By Juhi Varma
HOUSTON: Hindus of Greater Houston celebrated the community’s young achievers while honoring two longtime contributors at its 13th Hindu Annual Youth Awards and Gala on Aug. 22.
About 450 guests packed the VPSS Haveli for the colorful evening. Longtime Houston Hindu community leader Sharad Amin received a Lifetime Achievement Award and educator Sangita Bhutada was given a special award for her contribution to the arts. Houston entrepreneur and owner of Bumblebee Logistics Maneesh Mehra served as keynote speaker.
“I would like to thank the HGH Board and Advisory committee on behalf of all who have inspired and motivated me to serve the community in Houston and wherever I have done in the US,” said Sharad Amin.
Sharad ji, a past president of Hindus of Greater Houston, has spent decades strengthen Hindu institutions and youth programs in the Houston area.
Sangita Bhutada’s rangoli artwork has been selected for the U.S. Postal Service’s 2026 Diwali Forever stamp, to be issued this fall. She credited her husband, Bhagwan Bhutada and sons Hriday and Mayuresh, for their unwavering support in her artistic journey.
“Rangoli has survived throughout the generations because people continue to teach and practice it,” she said. “We must keep this tradition alive.”
But much of the evening belonged to the next generation.
Eight young people — Anshi Bhalla, Ariya Shah, Anuj Kurella, Ruchi Patel, Pooja Shah, Anagha Patwari, Sakhi Ganjoo and Parth Dargan — received Hindu Youth Awards.
HGH President Rachana Shah described the recipients as young people demonstrating excellence in academics, leadership, service and devotion.
“A community can grow only as high as its roots are deep,” she added. “We must continue investing in our youth, and we must continue standing together as one united Hindu family.”
Building a community across generations
Founded in 1989, the goal of Hindus of Greater Houston is to bring together a Hindu community that has grown considerably larger and more diverse over the ensuing decades.
“Uniting a diverse community is never an easy task, yet HGH has done so with dedication, vision and a spirit of service,” said Dev Mahajan, founding chairman of HGH. He now serves on the HGH advisory council.
Today, more than 35 temples operate throughout Greater Houston, alongside numerous cultural and community organizations. HGH seeks to provide a common platform through education, advocacy, service and outreach, while organizing community celebrations including Holi, Janmashtami and Diwali.
Its youth initiatives include the Hindu Heritage Youth Camp and Young Hindus of Greater Houston.
Rachana ji said preserving Hindu traditions requires more than simply inheriting them.
“Dharma is not just something we inherit; it is something we must actively carry forward,” she said.
‘This is the key to keeping Hindu kids Hindus’
Keynote speaker Maneesh Mehra focused his remarks on making Hindu and Vedic traditions relevant to the everyday lives of younger generations.
He pointed to the widespread adoption of yoga and growing interest in Ayurveda as evidence that ancient Indian traditions continue to have contemporary value. But simply knowing those traditions, he argued, is different from learning how to apply them.
“Our Vedic principles are knowledge, but we must learn to apply them and develop them into wisdom, so that we can transform our lives,” Mehra said.
He used an unlikely analogy to make the point: building Lego sets.
Instructions provide all the necessary information, he said, but experience teaches someone how to recognize a mistake, understand why something went wrong and fix it. In much the same way, he argued, knowledge accumulated through Hindu traditions becomes more valuable when people learn how to apply it to their lives.
“But we must also pick Vedic concepts that we can incorporate into our daily lives,” Mehra said. “This is the key to keeping Hindu kids Hindus.”
Mehra also spoke from personal experience about what can happen when established community leaders entrust young people with responsibility.
When he was 19 and the Hindu Heritage Youth Camp was still relatively new, community leaders including Suresh Patel, Dinesh Shah and Sharad Amin gave him an opportunity to become the camp’s first youth director.
“They nurtured me into a leadership role,” he said. “Not only do we stand on the shoulders of our parents, we actually stand on the shoulders of the community members who came before us.”
He asked the community to do the same for today’s young people by creating opportunities for them to practice their heritage and take leadership roles.
Mehra ended on another message directed toward the next generation: Hindu philosophy, he said, teaches that destiny is shaped through one’s own thoughts and actions.
“For the sake of our children, we must stay positive, proactive, and determine our own destiny,” he said. “This is what will keep our Hindu kids Hindu.”
