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Imran Qureshi in Bangalore
Why is a sari worn, what is a Hindu's heritage, what is yoga, how can Hindus face up to ethnic strife?
To learn all this and more, almost 100 second-generation Hindus from 10 countries have gathered at an annual training camp organised in Bangalore by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, India's most influential Hindu group.
With traditional sports, lectures, discussions, slide shows and question-answer sessions, the 21-day camp is part of the RSS programme to give overseas Hindus a taste of their roots.
"Unlike here, where the gap between one Hindu and another is just a wall, in other countries it could be hundreds of miles. Parents have a problem to maintain Hindu identity," said RSS spokesman Sripathi Sastry.
Sastry said the camp was an attempt to answer the questions of Hindu children born abroad about their faith.
A day at the camp begins at 4.30am with lessons in traditional martial arts and drill followed by academic lessons and discussions. Indian games like kho-kho and kabaddi are also taught.
The camp seems to be making an impact on its visitors. "I can get ideas about my dharma, about yoga. It's more a refresher course for me," said Sanjay Mangalal Dhorajia, a software engineer from Britain. "Now I can go back to Birmingham and improve the shakhas (branches) there."
The RSS has over 400 branches around the world.
It was ethnic strife between Hindus and Christians in Surinam that prompted 15-year-old Amaris Reame to take a 56-hour flight to Bangalore to study Hinduism. "I have come here to gain more knowledge," said Reame, a member of the Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh, the overseas version of the RSS.
"The training camp will help them [the participants] to work for the Hindu community more intensely," said Ravi Kumar, a 'pracharak' [RSS 'preacher'] from Sydney. "The art of living in an alien culture and the art of organisation is being taught here. Questions like why a bindi is applied on the forehead or why a sari is worn are explained. It gives them a new dimension in life."
Indo-Asian News Service
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