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(continued)
I am one hundred percent Indian. In fact, I am one hundred percent Gujarati, just like all the people who come to this center. The only difference is the place where we are from. Most, if not all, Swaminaryan worshippers come from the rural state of Gujarat. My family and I, on the other hand, are not Swaminaryan followers. We are from Mumbai, India’s Los Angeles. Gujarat can be compared to the Midwest: rural, traditional, and slightly backward. Mumbai is more like Southern California—very forward, very modern, and very fast-paced. Now, imagine moving from California to Oklahoma. Both places are homes to Americans, yet there’s a huge cultural difference. Similarly, I am Gujarati like the people here, but I feel culture shock when I am among them. I feel and look so foreign.
Despite the fact that I can understand every word that comes out of their mouths, I cannot understand their unyielding devotion to a man dressed in saffron robes. This was the first time in my life I was with so many Gujaratis in one place without having to take a 23-hour plane trip. I should have felt more at home than ever; but I didn’t. I have always looked different from everyone else. I am the only one in my family for generations on both sides to have hazel eyes. Mix that up with my fair skin tone and Western clothes and no wonder they thought I was lost. I might as well have been Dorothy, plucked from Kansas and placed in Oz.
I looked for someone to talk to, someone to disappear into the crowd with.
“Hi, my name is Natasha,” I said to a girl who seemed to be around my age.
“Arpita” she said, offering me her first name. She didn’t give her last.
“Let me guess, is it Patel?” It wasn’t hard to guess: nearly every person here was named Patel, except me. It’s a huge Gujarati clan.
“Yeah, of course! What else?” She smiled. My last name, though, is Thakkar.
***
Out of curiosity, I conducted a quick Internet search on the White Pages website with the last name Patel and received a message which said “Over 100 matches found. Please narrow your search.”
Like “Smith” in America, Patel is the most common last name in Gujurat, a province in India and the native land of Lord Swaminarayan. It is believed that His “human form” was born in 1781 and preached the type of Hinduism that is named for Him. BAPS, or the Bochasanwasi Shri Akshar Purushotlam Swaminarayan group, was started in 1907 by one of his successors, a Sanskrit language scholar and monk named Sahstriji Maharaj. In English, BAPS roughly translates to “(The) Bochasan-ite Eternal Supreme Being, Lord from the First of Men, Establishment.” Since Maharaj’s death in 1951, two more successors have served: Yogiji Maharaj and Pramukh Swami Maharaj. Today, Yogiji Maharaj handles the BAPS temples in India, while BAPS International is headed by Pramukh Swami Maharaj.
The followers of Pramukh Swami Maharaj believe that he is a saint and spiritual teacher through which the knowledge contained in the Gita, the Hindu equivalent to the Bible, are realized. Pramukh Swami Maharaj is now 87 years old and still travels the world preaching the teachings of BAPS. Since its start in 1907, BAPS has grown to have over 770 monks, 55,000 volunteers, and more than a million followers with over 600 temples in 45 countries.
***
Walk into the Vons grocery store near the Chino Hills Cultural Center and Temple and the city’s increasingly diverse population and need for a Hindu temple is apparent. Among the blue eyes with tied-back blonde hair scanning for bananas with green tips, are dark brown, almond-shaped eyes framed by thick and wavy dark hair looking for the greenest vegetables, and half-moon ebony eyes framed by silky dark hair looking for soy sauce and dry noodles. This is the city of Chino Hills now, 78,725 strong. Asians, Caucasians, and Indians occupy houses where the median income is $93,332 a year. According to Henry Noh, Chino Hills City Hall Principal Planner, about 1,320 Indian residents live in Chino Hills; yet their closest place of worship is in Whittier, nearly thirty minutes away without traffic. Noticing the increasing Indian population, BAPS representatives decided to build their fifth United States headquarters (the first on the West Coast) in Chino Hills.
But Chino Hills had other plans.
***
In 1999, BAPS representatives picked out a 15-acre site in Chino Hills. The city quickly shut them down. Officials planned to build a Civic Center on that same 15-acre plot of land and they weren’t going to let a Hindu temple take its place. The two sides then negotiated: BAPS agreed to let the city buy the land and the city officials agreed to help BAPS find another site in Chino Hills. In 2003, after looking at 20 other locations, BAPS found a 20.31-acre stretch of farmland near Fairfield Ranch Road. It was visible from the 71 freeway and lay between a sewage treatment facility and mobile home park. As word spread about the construction of a Hindu temple, comments – about 1,600 – in the form of e-mails and letters poured into City Hall from concerned Chino Hills residents.
Nestled amongst calm rolling hills, Chino Hills takes pride in being known as one the safest and most affluent areas in Southern California. It will become a hiding place for terror wrote one person, suggesting that Muslim extremists may blend amongst Hindu temple-goers. Another one read, Unless you want the current demographics to look like New Delhi don’t do this. The writer was worried that the temple would draw more Hindus to live in the city. Still others were in support of the temple: What a fantastic cultural and spiritual addition to have in our very own community!, a supporter wrote in. Another wrote, Not every city has the good fortune to become the home of a landmark project such as this one promises to be. I say let’s move this project forward. Inundated with so many comments, both for and against the temple, the City Council asked BAPS representatives to prepare for a hearing.
***
(continued on page 3)
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