Mandar Apte, Indian American Minnesota resident was awarded with a community service medal of honor for effectively dealing with the growing issue of violence. Mayor Ardell Brede of Rochester, Minnesota and Lt. James Evenson of Rochester Police Department had presented the award to Apte during a recent trip to India.
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Apte is the founder of From India With Love, a social movement to reinvigorate nonviolence in the United States based on India’s ancient culture, wisdom and traditions. Through this initiative designs transformational expeditions for American leaders can experience India’s ancient culture and discover the solutions to their social challenges, according to a ‘From India With Love’ press release.
Mayor Brede and Lt. Jim Evenson were part of a visionary delegation of the leaders from across the United States who had traveled to India during the period Jan 24-31, 2017 . The delegation was included with social activists, law enforcement officers from Florida as well as victims of gun violence including Ron Davis whose son, Jordan, was brutally murdered in a gas station in Jacksonville, Florida in 2012.
The initiative is said to be inspired by the transformative journey taken by Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., while he visited India in 1959 to deepen his understanding on the teachings of nonviolence preached and practiced by Mahatma Gandhi.
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Deeply pained by the ongoing violence prevailing in the America, Mandar has quit his day job in the early 2016 to produce ”From India With Love” – a documentary film that shows the real life story of transformation of a group of Americans during their pilgrimage to India in search of solace, healing and transformation.
By Premji
