The Hindu Students Council of Hunter College in Manhattan, New
York recently organized a mini-yatra. Members of Queens College and NYU
HSC's also participated in the event.
The mini-yatra was held on Sunday, January 12-a cold and icy but
unforgettable day for the group of 17 who visited 5 mandirs and 2
gurudwaras in a rented bus.
The first stop was the Hindu Temple Society where the group
perfromed a special archana on behalf of HSC and recieved souveniers of
wallet-sized photos of Lord Ganesha. From here, the group traveled to
the Hindu Center where several members offered milk to Lord Shiva and
also engaged in an informal and informative conversation with one of the
priests there.
The third stop was the Sikh Center of Queens where the group
again recieved a very friendly welcome and prasad of sweet rasgullas.
Everyone also recieved calendars displaying Sikh history and heritage.
The group then traveled to the Satya Narayan Mandir in Elmhurst,
Queens. This temple was of great interest to all the members because it
is a mandir as well as a gurudwara.
The next stop was the Divyadham in Woodside, Queens where all of
the participants recieved souvenirs of keychains and booklets about Hinduism.
From here, the bus traveled to the Richmond Hill Gurudwara where
the group was served a delicious vegetarian lunch. Here also, everone
recieved souveniers of stickers, booklets on Sikhism, and calendars.
The final stop was the Hare Krishna Mandir of the International
Society for Krishna Consciousness(ISKCON) in Brooklyn. The group
recieved a special tour of the hall beautifully decorated with scenes
from the Mahabharata. THe temple store was opened to allow members to
make purchases. Everyone was served a delicious vegetarian dinner cooked
in pure ghee before heading back home.
THe trip was the first formally organized event by the Hunter
College HSC and was greatly enjoyed by all those who participated and
learned from it.
