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Hindu Samaj Temple of Minnesota March-April 2015 President’s Note Namaste to All! Welcome to the Spring edition of Samarpan! How appropriate that we Celebrated Holi, our Spring Festival, to coincide with the arrival of Spring in Minnesota. It was a Grand success and transported me to the Melas in India. The sight of people dressed in colorful clothes and jewelry, the stalls selling jewelry and clothes, the smell of food in the air and the chatter of people mixed in with a background of Hindi Film songs, were all so reminiscent of home. For a few short hours we recreated a piece of India- for those of us who have experienced it and for those whom we what to share it with. We had more than 200 adults plus children, four vendors - each offering food, clothes and jewelry for sale. It was a first for all and I can tell with confidence that everyone had a great time. We hope to repeat it in the future as we have several requests from you all to host similar events to bring the community together. On a more serious note, our New Temple construction has to be delayed until Spring of 2016. Olmsted County is widening the road near our land and is requesting a portion to be used for the project. We are in the process of negotiating with the county as it is greatly affecting our ability to build as planned. We will be unable to build Phase 3 as described in the initial plans and maybe not at all as we see it now. We are hoping to keep phase 1 and 2 intact, so that we can have a Temple and Community center as we envisioned. We are in the final stages of planning and redesign, and hope to have it completed in the next few months. The County has been very considerate of our efforts and is working with us to achieve the best solution for both. With this behind us, we hope to have the Bhoomi Pooja in Spring 2016 and start construction immediately. If all goes as planned with no more delays, we will be in our New Temple for Diwali 2016. Thank You, Santhi Subramaniam President, Hindu Samaj Temple. Editor’s Note By Rajani Sohni Hello Readers: We are off to a good start in Spring after the relatively mild winter that was a pleasant surprise. I hope everybody had a wonderful time at the Holi Mela held on April 18th. We have included some pictures of the event in this issue of Samarpan. Featured in this issue are poems submitted by Shanthi Siva and young Prabhav Kaginele. Both poems are based on memories made in India and are a delight to read, stirring your own nostalgia if you either grew up in India or have visited there. The annual Kalyana Utsavam was held at the Temple on April 19th and our Priest, Sri Hari Krishna Ji, has submitted an article outlining the mean- ing of this celebration, an annual occurrence at our Temple in Spring. In the previous issue of Samarpan, a couple of high school graduates from our community shared their first-time college experiences. In this issue we have an article submitted by Pranita Kaginele sharing her thoughts and experience about her first year at Washington University. In addition, Dr. Mohandas Bhat from Maryland, a cousin of one of our community members – Mrs. Neeta Pai, has written about the millions of Gods of Hinduism, providing a good perspective on the worship of many Gods and Goddesses as manifests of one supreme God. We have an arti- cle by Alisha Bhagia on Mahatma Gandhi and his fight to liberate India, and one submitted by Chandu Valluri with valuable tips on parenting. Read and share your opinion on the article submitted by one of our editors, Anantha Santhanam! We welcome submissions from all of you, children as well as adults. Please email your submissions to [email protected] for publication in a future issue of Samarpan. Best wishes from the Samarpan Team. Editorial Team: Forrest Dailey, Jyothi Muthyala, Anantha Vijay Raghavan Santhanam Rajani Sohni, Bhaskar Iyengar, Nisha Kurup Unni Krishnan (Design & Illustration) Page 2 Priest’s Column - Kalyana Utsavam – The divine marriage of Lord Venkateswara. (Sri Balaji) By Sri Hari Krishnaji Kalyana Utsavam is a special ritual where we derive pleasure in conducting the wedding for the Lord Himself. A Kalyana Utsavam celebration blends the application of Vedic traditions and spiritual leanings. Sri Venkateswara Swamy Kalyanam with the Devis, Sri Sridevi and Sri Bhoodevi, is an inspiration to all mankind to follow the principles of mar- ital life. When humans are married it’s a memorable event, when the marriage is for the Lord Himself it has great significance and hence called Kalyana Utsavam - The celebration of marriage. The divine marriage is performed for the benefit of humankind - Loka Kalyanam. The varieties of acts provide a wide canvas for the mind to rest. Our attention is centered on the Lord and His consort for the entire duration of the Kalyana Utsavam. It enables the mind to develop single-pointedness (ekaagrata). A prepared mind becomes the right vehicle to absorb the teaching (gnyaana) and attain realization (moksha). May the Lord Sri Venkateswara Swamy and His Divine Consorts, who enjoy eternal bliss and who are always full of auspiciousness bless the community involved in this Kalyanam Utsavam celebration at the Hindu Samaj Temple with all good things in every aspect of life. We celebrated Sri Venkateswara Kalyana Utsavam in our temple on Sunday, April 19th 2015. We invite all devotes to utilize this excellent op- portunity and take part in this annual event. Sarve jana Sukhinobhavanthu-samastha san-mangalani bhavanthu Let all people beget happiness; let them all beget auspiciousness. MY INDIA By Prabhav Kaginele India is an awesome place to go. You can say Namaste instead of hello. I have friends waiting for me to play. I say “Let’s play cricket without delay.” I see my grandparent houses. I visit my uncles and their spouses. There is a lot of traffic. Still the country is fantastic. I love to visit my country, it makes me feel cozy and homely. Page 3 The Tamarind Days By Shanthi Siva Red soil covered feet, dark skinned, naïve smile school books in a tattered basket on one hand greasy hair tied in braids, sandals mended many times worn out clothes sewed in patches a buddy or two by the side for company and adventure She stopped by the tamarind tree. It was a giant looking at the children like a fond grandfather the branches swaying softly creating gentle breeze. Children stoned the tree for ripe fruits and were happy to pick up the first fruit that hit the ground. She scanned the ground for gems, the semi ripe fruits. They were unique like her smooth, dark skinned, simple and elegant neither too sweet nor too tangy just the perfect mix. They were golden nuggets, a perfect snack of the poor. firm yet easy to peel, lemon green flesh delicate and sweet at the first bite, infusing tanginess with each drop of saliva taste lingering for the rest of her life Editor’s Note: Shanthi Siva recently spoke at the Rochester Public Library sharing her experience of writing in English and how she uses her native language, Tamil, as an aid to communicate clearly in English, choos- ing words and synonyms from another language to convey the true meaning. Shanthi has Master’s and M.Phil. degrees in English, specializing in American Literature. Poetry is her fa- vorite genre. Page 4 My First Year at College By Pranita Kaginele My Indian heritage has always played a large role in my life. I always had my “school” friends and my “Indian” friends. I would talk about my school’s gossip with my “school” friends and the latest Bollywood news with my “Indian” friends. The two never really converged, until I went to college. When I arrived at Washington University in St. Louis last fall, I didn’t know what to expect. I thought life would continue on like high school, except for the fact that I would be living in a 20x20 room five hundred miles away from my parents. I realized right away how wrong I was. There were more Indian students my age there than I had every seen, having lived in Rochester for most of my life. Not only that, I saw students of all sorts of different cultural backgrounds. The diversity astonished me. We have to take language courses at Wash U, and as I was perusing through the course catalog for my first semester classes, I came across the Hin- di department. I had always wanted to know Hindi, and what better opportunity than this? As a smaller, discussion-based class with topics I am genuinely interested in, Hindi quickly became one of my favorite classes and I grew close to many of the students I met there. I am now considering a minor in South Asian Studies, which will allow me to take more courses to explore my heritage, including courses about South Asian culture and history. During Navrathri time, students from Wash U made their way over to Saint Louis University for the Garba night. The enjoyable night con- sisted of prayers and a lot of dancing. Very soon into the year, posters and flyers for the annual Diwali show became apparent all over campus. Diwali is one of the largest cultural programs at Wash U, which the South Asian group puts on for two days in November.

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