(By Noreen Wood, Montreal, Canada)
We came from cities all across North America to celebrate the 10th anniversary of CTR on October 18th and 19th in Princeton, New Jersey and what a weekend it was! Blair and Ellen Williams, founders of CTR, hosted a dinner/dance on October 18th with a writer’s luncheon the following day to launch the new book The Way We Are. It was followed by a talk by Blair Williams on the work that CTR has done in the past ten years of providing pensions to seniors and education to children in India.
An attractive commemorative brochure was distributed, which traced the 10 years history of CTR and included articles from all its international branches and some of the administrators in India. In 2007, CTR sent Rs 20,00,000 to projects in India, which funded pensions for more than 290 seniors, and education for over 180 children in Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore and Hyderbad.
The conversation at the dinner/dance on Saturday night flowed as smoothly as the wine and the general mood in the hall was higher than the hotness rating of the authentic Indian food that was served up by the Crown of India restaurant which was the venue for all of the events. Jeff Ewing (Dr J) from Toronto provided the music, while several door prizes were there to be won.
The 65 people who attended enjoyed the conviviality that only an AI gathering could provide and many of their American spouses fitted right in with the rest of us.
Congressman Rush Holt addressed the gathering of more than 60 people on Sunday morning followed by local Assemblyman Upendra Chivukula who spoke on ethnicity and Pricilla Parmeshwaren who spoke on Anglo Indians. Eleven authors were present for the official launching of the book published by Blair Williams of CTR Inc. They were Lionel Lumb and Deborah Van Veldhuizen (Ottawa, also editors of the book), Moira Breen (Chicago), Joy Chase and John Walke (California), Chris Francis (Minneapolis), Nancy Lilly (Dallas), Joyce Mitchell (Seattle), Daniel Riggle (Washington D.C), Blair Williams (New Jersey) and Noreen Wood (Montreal).
The events gained publicity in the local media which high lighted the mission of CTR, its founder Blair Williams and the books on Anglo-Indian culture that have been published under the CTR banner, including the latest book The Way We Are.
Please visit CTR’s website at http://www.blairrw.org/ctr/index.php