Historic Ramayan contest builds bridges across the generations

Denver, Colorado: The remarkably successful quiz contest “Kaun Banega Ramayan Expert” (KBRE) is helping to fuel the Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh’s (HSS), continuing pursuit of excellence in youth leadership, Dharmic education and service to society as it continues along its path as one of USA’s leading Hindu youth organizations.

The results of the KBRE contest were announced today. More than 3000 children between ages 5 and 15 years, from 30 states, participated in the contest, which began on Makar Sankranti and concluded May 28th. The contest was a national effort focused on creating and maintaining awareness in children about Ramayan. The life of Shri Rama, as told in Ramayan, teaches timeless values like brotherly love, devotion, sacrifice, valor and personal integrity, all-important for the children to understand and internalize.

Children of all ages proved that they were up to the challenge of the KRBE contest, a fun and educational experience, but also a nostalgic one for many of the parents and older family members. 

According to the spokesperson, Sharad Amin, the competition received an overwhelming response from the community across the USA. Another major achievement of the competition was the bonding it created between the children and their grandparents. There were many midnight phone calls from USA to India by children wanting to discuss the Ramayan story with their grandparents in India! This clearly shows that the invaluable religious and cultural traditions that one generation possess may be sustained by the following generations through building bridges across the span of years and across geographical boundaries.

KBRE team is pleased that, through this competition, it was able to generate interest in the epics of India in the younger generation of Indian American parents and children. Most interesting of the feedback was that in many cases it was the children who pushed their parents to register for the contest. Major motivation for the parents was the opportunity to introduce the culture and history of Hindu Dharma through Ramayana to their children. In the process many parents realized other benefits, as Sandhya and Sunil Alankar of Milpitas CA, mentioned “our daughter started talking with her grandparents more about the Ramayan story and thereby strengthening the bond between them”.

Balagokulam, a project of HSS, a non-profit cultural organization whose nearly 100 branches throughout the USA strive to promote Hindu Dharma, organized this unique program.

The competition was conducted by HSS on the occasion of birth centenary of Shri Guruji, M.S. Golwalkar.