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Introduction, History & Activities:
For official PANA website, please visit
www.panareunion.com.
Founded in 2003, the Petarian Association of North America or PANA is the
official representative body of Petarians living in the USA and Canada. It started out with the first gathering of Petarian families at Niagara Falls in the summer of 2003 upon the invitation of Adnan
Karim Qureshi 8326/L.
PANA stands for creating and promoting
brotherhood between Petarians living in North America and joining them under
one umbrella so that they can network, communicate, enjoy each other’s
brotherly love with respect for elders and care for youngsters, and provide
and receive assistance whenever needed. PANA also stands to support the Alma
Mater, Cadet College Petaro, according to our abilities. PANA also stands to
support and provide assistance to any Petarian in need within North America
or elsewhere in world according to its abilities and resources.
All Petarians living in North America can become members of PANA without
paying any fees or dues. Petarians on student or training visa can also
become members. PANATalk Yahoo group (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/panatalk/)
is the official online tool for connecting PANA members. PANA holds its
annual reunion on the last Saturday of the month of June each year.
Of the more than 450 Petarians
living in North America, so far
around 150 have become members of PANA. Seven annual reunions have
successfully been arranged so far. The first six were in the beautiful city of Niagara Falls, Ontario,
Canada while the seventh one was held in the vicinity of Washington DC in
Maryland. Regional reunions are being held in other cities. PANA has also been
helping other Petarians through various means and guidance in trying to help
them settle in Canada or the USA.
A new website
www.panareunion.com has been set up
for PANA activities. The site gives details of activities and photographs of recent get
togethers.
PANA is
headed by the "Chief Coordinator", who has been chosen through mutual
consent over the PANATalk group or at the annual reunions. The following Petarians have held the
position of Chief Coordinator over the years:
Other
Petarians have played a significant role in organizing the functions in
North America.
PANA Reunion 2010 - Mississauga, ON, Canada
by Ishrat Hasan, 7110/Latif
There could have been no better place for
an informal gathering of Petarians than the beautiful Erindale Park in
Mississauga. The park is a small valley in the middle of the city with
beautiful huge grassy playgrounds and the Credit River flowing through the
valley.
After a long search and many weekends of
driving through Mississauga and adjacent cities, the reunion organizing
team selected this location last year. A place like this has to be booked at
least six to eight months in advance.
On the day of the reunion, the organizing
team members were there by 9:00 AM to make arrangements,
decorations and layout. The tables were covered with Petaro flag colours
of red and two shades of blue. The banners, flags of Petaro, Pakistan and
Canada added colour to the place.
The guests started arriving on dot at
10:30. Aftab Ali Baloch(8511/Iqbal), Shaharyar Jami Ansari (7111/Iqbal) and
Abdul Rauf Chaudhry Bhai (6974/Liaquat) were amongst the first guests to
arrive. By around 11:30 most of the guests were there. They were served with
the warm welcome of Petarians and hot Tim Hortons coffee. Tim Hortons is the
symbolic brand name for coffee in Canada same as Starbucks in US or Pathan
ki Doodh Patti in Pakistan. As the Petarians and their families kept coming
in, the enthusiasm of Petarians kept going up. Meeting old friends after a
long time or giving face to a name on the talk group meant a lot for all.
One word kept coming up from everywhere and that was Bhaijan. This word
means everything in the Petarian spirit of respect for elders, love for
youngsters and brotherhood for all. We were fortunate that Sir
Iqbal Haider,
Physics teacher in Petaro from 1962 to 1968 joined us in the reunion. He is
now retired and lives in Cambridge, a small city about 50km from
Mississauga. Although he was in Petaro for only 6 years and left 42 years
ago, he still had Petaro so dear to his heart that he accepted the
invitation to be there.
Our original program was to have some
sports events in the morning pre-lunch session and stress out the bulging
bellies of Petarians. Cricket bat and soccer ball could not come out of the
covers due to heavy down pour and everyone stayed under the shed. As we can
say that "Barish nay sharam rakh lee" but it also provided extra time
to the Petarians to talk, network and recall the good old times. I will not
do justice to this report by not mentioning the ladies, who were equally
active and participating. After seeing each other in last 7 reunions, most
of them know each other very well and had a lot to catch up since they last
met. However, the rain was not able to restrict the children in the shed.
The beautiful grassy field was inviting enough for the children to go out
and play soccer, cricket or simply run in the rain and get soaking wet.
After zuhr prayers the lunch was served at
around 2:00 PM. It was already a little late and the stomach was crying for
food. A Petarian Syed Sajid Hashmi (69122/Qasim) is the Sales Director in a
popular Pizza chain and Hashmi Bhai has been sponsoring pizza for the
Petarians since we started these gathering. Warm and tasty pizza was served
to the children. The food was catered through a locally famous Pakistani
chef and was simply excellent. The pulao, quorma, chicken roast, veggie
curry and other side dishes were very delicious. No complaints were heard
from anyone; in fact quite a few appreciated the food, the taste, the
quantity and variety and above all the setting. Lunch was followed by tasty
baklava from Michigan, kheer and cake. The cake was to celebrate the 24th
wedding anniversary of Shoaib Alam (N-55/Iqbal) and his wife Shehla which
falls on 26th June.
We started the formal part of the occasion
after lunch with tilawat of Surah Ma’un and translation by Abbas, son of
Rauf Chaudhry Bhai (6974/Liaquat). In the words of welcome, on behalf of the
organizing committee I thanked all the Petarians who attended. Special
thanks to those who came from places like Tennessee, Dallas, Atlanta,
Wisconsin, Maryland, To extend the message to all Petarians, the surah
reminds us to remember the day of judgment, treat the orphans with love,
urge to feed the poor, remember the prayers and not to withhold the
necessities of life. In order to act on the message of the holy book we need
an organized effort and a platform. Petarian forums provide us that platform
and our collective efforts to help the victim of natural calamities or to
help individual Petarians or otherwise is following the teachings of Quran.
May Allah bless those who step forward to actively support those in need.
All Petarians introduced themselves and
their families. It was a relaxed and fun-filled activity. Interesting
remarks were heard from many as the introductions went on and everyone
enjoyed the comments. We had a large number of prizes that were given
out through lucky draw. There were 6 boxed prizes for Petarians, 8 bags of
10 lbs rice sponsored by Falak rice, 4 special prizes for the Petarian
wives, pizza coupons and gift bags for all the children. Thanks to the
Petarian Association in Karachi, who arranged and sent polo shirts for
the participants with Petaro logo. Certificates of recognition and thanks
were given out to Ilyas Dhami Bhai 217/Latif for being the senior most
Petarian in the gathering, Kashif Khan of 9998/Liaquat being the junior most
and Rifaquat Cheema Bhai (722/Liaquat) for attending all eight reunions so
far.
In the closing comments, Abrar Mani
(7181/Ayub) thanked the participants, read a letter of invitation from
Shahid Mian Bhai (666/Iqbal) who will be the host for the reunion in 2011 to
be held in Minnesota on Saturday Jun 25. Rifaquat Bhai (722/Liaquat) spoke
on behalf of Shahid Bhai endorsing the 2011 offer. Abrar thanked his team
for making the event successful. We ended the formal part of the day with a
group picture at the end. Some Petarians left at that point while others
stayed back to continue more gup shup.
It was a simple ceremony, no formalities
and equal participation from all. The smiles on the face of the Petarians,
the relaxed and ever chatting ladies and above all happy mood of children
was the take away from another memorable event of PANA. The efforts of the
organizing team was commendable. Special thanks to the following who spared
their time to attend several meetings on the weekends to plan the event,
Fahed (7942/Qasim) who travelled almost 100 kms to Mississauga many times to
attend these meeting and Abrar's wife who cooked delicious breakfast for the
committee meeting attendees.
- Abrar Mani (7181/Ayub) - PANA
Coordinator
- Ishrat Hasan (7110/Latif) - Event
Organizer
- Javed Khan (7405/Iqbal) and Nasir Awan
(7739/Ayub) - Food
- Fahed Riaz (7942/Qasim) and Khalid Qasim
Malik (7561/Jinnah) - Invitations
- Ikram Ghani (7236/Qasim), Sohail
Gul Mirjat
(8344/Liaquat) and Yaqoob Raja (8208/Liaquat) - Day planning, set up,
funds collection, registration, clean up etc.
In total 47 Petarians attended, with house
wise distribution of
- Liaquat - 16
- Iqbal - 10
- Ayub - 9
- Qasim - 6
- Latif - 3
- Jinnah - 3
Batch wise distribution was,
- 84 entry-7
- 71 entry-5
- 74 entry-4
- 83 entry-4
- 66 entry-3
- 72 entry-3
- 77 entry-3
- 61 entry-2
- 75 entry-2
- 79 entry-2
- 85 entry-2
- and sole representations.
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PANA Reunion 2009 - Gaithersburg, MD, USA

PANA 2009 - Meeting for a Purpose
by Shabieh H.
Zaidi, 7102/Liaquat
In Persian there is a saying: aamadam,
nashistam, khordam, barkhastam! (They came, they sat, they ate, they
dispersed). And so, under the garb of reunions, we continued meeting and
greeting for years; sometimes in small groups and at others times under a
banner of loosely tied organizations that mimicked an alumni organization.
Those of us who have chosen to make this side of Atlantic our home, each
year getting together has become a ritual akin to a pilgrimage. Those who
travel, undertake air and road journeys that take them across many states,
while the ones who play host plan the event for months and invest
substantial times, talent and treasure to make these reunions a reality.
After years of letting the Canadians play
host, this year Petarians from the Capital area and Northeast organized the
7th Annual PANA Reunion in Maryland on Saturday, June 27th, 2009. The day
included two separate events; one was the traditional Picnic at the Seneca
State Park and the second was a Dinner and Musical evening at the Damascus
Community Center.
The day started a day earlier with out of
state Petarians flying in on Friday. This meant a great deal of coordination
and hospitality by the host families. Early morning on Saturday, an advance
team arrived a the site to set up a sound system, display flags and banners,
lay out the table covers and prepare for the event. I arrived ahead of most
others but shortly after all the work had already been completed, however
making certain that tea was still hot and bagels were still in the
bags…Nadeem Sahibzada’s (7851/LF) son recited a selection from Sura-e Zaariaat which
was followed by yours truly welcoming everyone to their own event. We were
fortunate to have Petarians from many states, including overseas
participants. Some of the senior most Petarians included brothers
Hameed
Anwar Arain 12/L, Anwar Memon 48/LF and Capt. Bashir Vistro 50/A. Abdul Aziz Bhai
6922/LF represented PASA,
while the contingent from Canada was led by Ishrat Hasan 7110/LF.
The group was addressed by
Naeem Saroya
Bhai 504/L who emphasized the need to define our mission and purpose. He built
upon the ground prepared by me, for us to think global and act local and for
us to seek out a better articulated role for our organization. This was
followed by distribution of certificates among senior Petarians (given away
by Affan Syed 95142/LF, being the youngest Petarian present).
Bashir Vistro
Bhai 50/A took this
opportunity to tell us about the history of Petaro briefly and reminding
everyone of the contribution of Nizamani Saheb who was then the Director of
Education for Sindh in his role as the catalyst behind the formation of CCP.
Ishrat Hassan 7110/LF then accepted the Chief Coordinator-ship of PANA of
behalf of Lt.Cdr.(R) Abrar ul Hassan Mani (7181/Ayub), who could not be present. It was
announced that the 8th Union will be held in Canada next June.
After that we paused for a group photo
before being treated to a wonderful lunch. Later in the afternoon Falak Sher
7393/I
and Samir Shah 79140/Q organized games and activities for children which were a
great success.
The evening venue was wonderful but we
started fairly late since guests had to go home and change before showing up
in suits and evening dresses. Almost everyone donned the neck ties that were
brought back from Petaro by Ishrat Azizur Rehman (7144/L). Recitation of the
Sura-e Aala was performed by Ali Abdullah (son of Naeem Saroya Bhai 504/L) and
numerous awards were given out to recognize members of the organizing
committee for their efforts. This was followed by a presentation given by
Rifaquat Cheema Bhai 722/L who advanced some concrete recommendations for PANA to
consider as it moves ahead. Some of the ones I remember very clearly were to
keep it free of petty politics, make sure it remains a fun group, and build
it so as to become an extension of TPA. He wanted us to prevent PANA
becoming the flagship for every good cause under the sun. He suggested that
PANA create a small sub group to consider these recommendations and follow
up on the implementation.
This was followed by a video compilation
created by Affan Syed 95142/LF. It helped create a visual image for the many non
Petarians (like our families) for the place we love and brought tears to our
eyes as it carried photos of some friends who are no longer with us.
Shaharyar Jami Ansari (7111/IQ) attended the function in the uniform of Canadian Navy
where he now works. He took this opportunity of acknowledge his mother’s
contribution toward his success and stressed on the next generation to honor
parents for their role in our life. Hameed Anwar Bhai 12/L introduced two charitable
causes and invited everyone to participate in this good cause. During the
entire evening, we paused and recognized various individuals, including
members of the organizing committee. Rifaquat Cheema Bhai 722/L informed us that
Commodore Aslam Rana (7179/J) had sent his best wishes and apologized
that he could not come owing to visa formalities taking more time than
anticipated. However, he sent a plaque that was presented of the organizers
on his behalf. A tradition of Sindh was revived with the presentation of an
ajrak and topi to Bashir Vistro Bhai 50/A as well.
Besides presentation of awards to the
winners among Petarian children, we also got an opportunity to hear the
perspective of a Petarian spouse when Naeem Saroya Bhai’s 504/L
wife took moment to praise her husband.
A sumptuous dinner followed the program and
although we started a little wait, it was all worth the wait.
The evening ended with some great music and
songs by Rimi Basu but the place really rocked once
Mansoor Qureshi 89132/Q, Bhibs 7837/J,
Faraz 8798/L, Affan 95142/LF and many others joined her on the floor in dance and song…
But like all good things, the day came to
an end, with an announcement requesting folks to take whatever food they
could with them!
Photos of the event are already on the web,
with more expected from Khursheed Khan Bhai N-26/Q. And I end this rather long
monolog with a simple comment – It sure was a memorable day!
PS: The event could not not have been
possible without some major work by a whole lot of folks who were recognized
during the event...I have therefore left out that
part intentionally...
PANA 2009 - The Petarian Reunion Saturday:
By
Wasif Malik, 7402/L
Finally the big day
arrived, that was to be the exciting zenith of this vacation trip. The
program was to start at 11 am. Adil 7993/Ayub had promised breakfast for anyone
showing up earlier. I got to the Seneca state park around 8:30 am, while my
family was still fast asleep. As promised, Adil and more importantly the
breakfast were present with hot coffee. Slowly the great volunteers of the
managing committee started to show up. The natural setting was lovely with
the pavilion surrounded by huge trees all around and not permitting any of
the hot sunlight. I grabbed a cup of coffee and walked amongst the thick
forest for few minutes, while trying to muster my energy and senses. Some of
the sun rays were filtering down through the leaves and kept the place well
lit. The dew drops on the leaves shone like little crystals. We all went to
work. Banners were nailed to the walls. Tables were re-aligned. Podium was
set. The rental vendors started arriving and setting up their facilities.
There was a cotton candy machine, kids moon bounce and a fresh pop corn
machine for the kids. Many single Petarians were arriving to do the work.
Wasim Khan 84147/Latif from Dallas showed up soon. By the way, congratulations to
Wasim who flew to London to watch the T20 final live at the Lords.
The highlight of the
morning was to meet Syed Aziz bhai 6922/Latif for the first time. For years and years
we have been communicating on the forum, but this was the first live
meeting. Syed Bhai’s magic continued literally in the afternoon, as he
captured the undivided attention of all children by presenting a magic show.
It was a real pleasure to meet this gentleman. The Petarian youngsters
including Affan 95142/Latif, Faraz 8798/Liaquat, Kamal 88125/Ayub were having fun while working hard. Soon it
was 11 am and people started to show up. I had to get back to the hotel to
bring my family to the venue. When I got back, Shabieh Zaidi bhai
7102/Liaquat was
performing his favorite act. You guessed it right, he was hogging the
microphone but that is alright with me. As always it is a pleasure to listen
to him speak. I will spare all the details of the program as you have
already seen it in the write-up by Zaidi bhai. The senior most Petarian,
Hameed Anwar bhai 12/Liaquat took the mike and switched to Urdu to everyone’s delight.
When he joined Petaro in the first batch in 1957, his monthly fee was Rs.
150 and his father earned Rs. 450 and was unable to pay his fee while
supporting a family of 11. Nizamani Saheb realized the potential of
Hameed
Bhai and offered him scholarship after hearing about his financial
difficulties. Hameed Bhai’s speech was funny and witty with some serious
moments. He was from a remote village (Tando Bago) of Sindh who had never
dressed Teddy (western pants/shirts) in his life, neither he possessed any
before he got to Petaro. He had to borrow his elder bother’s pants and used
the college tie to hold it in place. This highlighted Petaro’s significant
contribution to polish the hidden and raw talent of Sindh and produce leaders
in every echelon of life. People who had never dressed teddy or watched a
movie in a theater, were prepared to graduate the college and become world
leaders. The speeches and presentations were followed up by lunch with
dessert and hot chai. The atmosphere was totally festive. So many Petarians
were present meeting each other either the first time or after 10, 20, 30
years etc. But neither the time span nor the unfamiliarity mattered in
establishing the instantaneous Petarian connection. So many friends and
brothers were present that it was hard to find time to talk to everyone. The
sound of laughter, slogans, and warm emotions filled up the air of the
Seneca State park. Falak Sher bhai 7393/Iqbal gathered all the children and organized
games among them. The names of all winners and runners up were noted for a
prize distribution during the dinner banquet. Soon it was time to leave
because everyone had to get back for the dinner banquet around 6 pm.
It got quite hectic as
everyone had to rush back to their residence or hotel, freshen up, get
dressed and be back to the venue for the dinner banquet. This time we had to
drive to the city of Damascus (sounds quite exotic), Maryland. The stage was
set for another memorable evening. All of the Petarians were smartly dressed
with the Petarian ties which gave a formal color to the setting. Shaharyar
Jami bhai 7111/Iqbal was the surprise package of the evening when he showed up in his
Canadian Navy uniform. He is a serving lieutenant in the Canadian Navy after
having retired from the Pakistan Navy. He looked very sharp besides being
funny and witty as always. A true Officer and a Gentleman.
Cheema bhai 722/Liaquat
presented a slide show with his vision for the Petarian Alumni association.
I whole heartedly agree that it must be a fun organization, and then build
up once the fun starts.
For me the highlight
presentation was done by the youngest Petarian present, i.e., Affan Syed
95142/Latif. I
have become his fan now. In a short span of time, he had to develop a
presentation on Petaro. He had collected memorable pictures of teachers,
sites, occasions, landmarks and the martyrs of Petaro. The presentation was
professional with great music selection and editing. The starting sequence
with the pipe playing in the background, was mesmerizing and any Bollywood
producer would be proud to produce this presentation. If someone has not
seen it yet, please check it out at the Youtube. When I watched, I had a
lump in my throat by the time it was done. Many others felt the same too. Affan, I recommend to quit your job, go to Bollywood, and become a movie
director. There is much nicer material to work with, if you know what I
mean. Adil and Raheel can only fantasize about Katrina, but you might end up
some day as her director. Remember that when you become the director, please
hire me as your agent.
For both lunch and dinner
we had delicious food, dessert, cake and hot chai etc. The menus were
carefully selected. There was food for everyone’s taste, even
Bhibs 7837/Jinnah. Adil
had arranged for a small musical program with a singer/DJ. I have a feeling
that Adil did not select the singer because of her singing prowess. Still
she was not bad after receiving some moral support from fellow Petarians
like Bhibs 7837/Jinnah and Mansoor Qureshi
89132/Qasim. The best was yet to come. This was the first
time in a long time that we saw Petarians dishing out their dancing moves.
Everyone got to the floor as ordered by Naeem Saroya bhai
504/Liaquat. These people have
some serious moves be it disco style or bhangra. Most of us let our
guards down and let it all hang out on the floor. We made trains, we made
circles with someone performing in the center, and we pulled out all the
tricks in the books. This was a first in any of the reunions I have
witnessed in North America. I have a warning for everyone. I have access to
secret video taping of this event which will soon be posted to Youtube. If
you wish to be excluded, send me a message with a small contribution in US
currency.
Too bad, the evening came
to a screeching halt at 11 pm, since we had to cleanup the hall and vacate
it by 12 pm to comply with the contract/city requirements. In Damascus they
don’t like to party late night. The party had to be stopped pre-maturely
just when the real fun had begun and the cleanup operation started that
included folding all tables, pickup/dispose all trash, rack up the chair,
sweep and mop up the floor. Everyone pitched in and the hall was ready
within the hour, spotless and shining. The Petarian teamwork was
demonstrated. Gradually everyone started to leave with goodbyes, hugs, and
promises to meet next year. There just was not enough time to talk to
everyone, spend time with everyone, as I would have liked. It was over very
quickly. Of course time flies when you have fun. As the poet said,
Maheenay wasl kay ghariyoun ki soorat urhtay jaatey hai.n. Inevitably,
we all had to grudgingly leave with a little emptiness but a lot of
fulfillment.
As an after thought, all
of my initial apprehensions about involving my family proved to be baseless.
I believe they had almost as much fun and fulfillment as I did. They got to
experience first hand what petarianism and Petarian brotherhood is all
about. They noticed that wherever we went, everyday a Petarian came to take
care of us in any city. They realized that we could drop at any Petarians
house on a moment’s notice and expect to be well received. They saw
Petarians who never met each other in their life talk to each other as best
friends on their first meeting with perfect chemistry. That the Petarian
bond is independent of the age difference, time of separation and
geographical spans. They understand now that Petaro is the only high school
in Pakistan, whose former students have an annual get together in 3-4
foreign countries and people travel long distance to participate in those
programs. In spite of all this I would still not take undue liberty with my
laptop. I must maintain the right balance for my own well being.
To keep things
interesting, there was another rendezvous of about 10 Petarians in a hotel
lobby where we were entertained by Atif Tanvir 78121/Liaquat. That was a hard core
petarvi mehfil with loud laughter causing many heads to be raised in the
hotel lobby. Finally I went to bed late at 4 am. The room was dark reminding
me of the underground caverns with the absolute darkness. There was no sound
neither an interruption like a cell phone, TV or ipod. There was just the
sound of my introspection. Sometimes you need the darkness to see the light
and the silence to hear the truth. I remembered the time tested saying, ‘the
birds of same feather flock together’. After we leave Petaro, we are mostly
separated from the other Petarians and get busy trying to establish our
careers and future lives. Many of us move out to other countries in search
of a better life. But deep inside there is always this yearning to flock
again with our kind of birds. Just like the salmon who always returns to its
birth place, our soul keeps looking for the lost home. Every once a while,
when such opportunity presents itself, we achieve true satisfaction out of
it.
Before I finally went to
sleep I started humming the theme song of the TV soap Cheers. Some times you
wanna go where everybody knows your name, and they are all glad that you
came. Some times you wanna go where everyone ……….(loud snore).
Good Night. Turn off the
lights and listen to the silence.
PANA Reunion 2008 - Niagara Falls, ON, Canada
By Adnan Qureshi, 8326/L
Yet one more successful reunion of North
American Petarians was held in Niagara Falls on 12 July
2008. Around 25 Petarians attended the colorful event along with
their families and friends. The day started by chit chatting and meeting /
greeting followed by a formal introduction by Petarians themselves. As
always Petarians flew and drove from all over to attend this event - people
came from as far as Wisconsin, Florida, New York and Little Rock, Arkansas.
Naeem Bhai 504/L
presented some souvenirs which he had brought from CCP to all the Petarians
who traveled a distance to attend this reunion. Special
CCP caps were given to Shahid Mian Bhai 666/I,
Iqbal Hamid bhai 7272/Q and Siddiqui bhai. Tshirt
was given to Kamal Qadri 88125/A and 3 Petaro key chains were distributed among Imran
Yaqub bhai 7174/L and others. Naeem bhai gave away his own CCP cap to
Nasir Awan bhai 7729/A who was the chief organizer of the event.
Food was later on served and people enjoyed food and talked about Petaro.
Anwar Memon bhai 48/LF brought around 10 Kilos of
Gulab Jamun, Jileebi and Barfi for the Petarians
which people could not finish and so every one in the park was invited to
come and join the celebrations. Fahed bhai 7942/Q
brought a special CCP cake.
It was decided to convert a days reunion to a 2 day event from next year.
For this reason Iqbal Hamid bhai 7272/Q offered
his services if friends want the PANA Reunion to be held in Florida. Some
friends were of the opinion to hold it in Toronto for the first time and
later on switch to other cities. It was also decided to put this in the
forum so that other Petarians could also voice
their opinion. A committee was formed for this reason among the participants
to volunteer for the next year's event. It was
also decided to divide PANA into minimum of 4 zones for organizational
matters, namely East coast, Central zone, West
zone and Canada. Naeem Saroya
504/L would continue to be the Chief Coordinator.
It was also decided that one or two volunteers would be
required from each coast as coordinators to arrange for the next year's
reunion. All those interested to represent the zones were
requested to send in their names. The formation of
PANA East Coast was welcomed which was represented by Imran bhai
7174/L. It was also
appreciated that PANA EC decided to use PANATalk as their Yahoogroup rather
than making their own sub group.
It was also decided that the next years PANA reunion would be held
on the Last Saturday of month of June (June 27,
2009) and the date will not be switched.
A group photo session was held at the end and
people stayed until late night as gup shup continued over cups of coffee.
As always it was a time well spent.
Friends are requested to write their own version of the days event and post
photos on the group's
website. Some of the pictures are posted on the PANA Talk website.
Report by Dr. I. Zafar
Hamid, 7272/Q
It was a pleasure meeting
and seeing so many old colleagues. Adnan 8326/L, Nasir 7729/A, Mani Bhai
7181/A, Anwar Memon bhai 48/LF,
Asif, Kamal Qadri125/A and the team had done a great job.
In my personal opinion,
meeting was very productive as we were able to discuss the future happenings
of PANA. Naeem Bhai was very instrumental in
suggesting and guiding us through the meeting.
Before, I go any further,
I would like to wish Adnan the best with his future endeavors in Pakistan.
Adnan has elaborated very
nicely about the meeting and the minutes are well written. Obviously,
everyone has been working for keeping the PANA alive and healthy but it is
about time, as discussed, to bring some procedure and policies in its’
administration.
Local meetings are great
but to make our Alumni , the most vibrant unit, networking has to be more on
the global level. May be, if we are able to streamline our Unit here, our
central body will also work to get their act together.
Arranging the Annual
Meeting on a more professional pattern in different regions will bring a lot
more Petarians together which will benefit the members as well as our Alma
Mater.
In the end, I will salute
all those pioneer members who worked very hard beyond the call of their
duty, to establish the foundation and give us the vision and opportunity to
do what we are planning to do. Special thanks to Ikram
7236/Q and
Bashir Memon
bhai 63/LF with whom I had the privilege to work with in early eighties in the
establishment of Petarian Association. |