Promoting Marathi, Uniting the Community.

Published in Indian Express, USA, June, 2009.

Interview with Mukund Kute, President of Philadelphia Marathi Mandal and Convener of 2009 Brihan Maharashtra Mandal Convention.

I met Mukund at his home in North Wales, PA where he enlightened me about his efforts to promote Marathi art, culture, and language in USA. I could feel his love for Hindi and the Indian culture as a whole and concerns about dangers of regionalism. He spoke about his association with a temple, that is called Bharatiya Temple, not Hindu Temple. He told me about various ways he is helping the community to celebrate festivals, such as, Ganeshotsav-as celebrated in all parts of India, not just in Maharashtra.


Q. Can you provide some of the achievements of your organization?
Kute: We have achieved a lot at a local level. Marathi Mandals are flourishing all over USA and Canada. We organize festivals like Ganeshotsav with gusto. For the first time Philadelphia Marathi Mandal is hosting an event of international level that will project the image of India in a very positive way.

Q. What are you doing to attract Indian Americans with roots in states other than Maharashtra to your events?
Kute: Philadelphia chapter, of which I am the president, has been organizing events that are very popular among non-Marathi community. I am very conscious about it. Our kids don't think themselves as Marathi people. They consider themselves Indians first because their American friends don't care about them being Marathi. Truly speaking we are Indians first and it must reflect in our culture and our functions that we so proudly organize.

Every year during 'Ganesotsav' (festival to worship Lord Ganesha) we invite artistes from various regions of India. We make sure to hold cultural programs that represent all parts of India. If you visit our ten-day long Ganesh festival you will be happy to find music and dance from Gujarat, Punjab, Karanataka, Kerala, Bengal and other states of India. We are offering the younger generation everything that is necessary to make them involved and enjoy.

Q. Can you elaborate upon some of the salient features of this year's convention?
Kute: We are working to present a show case of economic growth and cultural richness of India. The convention has been divided into three parts: social, cultural, and economic. A number of celebrities including Bollywood playback singer Asha Bhosle and actor Nana Patekar will attend the convention. We are expecting some of the leading industrialists and businessmen as well as representatives of the Maharashtra Government to participate in the convention.

Q. What are your strategies to make this convention successful?
Kute: Our volunteers represent a cross section of experts in management and technological fields. They are well connected with major businesses and corporations in various fields, such as, health care, IT, pharmaceuticals, engineering. We are pooling our expertise together to organize exhibitions, seminar and workshops. We have partnered with important tourist organizations in India and the USA. We are planning to market our expo to general public visiting Philadelphia during the Independence Day weekend. For this purpose we will partner with city's visitors bureau. The city government as well as Pennsylvania's Governor's office is taking keen interest in this convention.

Q. What is your vision to unite the Indian American community?
Kute: It is important to make our organizations at local level strong. I think that we should sincerely work for the development of our culture and promotion of our ways of life. If we succeed involving the younger generation in our culture it will be easier to create a strong national organization. A strong body is needed for representing our voice at the federal level.
We should learn from our brothers and sisters in the Caribbean countries and the West Indies who successfully preserved their heritage for hundreds of years. Their dedication to their ancestors' culture and religion is applaudable.

We, at Philadelphia Marathi Mandal, are very conscious of working for the Indian American community. We celebrate our festivals in association with the Bharatiya Temple that represents whole of India. The time has come to build supportive organizations, such as, Senior Centers for the welfare of our elders. Such a center can't be build without active cooperation of all Indian Americans. For this purpose we have invited a few of NGOs who would share their experiences in institution building for the needy people including seniors.

Q. What future do you foresee for your organization?
Kute: The Indian community is growing at fast pace. We continue to have new immigrants from India who arrive in USA for work and then settle down to raise their family here. It is a good sign. I trust that the younger generation is capable of helping communities. The young volunteers in my organization possess talent and vision and I am sure they will take organizations like BMM to great heights.

I hope that our people will develop collective consciousness and come together to build strong organizations. I also hope that Indian American community will retain a strong voice in Washington. The trend is taking roots and representatives of our communities are entering public life as councilmen, senators, board members, etc.