Venilal Vaghela, Chairman of the Brent Hindu Council is an excellent host. The bright welcome, the delicious food and the melodious music at the Raksha Bandhan dinner the Hindu Council had organised at Kadwa Patidar Samaj on 23rd August were of the highest quality. A string of ladies stood at the entrance tying rakhis round the wrists of guests, while another string of ladies handed out bowls of bhajiyas and crisps.
Tony McNulty, Junior Minister, Councillor Thamaiyya and Krishna Raleigh, Editor of India Link greeted me warmly at my table. A lady in a colourful sari placed a plate of bhajiyas for us to munch. Thamaiyya took one bite, choked, went bright red, murmured something about the bhajiya being rather spicy and quickly gulped down a glass of water. My wife smiled at me and whispered, “Its really not spicy at all. Take a quick bite. Here!”
Venilal Vaghela made a rather appealing speech about the concept of ‘raksha’ not being interpreted only as protection, but also service. “The British ruled India by the principles of ‘divide and rule.’ However we should learn from our mistakes and stay united so that we can speak with one Hindu voice,” he said.
Tony McNulty waxed eloquently about the need for service being the only thing that mattered. “And in serving each other, we must learn to appreciate our rich diversity,” he finished.
Air Chief Marshall N Suri, who served in the Indian Air Force started off rather well, but went into a rather long and monotonous sermon about the core values of Hinduism. He continued speaking for what seemed like the ends of time, completely unaware of the yawns and grimaces round the hall. To top it all, he finished ironically by saying, “To end my short speech….”
I looked at Thamaiyya incredulously and asked, “Did you really think that was a short speech?!”
“It’s the usual story,” he murmured, chewing on a chilli bhajiya and immediately gulping another glass of water.
The band revved up and sang a few Bollywood numbers as a few maasis and maasas started dancing in filmi ishtyle. The food was served by smiling volunteers and had the stamp of the Vaghela mark of excellence.
And oh, I almost forgot - the bhajiyas they were dishing out were not screaming hot at all, but ice-coldish. Councillor Thamaiyya, are you listening?
The gentleman saint
Nearly 800 people flocked to hear an English lecture by Dada J P Vaswani the patron saint of the Sindhi community on 18h August at Logan Hall near Russell Square. I decided to call Gul Bhojwani, Secretary of the Sadhu Vaswani Mission in UK. He came to the phone, sounding rather breathless and busy. “I am walking in a park with Dadaji right now. He always walks for an hour every day. Can I call you back in 30 minutes please?”
Before the thirty minutes were up, a genuinely apologetic Gul Bhojwani called up from his house and said, “I could not hear you too well at the park because of the traffic. It’s much quieter here.”
Exactly three seconds later, Bhojwani’s voice was drowned by the loud clang of hand cymbals, a harmonium and a group of bhajan singers. “I am sorry,” apologised Bhojwani again. “Some devotees have popped into this room to sing bhajans. I’ll go into the next room.”
I was a bit sorry too – the singing was quite melodious and I really did want to hear a bit more of it. But Bhojwani seemed firmly determined to save my ears from any loud noise and we continued speaking in dignified solitude.
“Did you have any notable dignitaries at the lectures?” I asked him.
“Oh no. Dignitaries shift the focus of the event. People come to hear Dadaji speak, not other dignitaries,” he said rather vehemently. “But Councillor Kanti Patel from Barnet and business leaders like the Hindujas and the Budhranis attend Dada Vasani’s lectures every year. “
At the lecture at Logan Hall, Dada Vaswani had spoken on “Eight words that can change your life”. And the eight words were: ‘I am not alone - God is with me.’
“Dadaji asked us to repeat these eight words throughout the day, every day of our lives” said Bhojwani. “And he said this will make our attitude more positive, increase our confidence, improve our performance, and completely change our lives.”
If only everything in life was that simple!