Topic: ISA DIwALi DhAmaKa!!!

Date: 11.15.2007

As a multicultural society, India celebrates a plethora of festivals belonging to diverse religions. Diwali is undoubtedly one of the most popular festivals in the country involving people of all faiths. This joyous celebration is symbolic of dispelling the darkness of misery and bringing the light of prosperity and happiness into human life.

The festival of Lights this year in Lubbock was specially celebrated by the ISA in the Ballroom on Sunday evening.With song and dance and delicious food the evening was more pleasant with surprises such as games and "fish pond".

The gathering was more like family, with festive mood brimming and light spirits. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed the event.

ISA would like the Diwali celebrations to become an annual event in the TTU calendar so that the campus community would get an opportunity to experience the rich traditions of India.

Once again wishing all the members a happy and prosperous new year ahead.

Pooja Krishnan

Activities Co-ordinator

ISA TEAM

Topic: ISA Nite!!!

Subject: Congrats to all the winners!!!

Date: 10.23.2007

After a successfully grand Independence Day function ISA came up with another memorable evening.. the ISA Nite!!
With a view to do something diffetrent our committee thought it would be great to have an informal celebration to lift the festive spirits coupled with the traditional Mr and Miss ISA Competition.

The grand event was fun and exciting with six boys competing for the Mr.ISA title and three girls for the Miss ISA crown. With surprise rounds like goodie bag round, and audience questions the evening was filled with laughter and great spirits.

Our team congratulates all the participants!!!
Manu Ganesh, Amit Panchal, Amit Pisat, Govind, Nikhil, Sharath Nair, Rekha M, Purvi, and Rishina. You guys made the evening sparkle with life!!!

The evenings' grand results were as follows

Mr. ISA 2007-2008 GOVIND HEGDE
Miss ISA 2007-2008 PURVI SHAH

Mr.Popular - SHARATH NAIR
Miss Popular - RISHINA

Best Dressed - REKHA. M

Special Congrats to all the winners!!!

The evening didn't end with just that, dancing for foot tapping, numbers thanks to the rocking DJ Rahul Jain, made the occasion all the more fun!

Thanks all the members for all the support and making the event a special one!!

Pooja Krishnan

Activities Co-ordinator

ISA TEAM

Topic: TREASURE HUNT

Subject: Recap

Date: 07.13.2007

When the commitee sat together to discuss our next event, we actually had a split vote on treasure hunt. But we finally decided to go for it, banking on the fun part associated with the hunt and the belief that you will enjoy it !!!!
Since this event is our first of its kind, we had to do a lot of brainstorming, planning and replanning to make this event a success.
Finally with the sun blazing and enthusiasm burning, the 7th of July Treasure Hunt kicked off with a quick quiz and later heated heels on the ground!
It probably was one of the most eventful happenings after the grand spring sports. With almost 17 teams taking part, it was a mad run for the treasure, 3 IPOD Shuffles for the winning team was a TREAT!!!
The Hunt being carefully divided into 3 routes and covering 15 destinations was approximated a time span of an hour and a half to 2 hours, but surprise surprise! we found teams reaching their 4th or 5th destination within minutes... Boy!! weren't they fast!!
Some ran ..some jogged... some spilt ...some stuck together ...sweat it... laughed at it ...thought about it..... and eventually loved it all!!
The winning team came dashing to the final destination hoping they were all done but it didn't end there! Another quiz to solve - which they did successfully! Not to forget all the other teams who followed them close - they did wonderful too!
We enjoyed organizing the event and were more than glad that our dear friends loved it too!! Cheers and thanks to all the members and volunteers - U GUYS WERE GREAT!
HATS OFF to the participants, all of whom made to the venue on time and made our job a lot easier!!! SUCCESS IS YOURS !!!!
Once again hearty congratulations to NEERAJ, GAUTAM and KARTHIK !!!!

Pooja Krishnan

Activities Co ordinator

ISA TEAM

Topic: TREASURE HUNT

Subject: Hearty Congratulations!!!

Date: 07.05.2007

CONGRATULATIONS NEERAJ KARTHIK AND GAUTAM!!!
The Hunt was finally over when Neeraj, Karthik and Gautam came dashing to the final destination! With IPODs flashing in their hands and a huge smile on their face they called it a grand day!!!!!!!!!!!

ISA TEAM wishes them a hearty congratulations!!!

We, the ISA TEAM are more than glad that all you guys enjoyed the event. It was your enthusiasm and spirit that made the event a success!!!
Thanking every member of the association without whom nothing is possible.

Cheers

Team ISA 07-08

Topic: Bharati - ISA News Letter

Subject: June Edition of Bharati Launched!!!

Date: 06.26.2007

GREETINGS!!!
Team ISA has released the June edition of "BHARATI". To view the e-zine, please click here.
Also, we request members to submit articles and sketches to our Editor, Kirthi Deshpande
Thank you.

Team ISA 07-08

Topic: Arbor Day 2007

Subject: Keep Tech Green

Date: 04.27.2007

It is said that when in 1923, the legislature authorized the establishment of Texas Technological College; all the residents of Lubbock came to welcome the inspection team. Overwhelmed by their warmth and enthusiasm, Lubbock was rightly chosen as the land to bear what is today known as Texas Tech University. Located in the middle of a desert, the largest city of the South Plains, Lubbock was once called ?a treeless, desolate waste of uninhabited solitude".

Here is an excerpt from the archive of Texas Tech University Southwest Collections/Special Collections Library: ?In 1938, the vast campus's lack of trees and shrubbery caused President Bradford Knapp proclaim that one day each spring would be dedicated to beautifying the campus. The first Arbor Day at Texas Tech University was March 2, 1938 where 20,000 trees and shrubs were planted around the campus by students, faculty, and university organizations. Classes were dismissed at noon on this particular day to enable people to participate in the plantings. A chuckwagon served as the refreshment stand, offering doughnuts and coffee?.

And, the tradition continued. The 70th Arbor Day was celebrated in its entire splendor yesterday, the 27th of April 2007. By 10:30 on this beautiful spring morning, there was a line half way around the Memorial Circle for free white T-shirts, which said ?Keep Tech Green?. Free food for all students- hotdogs, chips and lemonade was just perfect for the day. Gleaming in our new white shirts, we played Frisbee and what could be termed ?Kick-ball?.

The best part of the day was the awards ceremony. The India Students Association won awards for ?Overall Most Improved Organization? and ?Best Faculty Advisor? in the international category. Hearty congratulations to everyone for the achievement! This is the first time in recent history that we won the award for the Best Faculty Advisor. Congratulations to Dr. Padhu! Though it is a little disappointing that we didn?t win the award for the Best Organization, two awards are by themselves a big achievement. It would have been great to be bragging about winning the award 5 times in a row, but winning it the next time will be even better! The ?bestest? part was planting trees. ISA was allotted a stretch of land on the Memorial Circle across from the Administrative building. Shovels and sweat, dirt and digging blended into this unique recipe that produced smiles and satisfaction of bettering the world one tree at a time.

The spirit of Arbor Day and Lubbock is togetherness. Together we won the awards. Together we envision a great organization. Together we planted trees. Together we foster a faith. Together we corroborate ?Indianness?.

Kamalapuri, Purvja

Topic: Spring Sports 07

Subject: Results!!!

Date: 04.27.2007

Sports, spring and being sprightly were the buzz words lately? as the ISA members participated in the sports event braving deadlines, assignment dues and other academic endeavors. Enthusiasm and great spirit of sportsmanship was exhibited in almost every match that was conducted ranging from throwball to cricket. Here's the list of exultant winners n resilient runners. Last but not the least kudos to every one who participated and to everyone who stayed back and cheered or booed or just hung around..!!!!

Swetha Siddavatam

Topic: ISA Elections 2007-08

Subject: With Malice towards none!

Date: 03.06.2007

The Mukti panel was elected to power Saturday.
In a clean sweep, all the positions in the ISA executive body went to the Mukti members, headed by MBA student from Rawls college of business management, Mr. Ajay.
The election divided into three phases; presentation, voting and counting, stretched into the midnight hours. Late night celebrations broke out instantly when Mukti members were declared winners, while Sangam supporters silently petered out of the auditorium.
History was made on the election night as a record crowd of over 225 students and 40 members from the Indian community in Lubbock turned up for the polls. However, a few students had to return disappointed on not finding their names on the voters list.
While the Sangam team showed up wearing flowing Indian traditional attire, the Mukti wore sleek dark suits. The lone independent candidate for the president, Vinayak, came in cool casuals and provided the needed comic relief with a vague manifesto that was prone to much ridicule.
The Sankalp organizers were caught off guard as they ran out of 35 large pizzas ordered for the occasion. An extra order for 20 pizzas was frantically placed to snack the 250 milling crowd gathered at the auditorium.
The Sangam team headed by Ananth, put up a fierce fight till the end and gracefully accepted the mandate as the final vote was counted.
The presentation phase saw some fine exchanges and downright grilling of contestants from the crowd. The contestants, however, showed remarkable poise in handling the high-charged debate. Every time when contestants from the opposing teams were called upon the stage, they wished each other good luck and exchanged smiles before fielding questions from the teasing crowd. The election process went smoothly and remained totally incident free.
The highpoint of the election was the brush between Pooja and Srinivas, the Ms and Mr ISA title holders respectively, contesting for the post of Activities Coordinator. In the final count the talented Mr. Srinivas had to relent to the charming onslaughts from Pooja, who was the darling of the crowd.
The elections saw significant cross-voting. Voters choose contestants on the basis of their presentation. Pinky and Kalyan, were favorites despite representing the loosing team. This was apparent when students were selective in picking up contestants and did not cast votes in lot to any one panel.
The absentia votes, ballots collected three days prior to the actual election, went in favor of Sangam. In the 35 votes cast, almost over 32 went to the Sangam panel. However, the 200 voters who saw the competing teams make their pitch changed their mind in the final countdown.
In the end the ISA members were the true blue winners. They kept their cards close to heart and spun another surprise leading to a nail-biting finish.

Sankalp

Editorial Team