Srijanshil (Dalit) Diaspora Celebrates Dashain in UK

Aldershot (UK), October 30- Aldershot, a small town in the south-west of London in England– also known as the Military Town– embraces quite a big number of Nepalese immigrants so as to be often called a little Nepal. On 27th of October, the town hosted a Dasain Party that was organised in the British Army’s Welfare Centre hall by Srijanshil Nepali Samaj (SNS- Creative Nepalese Society). SNS is a local community organization founded here by Nepalese Srijanshil (Dalit) Diaspora with a vision of creating a civilised society through reformative and innovative work. The organization is currently led by Mr. Sher Sunar as its president.

From the late afternoon, the excitement was gearing up as the crowd filled the venue, changing lane of music from Nepalese Jhyaure to all the Hindi, indi, pop, remix, rock and hip- hop chilled and thrilled everyone with the pleasure of the moment and awesome feelings of celebration. Many of us were even carried away to the vista of our memories of back home which was perhaps overrun by the entirely family environment prevalent there. The whole atmosphere was filled with love, gratitude, respect and a feeling of belonging, and the people were longing for connections to make with every other soul present in the hall; it was the magical and magnetic moment that everybody was clustering into in a greater spirit.

After a session of indulgence in drinks, snacks and tidbits, a formal programme took its course making everyone sit gently and comfortably round the hall facing the dais in the centre side of the hall. Mr. Bikash Ranapaili, general secretary of SNS as the Master of Ceremony for the formal session drew everyone’s attention, as he requested Mr Sher Sunar, the president of the SNS to take his seat as the chairperson of the session first. The emcee accelerated the session with an introduction of Dr. Drona Rasali, a founder & moderator of nepaldalitinfo website and an eminent intellectual personality from the community visiting UK from Canada, and inviting him to take the seat on the dais as the chief guest of the night’s event. Eventually, the dais was filled up by other dignified personalities including Mr Shyamlal Sunar, Mrs Rupa Sunar, and Cpt.Gopal Bishwakarma.

The program began with recognition of the efforts of long-term members of the organisation and the community for their relentless efforts and dedication for making things happened for the organisation. The senior guest Mr Shyamlal Sunar and the chief guest Dr. Drona Rasali were felicitated by the SNS President Sher Sunar garlanding them with Khata (Dosalla, a silk shawl). This was followed by Mr. Shyamlal Sunar and Mr. Sher Sunar taking turns in recognising SNS members and other distinguished guests garlanding them with Khata. The best wishes speeches were made by all the personalities on the dais following an opening welcome speech made by Mr. Dhan Bahadur Sarki, a vice president of the SNS. The speakers shared their best wishes to every Nepalese in and outside of UK.

Dr. Rasali as the chief guest of the night took an exception to highlight some of the issues related to Dalit terminology and shed some lights on the historical background of Dalits. He emphasized and inspired the youths to take part in community issues and to keep themselves well informed of the issues of Nepalese Dalits by way of visiting nepaldalitinfo website to know what’s happening to them around the globe. He categorically emphasized that Dalits need to be united to make a single voice based on common minimum consensus to address the manifold issues they have.

The other guest visitor Mrs Rupa Sunar shared her experience as a social worker in the field of children’s welfare besides expressing her best wishes to the community’s endeavor.

Dr. Rasali as the chief guest also congratulated and felicitated Dr. Sony BK with a bouquet of flowers and a Khata for her graduation with a MBBS degree to become one of a very few medical doctors from the community.

Dr. Sony BK felicitated by Srijanshil Nepalese Society, UK

Among the SNS members expressing their views on the occasion, Sam Nepal urged everyone in the community to dedicate a small bit of time to do something for the community.

Finally, Mr Sher Sunar from the chair of the programme concluded the formal session thanking everyone for their energetic participation and contributions for making the gathering a grand celebration. He also highlighted some information about the organisation that has currently 322 persons and 63 households as the members of the organization. He also presented the financial status of the organization. Closing the formal session, he opened an informal floor for music, food and dance.

The party continued till late night, it was real fun and celebration, above all the charm of the moment was signalling the potential that we are capable of gathering through our organic unity of diverse mind and caste-barriers within ourselves too, by uniting and igniting together to our highest aspiration for achieving the freedom from the blight of casteism as a whole.

Srajanshil Nepalese Soceity, UK Dashain Celebration 2007- Pictures speak for thousand words.

Mr Bikash Ranapaili, General Secretary of SNS can be contacted for further details about SNS and the Dashain celebration event organised on 27th October 2007 at British Army Camp, Aldershot, UK in the following at his e-mail address- bikashranapaili@googlemail.com.

Report by:
Sam Nepal, UK