GEETHA PATIL
WALTHAM, Massachusetts: Hindu Media Bureau (HMB) a community journalism organization based in Boston, Massachusetts, held its launch and fundraiser event at Westin, Waltham, April 06 with hundreds of people attending it.
The program started with an hour-long ‘Meet and Greet’ session. Sanjay Kaul, who is working for the Massachusetts Department of Transportation as Chief Engineer and is a life member of Kashmiri Overseas Association and World Hindu Council of America, welcomed all the participants and highlighted the agenda of the event.
Lochan Karthikeyan sang the Lord Ganesh Vandana. This was followed by lighting of the ceremonial lamp by Rajiv Malhotra, Francois Gautier, Prahlad Bahuder K.C., Anuradha Palakurti, Manju Sheth, Bini Dang, Kiran Nath, Sanjeeta Saxena, Ruchi Mishra, and Raji Gupta. After this, Abhaya Asthana, the Fellow at Nokia Bell Labs and President of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad of America, and Coordinator of WHC 2018@Chicago presented his introduction note to HMB.
Rajiv Malhotra and Francois Gautier were the chief guests of the event. Malhotra is an author, philanthropist, public speaker and writer on current affairs and world religions. Besides directing the Infinity Foundation in Princeton, he also chairs the Board of Governors of the Centre for Indic Studies at the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth, and advises various organizations.
He spoke about the strengthening of all mass media avenues by adopting long-term development of serious scholars, providing training for speakers and subject-matter experts, adopting rigorous due diligence, peer reviews, and debates, and formal publication of high standard sources.
Gautier is the Editor-in-Chief of the Paris-based La Nouvelle Revue de l’Inde, and a collector of books on India. He was the correspondent in South Asia for the Geneva-based Journal de Genève and Figaro and a regular columnist for number of newspapers in India. He has written several books, including Arise O India, A Western Journalist on India, India’s Self Denial, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: A Guru of Joy, and A New History of India. He is now writing a biography of Shivaji for Hay House.
Gautier said that there is a pressing need for teaching our youngsters about our rich history, Vedic literature, Hindu holocaust and many other areas by building museums that preserve and carry on the inspirational stories of India’s heroes and heroines. He as of the view that Hindus should understand how rich intellectual and spiritual power they have in their DNA and stop imitating Western education system and models. He called for serious work on making easily available the rich literature of Hinduism to others in the electronic media. Hindus should learn to defend themselves against all kinds of exploitation and misuse, he opined.
The HMB core team comprised of Dhanashree Ramchandran and Adriaan Van Swieten. Dhanashree is the founder and CEO of Nous Labs and trains people on meditation through her non-profit organization in Boston, Mass Yoga and Meditation. She said that HMB proposes firstly, to strengthen Hindu voice in media by publishing news articles promoting Hindu opinion on issues and affairs supported by educational campaigns and research projects.
Secondly, she said, HMB will work to re-establish authority in representing Hindu philosophies by identifying the channels that refer to less accurate translations of Sanskrit texts, commentaries and out-of-context mentions of Hindu traditions.
Adriaan, who works on research and development in the in the energy industry, said that he believes in the power of technology, “doing whatever it takes”, and asking the right questions. He is using his technical expertise in finding out the authenticity of the sources about India that are prevailing online.
Mahalexhmi (Maha) Pula, Vice-President at Akamai Technologies, conducted the event as the master of ceremony.
An entertainment piece, Rajmudra: The Royal Seal, was presented as the very first production of Hindu Media Bureau’s media arm. Lastly, Sanjay Kaul proposed a vote of thanks. Besides volunteers, speakers and guests, he also thanked Minerva Indian Cuisine for not only providing delicious food but also taking care of the participants who were fasting due to Chaitra Navaratri.
HMB’s main objectives are to bring together talented resources to support public reporting and broadcasting from all around the world and provide training in creating quality editorial content. A non-governmental agency, it aims to bring a change by putting together a structure to promote and protect the Hindu voice.
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