CONVENTIONS

KHNA - Past Conventions

The Glorious Beginning - 2001 DALLAS, TEXAS, May 25, 2001: A convention of 700 Keralite Hindus was held at the Thrimurti Nagar in Dallas, Texas, to facilitate a spiritual reawakening among the Malayalee Hindu community in North America. It was the first of its kind in North America, and was addressed by religious leaders from India and the United States. The Kerala Hindu Society of Dallas, Texas hosted the convention along with council members from all over North America. The convention was inaugurated by the spiritual inspiration behind KHNA, Jagadguru Swami Sathyananda Saraswathi, head of the Ramadasa Ashram in Chengottukonam in Kerala, and Sree Ramadasa Mission in the US. The event included a youth forum discussion, religious discourses, a classical concert, and group prayers. Sri K.G. Manmadhan Nair was the organizing committee chairman.

The Texas Tango continues (in the nick of time)! - 2003 HOUSTON, TEXAS, Nov 28-30, 2001: The second biennial convention of Kerala Hindus of North America was held at Houston. The convention was attended by spiritual leaders such as Jagadguru Swami Sathyananda Saraswathi along with social and political leaders such as Sri Vellappally Natesan. The speeches by dignitaries like Sri N. Gopalakrishnan made the convention unforgettable. The convention organized several parallel sessions, and paid specific attention to building the Youth wing of KHNA, with separate tracks and halls set up for them. The convention included enjoyable cultural and arts programs, religious discourses and group prayers that kept the audience fully engaged over the three days. Sri Sasidharan Nair was the organizing committee chairman and KHNA president. Perhaps the most notable achievement of the organizers was the fact that the convention was put together with barely a few months of notice, after it was initially expected to be held in another city!

KHNA's "Brotherly Love" Headquarters! 2003-2005 CHICAGO, IL: The Hindu organization of Chicago, "Geethamandalam," under the able leadeship of new KHNA President Sri Anil Kumar Pillai takes up the responsibility to take KHNA to the next level. KHNA starts its quarterly magazine, Anjali, as well as the frequent email newsletter, eAnjali. The magazine subscription base and the KHNA mailing list grew several fold during this period to over 1500 members, and KHNA also made inroads into the US west coast, with involvement by Southern California members. Seva activities also started, with fundraising for Tsunami disatser relief resulting in several relief houses being built by Seva Bharati with KHNA funds. The Chicago convention saw a substantial increase in registration, with nearly 350 families and over 1000 people attending. The classical music concert by Dr. Sreevalsan Menon and the dance ballet on Swami Ayyappa by the Dharani School from Kochi were the cultural program highlights. See the 2004 Activities and the 2005 Activities pages for details of several KHNA meetings and activities held during this period

The Big Apple in KHNA Limelight! 2005-2007 NEW YORK, NY: That it took several years before KHNA could have the city with the largest Hindu Malayalee population in the continent as its headquarters, speaks of the diversities in the same city. That KHNA under the leadership of President Sri Venkat Sharma energized a vast group of volunteers to take up significant work in the city is also a testament to the organization's ability to bring about unity for the sake of the ideals that all the Hindu Malayalees hold dear. The most significant organizational change in this period was that a Trustee Board, which had been envisaged in the constitution under review and revisions earlier, came into existence. Sri Udayabhanu Panicker was elected as the Trustee chair after the previous convention. In cooperation with the President and the director board, the Trustee board initiated some longer-term projects, the most significant being the scholarship fundraiser program. Scholarships of $250 each were given to 49 needy and deserving youth in Kerala. The KHNA convention held July 1-4, 2007 at Pranava Nagar, Hilton Rye Brooke, was universally acknowledged as the convention of the highest quality that the attendees had witnessed in any organization such as KHNA. The highlights of the convention were the unforgettable classical concert by Sri Ramesh Narayan and the awe-inspiring Ganamela by the queen of playback singers, Chitra. See the NY convention pictures page to see what you missed! .. For the activities based in New York, please see the 2006 Activities and the 2007 Activities pages.

Surf, Sand and Sanathana Dharma - Westward, Ho! 2007-2009 LOS ANGELES, CA: After a very highly successful convention led by President Dr. Ramadas Pillai and the volunteers from the Organization of Hindu Malayalees (OHM), every one is looking forward for the next convention to be held in Washington DC in July 2011.

Washington, Lincoln and America's forefathers invite KHNA to our great nation's capital! 2009-2011 WASHINGTON, DC: The baton has now been passed to the Washington DC group, led by the new President Sri M G Menon and an army of eager volunteers from the DC Metropolitan area, Virginia, MaryLand and the surrounding areas. Please keep an eye on the KHNA News Update page for details on all that will be happening in the coming months.

Originally Compiled by Prof. R. Jayakrishnan, KHNA Trustee and Chair, Member Relations Committee (2007-09) /Trustee Vice Chair (2009-2011)