G.A.M.A Times
GREATER AUSTIN MALAYALEE ASSOCIATION
Volume 5 Issue 3 / April 15^th 2010	Vishu-Easter Edition
		This Edition GAMA Picnic Editor’s Desk GAMA Updates Soccer WorldCup Predictions Your Health Vishu The Kitchen My Foray into GAMA Photo of the Month Oru Vishu koodi ! Naattile Vaarthakal Cine Trivia Community News	01 02 02 03 04 05 05 06 07 07 08 08 09
GAMA wishes all Austin Malayalees a Happy Vishu and Easter

GAMA Picnic – MAY 8^th, 2010
	Mark your calendar for the next GAMA event of the year – Annual Picnic. The 2010 Picnic will be held at San Gabriel Park, Georgetown, TX on May 8^th 2010.
		GAMA Annual Picnic will be a fun filled day with your friends and neighbors from the community. There will be plenty of action for both adults and kids alike, including fun competitions, Volleyball and the grand tradition of “vadamvali” (tug-of-war) etc. The chefs within you can compete with the other chefs in the “Sweet Delight” competition; Start training now to be that	musical chair wizard or the bread-biting game champion; Start balancing those lemons on the spoon for the lemon spoon race; Team up with your partner for the wheel barrow championship. If you prefer some quiet time, bring your fishing pole to make that great catch from San Gabriel river. We will pamper you with food, drinks and then, with more food and drinks.
The day will end with a highly spirited Soccer match between the teams of Austin Soccer Group (The Strikers). Cheer for your favorite team!
	Stay tuned for more details on Picnic soon… Meanwhile to find out more about San Gabriel Park visit the park website at http://parks.georgetown.org/san-gabriel-park/

Editor’s Desk
	APRIL Vishu reminds us of ‘Kani Konna’ blooming along the luscious paddy fields, ‘Vishu Kani’ prepared very carefully to be seen at the crack of the dawn and children getting excited to burst crackers and get their ‘kaineettam’. When New Year will be celebrated in other parts of India as Baisakhi, Bihu & Bisu, Keralites will celebrate their new year and the harvest festival by celebrating Vishu on April 15^th.
	April also signifies the celebration of Easter. According to Christian scripture, Jesus was resurrected from the dead on the third day after his crucifixion. Some Christians celebrate this resurrection on Easter Day or Easter Sunday, two days after Good Friday and three days after Maundy Thursday. After observing the 50 days lent with great enthusiasm, Easter will be celebrated on April 4th with delicious feast and family gatherings. This edition of our newsletter is dedicated to these two festivals of Kerala.
Significance of April for Malayalees goes further. The “festival of festivals” – “Thrissur Pooram” is on April 24^th and the very famous Malayattoor Thirunaal falls on April 11^th.
April is also when Ambedkar day falls in. DR. BR Ambedkar was the chief architect of the Indian Constitution. Ambedkar spent his whole life fighting against social discrimination, caste system and devoted his life for the upliftment of 'Dalits'. He has been honoured with the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian award. April 14th is celebrated as Ambedkar Day throughout India. We sincerely hope that you will enjoy our Vishu- Easter special edition. Happy Vishu & Happy Easter to all ! Thanks GAMA Editorial board

GAMA Updates
2009 Financial Statement
	The GAMA Financial statement for the year 2009 is available online for everyone to review. Please visit the website http://www.gama-austin.com/Newsletter/acc2009.html for more details.

SAREGAMA 2010

The 2010 SareGAMA event was held at Klett Performing Arts Center in Georgetown, TX on April 10^th. Artists from the community and outside performed 35 plus events to make SareGAMA ’10 one of the most spectacular we ever had. GAMA extends its sincere thanks and gratitude to all the artists and volunteers for making this event a memorable one. The photos from this event are available online now and can be accessed at www.gama-austin.com.

Salvation Army Volunteering
	If you are interested in the above volunteering opportunity, do contact GAMA Webmaster at webmaster@gama-austin.com or Roshan Chacko at roshanc@gmail.com. Next Date: Saturday, April 17th, 2010. Time; 10:45 AM to 12:45 PM Venue: Salvation Army Center, 501 East 8th Street, Austin, TX 78701

GAMA – World Cup ’10 Predictions
	Starting June 11^th of this year, 32 countries will go head-to-head in South Africa in the greatest battle of all…The “Futbol” World Cup 2010. Take part in this soccer extravaganza through GAMA World Cup ’10 predictions competition. The competition is simple. Predict the winning teams from the group stage through the finals. Each correct prediction earn points. At the end of the competition, the top two point earners will win exciting prizes like Gift cards, soccer balls etc. For more details visit www.gama-austin.com. The last date for receiving your entries will be June 10^th 2010. Send your entries (predictions) to gama.worldcup@gmail.com.
	Pick your top two teams from each group. Each correct prediction get 1 point each		Groups / Teams			Your Predictions (2 teams from each Group)
		Group A	France Mexico		Uruguay South Africa	<Top 2 teams>
		Group B	Argentina Greece		Nigeria Korea Republic	<Top 2 teams>
		Group C	England USA		Algeria Slovenia	<Top 2 teams>
		Group D	Germany Serbia		Australia Ghana	<Top 2 teams>
		Group E	Netherlands Cameroon		Denmark Japan	<Top 2 teams>
		Group F	Italy Paraguay		Slovakia New Zealand	<Top 2 teams>
		Group G	Brazil Portugal		Côte d'Ivoire Korea DPR	<Top 2 teams>
		Group H	Spain Chile		Switzerland Honduras	<Top 2 teams>
	Pick your 8 teams for the Quarter-finals. Each correct prediction get 2 points each			Your Predictions ->		1) 2)	3) 4)		5) 6)	7) 8)
	Pick your 4 teams for the Semi-Finals. Each correct prediction get 3 points each			Your Predictions ->		1) 2)			3) 4)
	Pick your 2 teams for the Finals. Each correct prediction get 4 points each			Your Predictions ->		1)			2)
	Pick your 2010 World Cup Champion. The correct prediction get 5 points			Your Prediction ->		Champions
	Rules: 1) Only 1 entry per person (your last entry will be considered and over ride the previous ones) 2) If more than 1 participant get the same points at the end, weightage will be given to Champions prediction, then Finals, then Semi-finals and so on; If still a tie exists between entries, the winners will be picked from a draw 3) Last date for accepting entries will be June 10^th. 4) Top 2 winners will be given prizes during 2010 GAMA Onam celebrations Send in your entries to gama.worldcup@gmail.com. The format for the entry can be similar to the following example: Group A: France & S.Africa, Group B: Argentina & Greece etc etc… QF: France, Argentina, England, Germany etc etc… SF: Germany, Brazil…etc F: England vs Brazil, Winner – Brazil

Get Creative!
Articles from Community Members
	Your Health
			"Medical Time-Out" A new way to look at health concepts with a heavy dose of truth and a shot of humor! by: Suja Pillai
	We are 90 days in at the time I write this.... that's 90 days into the New Year resolutions that you made very eagerly under the influence of New Year spirits! Some of you may have kept your promise to yourself and succeeded, but many of you have already taken the path "more" traveled! For the vast majority of the population, those resolutions had something to do with getting healthier & losing weight. I am sure you have heard the benefits of exercise many a time before, but let me reiterate for those who may be from an exercise devoid world, such as James Cameron's Pandora.... Exercise can:
		…help manage your weight - that's 99% of us... ...improve your mood - yes, it's the natural anti-depressant! ...manage/prevent chronic disease (diabetes, heart disease etc..) ...promote better sleep - remember what it feels like to sleep like a baby!! ...actually be "fun"!! - YES IT CAN!!
	"Yeah Yeah...."I already know all this" you are saying to yourself right about now...... well, knowing is really half the battle!! For those of you that are looking for a fun easy way to get into the groove of exercise I have a solution for you! And for the rest of you who are die-hard fitness freaks, well..... This will spice up your workout as well!! As with any fitness program, always consult your family physician before beginning something new. "The Deck of Cards Workout "
	All you need is a full deck of 52 cards, and some floor space for you to do these easy exercises! In this workout, each suit in a deck represents a different exercise, for example:
	Clubs = Squats			Diamonds = Push-ups	Hearts = Jumping Jacks	Spades = Crunches / Sit-ups
	This is just an example, and you may have exercises that you would prefer instead of these. Feel free to mix it up, but try and incorporate upper body and lower body moves, to get a full body workout! Now, the number on the card represents how many repetitions (reps) of each exercise you will perform, for example: 1-10 = face value, e.g. Turning over a 7 of clubs mean you do 7 reps of the squat.
	Jacks = 11 reps			Queens = 12 reps	Kings = 13 reps	Aces = 14 reps
	You can choose to use the Joker as your wild card, and pick your own number of reps or use the Joker as your lucky card for break time!!! You are ready to start now so remember to stretch before and after your workout. Just shuffle your deck, place it face down near you, and turn over your first card. If it is the King of hearts, you will do 13 jumping jacks then turn over the next card, if that is the 10 of spades , you will do 10 crunches....Etc..Etc... Keep going until you complete the entire deck!! Initially you may need to take a break between each card, but you should have a goal of completing the deck of cards one after another as you continue doing this workout. There are endless possibilities with the variations you can bring to it!! The kids will find it super fun, and you can make this a family activity!! It can be done almost anywhere, anytime, requires no special equipment, except for a motivated mind! Try it out today, and see if you can bring your New Year's resolution back to life......before next New Year's Eve!!!

Vishu

by Manasi Menon

Vishu is celebrated throughout Kerala on the first day of the Malayalam month of ‘Medam’. The celebrations begin with ‘Vishu Kani’. It is the first auspicious sight that the people see on the Vishu day and it is usually between 0400-0600 am. The Kani is prepared the night before Vishu . It is arranged in an ‘Urali’ and comprises of rice, kasavu mundu ,fruits ,flowers ,kanikonna, mirror,gold & silver coins. The eldest member of the family gives ‘Vishukayineetam’ to the family members. The celebration is followed by a grand vegetarian feast. The day and night are of equal duration during the Vishu day. ‘ Vishubhalam’ or prediction for the next year is also done on Vishu.

The Kitchen
Easter Egg Puffs by Tinku Sajan Friends, go hunt those eggs this Easter (try some real ones, for a change) and put them to use in preparing some delicious Kerala style Egg Puffs!!! It takes approximately 1 hour to prepare a dozen.
Ingredients 1. Eggs – 4 2. Big Onion – 1 Jalapeno pepper – 2 Minced garlic – ½ teaspoon 3. Turmeric powder – ½ teaspoon Coriander powder – 1 ½ teaspoon Garam masala – ¼ teaspoon Salt – to taste 4. Oil – 1 table spoon 5. Vinegar – 3 drops 6. Frozen puff pastry sheets – 1 pack Preparation 1. Boil the eggs. Chop the hard boiled eggs into small pieces and set aside. 2. Remove puff pastry sheets from the freezer. Place it on a silver foil sheet or a cookie tray to thaw. Cut to make 12 individual sheets. 3. Heat oil in a frying pan. Sauté the items in 2 until golden brown. To this mixture, add the spices in 3 and stir for a few minutes. Stir in the chopped eggs for 5 minutes on medium heat.	Add 3 drops of vinegar to this mixture. Set this mixture aside to cool. 4. Place 1 teaspoon of the stir fried egg mixture in each individual pastry sheet and fold each sheet, making sure that the edges are sealed together. 5. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place the folded puffs on a cookie sheet placed on the middle rack and heat for 15-20 minutes. 6. Serve with ketchup/hot sauce and loads of love!!!
Tinku Sajan resides in Temple,TX with her husband, Sajan & her li’l ones, Leah and Sean. She’s a Pediatrician with Scott & White Healthcare as well as a budding Chef. For a variety of other delightful recipes, visit Tinku’s blog www.fridayblogs.com/tinkusajan.

My Foray into GAMA
by Gitanjali Mathur
There has been a sudden influx of Malayalees in my life recently and I have happily embraced the vibrancy of these newfound friends’ jokes, talents, movies, language and food. I myself am not pure Malayalee. My maternal grandmother is a Tamilian from Palakkad. I vaguely remember my one and only trip to Palakkad at a very young age. Seeing a small building full of snakes (sarpakavu), a distant cousin, wonderful food, and my great uncle’s way of charmingly poking fun is what I remember most. So now, many years later, via these friends and GAMA, I’ve come into the same kind of fun and sarcastic humor, amazing food and many other things that I’ve added to the list. My first introduction to GAMA was the Sa Re Gama function a year ago. I was most struck by two things: the talent and the organization. There was such an impressive range of ages performing so beautifully and artistically, and there was such diversity in the various performances as well. Though time commitment wise I was not able to participate, my friends had asked me to take part in the finale.		for Greater Austin Malayalee Association, people in GAMA are open to a variety of acts being performed and a variety of people joining the association. This makes complete sense, because if we look at the cultural expanse in Kerala, we have Christians, Hindus and Muslims living side by side. There are also a large number of Malayalees that travel and work abroad. They bring their own muti-cultural sensibilities to the lives that they touch. Another aspect that always gives way to wonderment for me is how the children who have and are growing up in the US participate in GAMA. I see the parents and the children participating at a very high level at the GAMA functions. I’m positive that many of those same children go to school and participate in non-Malayalee cultural activities with just as much fervor and success as they do at GAMA. So just like GAMA gives a link for the parents and children to be connected to their roots, the children’s school activities give the parents and children a bridge to be connected to the culture they live in now. These children will always straddle two cultures, and having parents that are culturally open-minded as well as culturally secure, will help those kids to manage this “dual citizenship”. Having been born in India, but mostly raised in the US, I myself can attest to the importance of having friends from both the Indian Associations and American friends in my choir classes, or track or ballet. I’m eternally grateful to my parents for giving me the opportunity and permission to connect with both the culture I live in, and the culture I come from. I am sure that the children in GAMA will have or already have the same sentiments for their culturally rich, educationally exceptional, and artistically curious parents. I’m excited to get to know more people and become more culturally enriched by GAMA. My fiancé and I are happy to have been asked to MC for the upcoming Sa Re Gama program and are looking forward to it! My personal thanks to all that GAMA and its members do to enrich my life and make my foray into GAMA so easy and compelling! *
	They barely knew me, and already trusted that I would be able to do justice to the
“Margam Kali” dance. Thus I came to form friendships with some very open-minded and sincere people. I eventually saw that though GAMA is the acronym

Photo of the Month

Downtown Austin – by Harish

Harish is an aspiring professional photographer. The above photograph was sold in a recent charity auction in Austin.

– by Prasanth

			Kerala gets its own IPL team Kerala is going to get its very own IPL team! Kochi along with Pune will join the league of 8 IPL cities in season 4,2011. Rendezvous sports world ltd – a five member consortium of real estate agents and builders from Delhi & Mumbai won the bid for the Kochi IPL team at the IPL auction. So soon all the Kerala Cricket lovers can start rooting for their very own team!
New Movies running in Kerala 1. In Ghost House Inn Starring: Mukesh, Jagadeesh, Siddique 2. Janakan Starring: Mohanlal 3. Pramani Starring: Mammootty 4. Thanthonni Starring: Prithviraj 5. Happy Husbands Starring: Jayaram, Jayasurya		Kochi Metro Rail project approved. Kerala government gave the approval to the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation for the development of the infrastructure, rail roads and over bridges for the Kochi Metro Rail project. The project awaits the approval from the centre. The project is estimated to cost about Rs.3,000 crore. The metro system is expected to carry close to 25000 persons per hour per direction. Under the proposed project a 26km rail stretch will be constructed from Tripunithura to Aluva.		Hopefully Kochiites will soon get a relief from their daily traffic woes.
Cine Trivia
Answers for Cine Trivia Feb 2010 edition: Quiz 1: A) Geethu Mohandas & Shalini B) Kaviyoor Ponnamma & Philomena C) Bharath Gopi & Satyan Winner: Shanty Abraham Quiz 2: Which Malayalam novel was translated into multiple foreign languages before it was adapted into a film that won critical acclaim and commercial success? Ans: Chemmeen Winner: Tona Mathew		1) Can you recognize which famous Malayalam movies are these dialogues from? 1) “ Poyi taaski viliyada” 2) “ Kochumuthalali….” 3) “ Manassil Kuttabodham Thonnikkazhinjaal Cheyyunnathellam Yaanthrikamaayirikkum.” 4) "Athe ethaayi Contessa.." 5) "kindi..kindi.." 6) “Korangaaa.... poricha koyeeday manam.... “
		2) a) Can you name the three famous ‘ Travancore Sisters’ who were renowned movie actresses in both Malayalam and Tamil movie industry. b) Can you also name their first cousin who is a famous Comedian/actress in the Malayalam movie industry. Email your entries to webmaster@gama-austin.com Winners will be announced in the next GAMA newsletter. So Hurry up !

Community News
	Births Juby and Siby John became proud parents of Josia on Feb 12th On March 20^th, Bindu and Manish Chacko and big brother Calvin welcomed baby Daniel.  On March 25th, Shirley and Shibu Thomas had a baby boy.  His name is Isaiah Mathew Thomas. Binoy and Simi Philip was blessed with a baby boy, Jacon Philip Binoy on March 25^th. Sharon Rebecca Thomas was born on March 27^th to Shaji and Neju Thomas
	Achievements Malavika Perinchery, daughter of Sudhir and Sandhya Perinchery won the regional spelling bee (all of central texas) and was invited to Houston PBS Spelling bee. It was broadcast live by Houston PBS on March 27th.
Do send your community news with photos (births, weddings, demises, graduations etc) to webmaster@gama-austin.com to be added within the subsequent month’s newsletter.

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