By Dr Swati Mujumdar and Dr Rajiv Padhye

The Akhil Australia Marathi Sammelan (AAMS) will be held in the Easter break from March 25 – 27, 2016 at Kingston Council Hall in Melbourne and this time apart from entertainment, fun and foray of culture, there’s a huge youth contingent involved in the organisation of this event.

Expressing faith and appreciation on the participation of youth in the organisation of this event, Abhijit Bhide the convenor of AAMS stressed on the involvement of youth in AAMS and its importance.

“The next generation is a torch bearer of any culture and they need to be taken along in the process to pass on the culture, tradition and responsibilities”, Abhijit was quoted as saying.

Maharashtra Mandal of Victoria  (MMVIC) youth volunteers Ruta Kukde and MukulIyer share the same opinion, but also added that AAMS is a cultural feast and a chance for youth who have not been brought up in India to get in touch with their roots and develop their leadership, communication and team building skills.

Ruta and Mukul, voicing the opinions of the many youth involved added that they would like to give back to the community, and in the process would able to develop themselves as well.

Abhijit Bhide has described this event as one of the largest conclaves of people from the State of Maharashtra in India who essentially speak Marathi as their mother tongue and have settled in Australia since last forty years. According to Abhijit, this convention is generally organised and managed by the respective “Not for Profit “Mandal’s (Association / Community group) in each Australian state.

With preparation in full swing, Makarand Bhagwat, a member of the core committee also told us that for the first time, at AAMS, on line payment a facility for tickets will be provided, and after AAMS event this facility will then be extended to the MMVIC (Maharashtra Mandal of Victoria) website.

All organisers want their event to be highly successful and remembered long after. We asked Abhijit how he would measure the success of this event. According to him this convention is about to set some bench marks and the entire team is focused to achieve some important mile stones combining art (Kala), culture (Sanskriti), education (Shikshan), science (Vidynan), sewa (Community Help), and business and trade (Udyog&Vypar) as these are the main pillars of any society. Utilizing the youth energy to provide some tangible and long lasting outcomes is one of the aims of this convention.

Lastly we asked Abhijit to tell us the main message of AAMS and his vision for future such Sammelans. He quoted from the Rig Veda, “Samano mantra: samiti: samanisamanam mana: sahacittamesam / samanammantramabhimantrayeva: samanenavohavisajuhom”

Let our speech be one; united our voices! May our minds be in union with the thoughts of the wise. Sharing a common purpose; we worship as one.

“samanivaakuti: samanahrdayanivah / samanamastuvomanoyathava: susahasati”

Let our aim be one and single! Let our hearts be joined as one. United be our thoughts. At peace with all, may we be together in harmony.

In next ten years Abhijit hopes that it is the 2nd Marathi generation who will lead the way and set the example for further generations to come.