It started off as two innocent sounding club-nights at different venues in Leicester that had been marketed as the buzzword in music and dance - a night that the two different organisers, Radia and R33CE, had hoped would have Leicester's Indian youth flocking to it in droves. But instead, they had insults, threats and abuse hurled at them in heaps.
The two organisers had of course made one big mistake. In an attempt to be creative, both of them had coincidentally named the club-night, 'Jagraan' - which, not coincidentally, is also the name of a religious fast observed for the mother Goddess Durga. What they had not reckoned with was the increasingly vocal Hindu community in Britain who latched on to their inappropriate choice of name like dirt to a duster.
The Hindu Dharma Sabha, which describes itself as a 'large professional organisation of Hindus around the UK with an aim to pinpoint areas where the Hindu name is tarnished,' immediately started an email campaign about what it described as an 'insult to Hindus'.
The Hindu Human Rights group, which has a history of successfully spearheading high-profile campaigns including the recent one about sacred images on bikinis, posted a protest on its website. The Leicester Mercury and other local papers picked up the scent of what was obviously a juicy piece of controversy.
Community leaders were quick in issuing statements condemning the insult to Durga, and urged the organisers to change the name of the celebrated evening.
Two days later, Sharon Uttam from BBC's Sonia Deol Show called me with a request to appear on the show to comment on the Jagraan controversy. She waxed lyrical about the Jagraan event as if it had been God's gift to the Asian youth - and went on to ask me if I thought that the club-night was an innovative way of attracting the younger generation to religion.
I was flabbergasted and furious - flabbergasted by the splendid absence of information and insipid abundance of nonchalance that she displayed without batting an eyelid, and furious at this indifference to the sensitivities of the community. An event that was meant only for popular music, alcohol and dance is nothing but a club night - or as the British say, it's just a gig. And a gig is a gig is a gig - no amount of name-changing is going to make it look like a peaceful arati ceremony where the devout sing soothing songs of worship.
Sharon, however, insisted on asking me if the Hindu temples in Britain were making any attempts to reach out to the youth. She thought that they prefer going to clubs and probably find temples quite daunting. She wondered if the Hindu community was able to communicate to the youth in 'their' language. This opened up a whole new area that sounded much more relevant and important than even the Jagraan controversy.
Most Hindu temples in the UK generally seem to attract a middle- aged or 60-plus clientele usually of the female variety. Even this clientele is becoming an endangered species at an alarming rate, while the teenage and mutant species who call themselves BBBs face virtual extinction on temple premises. A BBB, if you did know, is someone who is British Born and Bred - the kind of teen of Indian origin who does not have clue what language his ancestors spoke for the last one thousand years.
"Going to the temple has never appealed to me because I believe more in humanitarian service than service to God. I think this is more important than rituals at the temple," explained Vishal Thakrar, a 25- year-old graduate, who has recently got a job at the Probation Services. "Some people may like to go to the gym or go clubbing, but I prefer going cinema or watching football."
To be fair, there are some sections of the Hindu community who are highly skilled in reaching out to the youth. Youth groups from the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), Swaminarayan Hindu Mission, Chinmaya Mission and others have special programmes that have attracted thousands of youth to the path of spirituality.
The Chinmaya Mission's youth camps conducted by Swami Swaroopananda are usually a big hit because they are interactive and filled with a variety of activities. Last year, their youth camp attracted 75 youngsters between the ages of 18 and 30 on the theme 'Storm to Perform'.
"The youth at the camp responded very well," recalled Milen Shah, one of the organisers. "We had morning meditation sessions, group discussions, role plays, discourses, dramas and many other activities."
Swami Swaroopanada explained that Chinmayananda the founder of the Chinmaya Mission had a clear vision on how to involve and inspire the youth. "He often said that the youth are not useless, but just used less," he said.
The Pandava Sena, the youth wing of ISKCON has a phenomenal membership of 7,000 Hindu youth from its eight UK branches and 20 university societies. They hold weekly or fortnightly 'Jammin' sessions in their branches where Hindu youngsters come for a feast of music, dance, feasting and interactive discussions.
"We can't provide the youth what they want unless we understand their nature," said Yuvraj Rana, the young Chairman of the Pandava Sena. "The youth are much more dynamic, a lot more enthusiastic, and have very high levels of energy. The youth do not like to listen to long lectures or attend aratis all the time. They prefer to learn by doing things."
Pandava Sena activities are varied and colourful. Every year they have a team of youngsters who build a thirty foot Ravana effigy that they burn to cinders during their Dussehra festivities. The fireworks and dramatics that the Pandava Sena stage attract thousands of youngsters to Bhaktivedanta Manor Hare Krishna temple in Watford. Pandava Sena also organise workshops, interactive debates and international trips. In July over 150 youth between the ages of 18 and 25 will be heading off to an ISKCON farm in Spain where they will engage in sports like indoor skiing, go-karting, bowling and swimming. These activities will be interspersed with lectures and interactive workshops with two monks of the Hare Krishna movement who will fly down specially to inspire the youth.
"And every evening, we will have lots of music, dancing and good food," said Yuvraj, "It's the same sort of activities in a club. But the difference is we do it in the service of the Supreme Lord, Sri Krishna. We sing devotional songs, we dance, and we eat sanctified vegetarian food offered to God."
Three years ago, the youth wings of 30 Hindu organisations successfully came together to form the Hindu Youth UK.
"The seed for the development of the HYUK was sown at a lecture organised by the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies (OCHS) where elder members of the community were inspired by students of the Centre," explained Bhavit Mehta, its General Secretary.
Following this, youth from across the UK organised a nine-day Hindu Youth Festival in September 2001 on a scale and vision not previously heard of. The festival included evening activities to celebrate and appreciate the diversity and richness of the Hindu culture, in combination with the daytime lectures by Pujya Shri Rameshbhai Oza.
In 2002 and 2003, HYUK organised high-profile 'Get Connected' youth festivals that attracted high-calibre youth from the community in an engaging manner. Future projects of the HYUK include a Hindu Teachers Conference, an Interfaith Retreat, Academic Research Projects, Annual Sports Tournaments, a Get Connected Extravaganza in Leicester in August, another Get Connected festival in London later in 2004 and a National Youth 'Mobi-Fest'.
The irony of the matter is that the Hindu community in Britain has not yet realised the value of sharing good practices. The success of these organisations in reaching out to the youth can be easily replicated and repeated by other organisations. Yet many organisations are not able to pick up these good practices and learn from each other. Educating Hindu youth by sharing resources and good practice is perhaps more important than even shouting hoarse about events like Jagraan.
And by the way, Zanzibar, one of the Clubs that organised the Jagraan night in Leicester suddenly developed cold feet on Friday and cancelled the evening. While apologising for any insult the event may have caused to the Hindu community, Neil Jennings the General Manager of Zanzibar said, "Previously Jagraan events have been held at the University of Leicester Students Union complex. My understanding is that these events were very successful and that no concerns have been expressed before. Why are they suddenly protesting now?"
Will someone please tell him?
(The author is the General Secretary
of the Hindu Forum of Britain, the largest umbrella body for Hindu organisations
in Britain and a commentator on current affairs.)