Hinduism Summit highlights issues and unique solutions

Lighting of the oil lamp (l to r) 13-year-old volunteer Maitreyee, speakers Dr. S Kalyanaraman, Bhavna Shinde,Shilpa Kudtarkar and Maya Jairam

The Forum for Hindu Awakening (FHA)and the Durga Mandir of Virginia held asummit on June 18, 2011 to highlight issuesfaced by the Hindu community in Americaand provide unique and practical solutionsto those problems.

The summit began with a presentation byMaya Aram of Fort Collins, Colorado. In heraddress she described growing up in Americaand embracing Hindu spirituality. Comingfrom a non-religious, non-vegetarian background,Aram said she found answers to herspiritual quest in Hinduism's spiritual scienceand a vegetarian, Hindu way of life.

Shiplap Kudtarkar of Spiritual Science ResearchFoundation (SSRF) said spiritual prac- tice was important to successfully overcomeproblems. Dr. S. Kalyanaraman, a Hindu activistfrom Chennai, India, exposed the inaccurateand negative depiction of Hinduism inschool textbooks and higher academia andcalled for united protests to stop such misrepresentation.Bhavna Shinde Hurley, Hinduism EducationCoordinator of Durga Mandir and Spokespersonof FHA, drew attention to various issuessuch as converting of young Hindus to otherreligions and trivialization of Hindu deities inAmerican entertainment, art and advertisingindustries. The Summit commenced and concludedwith the auspicious conch blowing,lighting of the wick lamp and Vedic recitations.

2011 MetLife South Asian Spelling Bee kicks off

(2nd from left) 1st runner up Samruddhi Hande, San Diego, CA, (3rd from left) Regional Champ Shruti Amin, Murrieta, CA & runner up Mashad Arora,Brownsville, TX (right)

The 2011 MetLifeSouth AsianSpelling Bee beganits 10 city tour recentlywith the first two events inLos Angeles and BayArea. "This event is beingrecognized as the essentialplatform to get your firstexperience and also meetand interact with veteranspellers," said RahulWalia, Founder – SouthAsian Spelling Bee.

In LA, Shruti Aminfrom Murrieta, CA wasthe regional champ andSamruddhi Hande fromSan Diego, CA was thefirst runner up whileMashad Arora fromBrownsville, TX came inat third place. In BayArea, Akshayraj Aithafrom Dublin, CA was theregional champ andSwapnil Garg from Sunnyvale,CA was first runnerup while SuryaAuroprem, from San Jose,CA was second runner up.The winners received cashprizes of $500, $300 and$200 respectively.

Children up to 14 yearsof age are eligible to participateand the contestsaw spellers of even 6years of age compete andmake it past a few rounds.The top two winners plusone parent each fromevery city will be given anall expenses paid trip toNew Jersey on August 12, 2011, for the finals.

Hindu American charity's White House briefing aimed at increasing service

With your Seva Plan you can become change makers, says Anju Bhargava,founder of HASC

Hindu AmericanSeva Charities(HASC), a nonprofitorganization basedon the Dharmic philosophyof "service" to mankind, issponsoring a two-dayevent focused on enhancingseva through sustainablecommunity-basedseva centers to address domesticconcerns and encouraginginterfaithpartnerships.

The program will encourageparticipants torecord the number of hoursthey devote to the practiceof yoga for a six-week period.

The theme of theevent is "EnergizingDharmic Seva: ImpactingChange in America andAbroad," and the conferenceis designed to inspireall towards communityservice.

The event opens with abriefing at the WhiteHouse on July 29, 2011and the conference continuesat Georgetown Universityon July 30th and 31stas Festivals of Service.

In addition, HASC ispartnering with the President'sCouncil on Fitness,Sports, and Nutrition tolaunch a National YogaChallenge to motivate individualsacross the countryto participate in yoga andpromote a healthy lifestyle.

Charanams win top honors at citywide music competition

(L to R back) Jason Goldstein, Marcus Cummins, Tripp Dudley, (L to R front) Samyuktha Shiv-Raj, Nivedita ShivRaj of the victorious music
group, Charanams

Flushing-based bandCharanams won the"Battle of the Boroughs"contest organizedby WNYC radio last week,besting rivals from the fourother boroughs.Charanams will play afeature show at The GreeneSpace in Manhattan in Julyand an opening performanceat this year's SummerStage 2011 concert series.

An ecstatic NiveditaShivRaj, who anchors thegroup with her massiveveena - a sitar-like stringedinstrument that stands almost5-feet-tall, said, "It'sjust a thrilling, exciting experiencefor all of us. Weare very humbled by theamount of support we havereceived."

Her daughter, Samyukta,who lends her vocals to theproject, said they rehearsedconstantly to perfect theirIndian-inspired tunes overthe last three months. "Wedefinitely worked reallyhard for the ultimate battle- we knew what was atstake," she said. Themother-daughter combo,along with saxophonistMarcus Cummins, guitaristJason Goldstein and percussionistsTripp Dudleyand Advait Shah are readyto show that Queens is amusical destination unto itself.

"If this could bringpeople from other boroughsto Queens, thatwould be great. We haveshown that Queens has agreat talent pool of musicians,"Nivedita added.Charanams was the oneand only Indian band featuredin this fierce NewYork music contest thatstarted off with 524 submissionsfrom bands of allgenres.