Senior leader of the BJP, LK Advani will be inaugurating the fifth Hindu Spiritual and Service Fair (HSSF) at AM Jain College in Meenambakkam on February 19. The six-day event is dedicated to Swami Vivekananda to mark his 150th birth anniversary being celebrated across the globe.
Announcing this at a press conference here, N Gopalaswami, former Chief Election Commissioner and chairperson of the organising committee of the fair said, “Since this is an age of organisations, we would like to display the services offered by Hindu organisations so that those who are in need of them can avail them while those who are interested in engaging themselves in service activities can also find their suitable organisations.”
He said for the convenience of the visitors, the HSSF has organised a free pick-up-drop facility from the nearest bus stops to the venue of the fair.
Padma Subrahmaniam, vice-chairperson of the fair said as a curtain raiser to the event, a Vivekananda aalkathon would be organised on Marina Beach by the Initiative for Moral and Cultural Training (IMCT) — a network of some 150 schools, on February 16. The walkathon by over 3,000 students, would start from Labour statue and culminate at the Vivekananda House.
She said so far 240 organisations had come forward to put up their stalls at the fair. Another important aspect of the fair would be that the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam would be conducting Srinivasa Kalyanam on the penultimate day of the fair — February 23, and Andhra Pradesh Endowments Departments had decided to send 11 Prachara Rathams of their principal temples to Chennai to create awareness about the fair.
Swami Vivekananda’s statue mounted on 10 vehicles will be taken to about 500 schools throughout Chennai and surrounding areas to take the message of the Swami to the students. The HSSF will be installing a 20 x 10 feet cut outs of Swami Vivekananda in some 400 spots in the city.
The central hall of the fair will be dedicated to an exhibition on Swami Vivekananda and his thoughts, life and mission.
Vivekananda-centric competitions for school students on various topics in culture, tradition and personality development skills will also be conducted at the fair venue, she said and added that the fair would have many attractive cultural shows depicting traditional state arts from Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.
Swami Omkarananda of Chidbhavananda Ashram,Theni and Swami Ashutoshananda of Sri Ramakrishna Math will be participating in the inaugural of the fair.