VHPA BalVihar: The connection of culture from old to young
What is BalVihar?
What was once a seven student class with the objective of teaching the Hindi language and Hindu culture has become a tremendous, highly recognized and dignified program that dedicates itself to the expansion of Hindu languages and cultures among newer generations of Hindus in America.
VHPA BalVihar describes themselves as an education program that is committed to educating, cherishing, and celebrating the Hindi language and Hindu culture. The Atlanta Chapter of BalVihar functions under the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, or World Hindu Council of America, an organization that abides under cherishing the beauty that is Hindu culture and identity.
Those who commit to teaching, organizing, and generally helping under BalVihar work on a voluntary basis. All teachers go through extensive training, ensuring their expertise and experience in their individual field of teaching. What motivates the volunteers is their sheer desire to enrich the knowledge of new generations of Hindu-Americans in Atlanta.
Objectives of BalVihar
Defining the Importance of BalVihar in Our Community
In a survey conducted at South Forsyth High School, it was concluded that most students of any Indian origin can fluently speak a Hindu language of Indian origin; however, can only somewhat read and write. This is where BalVihar can help students truly flourish in Indian languages and extend the depth of knowledge being spread across generations of Indian teens and young adults in foreign countries.
Additionally, learning Hindi serves as a quintessential step of fully embracing Hindu culture, including exotic Indian poetry, scriptures, literature, and philosophy. Hindi is based on Sanskrit, the basis of language within India, and one of the oldest languages in the world.
In India, almost every state has its own unique language. While Hindi is the national language and is spoken widely throughout all parts of India, it is also in many other countries. This helps Indians become versatile language speakers; they have to adapt to the many languages spoken as they move across the country.
In order to fully understand why the BalVihar program is so important, Gopalkrishna Vishwanath, a retired Structural Engineer & language and internet/social media enthusiast, explains how, as a South Indian, learning Hindi helped him communicate effectively in parts of his country.
"The whole of India outside your home state will seem like a familiar place and you will not feel like an outsider. I learned Hindi. It was a struggle initially because I started late but today I am so happy that I learned it well and recall with pleasure how advantageous it has been to me."
He explains that learning Hindi can benefit almost anyone, in any aspect of their life; whether that be building foreign relationships, or speaking to a fellow Indian from another state.
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His views, alongside several statistics proving Hindi to be a global necessity, provide a link between Indians of all states and origins.
Discussing Language Diffusion with a Hindu-American at South Forsyth High School
As a means to understand the perspective of an Indian students living in the United States, I spoke to Sreenivas Yellayi, a junior at South Forsyth High School about the importance his mother tongue holds in his everyday life in another country.
"I learned Telagu at home by listening and speaking. [BalVihar] is important mostly because we need to be able to communicate and hold on to our cultural characteristics from the past. Also, we need to be able to communicate with relatives and grandparents."
Speaking to the VHPA Atlanta Chapter Executive Board
In order to further grow my knowledge on the core values and origin of BalVihar, I spoke to the Atlanta Chapter Executives about what they believed the importance of these organizations are in our community, and what motivated them to constantly support the mission VHP of America was about.
Smita Daftardar
Smita Daftardar is a volunteer at BalVihar that teaches students and helps run the program smoothly. Her eloquent philosophies about the importance of cultural diffusion can give insight on how BalVihar is substantially affecting the younger generations of HIndus in America.
"You can, to some extent, maybe absorb culture from your surroundings, you can probably understand some language by listening to it, but if you really learn the language, you have to have a formal education in that. That's where BalVihar comes in. "
Manju Tiwari
Manju Tiwari has been with the organization for almost 27 years, painstakingly contributing her whole heart to spreading her culture and language to the younger generations of Hindus as a volunteer teacher at BalVihar. I spoke with her about why she believed BalVihar was crucial to the American Hindus in Atlanta.
"VHPA's BalVihar teaches the Universal Principles. These are good for humanity."
Shyam Tiwari
Shyam Tiwari is a highly dedicated member of the BalVihar executive committee, and helps spread the message that the organization works to instill in Hindu-American families across Atlanta. He spoke on the importance of the incorporation of language to establish a base of culture, and self identity in generations of Hindus in America.
"We are seeing [BalVihar's] impact, where our children who got education in BalVihar became successful dentists, lawyers, doctors; their children are now coming back to BalVihar. That's how we see it getting propagated; they have the same value system, and they think its a good idea to maintain the cultural heritage."
Jayant Daftardar
What started with a path for his children has now made Jayant Daftardar the Secretary of the VHPA BalVihar Atlanta Chapter. He spoke on his journey of finding a connection to his roots in America, helping his children truly know themselves, and finding an identity amongst their Indian peers. He wanted newer generations of Hindu- Americans to have a similar education as his in India, and he was able to achieve so with BalVihar.
"We have some parents whose children graduated a long time ago- maybe 6 or 7 years; but they still come here just to help the school run this program. That is our strength. Volunteers who work for the school are the strength of the program."
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Created with images by Fancycrave - "untitled image" • Church of the King - "untitled image"