Newsletter-August/September 2021
| Presidential Message – V. Balaraman Namaste, the faithful followers of this monthly newsletter. Even as we are are at early September and 2/3rds of this year is behind us, there has been almost constant deluge of news keeping us transfixed to all of the happenings around us in this world. This update covers the time from our last update in July through now. August was a month with many memorable events worthy of mentioning and reminiscing. Our adopted home of Hawaii celebrated statehood day even as for many Indians the celebration of Independence day on August 15th (beginning of 75th year) was equally joyous. Many Indians celebrated Raksha Bandan as a symbol of family unity even as communities celebrated the festivals of Onam and Krishna Janmashtami. These celebrations and positivity were curtailed by the raging spike in the cases of COVID-19 infections in our community with its associated hospitalizations and loss of life. No community communication is complete without bringing out the issue of us struggling to come to agree on a meaningful strategy to overcome our challenges with living with COVID-19. Even as medical sciences offer solutions to meaningfully manage the impact of infections in the community, we have a sizeable population who are unwilling to embrace these solutions. It behooves us to take note of a recent comments by Professor Bhawuk in the Star Advertiser talking about the issue of leadership in our public organizations needed to help us during these difficult times. This month, Meenakshi Kutty gives us a youthful perspective on spirituality in the youth corner section of this newsletter. I would encourage volunteers from our community to step forward to share their thoughts by writing short pieces for our community corner. In closing, even as we begin our journey into the last third of this year, let us work together on efforts to support those around us and also continue to practice personal well being. The volunteer leadership of LOTUS is willing to hear innovative ideas from the community and work on them. In our effort to spread our message wide, please also encourage interested individuals new to the community to check out our website and to contact me to be included in this newsletter distribution. |
| Remembrances: The Kutty family lost their faithful companion of over ten year, Roxy Kutty, earlier in August. As a community we continue remember and grieve the loss of some of our members with it being the first anniversary this September for the Passing of Dr. Vinoo Ganapathy and Prof. Subramanyam Ramanathan. |
| Youth Corner: Meenakshi Kutty shares some of her thoughts – Spirituality and Diversity – The Essence of Life Growing up in Hawai’i with immigrant parents from India, I fortunately had the opportunity to allow myself to experience true cultural diversity. With this lifestyle that I was raised in, the idea of “acceptance of all backgrounds” became one of the core foundations of who I am. From experiencing different religious and ethnic cultures in school to merely going to a restaurant that was not an Indian cuisine, I was able to internally normalize the interactions with those who were no like me or with those who were considered “abnormal” in the eyes of the majority. However, living in a diverse setting my whole life never disabled me from staying true to one of the major identities that I was born as: Indian and Hindu. Fortunately, my parents hold much pride in who we are, especially when it comes to ethnicity and religion, which allowed me to understand a huge part of who I am. My ethnic culture was mainly my home culture, which is where I understood most of my Indian background. From clothing, to food, to language, I was able to appreciate my ethnicity and have much pride in being Indian. But it is important for me to mention that going to Indian parties made me realize the most important part about even being Indian: being loud and chaotic. While I am mainly loud and chaotic because of the genes from my crazy mom and loud dad, the energy is also very much seen in all the aunties and uncles who definitely know how to party. And that is why I throw better parties than my non-Indian friends. But with all jokes aside, there was also the religious and spiritual side of my identity that I learned to understand with time, and is probably the part of me with the most depth and complexity. Going to the temple every third Sunday of the month or attending pujas with my parents allowed me to explore my faith and beliefs in the Hindu religion. It also helped me to understand my perception of the world and my actions that build up who I am. Being given the opportunity to explore who I am in a spiritual sense taught me much about myself, my place and purpose in this world, and how to seek the direction of the path that I must create with the experiences that I cherish from every aspect of life. Attending religious gatherings, especially with LOTUS, provided me a space to be with those who not only understood me, but also helped me to continue understanding myself in the midst of experiencing what I am not; to not forget who I am while I am with others. Having been born and raised in Hawai’i has taught me much about other cultures, ideas, beliefs, etc. Especially going to a school, my entire school career, that is not majority Indian and the religion is not Hinduism, I was able to experience the beauty of other cultures. I was given the space to see how I can relate to a person, while also differing from them. I was taught the idea of sharing the experiences and aspects of my culture, instead of gate-keeping it and convincing others why my culture and identity is important. One of the most important takeaways from living in Hawai’i is how to ethically become aware of the similarities and differences from one’s own culture compared to another’s. This can also be known as unlocking the secret to living. After learning about much of who I am, I realized much of my passions based on my understanding of who I am. The first is my artistic side, which came from my interest in how all cultures use art to pass along stories or to express deep emotions. From being classically trained in bharatanatyam to learning hula, I have been able to submerge myself in different thoughts, beliefs, and ideas, simply from an artistic medium. The second passion is entrepreneurship and leadership. My want to help people improve something in their life has always been my goal and I was fortunate enough to realize that through my understanding of how I view life, brought on through my spiritual identity. Discovering my passion was not simple, but through the understanding of who I am, the journey that I have created for myself is undoubtedly one that I can confidently say has meaning. Being an Indian and Hindu in Hawai’i changed me, while also creating me. And because I allow myself to truly understand the idea of opening up to others, I am able to normalize my existence with everyone around me, no matter their differences in any aspect of life. In other words, I am able to live. |
| Temple Activities – September 19th, 2021 This month we welcome back Prof. Bhawuk to performing the monthly pooja in person. After travels on the mainland for the past several months he is back.. Please feel free to come to the temple if you are comfortable with a commitment of practicing appropriate personal and communal safety protocols. We will also continue to enforce the mandates issued by the City and County of Honolulu and the State of Hawaii. We appreciate the efforts of many who have taken up the call to assist with keeping the Temple grounds clean to the best of our ability. Please continue to do your part while visiting the temple. |
| September/October Calendar: September 10 – Ganesha Chathurti September 19 – Wahiawa Temple Pooja Day September 23 – Autumnal Equinox October 2 – Gandhi Jayanthi October 15 – Dussehra October 17 – Wahiawa Temple Pooja Day October 24 – Karwa Chauth |
