Jaina Convention 2009 – another nice experience

Jaina Convention 2009

I had the fortune of attending yet another Jaina Convention courtesy my dad who is a big fan of conventions :-). The very first post on Kutchvalley was in fact a post on Jaina convention 2005 which was in Santa Clara.

This year’s convention was in Los Angeles from July 2-July 5. It was the 15th Jaina convention. The theme this year was “Ecology – the Jain way”. Jaina conventions are held every 2 years. The convention returned to its birthplace since Los Angeles was the host city for the very first Jaina convention as well. JCSC (jain center of southern california) had floated the idea in 1981 about the need for an umbrella organization for Jain centers across North America and that is how Jaina was born.

The attendance (around 1700) was however much less than other Jaina conventions due to the downturn in economy. That is why they shifted the venue from Anaheim Convention Center to Derasar of Los Angeles. The Derasar has been recently renovated and JCSC has many good facilities on site like a large auditorium hall and large classrooms. Most sessions were in JCSC itself. However some sessions were in Crowne Plaza hotel also which was the official hotel (6 miles away from Derasar).

Kutchi Attendees from Bay Area included Mr. Navin Dedhia, Pallavi/Sonia/Bela and kids, Mr. Ramesh Nandu, Nimit Maru, myself and Dad. There were separate programs for Jain Youth 21+ which included cruise ship, a grand mela, etc. In fact I did not see Nimit at all during those 3 days since he was doing the Jain 21+ activities and I was mostly at JCSC attending lectures and entertainment programs.

The entertainment programs were in the evening while mornings and afternoons were reserved for lectures by various scholars and dignitaries (Dr. Rakeshbhai Zaveri, Acharya Chandanaji, Acharya Chitrabhanuji, others etc).

Among the The keynote speakers were Dr. Gary Francione – a professor of law who is also an animal rights activist. He is a vegan and advocated the audience to consider not consuming milk at all since there is no humane way to milk a cow. He also does not wear leather, silk, wool and exhorted us all to do the same. He was very impressive.

The second impressive keynote speaker was Dr. Dipak Jain – Dean of Kellogs Business School. Some of the other religious speakers were also good.

On Thurs night they had Raas Garba in the evening by some local group. The group was ok. On Friday night, they had the world premiere of the play “SiddhHem” based on the life of Acharge Shri Hemchandra (900 years ago). They also had a Dairo by Bhanubhai Vora and Tripti Chhaya. The Diaro was really good and was mixed with good jokes and songs. On Sat night, they had the cultural program (about 6-7 dances by various Jain Centers) followed by a comedian followed by a Bollywood night featuring “Black” – an indian musical group consisting entirely of blind artists. The orchestra was simply amazing.

The auditorium for the evening programs was a bit small for the crowd. And hence there was a rush to get in before the door closes. Some folks could not get in and had to watch the live transmission on TVs kept in classroooms.

There were Masala Bhangra sessions and Yoga sessions in early morning each day but I could not attend them since they were in Crowne Plaza Hotel and I was staying in a different hotel near the Derasar.

The food adda for breakfast, lunch, dinner was setup in the underground parking garage. They have fans in the parking garage and so this worked out well. The food was not as great as during 2005 in Santa Clara, but it was decent enough.

On Sunday, after the Jaina convention we had a mini Kojain Sammelan. I managed to meet some LA Kutchis during this time. Mala Chaudhary and Nimit Maru gave good presentations on Entrepreneurship.

The volunteers worked hard and in the end managed to pull off a successful convention. Thanks to all the volunteers. JCSC was a good host.

Just like 2005, it was Paisa Vasool for me. 🙂