Counselors Prepare for 40th Anniversary Hindu Youth Camp
Bottom Row Left to Right: Keshav Shah, Shakti Dash, Trisha Gurnani, Maya Neti, Shraddha Guha, Maya Harpavat, Roshni Parikh, Raina Patel, Krupa Rathi, Radhika Patwardhan, Eesha Patel, Medha Koniki, Simone Alphonse. Middle Row Left to Right: Rishabh Ashar, Ronil Shah, Suhani Shah, Aesha Shah, Meera Borle, Anuhya Juturi, Harshada Krishnakumar, Reya Patel, Smeet Parekh, Aman Patel, Nitika Veludandi, Anuja Pendse, Prisha Menon, Hirni Bhuta, Pooja Shah, Pooja Patel, Hemangi Swaroop, Siddhi Bavare, Srushti Gaikaiwari. Back Row: Parth Dargan, Ishan Shah, Shaan Parekh, Hemish Shah, Abhishek Pratap, Ansh Bhandari, Rahil Dalal, Arch Shah, Anish Havalimane, Ari Bhatt, Ronak Mehta, Aditya Meenakshisundaram, Anunay Dixit, Saahas Ganesh, Kaushik Kallur, Rithvik Edupugandi, Rahil Choksey, Manav Gandhi, Arnav Mehta, Rishabh Raaj, Pratham Rathi
By Maya Harpavat and Nitika Veludandi
HOUSTON: This year marks the 40th Anniversary of HHYC (Hindu Heritage Youth Camp), a week-long summer camp led by young adults around the Houston area. HHYC, affectionately known as “the best 5 days of the year” is unique in how it’s able to bring together staples of American summer camp like dodgeball and swimming with something that’s much harder to find – an opportunity to learn about Hinduism surrounded by fellow Hindu Americans eager to immerse themselves in their faith.
This year’s directors for HHYC 2024 are Srushti Gaikaiwari and Parth Dargan. Srushti is the daughter of Sanskruti and Shishir Gaikaiwari. Parth Dargan is the son of Simmi and Rajesh Dargan.
Ever since the Covid epidemic, HHYC has struggled to find a host location and has had had to switch sites every year, an activity that was grueling on campers and counselors like. While 40 years is remarkable on its own, this year is especially significant for the Hindu American community as it will take place at Texas Hindu Campsite in Columbus, Texas, the new forever home for HHYC. The counselors have been spending their summer training on how to mark this special milestone for themselves and their campers. From brainstorming how their new space allows them to expand their schedule to planning arts and crafts projects that will help campers leave their imprint on their new forever camp home.
While much of the brainstorming has involved owning and adapting long standing summer camp activities, the counselors will make camp particularly special for their campers by creating educations that explore and edify the participants about Hinduism. With their own experience as Hindus growing up in America, they are uniquely positioned to kindle a love and understanding of their faith together with their campers. They find ways to make the educations engaging- including games and videos to help campers understand the core principles being present. Some of the educations that counselors are planning this year include Hindu Pilgrimage Sites, Ayurveda, and the Chiranjeevi
Counselors are led by camp directors, who are former campers and counselors themselves. This year’s directors for HHYC 2024 are Parth Dargan and Srushti Gaikaiwari.
Parth Dargan is the son of Simmi and Rajesh Dargan, and is a recent graduate of The University of Texas at Austin. He is currently working as a data engineer at ExxonMobil. He went to camp for five years as a camper, and one of his favorite memories was the mango eating competition. As a returning director, he is most excited about hosting everyone at the new Texas Hindu Campsite!
Srushti Gaikaiwari is the daughter of Sanskruti and Shishir Gaikaiwari. She graduated from Texas A&M and is starting her masters. She’s been going to camp as a camper since elementary school and has been a counselor for four years. “I want to be able to cultivate more of the experience I had as a camper. For me and so many kids, camp was a way to see Hinduism adapted to the lifestyle we see in America and being able to help give that experience to other kids was something I’d love to pass on,” she says. One of her favorite memories is cheering people on at the talent show, and she’s excited to see a different side of camp as a first-time director this year!
It’s not just the counselors and directors that are eagerly awaiting camp, the campers are right there with them. “My favorite camp memory was during the bonfire on one of the last nights of camp- I remember everyone taking turns singing karaoke, and I had so much fun with my friends,” says Naina Mehra, who has been a camper for many years now originally started to go to camp because her mom was a camper and counselor before her.
Her mom, Niharika, remembers, “When I was a camper at my very first camp, I remember my counselor. She was nurturing and smart and taught us such wonderful things about our culture and religion. When it was my turn to be a counselor, I knew I wanted to impart that same sentiment to my campers as I had felt so many years ago. And now my own kids are campers, having the same kinds of experiences I did, and showing interest in being counselors themselves. Talk about coming full circle!”
HHYC is impactful due to its ability to not only interact across multiple generations of Hindu-American youth but also because of how it is able to empower youth through their shared faith. HHYC is only possible due to the support it receives from the local businesses and organizations, such as Hindus of Greater Houston, which is the banner organization HHYC runs under, as well as the numerous volunteers who help out in numerous roles, whether it be as assistant chefs or camp doctors!
Lastly, HHYC is thankful to Texas Hindu Campsite for offering a place to put down roots and continue to grow, alongside Texas Hindu Campsite. Texas Hindu Campsite was a far-fetched dream that became possible due to the tremendous generosity of the community, but more support is still needed to help make it the best version of itself for the Hindu population of Texas. If you are interested in supporting this valuable cause, please go to https://www.texashinducampsite.org/ for ways to contribute.
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This article was written by Maya Harpavat and Nitika Veludandi. Maya is a second-time counselor after being a camper for many years, and will be a junior at Rice University in the fall. Nitika is a third-time counselor and will be a junior at Texas A&M in the fall.