Meet Dr. Sheetal Kanar Kumar, Life-Giver Extraordinaire!

The First Bhagnari Surrogate Mother
A young Bhagnari lady created history, with an extraordinary act of courageous magnanimity.



Dr. Sheetal Kanar Kumar, the doctor-wife of a doctor-husband, Dr. Amitabh Kumar, gave birth to twins, 2 boys on Sept. 16th, 2009 in the USA.



The twins are the children of Shubra (her husband's sister) and Richard . The boys, in a manner of speaking, are not hers. But Sheetal is very much janani, a life giver.

Sheetal acted as a surrogate mother, also known as a gestational carrier, for her husband’s sister who had been unable to carry a pregnancy despite multiple attempts. Sheetal and Amitabh have three small children of their own.

For nine months, from the time she began the process of surrogacy, to the time she delivered the twins, Sheetal nurtured the twin lives in her own womb. This act of giving birth, of bringing new life into the world, is an extraordinary saga that has been exalted by Prophets and Seers. Only in this instance, it is one of the most unselfish act of giving, an act that celebrates life and kinship.

Dr. Sheetal Kanar Kumar is an Obstretician and Gynaecologist, practicing in Stuart, Florida, USA. Her husband, Dr. Amitabh Kumar is a Gasteroenterologist.

Sheetal herself is a vivacious young lady, who is also a high achiever. She has certainly inherited the best from her loving parents Sujata (Saroj) and Gulab Kanar. Naturally, the entire Kanar family, her husband, Dr. Amitabh Kumar and Richard and Shubra, the Surrogate twins’ parents, are delighted with the happy outcome of Sheetal’s surrogacy.

On behalf of the Panchayat, the President of Shree Bhagnari Panchayat has extended his “heartiest congratulations to you, Sheetal and your family for your magnanimity. We Bhagnaris are proud of you.”

Congratulations to the Mother(s), Pere Richard, and Best Wishes to the boys. With such an eventful beginning and a distinguished lineage, one can be sure they will be the cynosure of all eyes.

Anita Ashok Gehi walks 60 km for a cause

Anita Ashok Gehi, living in Toronto, Canada was one of the courageous participants of The Weekend to End Breast Cancer to support and raise funds for The Campbell Family Institute at The Princess Margaret, Canada.

The Weekend to End Breast Cancer took place on September 12th and 13th.
The 60 km walk was no easy feat, but generous donations and continued support, along with the dedicated effort of the Walkers, Crew Members, and Volunteers, enabled to raise $11.6 million to support innovative cancer research, patient care and survivorship programs at The Princess Margaret. Not only will these funds benefit the lives of those suffering from breast cancer, but the 2009 Weekend to End Breast Cancer® has expanded its impact to help those affected by all women’s cancers.

Anita set a target to raise funds and was able to achieve her target. To all who supported Anita with their kind donations, she had this to say:

“The 'Weekend to End Breast Cancer Walk' was on September 12 - 13 and I could not have done it without your support. I felt that all those who supported me, in a way walked with me. All proceeds raised go towards research of women's cancers. Today, one in every nine women hear the dreadful words "You have cancer", in the doctor's office. The good news is that survival rate is going higher every year due to early detection and better treatment. This is only possible with research and the goal is to conquer cancer in our life time so that we can save the mothers, daughters and sisters of the world.

The question I have been asked is, if it was easy, the answer would be 'It was not a cake walk, but neither is Cancer'. Would I do it again? God willing, health permitting and with your continued support, the answer is "Yes".

Below is an excerpt from the Princess Margaret site and THANK YOU once again for being a Champion.”

The Campbell Family Institute at The Princess Margaret announced that 4616 participants raised over $11 million in Toronto’s 7th annual Weekend to End Breast Cancer event, a 60 km walk to raise funds for breast cancer research and care at The Campbell Family Institute at The Princess Margaret.

Participants started training 4 months in advance. Anita used to walk three evenings every weekday starting with 3 km walks and progressed to 7 km a day. On weekends it was a longer distance.

A great walk for a great cause, Anita. Bhagnari community is proud of you.

Nitin Javeri Bhagnari - Our young achiever

It is indeed a moment of pride for the parents and community in general, whenever we get an opportunity to highlight our young achievers. Nitin Javeri Bhagnari at a young age of 27 can be truly termed an achiever.

Nitin has to his credit, an Engineering degree in IT from Thadomal Shahani College, Mumbai, MBA in Finance from Asian Institute of Management and very recently he obtained PMP (Project Management Professional) certification from PMI, USA.

During MBA he was in the top 10% of his batch (Dean's lister) and was awarded scholarship to complete his last semester in IIM, Bangalore.

Nitin has not only been an achiever in academics, but also in career. He is currently working as a Project Manager with Ericsson, Mumbai, in charge of handling a project worth USD 1.4 mil.

Nitin's mother Jyoti said, 'I as a mother congratulate Nitin (Dimpy) on his achievements and wish him loads of success in his career and life.' Jyoti has all the reasons to be proud of Nitin, as she has brought up her two children single-handedly from the ages of 10 and 11 years. It has not been an easy journey for her, but 'where there is a will, there is a way' and her determination and trust in God have finally paid off.

Please use the comments section to appreciate Nitin's efforts and encourage other Bhagnari youngsters too - aren't we really proud of them?

BHAGNARI VOLUNTEERS

First Row:L to R:Jyoti Jham, Manju Dudeja,Saroj Sitlani,Vaso Divan,Gobind Mehta,Shraddha Gehi.
Second Row:L to R: Aunty Sita Talreja, Dolly Nasta.
Bottom Row:L to R Hema Nasta,Anoushka Bijlani,Jaya Kataria,Minal Gehi.
Bhagnaris are thanking the Volunteers for managing the functions in the Colony Hall

Community website eBhagnaris.com has 500 members now

Kanchan Bhagnari from Dubai, UAE became the 500th member of the community website. This is an occasion to be proud of for the whole community whose members are spread across several countries.

The website was started almost two years ago and ever since it has kept its members informed of the latest community news. Earlier this year a blog site was started to highlight the achievement of the youngsters and provide avenue to creative writers to express their views.

500 members may seem a lot, but in a community of almost 2000, even accounting for the fact that small children and elderly Bhagnaris may not be able to register, we should have at least 1000 members. I must confess that getting 500 members to register has not been easy. It has required all possible innovative ways to influence the community members to register to the website. A country-wise breakdown reveals that maximum members are from UAE, where I live presently. Honestly, I am a bit disappointed with the membership from India, where more effort is required. I feel the community members have to realise that the future of communications is through internet and we must utilise its full potential to stay connected.

Country-wise breakdown of members:
- Australia – 5
- Bahrain – 3
- Barbados – 1
- Brazil – 1
- Canada – 12
- Hongkong – 2
- India – 117
- Jamaica – 1
- Kuwait – 5
- Oman – 2
- Sri Lanka – 1
- Uganda – 1
- UAE – 285
- UK – 3
- USA - 61

I would like to seek the support of Bhagnaris living in the above countries to spread a word about the community website and emphasise that it is a great avenue to remain updated with the latest community news.

This is also an appropriate occasion to thank all the members for their support in keeping both the websites humming. A word of special thanks to the following who have supported the website financially:

Through advertisements:
- Al Anwaar Golden Jewelers, Dubai (Rajesh Popley)
- Al Darweesh Electronics LLC, Dubai (Ashish Gind)
- Saidham Restaurant, Dubai (Lalit Nagpal)

Through contributions:
- Bhagnari Panchayat
- A well-wisher from Dubai

As compared to a static website, running a dynamic websites is expensive. Although I incur the costs initially, financial support from the above named has helped to cover the cost of developing the website and the maintenance and hosting costs for the first two years. As the third year’s maintenance/hosting costs of Rs. 20,000 have already been incurred in advance by me, I look forward to continued support from the members to cover this shortfall. My original plan was to garner enough funds through advertisements to pay for the website costs and use the surplus funds for charity. With your support, I hope to achieve this objective also.

Please feel free to express your views to improve our means of communication and help us in achieving our mission – Uniting the emerging Bhagnaris under one roof.

Ramesh Poplay

Dipesh Mehta is awarded Chartered Financial Analyst charter

Dipesh Mehta, son of Mala and Vinod Mehta, has passed Level 3 of the Chartered Financial Analyst exam of the U.S. based Chartered Financial Institute. He was awarded the coveted CFA Charter this month. Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) Charter is well known as the gold standard of professional credentials within the global investment community. CFA designation is recognized worldwide as the definitive standard for measuring competence and integrity in the fields of portfolio management and investment analysis. At the point of writing this article there are only approximately 78,000 people from 126 different countries who have been awarded the right to use the CFA designation.

Dipesh has also previously completed his MBA and MS (Finance). He is currently working with Barclays in Dubai as Senior Relationship Manager in charge of Financial Instituitions in GCC / Levant countries.

He is probably the first CFA Charter holder among Bhagnaris. The community is pleased to welcome their very own CFA in Dubai.

Priyanka Nasta gradutes as Electronics and Electrical Engineer with 87% marks

Priyanka Nasta possibly became the first Bhagnari girl to become an Engineer, when she graduated from BITS Pilani, Dubai, securing 87% marks.

Daughter of Niranjan and Nandini Nasta, she narrates her feelings in the write-up below, which has been reproduced un-edited. Bhagnari community salutes Priyanka and hopes that her achievement will inspire many more Bhagnari girls to take the lead.

3 September 2005 – I feel almost certain that this date is of little consequence to any of the readers. But for me, it was one date which would stay in my mind for a long time to come. After all, it was my first day at BITS Pilani, Dubai. From the very start of the day, the weirdest thoughts began flashing in my head ranging from what I would wear, to how would I locate my classroom, to how the people would be and even to what I would eat through the day (yeah…I do think about food quite a lot!).

As expected, the first day of college was not rocking, rather it was…on the rocks. Some of the reasons for this were the over-powering seniors, snobbish boys, scary professors and lack of girls in the campus (only 8 students out of 60 were girls!). My thought at the end of the day was, how will I get through four years in this place?

The first year seemed a little difficult, both in terms of studies and adjusting with the people. In the study area, the difficulty was that most of the courses were self study, and unlike in India, there are no private coaching classes in Dubai universities. Hence the challenge lied in trusting my ability and guiding myself towards a good score. As far as the people were concerned, many of them came from India and just like me, they were discovering new people…and a new place!

However, by the beginning of the second year, things became more comfortable. I got used to the study pattern and also became quite attached to my classmates. In addition to compulsory courses like Math and Physics, I also read courses in Technical Report Writing, Marketing and Management, which I feel are very important and useful in the corporate world. In addition to this I also did an internship for two months with an electrical based company, which gave me a clear insight on how office life would be.

The third year was when I had to study hardcore Electrical courses (my major being Electronics and Electricals). It was by far the toughest year in college as I had many lab sessions to complete and many assignments to turn in. But the mall outings and shopping sprees with friends acted as major stress busters (in fact, I think I know Mall of the Emirates inside out because of this!).

The fourth year was when I enjoyed college the most. Practice School II with Zio Technologies LLC was on the agenda for the first semester and a study oriented project was up in the second. I also attended two farewell parties hosted by our juniors and the University staff. Also, knowing that it was the last year of college made me do things I wouldn’t have done otherwise, like participating in debate, elocution and even a salad dressing competition (came first in it…by the way!).

17 August 2009 – I feel certain that this date too is of little consequence to any of the readers. But it has been etched in my mind forever. After all, it was my Graduation day. I met all my friends and faculty after a long time and it was the best feeling to see all the students in graduation robes and hats. It would be wrong not to mention the love, support and encouragement provided by my parents and my brother Mohit. I’m told that I am probably the first Bhagnari girl to become an engineer, and if this is true, I owe it all to my family.

So watch out people, there is a new Electronics and Electrical Engineer around. Brace yourselves, because in these days of Unique Identification Numbers, 2005A3PS218U (my college ID) has finally arrived – and thank God for that – WHAT A THOUGHT SIR JI…