Rare honour for Patiala’s NRI at the White House
Thursday, 01/08/2013
http://epaper.dailypostindia.com/Details.aspx?id=76749&boxid=58328&uid=&dat=2013-08-01
Patiala : A Patiala-born NRI settled in Delaware in the USA, Charanjeet Singh Minhas, had the rare honour of being invited to the White House for a programme organised to “celebrate more than a century of achievements by the Sikh Community in the United States,”earlier this month.
An alumnus of Punjab Public School, Nabha, Minhas, migrated to the US in 1999.
After completing his degree in Computer Engineering, he went to the UK for his Masters in International Business degree. After working for an Indian company in the US, he set up his own company Tekstrom Inc. The company specialises in testing software. After a modest start, the company has grown leaps and bounds. It now has offices in Canada and India, including Bangalore and Patiala.
He was among 50 Sikhs invited by the White House from all over the USA. “The White House visit was organised by the WH Office of Public Engagement. US Vice-President Joe Biden was supposed to be there, but he had to miss out due to a last minute pressing engagement,” says Minhas.
He said, earlier, the function was to be held on Baisakhi Day. However, the White House postponed it to July 12 for some reason. The White House had arranged for Shabad Kirtan, a bhangra performance and a Punjabi songs sung by members of the Sikh community.
“It was more of an interactive session. There were no formal speeches, just question-answer sort of interactive meetings. That’s what I liked best. The food was fine. Nothing great and delectable but good Punjabi fare,” he said.
