Amhi Ek Kutumbh — we are a family

In 2022, a handful of Konkani families in Sydney realised something simple: the festivals felt smaller when celebrated alone. So a few families gathered for Ganesh Chaturthi in a living room, then a small hall, and then a bigger one.

Amhi Ek Kutumbh — literally "we are one family" in Konkani — became the name because it was already the truth. There was no committee, no strategy, no marketing plan. Just families cooking together, praying together, and letting the little cousins run around during aarti.

Four years later we are many families across Sydney, but the promise is the same: you walk in as a stranger, you leave as kin. That is AEK.

To preserve Sanatan Hindu Konkani traditions — the bhajans, the recipes, the language, the rituals — by doing them together across generations, and to build a community where every family, every child, every elder feels genuinely at home.

• Celebrate our festivals

  Fourteen festivals a year, celebrated with warmth, full mahaprasad and the whole family in the room.

• Preserve our traditions

  Konkani bhajans, recipes, rituals and language — kept alive by doing them together, not just talking about them.

• Encourage our children

  Kids lead aartis, sing bhajans, and perform on stage. They are not the future audience — they are the present.

• Build lasting friendships

  Community means the friend who brings you homemade laddoos when you're unwell. That's what we're building.

• Promote seva

  Beyond our own kutumbh — food drives, temple support, elder care. Devotion turned outward.

And dozens of volunteers — cooks, drivers, teachers, singers, stage hands, dish washers. This is your list too.