Dear Friends,

It gives me great pride to write this first “President’s Corner” column. At the same time I am deeply honored and humbled to gain your trust to be the AANA President for the term 2013-2015. First of all, I like to recognize the outgoing Executive, President Dr. Baruah, VP Ms. Sharma, and Gen Secy. Mrs. Dutta for their extraordinary services and landmark changes. It was my privilege to work with this great group as the Treasurer and the Newsletter and IT coordinators. Special thanks to Ms. Roopa Sharma for her prompt responses and contributions at times of urgencies.

I am thankful and grateful to Mr. Arup Goswami for agreeing to take the responsibilities of the VP. Those attended 33rd Assam Convention in Calgary, Canada witnessed Mr. Goswami’s organizational skills. I look forward to tap into his vast organizational experiences and working with him in serving you for the next two years.

I am also thankful and grateful to Ms. Geeti Das for taking the responsibilities of the Gen Secy. Geeti and her husband Prantor Bora created the AANA website www.aanahome.org and has been updating and maintaining it for the last two years. Sincerity and dedication of this young couple towards our organization are commendable. I look forward to continue working with Geeti with this added responsibility.

Finally, I like to thank my good friend Mr. Anis Ahmed for agreeing to serve as the Treasurer. He is the best Treasurer I know. He helped saving over $5,000.00 for AANA from the Washington, DC Convention in 2009. We go a long way to the 80’s serving our community together at various levels and wearing various hats, AFNA, ASSNA, and AANA. I look forward to continue working with Mr. Ahmed.

With changing times, we have challenges ahead. The outgoing President and his Executive Board left big shoes for us to fill. Expanding our constitution by adding the “Assam Convention White Papers” to the Bylaws is their landmark achievement. Implementing and testing these guidelines will be one of our major jobs.

The organization needs to adjust itself with changing times. In this electronic age, businesses are done differently than 10/20 years ago. With the help of our IT team (Geeti & Prantor) we will find ways to conduct our business compatible to this modern world. Our expenses are also different because of the way we do business today. So we need to look at our revenue generation and benefits to our members. We will seriously investigate and look into these issues and if necessary propose and present changes at our next GBM.

Bringing together and exchanging information among the Assamese communities in North America is our major focus. We have already begun identifying active Assamese communities in North America in addition to the existing Regional setup. We have also begun recruiting representatives from the communities and making them part of the discussions and decisions in best serving the communities as well as achieving our organizational goals in promoting our Assamese culture, teaching those to our children, and fostering the enduring bonds among them.

In 2009, you formed a Governing Board with five distinguished and experienced members of our organization. Our goal would be to tap into their knowledge and experiences by making them also part of the discussions and decisions. Finally, we need your help to help you. We are open to suggestions and ideas of best serving you. Our contact information is in the Assam Directory. Please call us or send us emails and let us know how we can serve you better.

Thanks to all of you who showed up at the 34th Assam Convention Detroit and made it a grand success. Please keep teaching the children our culture, and encourage/inspire them to participate in your local events to promote and display our culture and of course bring them to the next (35th) Assam Convention in the New Jersey area.

Best wishes and warm regards,

Dr. Deva Borah,
President, AANA