NORTH JERSEY, USA, June 5, 2001: Hindu Samaj, an Indian cultural and religious organization in North Jersey, has taken a key step to help face the challenge that older generations of Indians in the United States often face in conveying to their children and grandchildren the importance of cultural and religious traditions. The group celebrated the renovation of a Victorian home in Mahwah that will serve as its home base while it raises some US$3 million to build a Hindu temple and community center nearby. At a time when the 2000 census figures show the Asian Indian population in the state soared 113 percent, to 169,180, since 1990, many Indians in North Jersey hope that the new home of Hindu Samaj will serve not only as a community center, but as a community builder. Hindu Samaj, which started six years ago with ten families based in a Quaker church the group rented in Ridgewood, has grown to some 400 members.
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