TAMU LHO-CHHAR 2016
Date : Jan 9, 2016
Posted By : Admin
Event Description :
Tamu Samaj Victoria organized “Lhochhar 2016” on Sunday, 3rd Jan 2016 at Estonia House, 43 Melville Road, West Brunswick, Victoria, Australia. Around 300+ Gurungs (Tamus) and other community people came from all over Victoria and interstate to bid goodbye to “Year of Sheep” and welcome “Year of Monkey”.
Usual program highlights were Budhha pooja and blessings from Lama Indra Bahadur Gurung, formal welcome of VIP guests by offering “Kata”, welcome speech by President Pahalman Gurung, Best wishes from VIP guests (VMC Commissioner Dr. Teresa DeFazio, Victoria Police Deputy Commissioner Andrew Crisp APM, NECLO Victoria Police Parsuram Sharma-Luital), traditional Gurung/Nepali songs and dances from talented in-house artists both kids and adults, recognition of artists and volunteers who tirelessly spent hours for the preparation, Raffle prize draw, and Thank you note by the President concluding the program. Our professional photographers Sunil Ramailo and Meghraj captured the red carpet moments and program highlights throughout the day, and they will be available soon on the website/facebook.
Kind attendance from various non-Nepali and Nepali community organization leaders also added a significant value to the success of the program. We would like to thank Darren Peterson, Acting Inspector, Moreland Local Area Commander; Joseph A Caputo, Chairperson Federation of Ethnic Communities’ Councils of Australia-FECCA; Jill Morgan, CEO, Multicultural Arts Victoria; NAV President Sudhir Shakya; Bam Yonzon from Tamang Samaj; Purba Ghale from Manag Samaj; Mohan Rana from Magar Samaj; Sanjay Rai from Kiranti Samaj and Jum Gurung from GNCV for their valuable presence.
Stage performance by kids and adults in their traditional Gurung attire was absolutely a stand-out this year, no doubt on par with professional artists. Guests and crowd did not stop applauding a truly collective performance of Gurung culture and their love for music, songs and dances. VIP guests also joined to sing and dance along with artists. This year’s performance was choreographed and directed by talented Pooja Gurung, Man Maya Gurung, Ram Gurung and Mahendra Gurung. A long list of artists deserved their names here who performed wonderfully on the day. Anchita, Ariyana, Pari, Melina, Sevika, Sujanna, Sue Zen, Ekesha, Nishtha, Riwaj, Arnav, Archan, Angad, Calden, Romeo, Nisha, Hanisha, Pooja, Sunil, Amrit, Shyam, Ram, Rajan, Dhan, Narendra, Sonia, Mahendra, Kanchan, Kusum, Rikisha, Syna, Amrita, Geeta, Maya, Reshma, Kiran, Subash, Hemant, Anita, Tanka, Anil, Hanisha, Apekshya, Usha, Sita, Leena, Sonia, Sunita, Manisha, Susma, Avatar, Amit, Iccha. Moreover equally there were many unseen artists and volunteers (especially Parents) behind the scene who contributed to venue, practice, catering food/drinks, transportation, logistics, meetings, discussion, liaison, etc as much as possible. Thank you very much to all.
Besides there were few new initiatives to engage and promote Gurung identity and culture. First one was Dashain-Tihar BBQ program in November where membership renewal and fun activities such as “Gaito Futaune” and “Musical Chair” were held. The winners of these fun activities were awarded on the stage. Another important initiative was the recognition of the academic achievements by Gurungs in Victoria during 2015. These recognitions will encourage young Gurung generations to do well not only in studies but also in life in general, and be valuable members of the community. Third initiative is about building our own multipurpose cultural centre in Victoria. Tamu Samaj Victoria has completed the initial discussion and plan about the centre. Now various activities such as legal, promotion, fund raising, sponsorship, etc have started. Lhochhar program was a wonderful occasion to raise awareness among Gurungs about the cultural centre, Arun Gurung distributed flyers and explained about the centre to the Gurung attendees. Also “Aama Samuha” came out with a unique idea of selling beautiful flower/vegetable plants as well as toys/sweets to the attendees to raise funds for the cultural centre, massive effort from all involved led by Maya Gurung. We will continue these and other new initiatives in future to keep our community engaged and active for a brighter future of Tamu Samaj Victoria.
We would like to thank our event sponsors “The Kathmandu Cottage” and “Oz Choice Finance” for personal as well as financial support to make the event a grand success. The Kathmandu Cottage also took responsibility for Nepali food/drinks catering to the guests, a big thank you to them! Mr Karna Rana (Oz Choice Finance) did an excellent job with music/sound, a big shout of thank you to him as well. Media exposure and reporting by our media partners SBS Radio, Melbourne Chautari, Nepali Times, Nepali Vision Australia and Nepal News Australia was also highly commendable.
A long list of dedicated volunteers helped to make the event happen as it happened, few of them are mentioned here. Vice-President Tej Gurung, Assistant Treasurer Milan Gurung and Bishan Gurung helped out with the entry tickets and Tamu Samaj Victoria annual membership. A massive 46 new member joined on the day! Rajan Gurung and Gopal Gurung took care of attending Lama and Pooja decoration. Sagun Gurung, Thakur Gurung, Ashok Gurung, Gopal Gurung, Mahendra Gurung, Ram Gurung, Som Prasad Gurung, Arun Gurung and others did the stage and hall decoration. The welcome red carpet decoration was led by Dipu Gurung and Milan Gurung. Guest reception was handled by Pahalman Gurung, Pampha Gurung, Thakur Gurung, Kiran Gurung, and others. Sound system was set up by Bam Gurung, Karna Rana and Amrit Gurung. Entertaining the audience as masters of ceremonies, we had Pooja Gurung, Dhan Gurung, Mahendra Gurung and Ram Gurung. Overall program organization was coordinated by Amrita Gurung and Dipu Gurung.
As an organizer Tamu Samaj Victoria committee and members played a very crucial role of taking lead from preparation to the execution of the program. Many have spent hundreds of hours voluntarily throughout the years on weekends and after hours besides their other commitments. Their dedication and passion for preservation and promotion of Tamu culture and heritage in Victoria can not be expressed in words, and will be rightly honored by future Gurung generations to come.
Lastly to all the Gurung as well as other community people who took your valuable Sunday time to join us and celebrate our biggest festival Lhochhar as one BIG family, thank you very much. It was for you, without your active attendance and participation, the program would not have been as grand as it was. Please follow up and stay tuned to our various communications channels such as website, email, facebook and viber. We love to hear your feedback and comments on how to make the event grander next year. Please spare a couple of minutes to leave feedback by following the below link.
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1CFvo8YBm8bfBI7DWA2DQBhGjepqLabfS2m5G1c9z1oY/viewform?c=0&w=1
Please feel free to contact any committee member for further information or any suggestion.
Thank you
Tamu Samaj Victoria