By Parveen Chopra
Garden City, NY: Chief Justice of India N.V. Ramana advised Indian Americans to speak in their mother tongue at home as a way of safeguarding their identity and culture. “Mastery of your mother tongue helps in clarity of thought and success in life,” he said.
The meet and greet event with Justice N.V. Ramana on Thursday was co-hosted by FeTNA (Federation of Tamil Sanghams of North America), New York Tamil Sangham, The South Asian Times, and Eric Kumar.
CJI N.V. Ramana speaking at the community reception at the Mint, Garden City
Justice Ramana congratulated the Indian diaspora for their stupendous success through hard work and bringing a good name for India. “You should not forget the roots, and should always be proud of the place and country of origin, language, heritage, even food habits,” he said. He also cited the example of the Tamil community’s persistence in protecting their language and heritage as a lesson for other communities.
Introduced by Kamlesh C Mehta, the Chairman of Forsythe Media Group, and Eric Kumar of Commercial Capital Funding, speaker after speaker highlighted CJI Ramana’s rise from a humble background to the helm of the Indian judiciary.
Judge Raj Rajeshwari speaking at the event
The speakers included Congressman Tom Suozzi, NYS Senator Kevin Thomas, Judge Raja Rajeshwari, Padma Shri Dr Dattareyudu Nori, North Hempstead Town Clerk Ragini Srivastava, Minority Affairs’ Director of Nassau County Lionel Chitty, eminent attorney Ravi Batra, Kanchana Poola, and Tamil and Telugu community leaders. The event was also attended by many distinguished members of the Indian diaspora.
L to R: Kanchana Poola, Mrs. Ramana, CJI N.V. Ramana, Congressman Tom Suozzi, and Jagadeesan V. Pool at the event
Justice Ramana was presented citations from New York State, Nassau County, Town of Oyster Bay, and Town of North Hempstead in appreciation of his great judicial services in India. On a tour of America, CJI Ramana is scheduled to address Indian American audiences in New Jersey, Washington DC, and San Francisco in the coming days.
