“We’ve gone to the restaurants,” said Secaucus resident Ashwin Patel. “Now they’ve come to us.”
He was attending the second annual Veggie Fest, sponsored by the Sadhu Vaswani Center and held on Saturday, Sept. 19 in the Meditation Garden adjacent to the Secaucus Recreation Center. Joining Patel were his sister, mother-in-law, and two kids. “We came here to eat lunch,” he said. “It’s awesome.”
This year’s event was a huge improvement over 2014, when the stands were clustered in the rear garden, and rain dampened the festive mood. This time the food stands were set up under a huge tent in the side garden, with the back area reserved for kids’ games and bouncy houses, and tables for vendors ringing the gym. Although a light rain sneaked into the area late in the afternoon, nobody even seemed to notice, as singers performed on a stage facing rows of chairs under the tent.
“India is like a forced marriage,” explained Santosh Gunaseelan, attending with his wife, son, and friends. “India is not homogenous like the United States. Everything is regional. And all these states were literally fighting each other for 2,000 years. India is more like the EU. The EU is basically countries that were trying to kill each other for thousands of years, but now they’ve formed a union, which is a forced marriage for whatever purposes. And the same with India. It’s the least homogenous country you would find in the Asian region.”
“Most of these places are trying to make an impact today. They want people to see how good they are. So they’re here to impress.” –Santosh Gunaseelan
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“When you go back home to India, you have people from Nepal, Tibet, Thailand,” said Hamish Bhajwani, proprietor of China Spice, one of the vendors. “They migrated, so they started cooking fusion food. In Indian communities they love this because it’s not just regular Chinese food. This is spicier. It has a little kick to it.”
“I had a dish today, it’s called Dhokla, it’s a very common dish in Gujurat,” said Gunaseelan. “But anywhere you go, it’s not exactly how you remember from back home. This is the first time in my 10 years in the states it tasted like home. This one was really good. Even though I’ve gone to some of these restaurants, most of these places are trying to make an impact today. They want people to see how good they are. So they’re here to impress.”
‘A beautiful place for meditation’
Dada J.P. Vaswani is the head of the Sadhu Vaswani mission, founded in India in 1929 by Dada Vaswani’s uncle Sadhu Vaswani, a philosopher, education advocate, and close associate of Gandhi. Dada Vaswani has spoken several times in the Meditation Garden, most recently at the dedication of the Gandhi statue last year.
Many of the attendees at the Veggie Fest were members of the Sadhu Vaswani Center, with locations throughout the world, including one in Closter, New Jersey.
Among the emcees at the event was Secaucus resident Ashok Lalwani, who has been involved in the Meditation Garden since inception. Years ago Mayor Michael Gonnelli brought him to see the unused space behind the Recreation Center.
“This was all marsh then,” he recalled. “All wild grass. Really a terrible place. But you look across the river and it’s the beautiful skyline of Manhattan. It was so peaceful, but no one would come here. So the mayor said, ‘Don’t you think this would be a beautiful place for meditation?’”
With a start-up contribution from Lalwani and additional funding from other center members, the town repurposed the land into the Meditation Center, dedicating it to Sadhu Vaswani.
“When we got Dada, the spiritual leader, here personally, we were looking at the skyline,” said Lalwani. “At that time we had just cleared the brush, and someone pointed to Manhattan and said, ‘Dada, you will lead us to the other shore. ‘And he looked at the guy and he said, ‘This is the other shore.’”
Spirituality, charity, and entrepreneurship
Among the tables under the tent was one distributing free books from among the purported 120 or more written by J.P. Vaswani. Angelina Kuter traveled to the event from New Brunswick and loaded up on the spiritual books. She was interested in “every religion,” she said. “My friend heard about this and we came here together. We are both analytical chemists.”
Her friend, Durga Kumari, is a member of the Vaswani Center and learned about the event via email.
Inside the Recreation Center were two chemists of another sort: Diva Kothari and Ashna Kalvani, both 12 years old, otherwise known as The Fizz Factory.
“When you’re having a bath you put these in the water and they fizz,” explained Kalvani, demonstrating one of their signature products, along with soap, lip balm, body scrubs, and face masks. “We make them.”
And how does one make fizz pellets? “It’s a secret,” she giggled. The two budding entrepreneurs came across a similar product at a favorite store, Lush, and experimented until they discovered their own version, which was popular among their friends and ultimately sprouted a small business.
Also for sale in the Rec Center were many varieties of Indian jewelry and colorful clothing. A silent auction table held 35 items, all donated, including an iPad with a starting bid of $350. Raffle tickets were sold for a 2015 Mercedes Benz, a TV, and an Apple Watch Sport. Proceeds were earmarked for numerous charities benefitting shelters, hospitals, homes for the elderly, and animal shelters.
Magical garden
“We do this event for the town of Secaucus,” said Lalwani. “We sent a mailer to every home in Secaucus. We want the entire town to come here and see this beautiful garden. When you go to the back of the garden and you sit down peacefully in front of the city, it’s magical. And we want the town to see what the mayor saw.”
Prior to last year’s inaugural Veggie Fest in Secaucus, the event was held at the Sadhu Vaswani Center in Closter. “This is much better,” said Sandhya Nankani, who attended the Closter events for more than a decade. “The space is much better. It used to be in a parking lot. Here you have that garden space for the kids. And also I think more people come because it’s a better location, more central. It’s easy to get to.”
So popular was the event this year that the parking lot filled up by mid-day and cars were pulled over in a long line down the road.
“We ate a little and discovered some new things,” said Nankani’s friend, Anjali Mani. The two brought their families from Demarest and Englewood. “The tea is really good. They’re making it over the open stove so it’s real chai. It’s not Starbucks chai.”
Mahika Jhangiani was one of a group of teens that came from all across the tri-state area to rendezvous at the event. “We all go to summer camp, the Hindu Youth Summer Camp in Kerhonkson, Upstate New York,” she said.
“This is our one chance for all of us to have a reunion,” added her friend, Basant Devjani. “Brings back the memories.”
For others, it was all about making new memories. Asked what was the best part of the event, Nesa Shamsadani, 9, from Little Falls said, “Getting to meet new friends.”
Art Schwartz may be reached at arts@hudsonreporter.com.