RE: Our concerns

[iccg...@gmail.com]

Dear Rakhi Di and Somnath Da,
Thank you for your email and for sharing your feedback regarding this year's Durga Puja celebrations. We greatly appreciate your long-standing membership and continued support for our community. We acknowledge your concerns and observations about various aspects of the event, including time management, program selection, artist performances, and food distribution.

Your input is valuable to us, and we take all member feedback seriously. Rest assured that your email has already been forwarded to all Executive Committee members for review and discussion, and they are copied on this email as well. We are carefully considering your suggestions for improvement, particularly regarding time management, program prioritization, and artist selection processes. We strive to make our events enjoyable for all members and will work towards addressing the issues you have raised.

Your comments about transparency in financial decisions and food distribution will also be considered as we plan future events. I would like to inform you that the current Executive Committee will be dissolving within the next couple of weeks, and a new EC will be formed. While we may not be able to implement immediate changes, we will ensure that your valuable input and any decisions resulting from our discussions are passed on to the incoming EC. This will allow the new committee to consider your feedback as they plan future events and make decisions for the club.

Although our term is coming to an end, we will make sure to document our discussions and recommendations for the new EC to review and potentially implement. Thank you again for your dedication to the ICC and for taking the time to share your thoughts with us.


Warm Regards!

Pratap Das
Communication Secretary
Indian Community Center of Garden State
https://iccgs.org/

-----Original Message-----
From: Som & Rakhi Mandal <som_...@yahoo.com>
Sent: Sunday, November 17, 2024 12:39 PM
To: iccg...@gmail.com; Rama Haldar <ramah...@yahoo.com>; Nilay Hait <nila...@gmail.com>
Subject: Our concerns



Hello Pratap,

We’re reaching out to the ICC-EC as long-time members of the club. Our sincere thanks to all the Executive Committee Members for their hard work and dedication to the club. This year’s Durga Pujo was enjoyable in parts. We particularly liked the drama and Mahalaya programs. But we’re very disappointed with some aspects of the Pujo, the main one being the cultural program. The way it ended on Sunday was distasteful and upsetting. It was a direct result of time mismanagement and lack of priorities.

We’ve been saying for years that time management needs to improve drastically. ICC is always running late with the programs. It’s unconscionable that featured artists are getting paid so much to perform, and some of them don’t even get stage time. This seems to be a yearly routine and nothing changes.

Another point of concern is why do we have so many boring and repetitive programs by local artists? Why does the same person need to perform in multiple shows? Can we not have 2-3 short and interesting performances, then get the featured artist on the stage? Why don’t we leave adequate time for the main attraction?

The performance of Saturday’s artist Madhushree was not up to the standards we expected from a “Bollywood artist”. Majority of ICC members shared the same feedback. We believe she was paid a big amount of money to perform here. No one had even heard her name, and that includes people who live in India. It didn’t draw the crowd that we hoped for. The club would have suffered a huge financial loss if not for a few benevolent members who stepped up with large donations. This is happening year after year. Is the artist selection done by just one EC member? Who authorizes how much money should be spent on these visiting artists? We feel there should be more transparency in how money is being allocated and spent. Highly paid artists (budget exceeding 15k) should be subject to written approval from the core ICC members.

We also wanted to mention our concern regarding food distribution during Pujo. We feel the club could be more generous about the amount served to people. When so much food is ordered, why can’t the club make sure everyone gets enough to eat?

We’ve been loyal members of ICC for over 25 years and have tried to support the club in any way we can. Our only expectation is that the Pujo and associated activities be enjoyable and conducted in an orderly way.

We’d appreciate if you could forward this email to all the EC members and we look forward to hearing back from the EC.

Thank you,
Rakhi and Somnath Mandal

[DIPANKAR BHATTACHARYA]

Thanks, Pratap for replying and looping all EC members of your email.

Dear Mr and Mrs. Mandal,
I haven't had the chance to introduce myself to you personally. For
the past year, I have been serving as the Social Secretary at ICC, and
I've had the pleasure of meeting many incredible members of the ICC
community. As the Social Secretary, I'm responsible for the kitchen
and food distribution at each event. Along with Avishek and our team,
we always strive to improve both the quality of the food and the
efficiency of the distribution, with the goal of making our members
happy. However, I believe we still have room for improvement when it
comes to food distribution. We definitely need to plan and work more
in that area. I apologize if anything went wrong without our
knowledge. As Pratap mentioned, I truly appreciate your feedback and
any concerns you have about areas that need improvement to serve the
ICC community better and smoothly.

Thank you

Best,
Dipankar Bhattacharya
Social Secretary

Indian Community Center of Garden State

> On Nov 25, 2024, at 10:30 PM, iccg...@gmail.com wrote:
>
> Dear Rakhi Di and Somnath Da,

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[dipan...@gmail.com]

Dear Mr and Mrs. Mandal,

Thank you both for your generous email and understanding the issues. I totally agree with your views and hope everyone’s support to the ICCGS community makes us moving forward together.
Happy Thanksgiving and enjoy the upcoming holidays.

Best wishes
Dipankar



> On Nov 27, 2024, at 9:33 AM, Rakhi Mandal <som_...@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> Dear Pratap, Dipankar and ICC-EC members,
>
> Thank you for your timely responses to our email. Your commitment to understanding our concerns and working towards making improvements is much appreciated. We have all contributed in building this small and close-knit community and our hope is that we will continue to have a thriving club that all can enjoy and be a part of.
>
> Best wishes for the upcoming holiday season!
> Rakhi and Somnath

>
>> On Nov 25, 2024, at 10:30 PM, iccg...@gmail.com wrote:
>>
>> Dear Rakhi Di and Somnath Da,