Helping
young Hindus
make their way
Jayshree Rao was born in Tanzania and lived there until she was seven years old. When her family moved to England, suddenly she was attending an English school. It was the beginning of a difficult period of her life that would last 13 years.
“At recess, someone would throw out a question or comment about our culture, and I had no idea how to respond. Whenever conversations turned to cows, caste, arranged marriages or vegetarianism, I had this awful, sinking feeling. I grew up vegetarian, but how to explain it, I had no idea.
The questions were sometimes friendly, often not. Either way, I was on the spot.”
“When the media made one of those horrid reports about something Indian, I would cringe, knowing tomorrow at school the weight of the world would once again come down on my shoulders—which weren’t very strong. I learned to clam up. Some people were supportive, and I am grateful to them, but the culture gap remained, and it was painful.”
“Then, when I was in my early twenties, around 1982-83, all these negatives turned into one big positive.
Hinduism Today came into my life. It lifted my spirits and changed me altogether. Here was my culture in English (a rarity, back then). And here were my answers—intelligent, smartly presented—something I could show and be proud of. Questions lost their power to scare me, and became welcome opportunities instead. The prison wall around me fell, and I was free!”
“Here were my answers,
intelligent and smartly presented—
something I could show
and be proud of.”
Jayshree, who lives with her family in Manchester, UK, has donated generously to the Hinduism Today Production Fund, which is a part of Hindu Heritage Endowment. “I hope my humble gift will help our magazine reach all those younger Hindus who are facing the same challenges I did. I pray they will discover Hinduism Today early in their life and bypass a lot of confusion and pain. I hope they may recognize Hinduism Today as a true friend, and make it an essential part of their lives, so they can see how proud and self confident they can be when they begin to understand even just a little bit.
“I imagine a time when Hinduism Today will have offices in many places in the world where especially younger people could come to meet the staff, and absorb what confident Hinduism is, what knowledgeable Hinduism is, and understand what enlightened Hinduism is. I imagine this will happen, since the Production Fund also supports Hinduism Today staff travels.”
If, like Jayshree, you would like to help Hindu youth be self-confident and proud, please consider donating to the Production Fund.