and appreciated the collaboration, support and assistance of the Family Social’s well wishers and sponsors. And lastly, MAC applauded the commitment and dedication of all its members, EC and the volunteers who worked hard to organize an event of this magnitude and make it an evening to remember.