Dear friends and patrons of Bharat Samiti,

The past year was overshadowed by many uncertainties. The dark cloud of economic crisis has affected all of us  - directly or indirectly. But luckily every black cloud has a silver lining.

Germany has also recovered after this storm, although all of us cannot really feel it in our personal lives. Actually it is quite difficult to make us happy at all. Do we still remember the time, when we were in the middle of a cold war as a divided nation? An  unimaginable tension was prevailing at that time posed by hundreds of nuclear warheads targeted at each other. The risk of an all out war was as real as pressing a button.

In what kind of a world do we live today? Twenty years after the German reunification there is practically no external border around us. Today we can travel to any neighbouring country without any hurdle.

Actually we are doing quite well. We are not affected by  devastating floods as in Pakistan. Calamities like mudslides like in China or forest fires in Russia are far away from us. In Germany many young lives were lost during the 'Love Parade' due to human error. We are indeed affected by this tragic event - but we have to admit that overall we are doing quite well.

On the occassion of Durga Puja this year let us pray to Godess Durga - please look after our well being, irrespective of our religious or political affiliation.

Like every year we cordially invite you to join us in Cologne-Chorweiler to celebrate Durga Puja.

Executive committee
of Bharat Samiti