News & Announcements

December

Pillayar Nonbu

Dear All,

Hope everyone enjoyed the Pillayar Nonbu function held at the Vaishno Devi Mandir in Oakville, on the 23rd of December.

It was nice to see a large turnout for the evening this year, again, with around 120 members in attendance.

Following the bhajan, around 130 Elais were taken. As well, each family introduced themselves, and mentioned their temple, and native place.

Next, our president Subi, gave a brief report about the year's activities. Treasurer Arun gave a brief report of the finances of CNS, as well.

Afterwards, the Yelam, conducted by V Pal, raised over $19,000.

Thank you to this year's organizers, V Pal & Chittu family and Raj & Vasantha family, for doing a fine job.

Please see some wonderful photos of the event, taken by Ramu.

The volunteer organizers for next year are the Annamalai & Banu family and Dr. Kannan & Valli family.

Thank you all for your attendance!

Wish everyone a happy holiday season, and healthy and prosperous New Year 2018!

October

Bhajan

Raj & Vasantha held Octobers's bhajan at their home.

Deepavali

I'm sure all had a great time at the Deepavali function at Northwood Hall, on October 21st.

It was nice to see a large turn-out, with over 100 people in attendance.

To start the function, the children dressed up, representing the different states of India.

Next, was some dancing by the kids.

Afterwards, a drama called "Jangili Poongili Kaiyapudi", with all new faces, took place.

The dinner, as usual, was quite good.

Thanks to all involved for helping to organize this event, to make it another success!

Please also see some nice photos of the event.

We hope to see everyone at the Pillayar Nonbu function!

September

Bhajan

The bhajan for September was held at Subi & Aruna's home.

August

Pothu Padaipu

The CNS Pothu Padaipu became an international event this year, being hosted by Sadayappan & Amutha, at their residence in Detroit, Michigan.

Around 80 people attended this wonderful occasion.

Please see some nice photos taken of the event.

July

Bhajan

Drs. Muthulakshmi & Yegappan hosted July's bhajan at their home.

Summer Picnic

Hope all enjoyed the CNS picnic at Kingsbridge Park on July 22nd, hosted by the Subramanian and Chinnameyyappan families.

Thankfully, the weather was pleasant on that day.

Around 50 attended the picnic.

Please see a group photo that was taken.

June

Bhajan

The bhajan for June was held at Banu & Annamalai's home.

Mother's & Father's Day

Hope everyone enjoyed the combined Mother's & Father's Day event at the Bonis Ave Condo hall.

It was a nice event, with close to 50 in attendance.

To start the evening, the Social Committee, with Subathra and Gayathri, conducted some games.

The first one was for the moms and kids, where the goal of the game was to find out "Which mom has the 'most equipped' handbag?" Gandhimathi & son, Surya, were this game's winners.

Next, was "log cabin" building for kids and their dads. Muthuraman and son, Ram, were the winners of this game.

Afterwards, an impromptu game of "musical chairs" raised the energy of the room. Goutham won this one!

After that, Muthuraman's son, Ram, nicely recited a poem for mom, and a poem for dad.

In another game for the moms, various awards were given out for "Seemai Samathee" (Wise City Girl), to "Best Smile", to "Master Chef", after secret voting. It was all in good fun!

Dinner was then served. Thanks to the moms (and dads who helped out) for the delicious food.

Towards the end of dinner, Dr. Iynkaran gave an enlightening talk about "happiness".

As the evening wound down, we all bid "adieu".

Thanks to all who came, and helped, to make this a successful event.

As well, hope Mother's Day and Father's Day was fine for all!

May

Bhajan

The bhajan for May was held at Chinnameyyappan & Sala's home.

April

Bhajan

Dr. Kannan and Valli hosted April's bhajan.

Tamil New Year

Puthandu Vazthukal!

The 2017 CNS Tamil New Year function was held at the "Party Hall" on Bonis Ave, with around 90 people in attendance.

To start off, the talents of the kids were on display!

First, Ashwin, dressed as Vishnu, recited some slokams. Next, Ishaan, as well as Meenakshi, sang some bhajan songs.

Iniya, Meera, and Divya did a dialogue that included reciting, from memory, the Tamil names of each year in the "60-year cycle" in the Tamil calendar.

The Tamil "60-year cycle" could be thought of as a similar time unit to the English "century".

Then, Iniya recited, from memory, each Tamil name of the 60 years.

After that, Sri Ram recited the twelve months of the year, in Tamil.

On the adults side, Valli, Gayathri, Subathra, and Gandhimathi sang "Tamil Thai Vaalthu".

Next, Dr. Yegappan gave a talk about Tamil New Year.

Following this, were some activities for the kids and adults. Since it was Easter weekend, there were some "bunny" and "egg"-themed games.

Three kids took part, at a time, in the "bunny" race. The goal was to walk while holding a ball between the legs, and then dropping the ball into the bunny's mouth at the end.

Following that, was an activity where the kids had to follow some "bunny" and "egg" commands.

Next, Iniya, Meera, and Divya dressed up and danced to some Tamil songs.

Not to forget the adults, there was a game of "Tamil Pictionary", where each participant chose between a Tamil or Chettinad-Tamil word, and then proceeded to draw it.

It was also Govind and Deepa's kids' 2nd birthday, so a cake was cut to celebrate.

Finally, all enjoyed a nice dinner.

Thanks to all who helped out, and made this event a success.

Please see some photos taken at the event in the "Photos and Videos" section of this page.

March

Bhajan

The bhajan for March took place at Siva and Li's home.

February

Bhajan

February's bhajan was held at Annamalai and Sivagami's home.

Family Day

Family Day (and Valentine's day) was celebrated at "The Main Event" in Mississauga, on February 19th.

Around 70 people attended.

With a bouncy castle, foosball table, 'arcade' basketball, pool table, and more, all within the facility, there was indeed something for everyone.

The social committee conducted some games, as well. To start, a cool "connections" game was played, and, in the spirit of Valentine's Day, there was a "couples" musical chairs.

Finally, a fun game of bingo got everyone involved.

Dinner, arranged by CNS, included nice pizza and "Hakka" fare.

The weather also turned out to be pleasant, despite it being the middle of winter!

A big "thank-you" to all for making the event a success!

January

Murugan Abhishekam

This year's Murugan Abhishekam was held on the 12th of January, with an attendance of about 25.

In addition to the Abhishekam, a Navagraha (nine celestial bodies) homam was done.

During the "dressing" of Murugan, the group sang bhajans.

The Muthu Chockalingam family donated a beautiful silver Vel to the temple, dedicated to Lord Murugan.

Panchamirtham (or a "five food mixture" often used in Hindu worship), was made right at the temple by the group, and used in the Abhishekam. A typical mixture in Tamil Nadu can be honey, kalkandu (crystalline sugar), jackfruit, dates, and bananas.

For lunch, CNS had prepared three special prasadams, which was taken along with the temple prasadam.

Thank you to all who attended!

Pillaiyar Nonbu Function

Greetings for 2017!

Change of committee

Every two years the "baton is passed" to a new committee at the Pillaiyar Nonbu function.

President Subi, and the new committee would like to thank Chinnameyyappan and his committee for a job well done over the last two years.

Subi and the new committee hope to continue this effort, as well as to make further improvements.

So please welcome the new committee, with

• Subi Subramanian as President,
• Ganesh Annamalai as Secretary and Editor,
• Arunachalam Somasundaram as Treasurer,
• Subathra Ganesh and Gayathri Ramanathan on the Social Committee,
• Valli Kannappan and Uma Alagappan on the Education Committee,
• Vasantha Valliappan as the NSNA Rep,
• Arun Chinnameyyappan and Hari Raghavan on the Youth Committee, and
• Sathappa Annamalai as Bhajan Co-ordinator.

Function & Yelam

Pillaiyar Nonbu usually occurs in December, however this time, the date fell in the month of January.

The function was well attended, with some new families welcomed. In all, around 130 people were present.

After taking of ellais, the Yelam was conducted by our own "V Pal", with generous participation from the audience.

The Annual General Body meeting took place following the Yelam. Palam gave the final treasury report, which was accepted by all.

For dinner, scrumptious traditional dishes were served. A "thank you" to the ladies!

We wish to thank the event organizers, Chinna Meyyappan & Sala, and Ramanathan and Geetha families, who did a fine job.

V Pal & Chittu, and Raj & Vasantha families have volunteered to organize the next Pillaiyar Nonbu.