Source: Hamilton Spectator
HAMILTON, ONTARIO, CANADA, September 19, 2002: Before the ruins of a burned-out temple, Hamilton’s Hindu community broke new ground yesterday and vowed to rebuild. About 60 people attended a traditional sod-turning ceremony held on the lawn outside the charred Hindu Samaj Temple. “It’s a great day,” said N. D. (Andy) Patel, the temple’s general secretary. “When people hear of the ground-breaking ceremony, they’ll say, ‘Ah, the temple will be built!’ It brings us joy.” The Twenty Road temple was gutted in a $600,000 arson last year, just days after the 9/11 terrorist attack. The torching devastated the congregation, which suddenly found itself without a place of worship, and without a center for community and culture. But Patel said that last night’s ground-breaking ceremony is a chance for Hamilton Hindus to move forward from the arson. “Everyone will put it behind them now. But there will still be scars,” he said. The ceremony, called Bhumi Pooja, is like a ground-breaking but has a religious element. Participants ask the Deities to bless the building project so that everything goes smoothly and so that unity is maintained in the new building.