India Club Jakarta a popular meeting place

Joyeeta Dutta Ray, Contributor/Jakarta

Indonesia has a flourishing Indian community of business professionals and executives who are rapidly making a name for themselves.

As a forum for bringing them together, The India Club Jakarta plays a prominent role.

The club is a not-for-profit organization registered in Indonesia. The Indian ambassador to Indonesia in 1981, Mr. Bhutani, initiated the club on Aug. 23 that year. Twenty Indian families congregated at an informal meeting over tea and snacks to commemorate the event.

Sometime in 1989, the first constitution of the club was drafted out. A series of established guest artists from India were invited for functions at the club, attracting a spurt of new members.

The club currently has more than 500 Indian families, including expatriates and Indians of Indonesian descent. Nalin Rathod now leads as president, followed by Prasoon Mukherjee as vice president. In all, the decision-making committee comprises 12 members.

The club engages in a wide variety of sociocultural activities, often in collaboration with JNICC (the Indian cultural center) and the Indian Embassy.

"Artists who have performed in Jakarta at the invitation of the India Club during the past years include Sonal Mansingh, Jagjit Singh, Anup Jhalota, Gulam Ali, Pandit. Bhimsen Joshi, Asha Bhosale and Sonu Nigam." says Rakesh Jain, a committee member. Each of the names he cites is renowned and respected throughout India.

Besides this, the club organizes an annual Diwali dinner, New Years' night, an annual sports event where games like badminton, tennis, and table tennis are played and, of late, the Miss India Indonesia beauty pageant, where talented young beauties vie for the crown.

By popular demand, there are regular screenings of Hindi films.

In social welfare, the club is known to assist the needy, especially at times of natural calamity like the Gujarat earthquake in India 2004, when they donated an ambulance.

Last year, Dr. Deepti Desai, a specialist in biomagnetic therapy, was invited to administer free treatment to interested members." One of the most popular events in 2004 was the football championships," adds Prasoon Mukherjee.

"The India Club sponsored and supported the East Bengal Team from India. The team went on to win the Asean Cup Championships later. It was a moment of tremendous pride and excitement for us", he says.

"Another well-received event was a fusion classical dance show involving JNICC students and handicapped Indonesian children," continues general secretary Mirchu Samtani. The idea behind all this is to promote interaction and close ties within the community, foster friendship between India and Indonesia and stay closely connected with events in India.

It is to their credit that despite the low annual membership fee, all events and dining invitations offered since the club's inception have been free of charge to members.

The India Club has gone to great lengths to have the expatriate Indian community feel at home in Indonesia, while embracing Indians with Indonesian citizenship into their fold.

Their efforts are laudable. Especially in the face of a glaring omission -- the club has no permanent building!

"Being a not-for-profit organization, funding has always depended on sponsorship. Meetings and events have been hosted at mutually convenient locations -- usually offices or hotels," clarifies Amit Baxi, an active committee member.

"We are discussing plans to build a permanent place with a well-stocked library, sports facilities and cultural classes for our children", says Prasoon Mukherjee. This is the vision of our president, Nalin Rathod. In a few months this committee will be dissolve and a new team will be elected. We shall propose the idea to them -- the decision will be in their hands," he says.

That does not limit enthusiasm. On March 26 and March 27 the India Club will see yet another get-together to celebrate the festival of Holi.

The program includes transport to Purwakarta, one night's hotel stay, meals and a variety of fun-filled programs. As usual, not an extra rupiah will be charged.

Going by the number of smiles in the photograph, a club without a roof does not seem to be a major issue for most members.

What matters is the family they have found.