Canada's largest Hindu youth movement
About Us:
Introduction Meet the team- Central Executive Committee
- Chapter Presidents
- Subcommittees
- About the Execs (photos with bios)
- Past Executives
What we are:
Inspiring young Canadians with fun and engaging events from our headquarters in Toronto (Ontario, Canada), the Hindu Youth Network is a spiritual, cultural and networking group for students and young adults (15-30). Our core goals are friendship, faith and community.
Mission statement:
To build a grassroots, national community space, sharing the philosophies and virtues of Hindu Dharma among young people, without division based on language, sect or nationality.
The results: With 6000+ members registered since our launch in May 2007,
Our vision (message from the President):
Dear Friends,
I often get members and new volunteers asking me to explain what The Hindu Youth Network's vision is and what objectives we're striving towards. Since
it's too broad a topic to leave to a few soundbites and blurbs, I thought I'd provide a more complete explanation of what it is we're trying to do.
I'm sure many of you have attended cultural events or events catering to people with spiritual predispositions. Have you ever noticed a certain 'vibe' or energy at those events? Sincere spiritual events have a different energy to them, in scriptural terms they call it a 'vibration', but most of us would call it a positive ambience, a tangible inviting spirit. Those who have been exposed to such events can instantly recognize it, and find comfort and pleasure in it. The positive vibe goes beyond just the atmosphere and ambience in a location, it also extends to the smiles and openness of the people who congregate there, and the joy that comes from watching performances and programming that have been prepared with devotion and love.
Events catering to young people (whether young professionals or students) which have an authentic spiritual message and vibe are few and far between. Once we leave the confines of the temple or graduate from the university where these events are held, we typically return to a mundane existence, with material relationships and superficial entertainment. We lose touch with our spiritually oriented friends (or even the friends who may not be religious but have an affinity towards Dharmic culture and that positive 'vibe' I keep referring to). When we lose touch with such friends, we finally lose all contact with that healthy environment.
Wouldn't it be nice to attend such events on a more frequent basis? To be in touch with a network of young people, a support system of like-minded positive role models and friends. Imagine doing not just spiritual events that inspire and enlighten us, but also entertaining social events in a comfortable and welcoming atmosphere that doesn't compromise our values? What if any person from across Canada could get in touch with a similar network in their local city for young professionals, and a local campus network for students no matter where in Canada they may be? Now imagine, all the above benefits, connected through the largest online network of young Hindus in the world (as well as non-Hindus interested in Dharmic culture) so even when you're apart, your friends and community are just a click away. What a beautiful dream that would be...
Only, it's not a dream...it exists, here, and now. We call it the 'Hindu Youth Network'. This movement is our vision. We are building a community, united by love, built with devotion, set to high standards, grounded in virtue, inspired by scripture, enjoyable and relevant. This organization has been recognized by all as the largest and fastest growing Hindu youth movement in Canada. Our grassroots presence is unparalleled, and most remarkably, this is only the beginning. Temple presidents, mainstream media organizations and Hindu institutional leaders throughout North America have recognized in HYN the future of the Hindu community on this continent. They've openly recognized in our executive teams, the young leaders that will complete the mission started by those that came before us, to unite with humility and serve justly the Hindu community in Canada.
I hope this message helped answer any questions you may have had, and if you are a seeker sitting on the fence trying to decide if volunteering with us is the right decision for you, I say don't hesitate. Don't waste another moment, for in immersing yourself in selfless service for a greater good, you will find the answers, those who can teach you will be revealed, the knowledge that you seek will infact seek you out, a wonderful circle of friends and a positive yet enjoyable lifestyle is right before you. I'm sure you will be pleasantly surprised.
Your friend and servant,
Sayone Arasratnam
Founder/President, Hindu Youth Network - Canada
info@hinduyouth.net
647-230-0077
What we do:
1) Several times a year: Host major spiritual or social events that are open to everyone.
2) Our various city/university chapters: Host regular events in their local communities/campuses.
3) Online: Our website and interconnected facebook groups act as the largest online community space for young Hindus in Canada.
HYN Canada - Meet the team
Central Executive Committee:
Founder / President - Sayone Arasratnam Subcommittees:
Women's Wing - Vinitha Venugopal (Chair) |
HYN Chapter Presidents:
HYN Canada / HYN Toronto - Sayone A. |
About the Execs (photos with bios)
Sayone Arasratnam:
Sayone is the Founder/President of the Hindu Youth Network (Canada's largest and fastest growing Hindu youth movement). While working as a Network Engineer and Corporate Sales Executive (for companies such as IBM, AT&T, Bank of America, United Online), he also serves on the steering committees of various national and international non-governmental organizations. His educational qualifications include a B.Sc. (Honours) in Computer Science, Specializing in Software Engineering. Believing that it was his spiritual duty to bring peace and happiness to those around him, he launched and developed HYN. He has been involved in mentoring (working with Toronto police to rehabilitate at-risk youth), service work with the Sathya Sai organization, feeding the homeless, as well as countless social initiatives. More recently he has been studying the classical scriptures, both dualistic and non-dualistic. He regularly attends services at the Chinmaya Mission & Toronto's Hare Krishna temple.
----------Akanksha Paliwal:
Akanksha is HYN's Secretary, her duties include documenting minutes, delegating action items, following up on action items, assisting in developing organizational procedures, monitoring team morale and sending status reports. She is currently studying at York University (Keele campus), majoring in Psychology. While being an active part of both the Toronto city chapter and the York university chapter of HYN, she is also on the executive committee of the Rajasthan Association. Her organizational experience started in highschool where she founded and ran several student organizations and initiatives. When not volunteering or studying, she works with children as a school trustee for Peel Region. She is excited to be an HYN exec and looks forward to fun-filled years ahead with the HYN team!
----------Siddharth Bapat:
Siddharth Bapat is the Treasurer for the Hindu Youth Network, his roles include monitoring expense reports, ensuring adequate currency reserves and the security of financial assets at all our events. Siddharth recently graduated with a degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Ottawa. He is currently working as a Mechanical Engineer for a large international engineering company in Toronto. His main motivation is to bring the Hindu youth together, and to help them better understand their religion and culture.
----------Sonia Chanana:
Sonia is the Volunteer Coordinator for HYN with a strong background in Marketing. Her duties include scheduling and organizing meetings/teleconferencing, ensuring attendance, ensuring actioning of delegated tasks by the team, sending status reports and organizing social events for the central committee. After completing a business degree at University of Windsor, she returned to Scarborough where she is now working in the Marketing field and volunteering actively with the Hindu Youth Network. She has been involved with various religious organizations such as the Lakshmi Narayan Mandir.
----------Mayuresh Misra:
Mayuresh is the Marketing Coordinator for HYN Canada. He is one of our longest serving executives, having first signed up at our 2nd event in July 2007. His role as Marketing Coordinator includes the creation and design of delegate packages, printing of flyers, posters, banners and business cards. Working alongside our design team, he ensures that our promoters and event organizers have the marketing materials they need to get the job done.
----------Yesha Shah:
Yesha is in her final year of the Cultural Anthropology and Film Studies programs at the University of Western Ontario. She has considerable experience for her current role on HYN's Design Team, thanks to having also interned with various media organizations as a graphic design and backstage technician. Her executive experience includes having served as the former web designer for WICSA's website. Her current duties as a member of HYN's Design Team include assisting the Design Team Coordinator with graphic design and development of both soft and hard copy brochures, flyers, posters and banners.
----------Vivek Bhatt:
Vivek is the Media Coordinator for HYN Canada. His experience in the modelling field, and a media background have prepared him well for this role. His task as Media Coordinator includes the coordination and organization of our TV, radio and print media marketing campaigns. While most of HYN's exposure in both the mainstream and ethnic media thus far has been unsolicited, Vivek's task is to ensure we don't rest on our laurels and are proactively pursuing media coverage of our events and activities wherever there's an audience.
----------Sandhya Subance:
Sandhya is the Events Coordinator for the Toronto city chapter of HYN, as well as one of the Co-Presidents of the York university chapter. Having served as President of UNICEF @ York and with a wealth of volunteer experience at other organizations, she brings a lot of energy and capability to the HYN team. Her role as Events Coordinator includes overseeing the speedy coordination and execution of our flagship events and ensuring proper coordination between the York community and the Central Committee.
----------Akshay Khanna:
Akshay is part of the IT Team. His duties include assisting the IT Team in developing best practices and finding new technologies & software code to more effectively achieve our website and technology objectives. A Business Administration graduate, he is also the President of a successful technology services provider, and has many years of industry expertise he brings to the table. Along with his IT services contributions, Akshay also launched the Windsor chapter of HYN, our first chapter outside the Greater Toronto Area. He served as President of our Windsor chapter from 2007-2009.
----------Juiee Dessai:
Juiee is one of our youngest members, and volunteers with both our Events Team and Women's Wing. She hopes to learn and grow with the HYN Central Committee and is currently enrolled in our intensive leadership development program. Our leadership development program is a unique and enjoyable course that seeks to develop the next generation of Dharmic leaders in North America. HYN is not satisified with merely ensuring quality 1st and 2nd-tier 'young professional' and 'student' leadership, it is also actively cultivating youth leaders at the highschool level who've shown great promise in their community, young leaders who will take our movement and community forward in the years ahead.
----------Aniroodh Mehta:
Aniroodh is the Event Planning Coordinator for HYN Canada. He has been active both at the Central Committee level and the local grassroots level at our various chapters. Aniroodh's organizational experience includes being a former President of McGill's Hindu Students Association as well as being the founder of McGill's Indian Students Association. He has also volunteered for various sports and activities based social groups. His duties as Event Planning Coordinator include the planning of event format, timing and location specific logistics. He also directs on-site decor and setup at HYN events.
----------Deval Joshi:
Deval is in her final year of an Electrical Engineering degree at McMaster University and recently certified in Instrumentation & Controls. This is her first year on the HYN executive and she has already proven herself to be a capable and systematic researcher. She is the brains behind our ever-popular networking games. Her role as Research Coordinator is to research and document any specific data or skillsets the Central Committee identifies as a priority for executive training and implementation. Once researched, documented and presented, the data will be shared among designated executives to further HYN's objectives, ensuring constant progress and development.
----------Parthiban Manoharan:
As the Design Team Coordinator for HYN, Parthiban’s duties include managing the design team in creating flyers, banners, displays and brochures. He is also the primary photographer for HYN events. Stepping into his final year of Chemical Engineering at the University of Toronto, Parthiban’s true passion lies in the artistic world of Photography and Design. HYN has helped him bring out his strengths not only in designing but also in team building and event organizing. Parthiban finds being an executive member and being part of an amazing group of talented individuals has been a valuable learning experience and has also brought out in him a more positive outlook on life.
----------Vinitha Venugopal:
Vinitha is our Women's Wing Coordinator and also volunteers with our Events Team. Her primary role involves event planning, marketing and logistics for the Women's Wing events such as spa nights, book club, discussions and dinners. The HYN Women's Wing gives young women a strong female support system that meets regularly, has fun and allows them to learn from each other. Vinitha is a graduate from Ryerson University with a Business Management degree (Marketing major) and is looking to pursue her MBA in the coming year. She is currently working for a financial institution as a financial advisor/investment consultant. In the past, she has organized several corporate social events and university fundraisers. During her spare time, she runs her own business creating various design elements for building business portfolios/branding and sells all kinds of arts/crafts. Vinitha is excited to be a part of the HYN team as her main motivation is to connect to people with similar ideas and to give back to the community.
----------Ganesh Sundar:
Ganesh is the Sound & Light Coordinator for HYN. His duties include gathering musical segments from performers, equipment rental, equipment purchase and setup of audio/DJ systems along with ambient/spot-lighting units. A Civil Engineer by profession and education, he also moonlights as HYN's primary events DJ.
----------Amita Risbud:
Amita is our Social Media Coordinator, her role involves mobilizing members and creating buzz among social media platforms outside our core marketing competencies. Beyond spearheading the implementation of our social media strategies she also volunteers with our Events Team. An undergraduate student at McMaster University, she has already gained a good reputation among the HYN exec as a dependable and capable member of the team. We look forward to her continued dedication and contributions in the years ahead.
----------Raj Pansar:
Raj is our Logistics Coordinator, his role involves defining resource needs and organizing purchase, transport and documenting of inventory. A Business & Commerce graduate, Raj also runs a successful family business that has given him ample experience for his logistics role. An active and enthusiastic executive at Hindu Youth Network, he is an important part of our team.
----------Disha Rekhi:
Disha is part of our Events Team and one of the newest additions to our exec. A recent graduate from the University of Western Ontario with a BHSc. (Honors, Bachelors of Health Sciences), she looks forward to contributing to the HYN community and all the fun activities our executives engage in.
----------Debashis Deb:
Debashis is our Grassroots Promotions Coordinator. He is the person responsible for initiating and managing all new grassroots promotions campaigns. Everything from postering, flyering, direct marketing and tabling falls within his mandate. A student at UOIT, he also takes the time to help out with organizing both at our national joint events and local grassroots events.
----------Amrita Nathwani:
Amrita is part of our Events Team and also volunteers with our Women's Wing. She has also been selected for our intensive leadership development program, that takes enthusiastic young volunteers from the community and prepares them for leadership roles at an early stage and teaches them valuable life skills. Our leadership development program is a unique and enjoyable course that seeks to cultivate and develop the next generation of Dharmic leaders in North America.
----------Jatin Mehta:
Jatin is both a Grassroots Promotions Team executive in our Toronto city chapter, as well as the Vice-President of our York University chapter. Currently enrolled in York's Schulich MBA program, he hopes to make increasing contributions to our event management goals in the years ahead. Having seen a glimpse of all the fun and knowledge that comes with being involved with HYN York, he hopes to continue growing and experiencing with the HYN Toronto/Canada chapter.
----------Reena Parekh-Gehani:
Reena is part of our Events Team. A professional Marketing & Events Coordinator by profession, she brings a great deal of enthusiasm and experience to The Hindu Youth Network. While working fulltime as an Events Coordinator in the corporate sector, she still takes time out during the weekends to organize charitable activities and volunteer with a bollywood dance group.
----------Ankur Desai:
Ankur Desai is a 1st year Biology student at Ryerson University. He moved to Toronto from Charleston, South Carolina, one year ago and is our Online Promotions Coordinator. His duties involve the promotions of our events on various websites and online platforms, helping flyer up various locations in Toronto, and anything else required by other members of the team. Ankur gained valuable leadership and volunteering experience throughout high school and has won numerous health and business related competitions through state organizations. He believes that HYN was the best part of his first year in Toronto and he hopes to continue being inspired by members of HYN.
----------Divyesh Patel:
Divyesh Patel is a Control Systems Analyst and part of our Grassroots Promotions Team. He along with the other members of this team will spearhead our promotional work both on campuses and at street-level.
Past Executives
2008-2009 Executives:
Founder / President - Sayone Arasratnam |
2007-2008 Executives:
Founder / President - Sayone Arasratnam |
2006-2007 Executives:
Founder / President - Sayone Arasratnam |
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Media coverage of HYN:
Demographic facts:
Here are some interesting facts about our general membership, gathered through written surveys and website traffic analysis. It gives us a unique insight into the composition of the Hindu Youth Network community. It also confirms why our website is North America's most popular community hub catering to young Hindu professionals and Hindu students.
Total number of registered Hindu Youth Network members: 6000+ (80% in Ontario, 8% in Alberta, 7% in Quebec, 4% in the rest of Canada and 1% overseas [yes, some people do actually fly out to our events]).
Top city of residence: Toronto, Mississauga, Markham, Brampton, Calgary, North York, Scarborough, Montreal, Ottawa, Hamilton.
Top languages spoken at home by our Canadian members: English, Hindi, Punjabi, Tamil, Gujarati, Bengali, Telugu, Sindhi, Kannada, Konkani, Tulu, Malayalam, Rajasthani.
