Washington D.C Jats History/Present

[anjuliedalal]

What I remember is when I was young Jats in New Jersey were populus. In the thousands. The Jat Association in New Jersey had a list of every participating Jat. All those who lived in D.C would always travel to New Jersey for the festivals, picnics and get togethers.

D.C Jats, especially in northern va are very small in population. we did have get togethers frequently. Then for many years no one took the leadership position needed to arrainge for parks or community halls, or High School aditouriums for our gatherings. In general NOVA Jats, Maryland Jats, and D.C jats did things seperatly. If we came together it would have been bigger, but we just don't. Also we need a leader who can arrainge for facilities at least four times a year for get togethers.

A list of Jats in the D.C area can be found in the JAT DIRECTORY. Such a directory is found in New Jersey. Also there is list/book of WHO IS WHO in the Jat community that is found in India. If we get our hands on those then we know who to invite. But lets just start something even if there are only five people involved.

[ramsarya]

Dear Anjulie:

If you get that list or directory, it will be pretty old. Col. Tavathia, presently the President of AJA (Association of Jats in America) North-East Chapter will have the latest directory. He is very active on Jatland and if you request him to provide you with the names and addresses of your tri-state area jats, I am sure he will be happy to do that. You might be able to get the old list from Dr. Har Swarup Singh Dalal, VA; Rajendra P. Singh of Woodbridge, VA or Ajey Bargoti. Some jats from here still come to the get-togethers in NJ area. Vinod met some of them in July of 05 when he attended the picnic in NJ.

It is a step in the right direction as to what you young people are trying to do. Hopefully, you guys can revive the jat get-togethers in that area. Wish you the best.

[raj2rif]

Dear Anjuile
I will forward you the list of addresses I have with me. I am still in the process of updating the addresses. It is a tedious job and takes time. So every one please bear with me for a while more. If you want the addresses, then please send your mailing address and the contact number as well so that it can be included in the directory.

I do have some addresses on DC area.

The best thing to do is to attend AJA picnic event on 01 July 2006 at NJ.
I will post the details on this site as well as www.ajata.org
I also send the personal invitaions to people through letters, and emails as well as call them on phone if I have the right phone number.

Please write to me at veerutav@optonline.net or veeru_tav@yahoo.com and do let me know how can I help the community in DC area.

[vinodks]

Anjulie,
It was heartening to see your enthu to bring together local community... Since you have been in this region for so long and know lot about local people and places, you would be best person to take lead, however I can help in arranging things up if we decide to have some event... I was always curious to know more people around but with less visibily of DC community I thought there are not many Jats... So first thing would be to get list which Tawathiaji has agreed to provide (Thanks Tawathiaji, plz provide the list as soon as its possible even if its not complete and addresses aren't updated. We can reach to more people by contacts of people which are on list.)... Then we would get in touch with people personally and put forward the idea of coming together for social gathering or some kindda outdoor trips, lets see...

-Vinod

[shokeen123]

Dear Anjulie:

We have lived in the area for a few years and have known about other Jat families in the area but not their location. I will be willing to help with some of the activities, let us meet and try to reconvene the group. Why don’t we plan for a picnic at the Tidal Basin during “Cherry Blossom” festival? Although the entire metro area converges upon national mall during the peak blossom, we could still pick a less crowded day? I heard Dough Hill (ABC 7 Meteorologist) predicting the peak early this year (March 25 -April 9) because of the unusually warm winter, here is the link for more info: http://www.nps.gov/cherry/indexB.htm

Although it will be a major undertaking to find a suitable place and parking perhaps people can carpool? I have known many area families gathering during the festival for annual family picnic.

Let me know what you all think, then we could proceed...