On Sunday morning, AANA (Assam Association of North America) General Body Meeting was a well-attended, well-conducted and informative meeting.

 AANA's president Dr. Gautam Lal Baruah welcomed the attendees and gave a description of AANA's achievements for past year as well as the future goals for the upcoming year. The highlight of his address was, introducing for the first time, "The guidelines of hosting Assam Convention". Please read about this newly introduced important and necessary guidelines at the 'Presisident's Corner' (in this issue) by Gautam Lal Baruah, President, AANA. This is a major milestone for AANA this year. We thank all the members present in that meeting for voting "Yes" to these guidelines unanimously.
 
(In the photo above, AANA Exceutive Members, from left to right) 
Deva Borah (Treasurer), Gautam Lal Baruah (President),
Roopa Sharma (Vice President) and Ranu Dutta (Secretary)

Dr. Deva Borah, Treasurer, AANA, gave a detailed account of AANA's financial statement. Ideas were exchanged regarding how to increase AANA's fund. It is worth mentioning, apart from being the Treasurer of AANA, Dr. Borah wears several hats. He is in charge of publishing the AANA Newsletter. He is also the liaison between AANA executive body and our website tech group to oversee the smooth operation of the website.

Mrs. Roopa Sharma, Vice President, AANA said a few lines about AANA's new website launched early this year. It was a major accomplishment of AANA with the help of a Minneapolis based couple Geeti Das and Prantor Bora - who did research on AANA, designed the website and are managing the same. She requested everyone to visit this wonderful and informative website often to receive all the latest news, information, articles and pictures of our community. 
 
Mrs. Ranu Dutta, General Secretary of AANA, addressed the crowd with an issue close to her heart - 'Involving the younger generation in AANA'. Ranu has been working tirelessly on her own towards her goal for many years.
 
Service Awards:

For the past few years, AANA has been honoring its members for their lifelong support, dedication and services towards AANA by presenting them 'Service Award's with 'phulam gamosa's and certificates of appreciation. This year, the following members were awarded. Mrs. Ranu Dutta and I had the honor of handing out the gamosa’s and the certificates to the recipients in the order:
 
Dr. Monoranjan & Jharna Bezbaruah
Ms. Alpona Barooah,
Mr. M. Rezaul (Pintu) Islam
Dr. Debojit & Mrs. Ruma Barua
Mr. Dhiraj & Mrs. Pompi Goswami (Pompi not in the picture)
Mr. Nripen & Mrs. Monica Barua (Monica not in the picture)

Assam Convention 2013:
The venue of the next Assam Convention (2013) was discussed. Although no formal proposal was received during the GBM, Detroit showed interest in hosting the next convention. Debojit and Ruma Barua from Michigan decided to inform AANA Executive Body in two weeks after discussing the 'newly formed convention guidelines' with other members of their community.

(Please read the announcement of Assam Convention 2013, Detroit in this issue)