RAYS of Our Lives
By Nita Bhojwani
SANTA CLARA (CA): The Maheshwari Mahasabha of North America (MMNA) strives to create a community that actively involves the youth with a range of activities. In an effort to carry on the Maheshwari culture and ideologies, with focused initiatives such as the Rajasthanis Abroad Youth Samaj (RAYS) that has been in place since 2005. The mission for RAYS is to form connections among Marwari youth (ages 13-35) living in North America through shared culture and heritage.
In an effort to bring members across the country together, MMNA hosts the International Maheshwari Rajasthani Convention (IMRC) biennially to honor and preserve Rajasthani culture as well as a forum to enable us to grow stronger as a community. This year, the biennial convention took place in Santa Clara, CA from June 30-July 3 and hosted a record breaking 750 members with special guests invited from all corners of the world.
The mission of RAYS at IMRC is to foster and grow a community of young (21 to 35 years of age) Marwaris. RAYS hopes to strengthen existing friendships and create new ones, anchored in our shared heritage. RAYS hope to explore our culture, network professionally, and of course, have a good time!
The organization developed specialized programming for members including professional networking and social justice. Professional networking focused on connecting RAYS youth with other members to discuss and work on best practices in the workplace. This year, social justice was a gamified breakout session that allowed members of RAYS to understand the issues surrounding ethical consumption and how our economic footprint creates a lasting impact on the environment and livelihood of others.
The executive team, (standing, from left): Prince Bhojwani (co-president), Mohit Moondra (co-president), Arpan Somani (member development chair). (Sitting, from left): Sarika Malani (external development chair), Sweta Maheshwari (member development chair), Nita Bhojwani (public relations Chair), and Nikita Maheshwari (operations chair)
Namita Pallod, volunteer, explained that, “social justice is my favorite break out session. I really enjoy how it is structured to stretch your brain a little and make you think out of the box about daily issues that are very pertinent to our daily lives. Afterwards, I’m always caught re-evaluating my lifestyle and why I do things a certain way. It’s always an added bonus to then be able to discuss the various situations with people of a similar background and how different or similar their perspectives can be. This year, being a part of the organizing committee was extremely rewarding, as I got to play a heavier role in the planning process from start to finish.”
This year, RAYS introduced ‘RAY Js’, which is a group for juniors between the ages of 13-20. For the first time, this age group were immersed in day long activities breakout sessions encouraged members to speak about the current political climate, and allowed students to connect with a seasoned, yet personable panel to help create a discussion for academic and personal issues. Panelist Kaajal Baheti said that, “It was a humbling experience to be sitting in a room of 16-21 year olds and becoming a part of the safe space and community we instantaneously created. Though I was over 10 years older than some of the participants – I immediately realized our life experiences – coming from the same cultural background – were and would be very similar. It was heartwarming to see the RAYs Js members get an opportunity to simple talk to someone that they could related to. It is beautiful to see how our community – major kudos specifically to Nita Bhojwani (PR Chair) and Arpan Somani (Member Development Chair) – create this space for RAYs Js to connect with MMNA RAYs members – giving each of them someone to listen to, someone to reach out to, something to get advice from, someone to share thoughts with – and most importantly someone as a friend. Forever grateful for this opportunity and I cannot wait to hear about the journey of some of these RAYs Js members I met as they go into their next phase of life!”
Youth between the ages of 13-35 met for icebreakers where familiar faces were reunited and new faces were introduced. Pictured is a game of ‘extreme rock, paper, scissors’ between a member of RAYS and a member of RAY Js.
For the first time ever, RAYS was given an opportunity to reach out to the larger MMNA family to raise funds in an effort to further the organization’s aspirations. RAYS co-presidents Prince Bhojwani and Mohit Moondra shared their five year plan called RAYS 2023 which was well received and prompted MMNA members to donate generously during a brief fundraiser providing us the needed reinforcement and support to implement on our vision. The four part plan focuses on increasing the growth of the organization while simultaneously maintaining engagement across the 13-35 age range. This will be done by scheduling more regional events throughout the year, working with chapters to facilitate their philanthropic efforts, foster a world class mentorship program, and provide grants to our members working passionately to better their own communities. Prince Bhojwani, RAYS Co-President said, “The mission for RAYS is to form connections among Marwari youth living in North America through shared culture and heritage. We connect almost 400 Maheshwari youth (ages 21 – 35) across the country by hosting annual events. By raising funds, RAYS will be able to do double down on this mission by creating a world class mentorship program, assist communities connected to our members, and sponsor the wide array of non-profit projects started by our youth.”