Formed in 2007 to bring the Nair families in North Texas together and provide community with support and help preserve our identity and rich culture. Nair Service Society of North Texas (NSS NT) has grown in family memberships to include hundreds of families in North Texas over the past few years and also became the most prominent Indian diaspora involved in local and global community services.

NSS NT always encourage our youth to be organized and do good for the community we live in and help each other. In 2017 our youth team was encouraged to start Nair Youth of North America (NYNA) during our Vishu celebrations, to give a platform to youth in the community and they have been in the forefront of many of NSS NT services and conducting seminars to help in career selections and college applications. NYNA also helps NSS NT in many food drives and sandwich drives conducted throughout the year.

NSS NT has established student scholarships to deserving students from Nair community in Kerala and has been carefully selecting and making sure the deserving students get the best education.

During 2018 when the deadly flood hit Kerala, NSS NT raised enough money to support more than 16 families to rebuild their homes which were completely washed away / destroyed by flood. This fund was distributed direct to the deserving families in a function in Perunna and was done without any caste / religious bias. Each NSS NT member in North Texas donated generously to make this happen.

NSS NT brings to North Texas, many cultural events each year to introduce rich Indian culture and traditions to the community. NSS NT try to encourage each member family to preserve and nourish our traditional cultural heritage by conducting events which includes:

• Mannam Jayanthi – Celebrated on Jan 2^nd each year to remember our Samudaya Acharyan Sri. Mannath Padmandbhan
• Monthly get togethers – including prayers, kid’s performances and other games for adults
• Annual Banquet – usually celebrated in February and coincide with Valentines theme
• Vishu – cultural events, Vishu Kani for kids, traditional Sadya on banana leafs and cooked by members
• Summer Family Picnic – a visit to local picnic area with family to enjoy a day out in the sun. Loved by kids and adults alike
• Onam Celebrations – This has become the iconic Onam in North Texas area. With more than 1000 people attending and culminating with a traditional Sadya which is prepared by members onsite and served by NSS volunteers. This is an event most Indian diaspora is eagerly waiting for each year
• Annual Camping – NSS Family members go for annual camping each year to one of the texas camp sites and spend time together to bring family bonding amongst its members
• Ayyappa Pooja – November / December time each year, NSS lead the Ayyappa puja at various temples in Dallas area
• Dhanu Masa Thiruvathira – A rich cultural tradition followed with ladies spending the night dancing thiruvathira and having thiruvathira feast including puzhukku. Visiting temple past mid night to do “Pathira Poo Choodal”

Some of the major events in the past years we brought to the North Texas community includes:

• Carnatic Music Concert by Dr. Omana Kutty                                     – 2008
• Hindustani Music Concert by Pandit Sri. Ramesh Narayanan         – 2008
• Indian Cine Mega Show by Rahman, Vineeth Srinivasan team       – 2011
• First Global NSS Convention, Plano, Texas                                       – 2012
• Soorya Festival USA by Soorya Krishna Moorthy and Team           – 2013
• NSS North America Convention, Washington DC                            – 2014
• Krishna – Musical show by Shobhana and Team                              – 2015
• Thykkudam Bridge – Rock band from India                                       – 2016
• Fundraiser for Flood affected people in Kerala                                 – 2018
• Nava Kerala – Bringing cultural programs together                         – 2018
• Musical night by Sameer Umbayee and Team                                  – 2020

NSSNT conducts a series of activities including malayalam classes and devopasana sessions completely run by volunteers of the community.

Devopasana:

Devopasana is a series of events / programs NSS NT conducted in 2020 to address religious and spiritual needs of community:

• Devopasana – Narayaneeyam – Many community members meet each Monday evenings to learn Narayaneeyam and practice chanting it. This is conducted using ZOOM and most of the participants have now acquired skills to read this scripture with ease. On December 14^th NSS NT also celebrated our first “Narayaneeyam Day” with each participant chanting couple of Dashakams
• Devopasana – Monthly Bhajans – Monthly bhajan session is conducted on each first Friday evenings of each month. This is an event/program where any members could participate and do bhajans together. Kids from our Sloka class slowly started leading this event with their wonderful recitals and bhajans

Madhuram Malayalam:

Madhuram Malayalam is a program NSS NT started in 2017 onsite at Sri Ganesha Temple premises and moved online in 2020. It has two branches focusing on Malayalam education and Sloka / Bhajan education:

• Malayalam Classes – Started in 2017 with 20 students, now these classes have many batches and more than 100 students. Our classes proudly report more than 95% attendance and very active participation from kids. Classes are conducted by volunteers who has spent time to develop our own syllabus and material and is 100% dedicated to teach our kids. These classes are open for any kids or adults who are interested to learn Malayalam and is a much sought after class in North America. For more details, please visit https://nssnorthtexas.org/madhuram-malayalam/
• Sloka classes – Kids interested in learning slokas, purana stories and bhajans are taught on each weekends using ZOOM. Our volunteer teachers try to make this effort as interesting as possible by introducing new games based on religious learnings and quizzes
• Literary competition – NSS NT has started a new initiative to conduct a Malayalam story / poem writing competition in 2020 and plans to announce the winners during the planned online Malayalam Seminar in February 2021