Dakshini Bengali Association of California
P.O. Box 14385 Torrance, CA 90503
E-mail address: dakshinila@ yahoo.com
Website: www.dakshini.org

Dakshini Bengali Association of California, a nonprofit, nonpolitical, charitable, educational and cultural organization was formed in August 1985 in Torrance, California, and is incorporated as a nonprofit tax-exempt organization since July 1986. It conducts, coordinates and promotes the community, cultural and social activities among the people of Indian origin in the USA and the people of other cultures on behalf of the Bengali community. It fosters friendship and understanding between the people of Bengali origin, Indian origin, and the Americans.
Dakshini conducts a Bengali school to teach Bengali language to children and as well as to provide students about the integrity of the Eastern Indian culture and philosophy through study, observation, and participation.
The association publishes a bimonthly newsletter “Samachar” for its members free of charge.

Dakshini holds a general election for its new executive body every two years. All the members are eligible for participating in the election and the membership is open to all, irrespective of race and religion and there is no membership fee. Active interest and the cooperation are the criteria for eligibility of membership.

Dakshini holds seven major programs each year, which includes:

· Saraswati Puja - one full day celebration with lots of children programs and variety cultural programs

· Bengali New Year celebration - “Baisakhi”

· Shravan Sandhya - Dakshini begin summer with a tribute to the art and culture by organizing a cultural evening with seasoned artists from Calcutta, namely Geetashri Sandhya Mukherjee, Soumitra Chatterjee, Mamata Shankar, Swagata Lakshmi Dasgupta, Sabitri Chatterjee, Late Anup Kumar etc.

· Indian Independence Day celebration under FIA (Federation of Indo American Association) - fund-raising activity through Dakshini Food Booth in the fair organized by FIA.

· Durga Puja - three days of celebration with puja, prasad, lunch, dinner and variety of cultural programs

· Lakshmi Puja celebration with puja, prasad, dinner and cultural programs

· Christmas Party celebration for children, youth and family

In 1993 Dakshini organized " East meets West Festival”, a major 2-day fund-raising cultural event for a community hospital in Calcutta named “Deshobandhunagar Community Hospital” and Mother Teresa's Charity of Missions. The program " East meets West ” depicted the cultural integration of the Eastern and Western countries and took place at the Torrance Civic Center in Southern California. The program was highly acclaimed by the city of Torrance and by the people of Southern California.
Each year Dakshini organizes many theatrical dramas, musical concerts, and dance dramas with its talented members.

Following productions were highly acclaimed by the audience:

· A Bengali drama “Buro Salikher Ghare Roe” of Sree Madhusudan Datta and as presented in Bengali conference organized by Prabasi, Northern California, in 1989.
· A dance drama, English version of Tagore's “Bhanu Singher Padabali”, was presented in the East West Program of Dakshini in 1993
· A musical concert “Rupasi Bangla” depicting different aspects of Bengali songs and Rabindranath Tagore’s drama “Sesh Rakhya” were presented in 1995 Durga Puja
· A dance drama “Kathamrita” was presented at the Santa Clara Convention Center Bengali Conference 1999 based on the life of Paramanhansa Ramakrishna.
· The Bengali drama "Brittyer Baire” based on Gabbu Khela by Dipendra Narayan Sanyal, was presented in Durga Puja 1999, depicting dual nature and human characters.

Since 1985, Dakshini has been serving the Bengali community. It has organized numerous performances of numerous renowned artists from India:

· Drama team by Sabitri Chatterjee, Biswajit Chatterjee, Supriya Devi, Aparna Sen, Biblab Chatterjee, Nandikar Group, Soumitra Chatterjee, and Sayak Group
· Vocalists like Sandhya Mukherjee, Dwijen Mukherjee, Bonani Ghosh, Rejwana Banya Choudhury, Anup Ghoshal, Pramita Mallik, late Salil Choudhury,Sabita Choudhury, Antara Choudhury, Banasree Sengupta, Swapan Bose
· Instrumentalists like Imrat Khan , V.G Jog, Swapan Chowdhury, Debu Choudhury
· Dance performers like Mamata Shankar Ballet troupe, Chitresh Das, Nandita Behera & Sutapa Dattagupta in Odissi, Anuadhya Nag in Kathak

With over 700 families involved today, Dakshini has grown considerably in these 16 years and continues to serve the people in America as well as people of their home state in India with its honest, dedicated intension and spirit into the next millennium.

In 2003, Dakshini organized the North American Bengali Conference (NABC2003). Several artists from India was our guest of Honor in the program.