It seems in the earlier days drum sticks used to look like mallets rather than the thin long ones that we see drummers use these days.

​That, apparently is the inspiration behind calling chicken legs as chicken drumsticks. No surprise there, we do have a  penchant for colloquialism and using euphonious words like flip-flops and hard-hats.

Digressing a bit, if you have happened to browse through our website, you would have seen the ​​Durga Puja related pages have come online. As we progress through the remaining months and weeks, we will continue to add more features and functionalities including schedules, menus, registration forms and such.

As of now, the sponsorship pages are online and there are 3 categories of sponsorship available: advertise in the 2016 brochure, put up a vendor stall during the event or individual donations. Feel free to choose any or a combination of these options to sponsor and/or donate. Individual donors also have the option of monthly payments.

Please share this with others who might be interested in sponsoring or donating.

Another busy and activity-filled weekend is coming up. We will be camping at the Hueston Woods State Park on Saturday night followed by our annual picnic on Sunday. The camping spots are all taken at this time. Thanks to all the enthusiastic souls who have responded to the e-vite earlier. Those who are yet to respond to the e-vite, please do so at the earliest, so that adequate arrangements for the picnic can be made on time.

The weather forecast is partly cloudy for both days with some scattered thunderstorm on Saturday; high of 84 and low of 66. Those who are camping, please remember to carry ponchos with the rest of your camping gear, insect repellents, sun screens and such.

Event fees will be collected via cash/checks. Credit cards will not be accepted. 

The first ever Ohio Utsab was organized this past weekend in Columbus by COBCA. Those of us who went to perform and participate had a wonderful time meeting with like-minded people from all across the state. The event started off with a short speech from the President of COBCA highlighting the objective behind organizing this event - that of getting all the Bengalis across the great state of Ohio together, on a common cultural platform. We could not have agreed more.

True to that spirit of collaboration, the event started off with a folk dance program, jointly presented by the Bengalis living in Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati ! This spirit of collaboration reverberated throughout the rest of the programs when emcees of one city were anchoring the programs of another. Indeed, it was such a joyful sight and we hope this continues in every form of performing arts and at every possible forum between all the different Bengali associations in our state. Apart from making new connections, we can only get enriched through such cultural exchanges and collaborative efforts.

There are a couple of workshops & events in the months of August & September that  are being organized by a few theater groups in Columbus. These would provide us with not only an opportunity to participate but also an opportunity to perform, rehearse with other co-actors and learn from each other. We will share these details with the community as we get to know more. 

The invited artists - Srikanto-Jayati-Abhijeet-Swagata-Sougoto - engaged the audience with their music and got everybody feet-tapping more than once. The local artists, including our CCI team did a wonderful job of entertaining the audience with their repertoire of songs.

The event successfully concluded on Sunday evening at 7:00 pm. Through all these multiple programs over two days, if there is one thing that we took away - it is the absolute professionalism of keeping time and stage management. The first program started off on-time, with an audience of 80 odd people in an auditorium of 800 - as did the last program with an audience of 150 odd people. In between, there were ebbs and flows, as giggling groups made their way to the different vendor stalls and food corners and adda sessions and tea breaks, while the programs continued in their planned pace in the regal Jeanne B McCoy auditorium.

Friends, just a brief update that today is the last day for Ohio Utsab online registrations. If you have not done that yet, please do so before midnight today. Members can do it here and Non-members can do it here.

We will be taking off the online registration feature tonight and all registrations will need to be done at the venue on the day of the event. There will be a "Cincinnati" desk that you will need to go to for completing the registration formalities.

The Ohio Utsab program schedule has been published ! You can check that out on the Ohio Utsab website at www.ohioutsab2016.com.

The CCI programs are all on Saturday, 23rd July. The first one is at 11:15 am - the inaugural dance program jointly with Cleveland and Columbus; Duti Kotha - Ekti Sur at 2:10 pm and CholoboT JoRomaan at 3:40 pm. 

​There are also other programs being presented by different groups from Dayton, Columbus, Cleveland and it should be a treat for the 50+ CCI members who will be attending the event. 

Dance teams from Columbus were in Cincinnati this weekend to rehearse the dance program that is being presented jointly by the members of CCI and COBCA. We are excited with this level of collaboration not seen before and we hope this continues to become a tradition across all faculties of performing arts between these two culturally rich cities !

There are quite a few of us who have not yet registered and this is a call out to all of us to do so quickly. Registration badges are being made by the organizers and the sooner they can get this done the better. Online registrations will be taken out on July 21st after which only onsite registrations will be accepted on the days of the event. Cincinnati will have its own registration desk and if you do not register before 21st, then you will have to register at the Cincinnati desk and get your badges made at the venue. To avoid that bottleneck, we ask that you take 5 minutes out of your schedule and register ahead of time.

For those of us worried about kids activities during the event days, there will be special arrangements with licensed personnel to take care of our kids and keep them entertained while we immerse ourselves in all the cultural activities.

4 more days before the online registration closes. 5 more days before we start heading out to Columbus. 6 more days before Ohio Utsab 2016 starts.

We hope all of us are bracing up for some activity filled, fun weekends ahead ! 

Next weekend i.e. July 23/24 is the much awaited ​​Ohio Utsab at Columbus. Many of us will be performing at the event through a multitude of cultural programs and we do hope all CCI members and friends will attend the event and show their support for the performers. Apart from a Gaaner program and a Naatok, there will also be a collaborative dance program with participants from both COBCA and CCI, performing in unison. Then there are the performers from Kolkata who will be flying down from Banga Mela, vendors selling Indian goodies and good, old Bengali snacks and food to tickle our taste buds and of course, other performers and attendees from across many Ohio based Bengali associations ! So, if you have not registered yet, now is a good time to log onto www.cciorg.com/register or www.ohioutsab2016.com to complete your registrations. CCI Members can log in through Members Corner to avail discounted rates. Remember, registrations will be open up to 7/21. The organizers are also requesting literary contributions for the event brochure. If you are interested, please submit your contributions to CCI BOT asap - the deadline is 7/16.

The weekend after next i.e. July 30/31 is the annual CCI outdoor retreat and picnic. This is one event that all of our members, young and old, look forward to with great enthusiasm, each year. This time, we will also be camping overnight at the picnic site and that promises to be a great experience with bonfire and marsh-mellows and smores under a star-studded night sky! Unfortunately, the camping spots are all taken and we are not accepting any more campers at this time. However, we have our annual picnic on the next day and we hope everyone will come and join in large numbers like every year. The location itself has many activities to indulge in and should be a fun experience for young and old alike. Please reply to the evite that was sent earlier if you plan to attend the picnic so that the team can plan adequately. Please remember to carry check book/cash since we expect internet to be spotty at the site and we may not able to process credit cards.

Enjoy the last few weeks of the summer break and very soon we will shift gears to get into the Cincinnati Durga Utsav mode ! 

The early bird registration for Ohio Utsab ends today (July 7). From tomorrow the regular registration rates will apply - both for members as well as non-members.

If you want to avail of the early bird rates, please remember to register today.

Many members are trying to reset their password and access the Members Corner. That process takes a few hours and is not instantaneous. So, please plan accordingly if you are trying to register using the early bird rates, applicable only to the members and available through our Members Corner section.

Hope everyone is having a good long weekend so far ! There are a few deadlines coming up around the corner that we wanted to remind you of. Ohio Utsab registration rates are going up from July 8th. Thanks to those of you who have already registered from our website. Those of you who have not registered yet but are interested in attending this unique event, please take some time out during this long weekend and complete the process here, before the rates go up. Members can log into the Members Corner and take advantage of the discounted rates.

Our Outdoor Retreat plans are pretty much in place. The overnight camping spots are quickly filling up. We are looking for just one more family at this time, to join the group for the camping activity. So, if any of you are interested please let us know quickly to avoid disappointment later.

Have a happy and safe fourth !