The Organization of Hindu Malayalees (OHM) held a Thanksgiving Banquet and Scholarship Fundraiser at the Taal restaurant in Fullerton, CA, on the 23rd of November, 2007, raising over $10,000 in donations towards providing scholarships to needy students in Kerala. Though OHM’s scholarship program is in its fourth year, this is the first such fundraiser banquet held by the program.
The banquet started with an introductory speech by Dr. Raman Unnikrishnan, Dean of the College of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at Cal State University, Fullerton. He eloquently highlighted the importance of encouraging children to pursue higher education. He also reminded the audience that "charity should hurt," implying that to make charity worthwhile, the contribution should not be something that one can simply afford to throw away. The highlight of the event was a selection of beautifully sung Ghazals by Babu Parameswaran, a gifted professional artist in Southern California. Hemat Ekbote’s rhythms on the tabla made the songs mesmeric. Babu was ably supported by his disciple Joseph Poozhikkala on the keyboard. Hema Panicker summarized the essence of these nostalgic songs for the benefit of the audience. Later in the evening, Dr. Ravi Raghavan introduced paintings by three great Indian artists to the audience, several of which were on display and for a charitable auction. Suresh Radhakrishnan compered the event in his eloquent and capturing style.
Hari Nair, chairperson of OHM’s scholarship committee, gave a presentation on the program, which is a grass roots effort to bring significant change to families and local communities back in India. It provides scholarships to underprivileged and discerning youth pursuing professional courses for higher education. Students attending these courses stand an excellent chance of finding jobs and supporting their families. Candidates for the scholarship program, which has been in place for the past 3 years, are identified through advisors in India. This makes the program unique and ensures that the help reaches deserving individuals in their hour of need. So far, this scholarship has benefited students pursuing Nursing, Medicine, Engineering, Law, Radiation Technology, Geology, etc. The event helped raise awareness on how families struggle to cope with the financial demands of higher education, as the costs of putting an individual through university soars every year. Poignant accounts of small incidents from the lives of scholarship recipients drove home the need for more generosity from our community. As Balakrishnan Panicker, steering committee member commented, "this banquet gave us an opportunity to reach out to the local community, and the excellent support we received has given us a major boost." The presentation must have touched a few young hearts, as evidenced by a refreshing number of questions regarding the program from even small children in the audience. Vinodh Bahuleyan, Secretary of OHM and Kerala Hindus of America (KHNA) thanked the sponsors HighGlow Jewellers, Taal Cultural Cuisine of India, and Sai Constructions, as well as others who helped make this event a great success.
OHM’s scholarship program is a pioneering effort supported by the Indian community of southern California, and has the same objectives as
the national effort by KHNA. It is a model for local organizations in other North American cities to emulate - both in terms of
finding trusted advisors in Kerala to oversee the scholarship program, as well as in staging such successful fundraiser banquets.