Canada's largest Hindu youth movement
About Us:
Introduction Meet the team MediaWho we are:
Inspiring young Canadians with fun and engaging events from our headquarters in Toronto (Ontario, Canada), the Hindu Youth Network is a social and religious group for students and young adults (15-30). Our core goals are friendship, faith and service.
Our mission:
To build a grassroots, national community space, which develops character and friendship among young people, without division based on language, sect or nationality.
The results: With 6000+ registered members, growing at a rate of 100 members/week, we are Canada's largest & fastest growing Hindu youth movement. For the very first time, we have brought together most Hindu youth organizations, every major temple youth group and 80% of the Hindu university associations in Canada. Both national and international mainstream news media have approached us to speak on behalf of Hindu Canadians. In prominent features on MTV/CTV/CBC/The Globe & Mail, etc. they've declared that we are Canada's largest Hindu youth movement.
What we do:
1) Every other month: Host a social or informative event for all our members.
2) 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 Council:
Founder / President - Sayone Arasratnam |
HYN Chapter Presidents:
HYN Canada / HYN Toronto - Sayone A. |
About the Execs
Sayone Arasratnam:
Sayone is the Founder/President of the Hindu Youth Network (Canada's largest and fastest growing Hindu Youth movement). While working at various companies (IBM, AT&T, Bank of America, United Online) as an IT Analyst, his educational qualifications include a B.Sc. in Computer Science. 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 (preaching to their youth group) and feeding the homeless.
----------Spandana Bestha:
Spandana is a recent graduate from the University of Toronto (St.George campus), majoring in Neurosciences and French. She has been a part of HYN since 2007, is one of the founding members of University of Toronto South Indians (UTSI) and is a marketing and research executive for the Canadian Foundation for AIDS Research (CANFAR) at UofT. She has been an active member and volunteer with the Hindu Student Council (HSC). Spandana also volunteers for several charity organizations and is a director of the Growing Smiles children's organization. Her interests include martial arts and almost anything related to music. She is excited to be an HYN exec and looks forward to an fun-filled year!
----------Sahil Baweja:
Sahil is a marketing professional with a strong background in film making and television production.After studying in California, Sahil completed a business degree at University of Windsor. He has been actively involved in promoting South Asian culture and arts in US and Canada. As founder of Chai TV, he led his team to become the first south asian media group to cover the Sun Dance Film Festival and behind the stage features at New York Fashion week.He served as President of South Asia Club, California State University and was actively involved with Panorama India Day Parade Toronto 08, Filmi South Asian Film Festival 08, Toronto and TIFF 08. As a Marketing Executive at Hindu Youth Network, he aims to help create a space where south asian youth can share and express beliefs, values, question and learn from peers.Such a space, he says, would give direction and a sense of belonging to young Hindus.
----------Siddharth Bapat:
Siddharth Bapat is on the Marketing committee for the Hindu Youth Network. 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 help them better understand their religion and culture.
Past Executives
2008-2009 Executives:
Founder / President - Sayone Arasratnam |
2007-2008 Executives:
Founder / President - Sayone A. |
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Media coverage of HYN:
MTV Television - North America's largest entertainment TV station (TV, web)
CBC/Radio-Canada - Canada's national news agency (TV, radio & web)
Globe & Mail - Canada's largest-circulation national newspaper (print & web)
Toronto Sun - Canada's largest-circulation conservative newspaper (print & web)
India Abroad - America's oldest and most popular Indian newspaper (print)
Rediff - India's most popular news and information portal (print & web)
The Hindu Canadian scene:
This association serves Toronto, mississauga, markham, brampton, scarborough, ontario and canada. As well as canadian, hindi, tamil, punjabi, bengali, gujarati, telugu, sindhi, hindus and other communities.
