सारस्वत संस्कृती भवन

    A HOME AWAY FROM HOME

    It doesn’t matter whether you’ve had the best stay ever in a 7-Star hotel or the worst week at the railway retiring room, – there is only ever one place a GSB wants to go at the end of the day…home! And that’s what our सारस्वत संस्कृती भवन – a home away from home.

    सारस्वत संस्कृती भवन is not just for the Saraswat’s of Ahmedabad but also those GSB bandhavas from across India who visit Ahmedabad. They are our esteemed guests.

    The Ahmedabad GSBs meet at our सारस्वत संस्कृती भवन at least once a month for the श्री सत्यनारायण पूजा. It’s a home we love. Our feet may leave for the day but not our hearts; yearning to return home soon, again.

    The seeds for our सारस्वत संस्कृती भवन were sown by our quartet H.V.R. Gadiyarmam, K.V. Kamathmam, K. R. Kamathmam and Baba Paimaam. People flocked around them to fertilize and nurture this seed.

    We were hunting for a place in a central location but weren’t satisfied with any. Then Smt. Kalpana Kabad discovered this charming place. The place was contemporary, within a middle-class and a quiet residential locality. And we all fell in love with it.

    And the place immediately fired our imagination. Sanctity, purity, homeliness, our children enjoying, our elders singing bhajans and the ladies performing चुडी पूजा and तुळशी पूजा, planting trees all around and being blessed with spiritualism. Wow! So wonderful we thought.

    The deed papers were signed after Makar Sankranti 2007, on 16th January to be precise. Immediately thereafter, during G-3 2007 at Ahmedabad, H.H. Shrimath Sadyojat Shankarashram Swamiji of Shree Chitrapur Math blessed the deed papers.

    CHALLENGE

    But soon started the greatest challenge faced by our community – funds. Led by H.V.R. Gadiyarmam, K.V. Kamathmam, K.R Kamathmam, Baba Paimam, members went on a home-to-home drive to collect funds. But still our efforts fell short.

    Smt. Tara Mallya and Shri Shantaram Mallya

    Smt. Tara Mallya and Shri Shantaram Mallya

    A timely and magnanimous gesture by Smt. Tara Mallya and Shri Shantaram Mallya and a timely loan from our Delhi GSB Samaj, finally helped us in sealing the agreement with the previous owners.

    INAUGURATION
    29 APRIL 2007

    Our सारस्वत संस्कृती भवन was inaugurated after the कलश आराधना on 28th April and सुदर्शन होम, रक्षोग्न होम, नवग्रह होम and पंचनारळकेळं होम which started at 3.00 am on 29th April 2007. दीपप्रज्वलन was at 9.00 am, at the adjoining party plot. From here we went in a procession towards our सारस्वत संस्कृती भवन. The द्वार महालक्ष्मी पूजा was at 10.00 am and भवनप्रवेश immediately thereafter.

    The honors of भवनप्रवेश were done by
    our senior most respected
    Smt. Tara Mallya and Shri Shantaram Mallya.

    This was followed by श्री सत्यनारायण पूजा

    And at last, 
    the GSS Ahmedabad
    had a home of our own.

    Our सारस्वत संस्कृती भवन has been blessed by the पदस्पर्श and visits from

    • H.H Shrimath Sudhindra Thirtha Swamiji of Shri Kashi Math Samsthan
    • H.H. Shrimath Sadyojat Shankarashram Swamiji of Shri Chitrapur Math
    • H.H Shrimath Vidyadhiraj Tirth Shripad Vader Swamiji of Shree Samsthana Gokarn Partagali Jeevottam Math
    • H.H. Shrimath Shivananda Saraswati Tirth Swamiji of Shri Kavale Math
    • H.H. Shrimath Samyamindra Thirtha Swamij Shri Kashi Math Samsthan

    Our Saraswath Sanskriti Bhavan is thus a place for spiritualism too.

    The entire samaj bandhavas of GSS-Ahmedabad has contributed to our Samaj Bhavan, some through मन, some through तन and some through धन.

    Although we had our very own सारस्वत संस्कृती भवन we were still uncomfortable as the assembly hall was very small and we had to hire the party plot near the भवन for our गणेश चतुर्थी programs.

    SPECIAL MENTION
    Shri Vilas Kenny &
    Shri Prashant Gadiyar

    Two personalities who deserve a very special mention here, for the extension of the assembly hall are Shri Vilas Kenny and Shri Prashant Gadiyar.

    For Vilas, it was just like extending his own home. Vilas travelled 50 km to and fro almost every day to oversee this project and to ensure its timely completion. And finally the extended assembly hall was thrown open to the samaj bandhavas on Ganesh Chaturthi 2012.

    Today Prashant has taken as his personal responsibility for the upkeep सारस्वत संस्कृती भवन. During the summer of 2019, when the temperatures were even above 45℃ Prashant and Baba Paimam got all the repairs and maintenance work done.

    Such are the jewels of GSS-Ahmedabad. GSS-Ahmedabad, is indeed lucky to have such personalities in our midst today.