Hindu Sunday School in New York

June 16, 2003

Source: Hartford Courant

On June 16, 2003 the Hartford Courant reported that "as a day of worship, Sunday has no particular relevance in the Hindu faith. And until recently at Sri Satyanarayana Temple [NY], there certainly was no such thing as Sunday school... But now, more than 50 children who range from 4 to 15 fill the temple's downstairs room every Sunday. The Temple's Sunday school is one of about a half-dozen Sunday schools within a temple in the country, said Jyotish Parekh, president of World Hindu Council of America, a religious and cultural organization based in New York with chapters in 30 states... For an inter-faith family, the temple program is especially helpful, added [Vinnay Verma]... 'My wife is French-Canadian. She teaches [our son] French and I teach him Hindi...' One day the temple will be in the hands of American-born Hindus, for whom India will be a place to visit... 'We are living here with a dominant culture. Where do we want to go in this melting pot?' Reddy said. 'This is how we sustain ourselves, even a hundred years from now.'"