Staff Reporter –
A conference of bloggers, a poetry session, music and dance performed by a number of ethnic communities were all a part of the year-end celebrations organised by the Auckland and Waikato Chapters of the Global Organisation of People of Indian Origin (GOPIO).
The event, initiated by GOPIO Waikato Founder-President Suman Kapoor, was held at the Kelston Community Centre in Auckland on Christmas Day.
Bihar Legislative Assembly Speaker Vijay Kumar Chaudhary, National List MPs Kanwaljit Singh Bakshi, Dr Parmjeet Parmar, Fiji Education Ministry Senior Education Officer Ramesh Chand were among the guests of honour.
The participants
Participants in the programme included Ratna Srivastava, Ravindra Prabhat, Dr Archana Srivastava (Barabanki), Dr Urmila Shukla (Raipur), Dr Ramakant Kushwaha (Devariya), Dr Vijay Pratap Srivastava (Gorakhpur), Dr Nirmala Verma (Lucknow) and Kusum Verma (Lucknow).
Official opening of Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan New Zealand, launch of a book (‘Thathi’) by Mr Choudhary, a Mixed Art Exhibition by Kusum Verma and a Korean Drumbeats item by the Korean Charitable Trust (Positive Aging) were among the highlights of the programme.
Speaking about international bloggers, Ms Kapoor said, “While the print media such as newspapers, magazines and books enable expression of authors’ feelings, blogging has become an international platform for people throughout the world to instantly share their opinions and feelings.”
She also drew similarities between Maori and Hindi languages.
-With reporting by Dr Madhavi Srivastava
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Photo Caption:
Bihar Legislative Assembly Speaker Dr Vijay Kumar Chaudhary (Centre) with other guests and participants at the GOPIO event on December 25, 2016.
