"Moving Foreward" (CTAA) on Sat. Aug. 20th, 2011.

“Keep your head down and spread your legs a bit more”, he says to me. I reluctantly agree. I mean I trust him. He’s done this before right? With all my energy, I try not to cringe as I anticipate for what was about to happen in the next few seconds. And in the hole it goes. Silence. Without a flicker, he looks me straight in the eyes and I can’t help but break out into a smile. I did it. I finally did it.

Now get your mind out of the gutter people because I’m just talking about golf, and not golf the way Tiger Woods might like to teach it. Golf, the way it was intended to be, with lots of balls and little action. Err, okay, that wasn’t the best way to word that. I think it’s wise if we just start over.

The Canadian Tamil Alumni Association (CTAA) has been in existence since 2008 but with a revamped executive team, they have been kicking it in full gear since 2010 by bringing you events such as this: Moving Foreward - A Charity Golf Tournament.

Now whoever said that you can’t mix business with pleasure, clearly never took a swing at this. With a small crowd consisting of players with various skill levels, there is immediately less pressure to perform and more incentive to improve your game, not to mention meet a bunch of new people from various fields. I mean if someone who’s doing his PhD in France manages to come out for an event like this, you know it’s worth the while.

The important thing to highlight is that CTAA is not primarily about hosting events. They are moving towards providing more services targeting young Tamils, as early as third year post secondary education, to equip them with all the necessary information and tools to enter the career field of their choice – even the ones to the horror of Tamil parents such as fashion, journalism, politics and the likes. You can be sure you’ll be the first to hear about their upcoming workshops by checking in on TamilCulture event listings.

Now, I wonder which members of the TamilCulture executive team are good with balls…and of course I mean golf balls. C’mon people!

- Shagana Ehamparam