A special ceremony to mark the installation of a new Hindu shrine at Birmingham’s Queen Elizabeth Hospital took place on Monday this week.
The event was an exemplar of community cohesion in action. People from all walks of life and all faiths and community backgrounds took part.
Priests Rama and Rakesh Bhatt led a consecration ceremony which was televised live far and wide, including on a screen in the nearby auditorium which was packed with guests with musical recital of ‘kirtans’ or hymns by devotees from the ISKCON Movement,
The ‘Dharmic Prayer Room’, first of its kind at University Hospitals Birmingham, offers a space for prayer, meditation, or quiet reflection. It aims to connect people and communities, regardless of their differences.
Guests included Hindu Chaplain Sonia Nath, Dr Andrew Hardie, Professor Sunil Poshakwale, Dhirajlal Shah, veteran Birmingham Gujarati School teachers Sarayuben Patel, Kapilaben, Sumanbhai Myanger, UK President of the Namdhari Sikh Community, Bipinbhai Shingadia from BAPS, Jigar and Komaldeep-Kaur Bhagalia, Pankaj Choudhary, Manyojeet Singh, President of the Hindu Society at Birmingham University Roshni Prabhu and fellow medical students, volunteer Vimla Prema, Bhuvneshbhai Shah, Dr Amit Kotecha, Orthopaedic consultant Kanai Garala and his GP mum from Coventry, Dr Bharti Garala, NHS Director Dr Darren Ralph, Dr Aditi and Dr Shrikant Kulkarni, anaesthetic and orthopaedic consultants, respectively, Champaben Patel, paediatrician Dr Madhu Gowda – to name just a few.
Thanks to Babubhai Garala, former President of Coventry’s Shri Krishna Temple, for the invitation.
The West Midlands is home to just over 88,000 Hindus, representing 1.5% of the region’s population.
