Brent Indian Association (BIA) was established in Ealing Road Wembley (also known as Greater Gujarat) some 50 years ago.
BIA caters for the needs of various services for local Indian community irrespective of caste or religion. It is not funded by the local council or any religious organisation as such. It manages to serve thousands of people every year and depends on community support – predominantly Hindus, Jains and Sikhs.
It has been very fortunate to have an active and dedicated team of voluntary workers led by determined executive committee headed by Ms Anita Ruparelia as the chairman. *
On 20th December a dialogue was organised at BIA on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's recent UK visit and Indo-British relationship (See Asian Voice, 26th December issue, page number 16). A vegetarian dinner was served on the ground floor – Assembly (Prayer) Room.
I was sitting near a corner where I saw a clean table with Hindu, Jain, Buddhist, Sikh deities along with Islamic and Christian presence displayed prominently. It was like a Ghar Mandir, place of worship. I was delighted and most impressed with the ethos of BIA as well as the Hindu community that though 95% of their clients are from Indic faith tradition and almost entire funding comes from them, they had such a large heart and universal faith to have Christ, mosque as well as other religious symbols on the table.
I was reminded that this is the spiritual heritage of India. That's how India has remained a multi-faith and multi-racial icon surrounded by intolerance, extremism and violence.
May this India live forever. As British Indians we cherish and take pride in our value and traditions.
-CB
*(http://www.brentindianassociation.org)
