 The
setting was perfect on a Blue Moon night! The full moon mirrored its
image on the calm and placid waters of the Adyar river. This
picturesque view was enjoyed by all those gathered in the StrokeSide
hall of Madras Boat Club (founded in 1886) to celebrate the annual
day of the East West Center (Hawaii) alumni association in Chennai
on May 31, 2007.Frederick J. Kaplan, Consul, Public Affairs,
Consulate General of the United States of America in Chennai, was
the chief guest of the evening.
“United States and India are marching ahead in cooperation in
various fields especially in areas of higher education, energy and
regional cooperation and security,” Kaplan said delivering his
keynote address on the topic ‘Future of Indo-US Relations’.
“They are positive indicators of future growth
and development of relations between the two countries,” he said.
 The
US Consul emphasised the importance of people-to-people cooperation
and illustrated his point giving examples to say the two countries
were expected to have extraordinarily close relationship in future.
Later during the interaction, Dr H K L Rao, Dr
Kalam, and Fathima Muzaffer posed quires that Kaplan answered in a
very candid manner.
Earlier, Dr Easo John, a Fulbright scholar and
special invitee to the function, said in his introductory remarks
that bilateral relationship between countries are no more dictated
by the matrimonial ties as was the practice during the mediaeval
days between the heads of the states, but now more based on
people-to-people contact.
He was happy that the business community was
taking a lead in this direction but stressed that more interaction
should take place between scholars, academics and journalists.
“This would ultimately remove many of the cobwebs
that continue to stick in the minds of the people since the Cold War
era,” John said.
One of the EWC alumni proposed the idea of
formation of the Indo-US Scholars Association’ in Chennai and
suggested that the US Consulate should patronise such an
association.
“Given the fact that there are many alumni of
different US universities living in Chennai, such an umbrella
organisation under the patronage of the US Consulate in Chennai and
elsewhere would go a long way in building Indo-US partnership,” said
an EWC Jefferson fellow.
P M Belliappa, the president of the Chennai
Chapter of EWCA, welcomed the guests and spoke about the importance
of the EWC and the activities of the EWCA Chennai Chapter.
Two glittering mementos that the EWCA Chennai
Chapter received at the Hanoi conference for being the “outstanding
chapter” among the entire EWC chapters spread over the Asia-Pacific
region, were prominently displayed at the venue.
 iEWCA
Chennai Chapter treasurer Rajamani, who had gone to receive the
award at the EWC Annual Conference at Hanoi in 2006, explained his
Vietnam experience to the media and other alumnus on the sidelines
of the function.
P Subramaniyam, secretary of the EWCA Chennai
Chapter, proposed a vote of thanks and said he was pleased to see
such a large gathering that had turned out to celebrate the EWCA
annual day.
Mementos were presented to Kaplan and John on
behalf of the EWCA Chennai Chapter.
The talk and interaction were followed by
cocktail and dinner hosted by the president and the alumni of the
EWCA Chennai Chapter.
The East West Center, Hawaii, is an
internationally recognised education and research organisation
established by the US Congress in 1960 to strengthen understanding
and relations between the United States and countries of the
Asia-Pacific.
Through its programmes of cooperative study,
training, seminars and research, the centre works to promote a
stable, peaceful and prosperous Asia-Pacific community. In the
mandate of EWC to build a healthy society in the Asia-Pacific
region, the United States government is its leading and valued
partner.
Syed Ali Mujtaba
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