PCC Los Angeles celebrate Vaisakhi 2013

 Los Angeles, April 01,2013
Snover Uppal/ Gary Singh/ Ramesh

The Organizing Committee of Punjabi Community Center, Inc. (PCC) welcomes the Vaisakhi 2013 celebrations with a house full of energy from the audience, volunteers, participants and sponsors.

With well over 200 participants of all ages, the determined spirit of Vaisakhi celebration was very much in evidence at the 8th annual PCC Vaisakhi event. The actual performances commenced at about 2:00 pm, with more then 600 audience filling the floor of the hall, and were entertained by non stop entertainment of Bhangra, Gidda, Comedy Skits, Hindi Dance’s, Punjabi Songs and Cultural Songs for the next four hours by talented children and adults with colorful costumes and roller coaster ride of fun and entertainment. Teams from PCC like Moorniyan da Swag, Mast Punjabi, Youth Bhangra Explosion, No Problem,  and invited teams Bhangra Regiment, Valley Sikh Temple and Walnut Gurdwara, a special guest who performed a classic musical with a violin and our very own local Punjabi folk singer, Gagandeep Singh Sidhu, showed off their talents and expressions. It was evident from their expressions how excited all the children were with this event and the amount of effort put in to make this show a success.

The PCC Volunteer Committee comprising of Iqbal Grewal, Dalwinder Singh, Arvinder Singh,  Baljeet Grewal, Sharmila Sidhu, Sonia Singh, Sarbjit Kaur, Alka Trehan , Rita Patel , Snover Uppal, Harpreet Kaur, Gurmeet Singh, Minoo Dhani, and Shallu Goel,  did a superb job in organizing the event and keeping the crowd mesmerized with the Vaisakhi 2013 event.

Grand Sponsor, Balbir Singh of Tandoor Cuisine of India, provided the delicious dinner after the show. Sponsorships from Dr. Prithvi Dhani of Smilist Dental, Navneet Chugh of the Chugh Firm, Dr. Mann of San Dimas Animal Hospital, Mr. Dalip Singh Sethi of Singh Auto Group, Seema Bhutani of Mohs-tek, Sarbjit Kaur, Iqbal Singh of Independent Dairy Drivers,The Okra King, Makhan Singh, Raj Atwal, Avtaar Singh Chahal, Dr. Arinder Chadha, Anaheim Hills Auto Body, Fazoli’s Italian Restaurant, Burlington Building Materials, India Journal, Santokh Singh Bhinder and Balraaj Singh have made PCC events like this possible for the community. The audience, participants, coaches, parents, and volunteers of the organization who worked so hard to make this event possible did an excellent job, as always, in keeping with the traditions of Vaisakhi and celebrating it with a big bang.

PCC is a family oriented organization whose main charter is to promote Punjabi Culture and Art to all in the community. It involves kids of all ages and encourages participation at all levels to promote a healthy development in the Punjabi culture. This is also a way for all in the community to come together, get to know each other and develop relationships as part of the overall community development.

Various items presented by the young artists were the result of hard work and weekly practices spread over four months. This is how the culture and heritage is passed on to the younger generation. The sustained hard work by the coaches, mentors and team moms will not be easily forgotten when these young people grew up. Some of them may cherish the memories of their friendships they have made with their fellow learners for a long time and may even develop into long lasting camaraderie.

Chief Guest, Inder Singh, Chairman of Global Organization of People of Indian Origin (GOPIO) and recognized Community Members Nirinjan Singh Khalsa, Dr. Prithvi Dhani and Dr. Arinder Chadha were there to grace the event, and were recognized as some of the key contributors to the community.

Inder Singh said:

• We eagerly sought immigration to this country. We adopted many things from our new homeland to be part of our life style. However, the culture we grew up with, still gives us a sense of pride. We speak our language, love our music, prefer to eat food we grew up eating, and wear Indian clothes in our parties, and other social occasions.  We continue to enjoy songs, shabads or bhajans, movies and TV serials in our language.
• Our children born and being raised in the US are not going to learn our language, religion, culture or heritage in schools. We parents are the living link between India and the United States for our children. We individually may not be fully aware of the vast richness and glorious heritage of our ancestors. However, collectively we have enough information to share and enrich the lives of our children. But, major responsibility lies with parents and our social institutions, cultural clubs, temples, etc. If we chose to immigrate to USA, we should not deprive our children to know and learn our culture.
• The efforts of Punjabi Cultural Center and urged parents to enrich the lives of their children by teaching another culture, ours. We should connect our children with our culture, heritage, and language. Knowing where they came from, may develop their individuality and identity, which can help them defend against prejudice and racism.
• Inder Singh also reminded the audience that this is the centenary of Gadar Movement, a movement started in California in 1913 to liberate India from the British slavery. Gadar Movement is an integral part of our heritage in America. We should pay befitting tribute to our patriots and Gadar heroes who made tremendous sacrifices for us to live in a country free from colonial rule.

Punjabi Community Center, Inc (PCC) was established in 2005 to promote Punjabi culture through education, community involvement, and sponsorship of performing arts. It involves people of all age groups to actively get involved in promoting the culture in all forms. It is an organization that encourages full family involvement to ensure a good support system in the whole community for the young and old. It also strives to provide a platform for new opportunities and partnerships that will challenge the Punjabi community to continue the traditions of education, leadership, advocacy, heart-filled selfless service and responsibility that will inspire the community and other organizations.

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