Hindu YUVA, University of Washington

Namaste,

HSS Seattle will be celebrating the Vijaya Dashami on Sunday, Oct 19^th.

Every year Sangh celebrates Vijayadashami (Dussera) publicly with great enthusiasm. This ancient and traditional festival not only symbolizes the victory of good over evil, but also reminds us the ‘shakti’ or positive power of unity that can be used for the welfare of humanity. Vijayadashami is also Sangh’s foundation day.

This year too, we have planned a program that will showcase physical and cultural group presentations by kids, youth and adults on this day. Please save the date and time, and join in the celebrations.

Date: Sunday, Oct 19th
Time: 4:00PM – 6:00PM (followed by dinner)

Venue: Crossroads Community Center (1600 NE 10th St. Bellevue, WA 98008)

On 24th August, we are celebrating Raksha Bandhan in shakha. Traditionally Raksha Bandhan is celebrated on the full moon(purnima) of the month of Shravana and signifies the bond of protection between brother and sister. In shakha we extend this concept to the entire community, protecting each other and protecting dharma. It is a great experience to celebrate this traditional festival in the morning atmosphere. Rakhis will be provided. Everybody is invited. Venue: HUB lawns, University of Washington Time: 9 am to 10:30 am

Join us with friends for this event that emphasizes universal brotherhood. Hope to see you all then.

Dhanyawaad,

Run Forrest Run! (Click for album)

Around half a dozen volunteers from HY went to help organise the SeaFair marathon. The marathon is a huge operation. Around 26 miles of course that needs to kept safe for the runners. The WA-520 bridge was closed too for the marathon. We were stationed at different intersections as ‘course marshalls’. Course marshalls keep the course safe by preventing vehicles to run in the same lane as the runners and also encourage the runners. We reached our positions around 7 am. We were given a bag with some water, a fruit, some instructions and posters with the words ‘Run, Run’.After about half an hour we could see the red and blue flashing lights or a couple of police bikes slowly coming towards us. They were escorting the leading pack of runners, about half a dozen Kenyans and one caucasian. I showed my ‘Run, Run’ sign enthusuastically but the runners were too busy concentraing on te race. Only the police stared at me. After another 13 mins a trickle of runners started and it grew slowly.

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Coming Saturday, June 7, we all will have a wonderful opportunity to meet Ramesh Shah ji,
the vice president of Ekal Vidyalaya, US. For more information about Ekal see http://ekal.org

Date: Saturday June 7
Time: 6pm to 8pm
Venue: 4250 Aurora Ave N Apt # A305 Seattle WA 98103 (Please note, venue changed)

6 to 7 will be presentation about ekal/discussion with Ramesh ji. This will be followed by
potluck dinner (If you can bring something for potluck, please mail me back).

Ramesh ji’s brief bio:

Ramesh Shah is a member of the Executive Management Team at Ekal Vidhyala Foundation of the USA. He has been working tirelessly as a volunteer with Ekal for the last 5 years, helping them set up the financial and governance structure in the US, fundraising for schools and educating various communities about the need to support education in the rural and tribal areas in India, where there is nothing. He is passionate about education because coming from a rural village himself, he has benefited from the educational opportunities he has received. Besides his personal passion with Ekal, Ramesh Shah is also a Vice President at Morgan Stanley Dean Witter where he is financial adviser. Prior to join Morgan Stanley, Rameshji worked as an engineer with Bechtel and MW Kellogg. His personal passion however is building community. He helped start the Gujarati Samaj of Houston, the India Culture Center, Bal Vihars, Hindu Heritage Camps, and has been the driving force for community events in Houston, always looking for ways to bring the community together. Rameshji is originally from Gabat in Gujarat, received his BS degree from Baroda University, has a masters in Economic from University of Houston and an MBA from Pace University in New York.