Soul Searching

‘Feeling Connected Again’

Avni Patel ’10

As a two-year member of the University’s Hindu Student Association, Avni Patel ’10 prays at the Hindu Temple of Rochester a few times a month, helps host an annual Diwali dinner to celebrate the Hindu New Year, and attends several meetings monthly to discuss various aspects of Hinduism.

The molecular genetics major, who also serves as the association’s business manager, is grateful to have classmates who share her religious beliefs. Growing up in the tiny town of Fort Covington in upstate New York, she rarely talked about her faith with anyone.

“It was really hard because all my friends at school were Christian,” says Patel, adding that there were no temples nearby. “I’d kind of be left out. They didn’t know anything about my religion because I didn’t tell them. I didn’t think they would understand.”

At home, after taking showers and before going to bed, she performed puja, a religious ritual to show respect to gods and goddesses. Her mother sang traditional Hindi songs and led rituals for the family—washing coins in milk and water, blessing food—in front of the shrine built in the kitchen, a tribute to Krisha, Ganapati, and other religious figures. She had to travel roughly 45 minutes to Clarkson University in Potsdam to attend annual Diwali celebrations.

When schoolmates visited her house and noticed the adorned kitchen corner, she would tell them, “It’s a shrine. It’s a religious thing,” and leave it at that.

These days, Patel’s faith isn’t relegated to the spot in front of the small statues of gods she prays to each night before falling asleep—especially if she has a test the next day or is worrying about a family member. It is a perpetual place of respite to clear her mind when struggling with “what I’m going to do with the rest of my life,” and when she wants to “feel connected again instead of just going through the motions.”

And she is outspoken when she hears misconceptions about her religion, such as the common one that Hindus avoid eating all kinds of meat. It’s true, she says, that most Hindus don’t eat beef. (Cows are traditionally viewed as sacred animals for their gentle, nurturing qualities.) But that doesn’t mean all Hindus are vegetarian.

Meanwhile, she has steadily increased her responsibilities with the Hindu Student Association. Next year she assumes the role of vice president.

In many ways, Patel is now much more comfortable with her faith, which she anticipates will be a guiding force even after she graduates and moves away from her current support network.

“It makes me feel like I’m in control,” she says. “And I hope that it keeps me strong, that it just gives me something to believe in so that when things are bad I won’t feel completely hopeless.”