Hindu Temple and Community Center of Mid-Missouri (HTCC)

March 5, 2010 2009 Annual Report A humble offering . . . Samarpanam

Ah< inivRkLpae inrakar êpae ivÉuTvac svRÇ sveRiNÔya[am! , n cas'gt nEv muiKtnR mey> icdanNdêp> izvae=hm! izvae=hm! .

Aham nirvikalpO nirAkAra roopO vibhutvAca sarvatra sarvEndriyANam ,

na cAsangata naiva muktir na mEya: cidAnandarpa: ShivOham ShivOham .

Thought-free am I, formless my only form, I am the vitality behind all sense organs of everyone; Neither have I attachment to anything, nor am I free from everything; I am all-

inclusive; I am Auspiciousness. Auspiciousness alone.

Daily Prayer Page …..……………….…………….………….……………………………. 2 Message from the Board of Trustees ……………..…...………………………….. 3 Map and Direction to Shanthi Mandir ………………………………………………... 3 HTCC Benefactors ……………………..…………………….....………………..……….. 4 Report from the Executive Board …………….……………………...………………. 5 HTCC Executive Committee …………….………..………………………………………. 6 In Memoriam ………………………………….……………………………………………… 6 Our Honorary Member Inductee …………...………………………………………... 7 HTCC Fourth Anniversary Celebration Organizing Committee ……………... 7 HTCC Helping Hands …………………………….…………...….…………………………. 8 Poised to Grow, Grow to Serve ………………….....…………………………………. 9 Capital Campaign ……………….…………....…………………………………………….. 11 Communications ………………...…………………………………………………………… 13 Cultural Programs …………………..………………………………………………………… 14 Devotional Programs ……………...………………..……………………………………… 19 Educational Programs …………...…………………..…………………………………….. 20 External Relations ………………..…………………………………………………………. 21 Facilities and Renovation …………..……………….……………………………………. 22 Our Gen Next ……………………...…………...…………………………………………….. 23 Worship and Service at the Mandir ……………………………………………………... 24 Be the Change You Want to See - Competition Entries …………..…………….. 25 Financial Policy ………………………………....……………………………………………. 27 2009 Financial Report ……………….…….…….…………………………………………. 27 Library …………….……………………………….……………………………………………. 28 Membership ………………..…………………………………………………………………. 28 Operations and Maintenance …………….……………………...…………………….. 29 Publications ………...………...…………….………………….…….………………………. 30 Safety and Security ………...…………...……………..………………………………….. 30 Scheduling ……………………….………………….………………………………………….. 33 Service Programs ………….....………………..…………………………………………… 33 Youth Activities ………………..…………………...………………………………………… 34 HTCC 2010 Events Calendar …………..……………………...……………………….. 37 2010 HTCC Directory ……………….………….………………………………………….. 39 Cultural Association of India ……..………………….….……………………………… 43 The Vedic Society …………………...…………………….….…………………………… 43 Current Programs at the Shanthi Mandir …………….….…………………………… 44

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Contents

Shanthi Mandir Hindu Temple and Community Center of Mid-Missouri (HTCC) Columbia, Missouri

SAMARPANAM PAGE 2

Daily Prayer Page

Morning Prayer This prayer is to be recited soon after waking up. KARAAGRE VASATE LAKSHMI KARA MADHYE SARASWATI KARA MOOLE STHITA GAURI

PRABAHATE KARA DARSHANAM

On the tip of my fingers resides Lakshmi, the Goddess of prosperity and wealth. In the middle of my hands is Saraswati, the Goddess of knowledge and learning. In the palm of my hands sits Mother Gauri, the Goddess of protection.

Visualizing in this manner, I take darshan of my hands every morning.

Meal Prayer This 24th verse from the 4th chapter of Bhagavad Gita is to be recited before every meal. BRAHMAARPANAM BRAHMA HAVIR

BRAHMAAGNAU BRAHMANAA HUTAM BRAHMAIVA TENA GANTAVYAM

BRAHMA KARMA SAMAADHINAHA

The act of offering is Brahman (The Supreme). The offering itself is Brahman. The offering is done by Brahman in the sacred fire which is Brahman. He alone attains Brahman who, in all actions, is fully absorbed in Brahman. (As we chant

this prayer we are offering the different types of food to Brahman).

Gayatri Mantra The Gayatri Mantra can be recited anytime, but is ideally suited during morning prayer-time. OM BHUR BUVAHA SUVAHA

THATH SAVITHUR VARENYAM BHARGO DEVASYA DHEEMAHI

DHIYO YONAHA PRACHODAYATH

We contemplate the glory of Light illuminating the three worlds: gross, subtle, and causal. I am that vivifying power, love, radiant illumination, and divine grace of universal intelligence.

We pray for the divine light to illumine our minds.

Asotoma Sadgamaya Prayer This Prayer is typically recited as a conclusion to a meditation/prayer session ASATOMA SADGAMAYA

THAMASO MAA JYOTHIR GAMAYA MRITHYOR MAA AMRUTHAM GAMAYA

AUM SHANTHI SHANTHI SHANTIHI

Lead me from the unreal to the real. Lead me from darkness to light. Lead me from death to immortality. May there be peace everywhere.

Night Prayer This prayer is to be recited at bedtime.

KARA CHARANA KRITHAM VAAK KAAYAJAM KARMAJAM VAA SRAVANA NAYANAJAM VAA MAANASAM VAA APARADHAM

VIHITHAM AVIHITHAM VAA SARVAMETAT KSHAMASVA JAYA JAYA KARUNAABDHE SRI MAHA DEVA SHAMBHO

Oh Lord, please forgive me for all the wrong actions that I have committed with my hands, feet, speech, body, ears, eyes and mind. Please pardon me for all the wrong actions that I have done knowingly or unknowingly. Victory to You, oh Lord

of compassion and mercy.

SAMARPANAM PAGE 3

Directions:

Take Exit 127 on Interstate 70, Head north on Rangeline Street, Right at first traffic light on Vandiver Drive, Left on Parker Street, Right on Holly Avenue, Shanthi Mandir sign will be visible on the right after 5-6 homes.

O n the fourth anniversary of our Hindu Temple and Community Center (HTCC), we extend our warmest welcome to all, particularly the newly arrived students

and families. We hope that Shanthi Mandir will serve as a home away from home and continue to grow as a center for a wide spectrum of spiritual, devotional, cultural, and service activities to meet the needs of the new and old alike. Our Service activities have made a positive impact, thanks to the unwavering effort and dedication of some of our members. We hosted the Interfaith Thanksgiving Celebration in 2009 which provided a venue for us to meet members of different faiths in Columbia in a spirit of harmony symbolized by the old saying: Vasudhaiva kutumbakam i.e. the world is one big family. We are fortunate to invite an outstanding citizen of the Columbia community as our honorary member this year. We welcome him with those inducted last year and look forward to their participation in shaping and realizing the vision of service and inclusion set forth in our constitution.

Om Sehgal, a long time resident of Columbia, a beloved member, and a dear

friend recently passed away after a prolonged illness. We miss him greatly and offer our heartfelt condolences to his dear wife Toshi. The Mandir conducted a Puja to pray for the departed soul of Om. Relevant passages from the Vedas and Upanishads were recited by Chandrasekhar which was followed by a reading of the Bhagavad Gita by all those present. This sad event brought to our focus the growing need of temples and community centers to provide assistance to the bereaving family members of the Hindu Diaspora to perform the funeral sacraments according to their customs and wishes. This is not easy in the American setting which is unfamiliar and ill prepared for these special needs. As the first generation of Indian Americans who entered this country as young students and professionals get older, this need is getting to be more crucial. One of the important goals of HTCC is to equip ourselves to meet the future needs of the community in this regard.

As the reports from various Committees in this publication show, we are forging

ahead on all fronts, though not at the same pace. It is high time for the membership to evaluate the last four years and chalk out a realistic course for the next four to five years. As we work for our cherished long time goal of a larger facility in a more suitable location, we need to address our immediate needs to improve the current facility. We should identify the problems not addressed until now and equip ourselves to serve the community better in the future.

Nothing could be more relevant at this time than the exhortation from the Taittireya

Upanishad, popularized by Swami Vivekananda : “Uttishtata, Jagruta, Prapya varannibodhata ; Arise, Awake and stop not till the goal is reached.”

Board of Trustees* Holalkere R. Chandrasekhar 2 Meera Chandrasekhar Balakrishnan Elangovan Srinath Gopalakrishna Anantha Gopalaratnam Vellore S. Gopalaratnam Nila Gupta Arun Jain 3 Leela Jashnani 3 Kattesh Katti Inder Khurana Jasmit Khurana Kiratadas Kutikkad Sunder Lal Nirja Loyalka Sudarshan Loyalka 3 Anil Malhotra Kusum Malhotra Ritcha Mehra-Chaudhary Moonmoom Mitra Ranadhir Mitra1 Kannappan Palaniappan Harsha Patel Nitin Patel Ravi Puri Anuradha Rajagopalan V. Ramachandran Gagneesh Rawat Chandra Rawlani Ramesh Rawlani Toshi Sehgal Sanjiv Sethi Krishna Sharma Bharath Srinivasan Hema Srinivasan Ravi Thawani Dabir Viswanath

1.Trustee President 2.Trustee Vice-President 3. Elected Trustee

* Does not include four trustees who opted not to serve on the Board

Message from the Board of Trustees

Map and Directions to Shanthi Mandir

SAMARPANAM PAGE 4

HTCC Benefactors

Thank You!

Contribute Generously to our Capital Campaign!

As you contemplate making donations to our Capital Campaign, please consider the following facts...

• Donations to HTCC are tax-deductible. • HTCC is exempt from Boone County property tax. • Shanthi Mandir property is wholly owned by HTCC, a non-profit corporation. • Purchases for HTCC are exempt from Missouri sales tax. • Each year, since inception, we have logged in in excess of 15,000 volunteer hours

keeping our operational costs to a minimum. This is the equivalent of 7.5 full-time employees

• HTCC serves over 150 Mid-Missouri Hindu families and also the larger Columbia community.

• We have approximately 100 member families/individuals including 66 life-time members.

• To-date 29 families have contributed $5,000 or more. Out of this group 11 families have contributed $15,000 or more.

• 100% of donations made to the Capital Campaign will be available exclusively for capital expenditures.

Thank You! Donor Acknowledgement, January 1– December 31, 2009

We gratefully acknowledge the following monetary donations made during 2009. If we have inadvertently made an error in not including your name, please let us know. We will correct the error at the earliest available opportunity with our apologies.

$49- Basu, Asit and Sandra Cutkosky, Dale and Hema Srinivasan Jain, Arun Mohan, Amitabh Nair, Satish and Jyotsna Ramaswamy, Kasturi and Indira Rawat, Gagneesh and Aditi Subramanian, Krishna and Raji Thawani, Ravi and Meena $50-99 Gupta, Ghanshyam and Manorma Premnath, Venkatesan and Vasanthy Rawlani, Ramesh and Chandra $100-199 Batchu, Sudhir and Priya Kannan, Sankarnaryanan and Vasanthy Khurana, Inder and Jasmit Malhotra, Anil and Kusum Mitra, Ranadhir and Roma Sahota, Pradeep and Shaku Viswanath, Dabir and Pramila

$200-499 Anand, Satish and Sushma Mantrala, Murali and Surya Ratneshwar, Srinivasan and Subbalakshmi Shukla, Shivendra and Asha $500-999 Aggarwal, Kul and Archana Chandrasekar, H. R. and Meera Kutikkad, Das and Geetha Sehgal, Om and Santosh Srinivasan, Bharath and Manjula

Narasimhan $1,000-1,999 Gopalaratnam, Vellore and Anantha Ramachandran, V and Anuradha

Rajagopalan $11,000-11,999 Loyalka, Sudarshan and Nirja

Let us also develop a culture of regular small donations at Shanthi Mandir

Use birthdays, anniversaries, festivals and other special milestone events in the family to make regular donations to the HTCC. Please also consider setting up autopay from your bank for making other regular monthly contributions towards operating expenses of the Mandir.

Remember “it takes just drops of water make up the ocean”!

SAMARPANAM PAGE 5

Report from the Executive Board W e begin our fifth year with a sense of

gratitude and humility. While we have collectively accomplished many noteworthy milestones, as highlighted on Pages 9-10, for which we need to be grateful, we still have many challenges ahead of us. During the last four formative years of HTCC our devotional, educational, service, outreach and youth programs have steadily grown to meet the needs of our community. We have built a wonderful spirit of “community” and a “shared set of values” that have enriched us in many ways. The Columbia community too has come to rely on us as a dependable partner. During this time we have worked closely with the City of Columbia, Columbia Interfaith Council, Faith and Education Collaborative, the Central Missouri Food Bank and numerous local schools and universities on ongoing projects to serve the community. We could not be where we are today without your unstinting support, encouragement and generous donation of time. Despite a difficult economic year for our nation, HTCC is debt-free and on a sound financial footing - thanks to our many benefactors and volunteers. The Mandir now serves as the focal point for most of our festival celebrations, educational activities, youth programs and volunteer service projects. The last activity has been particularly rewarding, given the growing need for such community support during the long drawn-out economic downturn. As we continue to grow our activities to better serve our community, we also need to proactively plan for growing our Mandir infrastructure. This ongoing planning effort has been slow but deliberative. As we begin our fifth year, we look ahead to the future with hope and a renewed sense of optimism. With your continued support and active participation, there is every reason to believe that we will transform the challenges into wonderful opportunities. Late last year, we lost a dear friend and a

very strong supporter of HTCC and Shanthi Mandir, Om Sehgal. In his typical low-key style, he was instrumental in bringing excellent programs and friends to the Mandir. We will truly miss him and his encouragement. Thanks to his initiative, we inducted our first ever batch of four Honorary Members. The distinguished group included Robert Bussabarger, Virginia Morgan, Murari Lal Nagar, and Arthur Robins. This year we add one more distinguished individual to our list of Honorary Members, Prof. Norman G. Barrier. He is an eminent historian and scholar of India with a focus on recent Sikh history. Prof. Barrier established South Asia Books, arguably the largest and most comprehensive resource of publications

from and about India in the United States and Canada. His generous donation of hundreds of books on Indian philosophy, culture, history, literature and fine arts has enriched our library at Shanthi Mandir. In late November 2009, HTCC had the

opportunity to host the Columbia Interfaith Council’s 2009 Interfaith Thanksgiving celebrations. This event, organized in association with the Chancellor’s Diversity Initiative at MU and the Cultural Association of India, was held at MU’s Stotler Lounge. The celebration comprised short presentations from many faith groups including a lead-in with Vedic chants by members of MU’s Vedic Society, a multi-faith finale of “Hum Hongey Kaamyaab – We Shall Overcome” and tasty ethnic finger foods during the post-celebration social hour. Leela Jashnani provided leadership on behalf of HTCC for the well-attended event. As you review the reports for 2009 from

the various committees that run the day-to-day operations at the Mandir, please sign up to volunteer for one or two committees whose work is close to your heart. This dedicated army of volunteers is what makes us tick. A yearly donation of well over 15,000 hours of time is but a conservative estimate of the passion this crew brings to the Mandir. Moreover, for the unique expertise and skill that each volunteer brings, we are truly indebted. This volunteer commitment, in addition to providing support for our operations to the tune of 7-8 full-time employees, also instills a sense of “ownership”, a fundamental strength of our model of operation. Many Committee Chairs are looking for fresh ideas and new enthusiasm. You can sign-up to volunteer by directly contacting them. Last year saw an increase in our lifetime

membership to 66 which represents nearly 2/3rd of our membership. The total membership stood at just over 100. We already have several new members in 2010 in addition to the renewal of many of our 2009 members. Please remember to renew your membership, if you have not already done so. Our Cultural Programs group was active last year with many special concerts in addition to the informal monthly gathering at the Mandir for Bhakti Geetam (First Saturdays at 6:00 pm). Shanthi Sandesh, our quarterly newsletter, which completed its fourth birthday with the November 2009 issue, is now being mailed to all members and several friends, almost immediately after the digital version is posted on our web site. This has brought in some warm feed-back and support from former Columbia residents who also receive the hard-copy newsletter via mail. If you would like friends to receive Shanthi Sandesh via mail (US addresses only),

please send the Chair of the Publication Committee their complete postal address. Visala Palaniappan chairs the ad-hoc

committee to plan/organize the Fourth Anniversary Celebrations (see Page 7). This committee comprising approximately two dozen volunteers has been diligently planning for the celebration since late December 2009. We also have an extremely talented group of local artistes providing entertainment for the evening, including an Odissi dance by Aditi Bandyopadhyay, Jhuma Das and Anagha Sawant, a karaoke performance of nostalgic Bollywood songs from the 60s and 70s by Jaskaran Sandhu, and the mother-daughter duo of Padmini and Smrita Dorairajan performing a Bharata Natyam dance. Youth will be engaged with several hands-on arts and crafts projects, thanks to the enthusiastic instruction provided by Amy Messener. The music of DJ Raj Suppiah will draw you to the Open Dance Floor following the entertainment program. The theme for this year’s youth competitions is “Be the Change you Want to See… (in the world) with inspiration drawn from Gandhiji’s popular quotation. This will be the last column for some on

the Executive Board as we look forward to renewal of leadership with the upcoming HTCC Elections in March 2010. Renewal is an important aspect of leadership in an organization such as ours. New ideas, new vision and renewed enthusiasm come with such changes and allow organizations to grow and change to serve the community better. You should be soon hearing from the HTCC Election Committee seeking approval of new election procedures and nominations for the positions of President and Secretary of the Executive Board as well as two Elected Trustees as the terms of Vellore Gopalaratnam (President, HTCC EB), Inder Khurana (Secretary, EB), Arun Jain and Sudarshan Loyalka (Elected Board of Trustees) end on March 31, 2010. Gopal and Inder have thoroughly enjoyed serving you in their elected capacities. We will undoubtedly play an active role in other capacities to help HTCC and the Mandir grow and adapt to the changing needs of our community.

Executive Board

Vellore S. Gopalaratnam1 Inder Khurana2 Manjula Narasimhan3 Ravi Thawani4

1. President 2. Secretary 3. Treasurer 4. Vice President

SAMARPANAM PAGE 6

Comprises Executive Board (elected) and Committee Chairs (appointed)

HTCC Executive Board

President – Vellore S. Gopalaratnam Vice President – Ravi Thawani

Secretary – Inder Khurana Treasurer – Manjula Narasimhan

HTCC Committee Chairs

Capital Campaign – H. R. Chandrasekhar Communications—Gagneesh Rawat

Cultural Programs – Hema Srinivasan Devotional Programs – Chandra Rawlani Educational Programs – Sanjeev Khanna

External Relations – Leela Jashnani Facilities and Renovation – Bharath Srinivasan

Financial Policy – Krishna Sharma Library – H. R. Chandrasekhar Membership – Dabir Viswanath

Operations and Maintenance – Shuba Ratneshwar Publications – Sandhya Sharma

Safety and Security – Kiratadas Kutikkad Scheduling – Inder Khurana

Service Programs – Mayukh Ghosh Youth Activities – Nandhu Radhakrishnan

Assistant Treasurer: Kusum Malhotra

HTCC Executive Committee

In Memoriam A strong supporter of HTCC and Shanthi Mandir, Om Sehgal passed away on November 15,

2009. Om touched not only the lives of his students and friends, but also the lives of many others in the Columbia community. He was born on July 22, 1932, in Rawalpindi, India (now in Pakistan), to Beharilal and Savitri Sehgal. He earned a Ph.D at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1962 and married Toshi on Dec. 26, 1963. He began teaching at the University of Missouri School of Agriculture in Plant Pathology in 1963 and retired as Professor Emeritus in 2000. He is survived by his wife, Toshi, a son, Ravi Sehgal of Columbia, and a daughter, Ritu Sehgal of Los Angeles, California.

Om was more actively engaged in spiritual, cultural, and religious activities during the years since his retirement. He was instrumental in HTCC hosting the Krishna Das Kirtan at the Mandir. He also introduced us to Ginny Morgan an inspirational speaker, at the Buddha Purnima lecture at the Mandir and who was inducted as an Honorary Member of HTCC last year. Om inaugurated the HTCC library at the 2007 anniversary celebrations. One could often see him attending the Kirtans held on the first Sunday of the month at the Mandir.

In the 13th stanza of the eighth chapter of Bhagavad Gita, Lord Krishna tells Arjuna that one reaches salvation by uttering the syllable “Om.” Not only did Om reach salvation but he also put all of us who came in contact with him towards the path of salvation. Om will always be with us, watching us grow, as we serve the community.

SAMARPANAM PAGE 7

Our Honorary Member Inductee

P rofessor Norman G. Barrier, Emeritus and Middlebush Chair in the Social Sciences (2000-2005), is an eminent historian and scholar of India. It is an honor and privilege to induct him as an

Honorary Member of HTCC to recognize his accomplishments and service to the Indian community in Columbia and to the HTCC. Professor Barrier has continued to be active in teaching, research and related professional matters at the University of Missouri after his retirement. Besides Writing Intensive courses in Nonviolence in Modern World History and Communalism in Modern India, his teaching has included a revised course on Gandhi and His Times and two new courses: The Partition of India and Women in Indian

History. Barrier's research continues to focus on recent Sikh history. In 1997, Barrier gave a keynote address at the International Sikh Studies Conference, University of Michigan, and

presented papers on contemporary Sikh legal cases relating to Gurdwara governance. He has co-edited the volume of proceedings from that conference, consisting of 16 chapters on Sikh identity, and wrote the introduction, revised keynote address, and an article on the Fairfax Gurdwara case where he served as a major expert witness (politics, authority, and congregational practice). He has also published articles in prominent journals in the fields of Indian and Sikh studies, and currently is completing a monograph on a transitional period of modern Sikhism, 1900-1920: Competing Visions of Modern Sikhism: The Chief Khalsa Kiwan and its Opponents.

Another major contribution of Barrier is the South Asia Books, arguably the largest and most comprehensive resource of publications from and about India in the United States and Canada. His generous donation of hundreds of books on Indian philosophy, culture, history, literature and fine arts has enriched our library at Shanthi Mandir.

Organizing Committee

Visala Palaniappan(Chair) Priya Batchu

Meera Chandrasekhar Vellore S. Gopalaratnam

Leela Jashnani Inder Khurana

Kusum Malhotra Ranadhir Mitra

Nandhu Radhakrishnan Gagneesh Rawat Chandra Rawlani

Bharath Srinivasan Ravi Thawani

With Support From

Anand Chandrasekhar H.R. Chandrasekhar

Anantha Gopalaratnam Kavita Katti

Latha Krishnan Das Kutikkad

Ritcha Mehra-Chaudhary Amy Messner

Manjula Narasimhan Shuba Ratneshwar Shelley Ravipudi Stephanie Ross Namita Satpathy

Punam Sethi Sandhya Sharma Dabir Viswanath

HTCC Fourth Anniversary Celebrations Organizing/Support Committees

The ad-hoc committee planning for the HTCC Fourth Anniversary Celebration has been toiling for several months, to make sure that the celebrations go without a hitch. Even with the best of planning, we can almost always do better. Should have any ideas to improve the event, please pass them on to any of the HTCC officers. We will try our best to implement all good ideas next year.

SAMARPANAM PAGE 8

Title Here W hile financial resources are

needed to operate effectively, little can be accomplished without the selfless donation of time and effort of our Shram Daan (donation of labor) volunteer team. In addition there are numerous members and other individuals who volunteered their time in planning , organizing, executing and cleaning after the many events at the Mandir. We are truly indebted to all of you who gave us an invaluable resource - your time and effort! While every effort was made to recognize all the volunteers at the Mandir, please pardon us if we have inadvertently left out some of your names. We estimate conservatively that collectively all of us put in well over 15,000 hours of volunteer time during 2009. The

ownership equity of such devotion is immeasurable in monetary value!

Shram Daan (donation of labor – volunteerism) is a concept that has long been ingrained in our way of life. Mahatma Gandhi and Vinobha Bhave made volunteerism popular in pre-independent India and used it effectively to undertake social development programs in rural India. Self-help and helping others through community service are attributes that enrich all our lives. When you become part of the team, you have an opportunity to: support a cause you truly believe in, apply your skills and acquire new ones, make new friends and develop contacts, feel the personal satisfaction of helping others and to make a difference in your own

community. The rewards are as unique and personal as your reasons for wanting to volunteer. While our focus during the first few years was largely on volunteering at Shanthi Mandir, in the years since, we have systematically made an effort to serve the larger Columbia community as well, as described on Page 33. Given our largely academic and physician membership, logical service efforts include projects to enhance the after-school educational opportunities and provide preliminary health care screening for those who need, but cannot afford them. We are a caring community that has much to offer Columbia. Let us team up to realize this as yet untapped potential!

Aarti Nagarkar Abi Elangovan Aditi Rawat Alagu Arunachalam Amit Patel Anand Chandrasekhar Anantha Gopalaratnam Anchal Sethi Anjna Sethi Anmol Sethi Anuradha Rajagopalan Arjun Khurana Aroor Annaya Rao Aroor Sudha Ashish Upadhayay Ashok Cutkosky Aswath Kumar B. S. Balaji Bala Elangovan Bandhana Katoch Bharath Srinivasan Chandra Rawlani Dabir Viswanath Dale Cutkosky Gagneesh Rawat Geetha Kutikkad Gyan Srivatsava Harsha Patel Hema Srinivasan Holalkere Chandrasekhar Inder Khurana Indira Ramaswamy Ipsa Chaudhary

Jasmit Khurana Kalayarsi Kumar Kannappan Palaniappan Kate Walker Kattesh Katti Kavita Katti Kiratadas Kutikkad Krishna Sharma Kul Aggrawal Kuljit Sandhu Kusum Malhotra Leela Jashnani Manjula Narasimhan Maya Cutkosky Maya Ramachandran Mayukh Ghosh Meena Thawani Meera Chandrasekhar Mythili Ramachandran Nahush Katti Namita Satpathy

Nandhu Radhakrishnan Neil Kotandeniya Nidhi Khurana Nilotpal Sanyal Nirja Loyalka Nitin Patel Pranavi Tella Prerna Srinivasan Punam Sethi Raji Subramanian Rajini Tolani Rajiv Mohan Ram Ramaswamy Ramesh Rawlani Ranadhir Mitra Ravi Thawani Reshma Khanna Ritcha Mehra-Chaudhary S. Akila S. Naimesh S. Nitya

Sandhya Sharma Sangita Sharma Sanjeev Khanna Sanjiv Sethi Sannath Kumar Satish Anand Savitri Kotandeniya Senthil Kumar Shreyas Srinivasan Shikha Srivatsava Shuba Ratneshwar Siddharth Kutikkad Soham Srivatsava Sonal Ghosh Srinath Gopalakrishna Sumidha Katti Sunilima Sinha Surya Mantrala Sushma Anand Sushama Nagarkar Tarang Parashar Toshi Sehgal Trisha Chaudhary Uma Srinath Urmila Kutikkad V. Ramachandran Vairam Arunachalam Vellore Arthi Vellore Adithi Vellore Gopalaratnam Vikram Arunachalam Vinita Khanna Visala Palaniappan

HTCC Helping Hands

SAMARPANAM PAGE 9

Poised to Grow… Grow to Serve...

General Highlights • HTCC serves over 150 Mid-Missouri

Hindu families. We also proudly serve the larger Columbia community, which has come to rely on us as a dependable partner to enrich the quality of life in Columbia.

• HTCC started in September 2005 with 12 Trustee Families. In 2010 we now have 29 Trustee Families

• We also have 3 Elected Trustees • HTCC inducted 4 Honorary Members in

2009. Another Honorary Member is to be inducted in 2010

• Membership has been steady for the last 3 years. We hope to grow to serve many more students and families in the next few years.

Community Outreach (see also Service Programs alongside) • City of Columbia - Human Rights Office • Columbia Interfaith Council • Columbia Values Diversity Event

Planning/Sponsorship • Faith and Education Collaborative • Hickman High School - World Religions

Class

• MU Center for Religion and Profession • Truman State University • Westminster College

Service Programs (HTCC Helping Hands) Regular Service Programs: • Narayan Seva, Lunch service - Sai

Bhajan Group • Anna Daan food donation - Central

Missouri Food Bank, CMFB • CMFB Volunteering for repackaging -

HTCC Helping Hands • Adopt a Spot, Ridgeway Elementary -

Bal Sabha • Shram Daan/Seva Day – Volunteer

projects at the Mandir

Cash Flow and Capital Growth

Revenue Streams: $60,045/year

Expense Categories: $19,947/year

HTCC Fiscal Highlights 2006 - 2009

Membership History HM: Honorary Members, AIM: Annual Individual Members, AFM: Annual Family Members, LIM: Lifetime Individual Members, LFM: Lifetime Family Members

Broad highlights listed here reflect a representative sample of the diverse range of ongoing and successfully completed activities during the 2006 - 2009 period. This list is by no means exhaustive. The fiscal and membership data is based on the time window January 2006—December 2009. Our HTCC Membership Directory presented on Pages 39-42 includes data as of March 1, 2010. Even while we look forward to the next phase in our growth and to serve the community even better, it is important to reflect on where we are today. We are Poised to Grow… and Grow to Serve...

SAMARPANAM PAGE 10

Poised to Grow… Grow to Serve... Special Service Projects: • Clean-up Columbia – HTCC Helping

Hands • CROP Walk – Raised funds for

overcoming poverty • Sharing the Warmth – Winter clothing

collection for the Salvation Army - HTCC Youth/Bal Sabha/Bal Puja

Devotional Programs Regular Programs: • Sai Bhajans • Venkateshwara Suprabhatam/Vishnu

Sahasranaamam • Kirtan • Open Prayer Hours (Tuesday and

Saturday)

Pujas and Festivals: • New Year Puja • HTCC Anniversary Havan and Puja • Maha Shivaratri • Shri Rama Navami • Akhand Ramayan • Guru Purnima Bhajan • Shri Krishna Jayanthi/Janmashtami • Ganesh Chaturthi • Navaratri Durga Puja • Vijaya Dashami/Dussehra • Karva Chauth • Deepavali Lakshmi Puja • Gurupurab/Guru Nanak Jayanthi • Dhanur Maasa Puja (Thiruppavai) • Samuhika Satyanarayana Puja

Educational Programs Regular Programs: • Tamil language classes • Hindi language classes • Yoga classes—Kate Walker

Special Programs: • Bhagavad Gita Lectures • Buddha Purnima Presentations • Food n Thought Brunch Series • Kirtan - Krishna Das • Pravachan • Yogam Talk

Cultural Programs Regular Activities: • Bharata Natyam classes - Guru Prasanna

Kasthuri • Classical Music classes - Shuba

Ratneshwar • Tabla classes - Sharad Sathe Special Programs: • Several concerts every year • Bhakthi Geetam Program - First

Saturdays

Youth Activities Regular Programs: • Bal Puja • Bal Sabha

Special Programs: • Annual Youth Competitions • Summer Workshop Series • HTCC Youth Day/Bal Sabha-Bal Puja

Picnic

Publications and Publicity Activities • Maintain a very dynamic and informative

web site. • Shanthi Sandesh – The community-

centric quarterly newsletter completes 5thsuccessful year of service.

• Samarpanam – The information-packed Annual Report.

• HTCC Speakers Bureau established to better serve the mid-Missouri community.

• HTCC Presentation/Brochure (underway) • E-Mail notices to “Friends of the Mandir”

list • Media alerts and hard-copy notices for

programs • Maintain an up-to-date Photo Gallery

Library • Eight glass-door bookcases full of books

acquired through multiple donations • Catalogued and nearly ready for use and

check-out

Operations and Maintenance Activities Regular Activities: • Weekly Mandir cleaning • Weekly lawn mowing • Purchases and restocking supplies

Special Activities: • Gardening/Landscaping

Safety and Security • Fire inspection of Shanthi Mandir • Overflow parking – Standing

arrangement • Investigating safety and privacy fence

options Insurance coverage

SAMARPANAM PAGE 11

W e are pleased to report that the capital campaign committee is

making steady progress. The bulk of the Mandir contributions

come from our active membership which is involved in running the programs, maintaining the facilities and participating in service activities. The typical membership progression pattern for a family is to first become annual members, upgrade to a life membership and gradually increase contributions to the trustee level. This pattern indicates that the community likes what we do and their level of confidence grows as time goes by. Slow it may be, but this process has generated a number of highly dedicated members who put in long hours to make the goals of HTCC a reality. We value this trend very highly and pledge to work hard to deserve the trust these members have invested in us.

HTCC serves over 150 mid-Missouri families who frequent the temple. We also serve the larger Columbia community via our service programs and by participating in the various interfaith initiatives. We began with 12 trustees in 2005. Currently the trustee number has grown to 29. In

addition, we have 3 elected trustees. We inducted 4 honorary members last year. There will be an addition to this number this year. Our total membership is just over 100 out of which 66 are life members. This gives us the hope that the number of families with the trustee status can double in due course.

At this time we appeal to our members to keep upgrading their donation status as often as possible. Considering the donation pattern, we have recognized that the Capital Campaign Committee and the Membership Committee should work in concert by sharing information in a timely fashion, identifying families to approach and assigning appropriate people for solicitation. Our experience has shown that people respond more positively to a person they know well rather than to a routine solicitation. In this context we thank the Membership Committee for their cooperation with us. In particular we thank Dabir Viswanath who has been very active in both Committees. We hope to see contributions growing substantially in the years to come.

Members

H. R. Chandrasekhar1

Ravi Thawani2

Chandra Rawlani Dabir Viswanath Gagneesh Rawat Inder Khurana Kusum Malhotra Ranadhir Mitra Vellore Gopalaratnam

1. Chair 2. Executive Board Liaison

Capital Campaign

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T he Communications Committee has a very focal role to play as it communicates

and publicizes the various HTCC programs to the “Membership” and “Friends of the Mandir” and is thus involved with every temple program offering. The primary goal of the Committee is to keep the membership well informed and updated on the temple events. The Committee members actively contribute to many of the Mandir activities though the specific committee responsibilities are:

Maintaining a dynamic and very informative “Shanthi Mandir” website Timely e-mail notices to Membership & Friends of the Mandir and Publicity for temple events Maintaining email database for Membership and Friends of the Mandir

Dynamic Shanthi Mandir Website

A dynamic and very informative web site for the temple is being maintained by the webmaster. Event information is updated on a regular basis. It is one of the most frequently visited website on COIN. The temple site http://www.shanthimandir.missouri.org is simple and elegant and provides information about objectives of HTCC, upcoming events, HTCC publications and archives. We encourage all our patrons to visit the site regularly so that they can keep in touch with the future plans of HTCC and also read about past events. Timely email notices

The Committee helps other committees publicize their activities and events to the community in a timely manner via e-mail notices, flyer distribution and announcements. The timely information release, sharing and publicity have also generated additional interest in Mandir activities, and helped increase participation and involvement in the various celebrations and special events. The committee sends timely emails to membership for the various HTCC devotional, cultural and special programs. The committee also sends out email notices to all in the “Friends of the Mandir” database four times a year during the “Shanthi Sandesh” newsletter quarterly publication.

Email Directory upkeep and maintenance

The Committee has been meticulously maintaining the membership email directory

and keeps it current in collaboration with the Membership Committee. Our community has been growing and so has the mailing list for “Membership” and “Friends of the Mandir” which increased to around 150 and 500, respectively.

Keep in mind The Committee reminds all members to

make sure our email address shanthimandir@yahoo.com is added to your contacts list. This will ensure that all Mandir emails are delivered to your Inbox.

Changing your email address – Remember to send a one line email with your new email address and we will update our records.

Moving out of state or country – If you no longer wish to receive the Mandir emails, just send us an email and we will take your email address off from our mailing list.

The Committee will be looking at ways to avoid some duplication in member email addresses and will work closely with the Membership Committee and the Executive Board members for a better solution.

We would love to hear from you - if you have specific requests or suggestions, please contact one of the Committee members. We welcome your opinion and any suggestions for improvement. Please email the Committee members at shanthimandir@yahoo.com and we will get back to you.

The temple continues to be the focal point

for worship, community service, education and youth activities and we all feel blessed. We are excited as we celebrate our fourth Anniversary and step into our fifth year of existence. We need you, your leadership and your ideas to help us communicate more effectively and provide services and information that provides more value to you all. Please come and join us…

Members

Gagneesh Rawat1

Vellore Gopalaratnam2

Geetha Kutikkad3

1. Chair 2. Executive Board Liaison 3. Web Master

Communications

SAMARPANAM PAGE 14

S o much of the Indian culture is intertwined with spiritual overtones like

sugar in the payasam. Many of our cultural programs, like music, dance and poetry happen either during religious festivities like Deepavali Dussehra, Krishna Jayanthi or Rama Navami. So much of our music and dances are influenced by spiritual topics and they in turn are integral parts of our spiritual rituals. Thus, cultural programs have naturally become an obvious part of our Hindu Temple Community.

Cultural offerings - Regular We have regular dance classes by Soorya

Dance Company, Carnatic music lessons by Guru Prasanna of Soorya Dance Company and Shuba Ratneshwar of Columbia, Missouri, and Tabla Classes by Shri Sharad Sathe of Saint Louis. All these classes take place either at the Mandir premises or other locations within the city. The temple cultural events provide opportunities for the students to perform.

Bhakti Geetam Is the payasam delicious because it has

milk and sugar in it or because it is given as prasadam? This is a deep question. This year, we started a program called Bhakti Geetam on the first Saturday of

every month from 6-8 pm at the Mandir. People from the community can come and sing or play music. Bhakti Geetam translates as devotional music. Devotion may be to God, to family, to art or music. When you sing at the temple it becomes Bhakti Geetam. The idea began with Hema Srinivasan’s mother Smt. Veda Srinivasan and a concert by Smt. Shyamala Sundaram in the Summer of 2009.

We thank the first year

participants of the Bhakti Geetam program: Smt. Shyamala Sundaram,, Smt. Veda Srinivasan, Smt. Alpana Ray, Smt. Shuba Ratneshwar, Kum. Maya Cutkosky, Kum. Meghna Srinath, Kum. Indu, and Kum. Rajni Chandrasekhar, Shri. Shivprakash Shivasankalp, Shri. Rajagopalan Thiruvengadathan, Shri. H. Chandrasekhar, Smt. Hema Srinivasan and Shri. Nilotpal Sanyal and the Vedic Society students. Please participate in this regular event. If you would like to sing or play an instrument for Bhakti Geetam, please call or email Hema Srinivasan.

Music Concert In addition to the usual cultural programs

associated with temple festivals like Shri Krishna Jayanthi, Deepavali and Dussehra, in 2009, HTCC hosted a Carnatic music concert by Smt Shyamala Sundaram of Chennai in June and Bharatanatyam Show of Soorya Dance Company of Saint Louis in May. Both these events were very successful.

Raagas of Columbia In October 2009, a new cultural and

musical group called Raagas of Columbia was born and they hosted an extremely successful Carnatic music concert by Saxophone Maestro Dr. Kadri Gopalnath and Party. This group will coordinate some events with HTCC Cultural programs. If you are interested in hosting musicians or if you have any suggestions for Raagas of Columbia, please let us know. CDs and DVDs from the Saxophone concert organized by Raagas are also available. Raagas of Columbia consists of Hema Srinivasan, Anand Chandrasekhar, Rajagopalan Thiruvengadathan, Manjula Narasimhan, Shuba Ratneshwar, Dabir Viswanath, Satish Nair and Anandhi Upendran.

We appreciate all the support that we received from the community. If you have specific requests or suggestions, please contact one of the committee members.

Cultural Programs Members

Hema Srinivasan1

Manjula Narasimhan2

Bimal Ray Shuba Ratneshwar Shubhra Gangopadhyay 1. Chair 2. Executive Board Liaison

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T he year 2009 was another successful year for the HTCC Devotional Committee. This

was possible only due to the blessing of the Almighty and the dedication of numerous volunteers. The Devotional Committee members feel blessed and thankful for the outpouring of support and involvement from members and the community at large. The 2009 devotional calendar opened with the

New Year Puja which began with meditation led by Kate Walker and was followed by reciting shlokas and singing bhajans. The February Maha Shivaratri celebration led by Srinath Gopalakrishna was very well received. The puja started with the Shri Ganesha Pancharatnam (recited by shloka class youth) and concluded with the recitation of Shiva Gayatri, Aarti and Prasad. The Devotional component of HTCC 3rd

Anniversary celebration was held at Shanthi Mandir on March 8th. The program comprised a Havan led by Shivendra Shukla and a program of Bhajans following the Havan performed by Smt. Nirmala Patil. She was accompanied by Nitopal Sanyal on the Tabla and was provided vocal support by her husband, Pandurang Patil. The Patils travelled from Arkansas exclusively for the celebration. The next major temple devotional celebration

was Akhand Ramayan held on March 28 and 29, 2009 at Shanthi Mandir by organizing the uninterrupted 24-hour long reading of the Ramayana. Shuklaji officiated the devotional ceremony and many dedicated readers took turns reading the Ramcharitmanas. The Devotional Committee sincerely thanks each and every one who participated in the puja for their sincere efforts in making this event a great success. Shri Rama Navami was celebrated on April 4,

2009. Hema Srinivasan put together the devotional program. Janmashtami was celebrated with great joy

and high spirits on August 15, 2009 at the Mandir. Hema Srinivasan started the Puja with recitation of shlokas, followed by Aarti. There was a lot of excitement as kids reenacted the Matki breaking ceremony. Ganesh Chaturthi is one of the most popular

Hindu festivals. An idol of our beloved Lord Ganesha was modeled from clay by our younger members. The idol was decorated and worshipped for 10 days from Ganesh Chaturthi to Anant Chaturdashi. Aarti was performed on all 10 days and the celebration concluded with Visarjan. Our special thanks to the Marathi Mandal for hosting the puja.

Another big devotional event of the year was Durga Puja which was celebrated on September 19, 2009 at Shanthi Mandir. The Program started with Kalas Sthaapna by Shivendra Shuklaji. Nilotpal officiated the puja and the chanting of mantras, Chandipath and ashtorasatanaam stotra was followed by bhajans and Aarti. On the 10th day, Dussehra festival was celebrated. On October 7, 2009 Shanthi Mandir was

decorated and women dressed in all their finery gathered to celebrate Karva Chauth, the festival that holds tremendous social and cultural significance for married Hindu women. On this day, married women fast all day-long, apply Mehndi on their hands, pray for their husband’s good health and long life, and perform Gauri puja, Katha, exchange Thalis and eat food only after observing the moon. Deepavali, the festival of lights was

celebrated at the Mandir on October 17, 2009. The Mandir was decorated with lights and diyas to welcome wisdom and remove darkness. Adults and children alike worshipped Goddess Lakshmi by reciting shlokas in her praise. After the prayer every one enjoyed fireworks. The celebration concluded with Prasad bhog. Guru Nanak Jayanthi, one of the most

important festivals in the Sikh calendar was celebrated on November 28, 2009 at Shanthi Mandir. The prayer was led by our guest Giyani Santokh Singh of St. Louis. The prayer started with Jupji Sahib followed by Kirtan, Anand Sahib and Ardas. The Committee also

ensured that the temple was kept open for prayer on every Tuesday and Saturday and the Amritvani on third Saturday of the month. The committee also helps out with other related events held at Mandir including Sai Bhajan, Suprabhatam and Kirtan. In 2010 we are going to add two new devotional programs, Gita Path and Durga Puja.

Devotional Programs Members

Chandra Rawlani1

Kusum Malhotra2

Vellore Gopalaratnam3

Hema Srinivasan Kuljit Sandhu Meena Thawani Nirja Loyalka Punam Sethi Srinath Gopalakrishna Vinita Khanna

1. Chair 2. Secretary 3. Executive Board Liaison

SAMARPANAM PAGE 20

T he Education Committee provides the intellectual, organizational and

logistical support to the ongoing educational efforts by HTCC. The committee had a smaller number of program offerings this past year when compared to some of the previous years. The committee was mainly involved in organizing two spiritual events in September 2009. In addition, the committee has been providing support for regular Tamil and Hindi language classes at the Mandir.

Educational Seminars In early September we were fortunate to

have two special spiritual events organized at the Mandir:

A Pravachan on Gita by Shri Swami Atmananda Giriji Maharaj, visiting us from Nepal. Swamiji’s Pravachan focused on Lord Krishna’s response to Arjuna on what it takes to be a Sthitapragnya - a perfect yogi. A Satsang led by Ma Gnana Priyananda of St. Louis. She is a disciple of enlightened master Paramahansa Nithyananda. The Satsang expounded on the teachings of Paramahansa Nithyananda where yoga becomes a lifestyle and a vehicle for spiritual awakening.

Language Classes (Hindi, Tamil) The educational committee has been

providing ongoing support for Tamil and Hindi language classes. The Hindi classes are held on 2nd and 4th Sunday of every month. The intermediate level classes are being held regularly with Inder taking these classes. The teacher volunteers are available to teach Beginner and Advanced levels but there have not been enough enrollments for these two levels. The Tamil classes are growing and have

had a jump in enrollment this past year. The classes are held on 1st and 3rd Sunday of the month. The curriculum is designed for three student categories: Senior, Junior and Tots. A unique approach that has been used in these classes is that the teacher progresses along with the kids to the next level and thus provides continuity. The focus is on reading, writing and conversational Tamil. The committee is thankful to all the HTCC

members for their participation and support. Please email us at shanthimandir@yahoo.com with your suggestions and feedback on our programs. Let us know if you can volunteer and help expand the HTCC educational program offerings.

Members

Sanjeev Khanna1

Inder Khurana2

Shikha Srivatsava Tarang Parashar

1. Chair 2. Executive Board Liaison

Educational Programs

SAMARPANAM PAGE 21

T he External Relations Committee had a very active and exciting 2009. The Committee

members were involved with planning, organizing and hosting several individuals, groups and events.

Anniversary Celebrations Several committee members were very actively

involved and helped with the 3rd Anniversary Celebrations in March 2009. During the Anniversary Banquet event, four prominent individuals who are friends of the Hindu Temple and community at large were inducted as honorary members of the HTCC. These honored individuals were Dr Murari Lal Nagar, Dr Robert Franklin Bussabarger, Ms Virginia Morgan and Dr Arthur Robins. This event was very well attended and was a grand success.

Earth Day Event During Earth Day events in April, 2009, the

‘Care for Creation’ group lead by Ms. Monta Welch organized a citywide event called ‘Lights Out’ requesting all Columbia citizens to observe 30 minutes of all lights and electronic equipment turned off in order to symbolize energy conservation. Several citizens gathered in downtown Columbia to discuss and present ideas for energy conservation. Gopalaratnam and Gagneesh attended this event representing the Hindu community with Gopalaratnam giving a short talk on the Hindu viewpoint on conservation, recycling and the environment.

Visitors to the Mandir At the end of the Spring Semester at Mizzou,

we hosted a group of students from the School of Journalism. The students were gathering information for their program on Religious Studies and the Professions. They visited the Hindu Temple along with Debra Mason. They were given a brief synopsis of the Hindu religion and a summary of the temple’s progress in the last 3 years. During late spring and early summer we

hosted, from the School of Journalism, a graduate student who was working on a series of articles related to various religions and

cultures. These articles were published in the Columbia Missourian over a schedule of several weeks. The articles shed some light on the various immigrant communities and their integration techniques. In October we hosted a group of students from

Truman State University located in Kirksville, Missouri. The students were here to learn about Hindu culture, religious practices, the effects of partition on modern India, India’s development and the toll that current religious strife is taking in today’s world.

Interfaith Thanksgiving The final event of 2009 was a grand

celebration during Thanksgiving week in November. The Ecumenical Interfaith Thanksgiving celebration is organized every year by the Interfaith Council with the help of a number of volunteers from various faith communities. The event is hosted by a different religious group every year. This year the Hindu community was the host community for this wonderful interfaith event. We received assistance from the Cultural Association of India and the Chancellor’s Diversity Initiative. During the celebration, various religious groups made presentations on their perspective of Thanksgiving and how they celebrate or give thanks according to their culture. Finally, a song was presented by all faith groups titled ‘We shall overcome’ or ‘Hum Honge Kaamyaab’ in the spirit of unity. After the program all the attendees shared food items prepared by the various communities that attended the celebration. We have enjoyed another successful year of

sharing and participating in various community activities. In early January 2010 we participated in helping organize the Columbia Values Diversity Celebration hosted by the city of Columbia and various cultural organizations. We have a vibrant and active committee and would like all HTCC members to be more involved in the Columbia community.

Members

Leela Jashnani1

Vellore Gopalaratnam2

Gagneesh Rawat H.R.Chandrasekhar Ranadhir Mitra Shuba Ratneshwar Surya Mantrala

1. Chair 2. Executive Board Liaison

External Relations

SAMARPANAM PAGE 22

T he Committee had a successful year during which several projects including

some substantial upgrades were completed. The community celebrates all the major Hindu festivals throughout the year at Shanthi Mandir and also uses the temple facility for dance classes, Tabla classes, yoga classes, language classes, Bal Puja, Bal Sabha, summer workshops and other special events. The Facilities and Renovation Committee

has received approval to repave the existing parking lot and extend it around the Education Center. This parking lot upgrade is planned to take place during early Spring 2010. As part of Shram Daan, volunteers

completed several minor upgrades to the Mandir such as: Painting the inside walls of the Mandir

and the trims around the doors and windows. Removing, cleaning and painting all the baseboard trims inside the Mandir. Assembling four new glass book

shelves to house new acquisitions of books. (Book donations from the Bussabargers and from Gerald Barrier of the South Asia Bookstore). Working with the lawn mowing company

for mowing and maintaining the lawn. The committee also helped organize the

“Seva Day” on October 3, 2009 in

remembrance of Mahatma Gandhi and his selfless dedication and service to humanity. This was the first weekend after Gandhi Jayanthi and volunteers turned out in large numbers. This allowed us to tackle several projects at once - planting trees, removing weeds, cleaning windows, doors and the inside and outside area of the temple. Our thanks to all the volunteers who helped with the various projects that day along with those volunteers who catered food and Chai and kept everyone going. The tasks accomplished were: Washing and cleaning the mold and

grime from the vinyl siding in the educational center with detergent and a high pressure washer. Pruning tree branches to enhance

safety. Planting four evergreen pine trees along

the side of the garden to enhance landscaping around the Mandir.

We will be making several improvements to the Mandir this year such as fixing the wall trims inside the Mandir and adding insulation to improve heating/cooling efficiency. The extreme cold weather coupled with a thermostat malfunction in the Educational Center caused one toilet tank to crack and had to be replaced. We plan to better insulate the water main into the Educational Center to mitigate this problem. High-speed Internet and hard-wired telephone connections to the Educational Center should also become operational during early Spring 2010. General cleaning of the air-conditioning

ducts, changing the air filters, setting/programming the thermostat, re-certifying the fire extinguishers are some other routine tasks that will be undertaken by the committee. We thank all the volunteers who worked

tirelessly to improve and enhance this facility for the community. A special thanks to our energetic youth volunteers and younger kids – they bring in a fresh perspective and energy and work side by side with adults matching them all the way in various tasks.

Members

Bharath Srinivasan1

Ravi Thawani2

Anand Chandrasekhar Das Kutikkad

Sanjeev Khanna Vellore Gopalaratnam

1. Chair 2. Executive Board Liaison

Facilities and Renovation

SAMARPANAM PAGE 23

Best Wishes to Shanthi Mandir.

Keep Up the Good Work!

Sathya Truth Dharma Right Conduct Shanthi Peace Prema Love Ahimsa Nonviolence

Values to live by

Our Gen Next

Clockwise from top left: All smiles at the 2009 Anniversary Banquet, Youth room is kept engaged with arts and crafts, Sharing a hug, Creative Arts Summer Workshop participants, Boys get ready for the tug-of-war at the 2009 Youth Day, Youth perform the Dandiya at the 2009 Interfaith Thanksgiving Celebration hosted by HTCC, Shutterbugs looking for that creative shot outside the Mandir, Youngsters practice a few moves of the Odissi dance at Abhinaya, one of the Summer Youth Workshops, Pushpaanjali at the Janmashtami Puja 2009. Center: Gopis and Gopikas perform at Janmashtami 2009 at the Mandir

SAMARPANAM PAGE 24

Clockwise from top left: Akhand Ramayan at the Mandir has become a tradition that everyone looks forward to, Prasad dinner follows most major festival celebrations at the Mandir, HTCC Helping Hands participated in the CROP walk fund-raising event for the second year in 2009 - our youth members took the lead and raised over $500 to benefit the local chapter of CROP Walk, Making Ganesh idol for the Ganesh Chathurthi Puja also has become a tradition in which many youth participate, Seva Day on October 3, 2009 brought the young and young at heart to attend to landscaping and maintenance chores, Gurpurab at the Mandir to celebrate Guru Nanak Jayanthi, Narayan Seva at the St. Francis House every second Sunday attracts many enthusiastic volunteers.

Worship and Service at the Mandir

HAPPY 2010

Hearty Congratulations.

From Pankajam, Revathi, Bharath, Manjula, Prerna & Shreyas.

Wishing Shanthi Mandir and its supporters all the best in 2010! From the Chandrasekhar family

Chandra, Meera, Tara, Rajni and Indu

Best Wishes and Congratulations on the

Fourth Anniversary of HTCC

Palaniappans

SAMARPANAM PAGE 25

Be the Change You Want to See.. 2010 HTCC Youth Competition Entries

Be the Change You Want to See … By Caring and Sharing

Tia Rawat 1st Grade Mill Creek Elementary

We Can Believe in this Change… Collage by Bharath (inspiration) and Shreyas Srinivasan (execution)

Shreyas Srinivasan 4th Grade, Paxton Keely Elementary

Be the Change You Want to See … By Recycling - Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

Vishnu Arunachalam 1st Grade, Mill Creek Elementary

Be the Change you Want to See in the World Nandhu Radhakrishnan

Adult Entry

SAMARPANAM PAGE 26

Be the change you want to see... Ashwini Mantrala

7th Grade, Columbia Independent Bullying is a big problem in schools today.

This is the case because of kids bringing their video games, PDAs and cell phones to school. A lot of bullies come from poor backgrounds, so if they steal the stuff they cannot afford, they think that they are cool in some insane sense of the word. Bullies also seem to bully smart kids is

because they are some what jealous of their intelligence, and so they think that bullying them will equalize that. I don’t un-derstand how that works. This makes smart kids want to drop their high grades and turn in sloppy and poor work. If that’s “cool”, I don’t want to see what’s not that cool. One good way that we can help the bullies

is by setting up educational programs for kids who are doing quite badly in their school and who kids call bullies. I know that schools already have them set up, but it seems to me that nobody is reporting them as much as the school and the program would like them to. Another thing that I have noticed is that

kids who are victims of bullies are afraid to tell adults that they are bullied because they will be dubbed as a “snitch” or “tattle-tale” or some other absurd name like that, and because the bullies will beat them up even more if they found out. Schools should set up a mini “Witness Protection Program” for kids so that they don’t get harmed by some rampaging dumb kid who is out for revenge. A very chilling fact is the amount of awful

suicides that occur each year due to bully-ing; this terrible rate has gone up since President George W. Bush passed the “NO Child Left Behind” program in 2002, which suggests that children cannot be held back in school. This does not prevent bullying from happening; it actually spawns more bullying because now the bullies pass on with the victims that they bully, so it is eas-ier to harass them and therefore causing things as bad as suicide. Bullies are also created by children being

abused by parents or other guardians, so we should set up domestic abuse programs for kids. The last thing I want to talk about is what

bullies become when they grow up and get out of school. Studies show that most kids who are known to harass other kids in the elementary and secondary schools are more likely to drop out of high school, not get into college and work in low paying jobs. Michael Oher, the star of the movie “The

Blind Side”, was a victim. He was bullied in

elementary school because of his size and his homelessness, but football changed that. He managed to straighten out and get a scholarship to Ole Miss, and then get drafted by the Baltimore Ravens. In conclusion, I will not be a bully and will stick up for others who are being bullied. When I grow up I will be a role model and will try to implement the ideas I have listed here. Thus I will be the change I want to see (no more bullying). Be the change you want to see...

Nila Palaniappan 5th Grade, Fairview Elementary

The change I want to see is: To stop GOL-BAL WARMING

This is the world where I am living, with my family and friends. I want the air I breath to be clean and non polluted, I want the food that I consume to be organic and free from chemicals. But that is not the case! With advanced in technology, we have invented many non-bio degradable items that sit on our earth surface and are not decomposed, what does that mean? Our soil and ocean gets polluted with mate-rials that do not decay. So if this continues, soon there will be no home for any of us. Global warming is affecting the planet.

On Christmas day I saw geese flying north-west. Canadian geese should have already been in the south right now so the birds must have been confused. And it might have been of the heat. Plus in the North Pole, polar bears are dying of the heat and melting ice. So lets start changing it NOW, so that in a

couple of years we are not concerned about global warming. How can I stop Global warming? SAVING ENERGY – Turn off the light

when I’m not in the room, turn off TV if no one is watching. Conserve water: Instead of taking a long

bubble bath I can take a short shower. Save our environment- to help the envi-

ronment I can plant a different tree on my birthday. Trees provide shade and home for many animals, they also bloom pretty flowers and produce fruits. I can help pick up trash and clean up gar-

bage in the woods and near rivers. I notice that some people wait in their car

with the engine running. I will turn off the engine to eliminate pollution. But this is not the end of it I hope that my

friends and family will join in my effort and help me then if every one tells another per-son, soon everyone will be helping!

Are you with me? I hope everyone who reads my article will join in my effort as well. Be the change you want to see...

Tejazaditya Ajit 4th Grade, Paxton Keely Elementary

“Be the change you want to see” Said the man who set us free Grief and misery settled on him But hope and wisdom was filled to the brim The father of India he was to be Everyone agreed that he was the key Pushed and pulled and tugged along But he needn’t worry those days were “so long”

His looks were weak but his heart was strong

Protesting and marching were ever so long But lo! No one could stop the power of the man

The enemy announced their foul presence and everything went back into a can

But the “Great soul” would not give in and got rid of the fights

Alas when he perished it was so sad, he had made the once flickering India a place full of lights

But never forget what the wise bapu said while setting us free:

“Be the change that you want to see” Be the change you want to see...

Vishnu Arunachalam 1st Grade, Millcreek Elementary

Be the change I want to see at home: I will hug my mom and dad and they’ll hug

me too. I will also be generous to them so they’ll be generous to me (Pokemon cards and candy). I promise to help them with chores and be nice so they’ll help me and be nice to me. I will not ignore them when they ask me to do something, then they will not ignore me when I ask for something. I will not be bad to my brother, then he’ll not be bad to me. Be the change I want to see at school: I will keep my space clean so others will

keep their space clean too. I will to be nice to bullies, maybe they will change. Ma-hatma Gandhi told us to follow nonvio-lence, so I will not hit them back. I will not boss my friends and they will not boss me around. Be the change I want to see in the real

world: I will do my part to take care of the earth

so others will take care of her too. I will plant more trees, turn off lights when not using, and borrow books from the library instead of buying all of them.

Be the change you want to see… 2010 HTCC Youth Competition Entries

SAMARPANAM PAGE 27

T he Financial Policy Committee (FPC) oversaw the HTCC record

keeping and HTCC cash assets for 2009 while interacting with the Executive Board officers (President Gopalaratnam and Treasurers Manjula Narasimhan and Visala Palaniappan). The Executive Board Elections in mid 2009 saw the treasurer responsibilities moving from Visala Palaniappan to Manjula Narasimhan. The smooth transition in accounts during Summer 2009 was overseen by the Financial Policy Committee and the President of the Executive Board.

The FPC has conducted the year-end internal audit of the books and made the following observations.

The donations and revenues are properly documented. The expenditures were justified

and recorded. The donors are acknowledged as

per mandated HTCC practices. Member donation is the major

source of revenue. The major expenses were the

utilities, upgrades and repairs. The annual celebrations have

yielded a modest surplus.

Excluding anniversary celebration expenses, the average monthly expenses for the temple stood at around $1,250 for 2009. It appears that in the absence of major repair or maintenance work the monthly expenses are covered by interest income, Hundi donations and facility use donations.

The membership dues have declined compared to the previous years. This is due to the enrollment of majority of members as Lifetime members in the preceding years. A detailed report of HTCC finances for 2009 is shown alongside. HTCC has $175,000 as CD deposits in FDIC insured banks locally and the remainder is in checking and money market accounts.

BALANCE FORWARD (January 1, 2009) $177,008.22

Interest Income $3,041.33

Interest from CDs and Money Market account $3,041.33

Membership Dues $3,410.00 New Lifetime Family Members (LFM) $1,000.00 Upgrades to Lifetime membership (AFM to LFM) $950.00

Annual Family Members (AFM) $1,400.00 Annual Individual Members (AIM) $60.00 Donations $21,586.24 Check Donations $17,963.00

Hundi Donations/Prayer Services $2,658.24 Facilities Use Donations $965.00 Other Revenues $8,646.97 Third Anniversary Celebrations $8,260.00 Summer Workshops $205.00 Miscellaneous Revenue $181.97

TOTAL REVENUES $36,684.54

Expenses

Bank (Check Book Charge) $47.28

Garden/Lawn/Snow Clearance $920.78

Insurance and Fees $694.00

Maintenance and Repairs $2,088.36

Printing and Mailing $387.64

Start Up $942.64

Special Events $594.40 Third Anniversary Celebrations $6,642.95 Upgrades and Repairs $3,750.94

Utilities $5,556.93

TOTAL EXPENSES $21,625.92

ENDING BALANCE (December 31, 2009) $192,066.84*

2009 Financial Report Period: January 1, 2009 – December 31, 2009

Prepared by: Manjula Narasimhan, Treasurer, HTCC Executive Board Dated: February 5, 2010

* Includes $142.04 in uncleared checks and $752.00 in uncleared deposits.

Members

Krishna Sharma1

Manjula Narasimhan2

Kannan Raghuraman

Ravi Thawani Surya Mantrala

1. Chair 2. Executive Board Liaison

Financial Policy

SAMARPANAM PAGE 28

T he concept of a library with an extensive collection of books at Shanthi Mandir began

more than three years ago. Some seminal events over the years have brought this dream close to realization. We were fortunate to receive generous donations by two scholars who have nurtured a long association with India. Professors Robert Bussabarger (retired professor of Arts and an honorary member of HTCC) and Gerald Barrier (retired professor of History and owner of South Asia Books, the largest book store in North America housing books on the Indian subcontinent) have donated a valuable and extensive collection of books on religion, art, history, philosophy, architecture, languages, science, and politics of India, for young and mature readers. With this donation our collection has more than doubled. It has given impetus to revive and energize the Library Committee that has been dormant for some time. The Library project began in 2006 following the financial support that came earmarked for the library. Part of the donation by Dr. N. Mathialagan and family, former residents of Columbia, helped us purchase four handsome book cases which were put together thanks to the efforts of our Shram Daan volunteers. Other donations gave us the initial pool of money to get the first consignment of about one thousand books. An active group of youngsters and parents worked on cataloguing these books.

The new donations by Professors Bussabarger and Barrier far exceed our existing collection. Energized by this development, an enthusiastic group of volunteers spent several afternoons putting together a matching set of book cases deserving of these precious books. Assistance is being sought from professional librarians to properly catalog and implement software that will enable a system of library management for our book collection. We would like our young members to use this opportunity to master these skills. Consistent with the efforts conducted though summer workshops on photography, personal finance, languages and mathematics; we would like library management to be an item on our agenda. We seek experts in the community to volunteer their services in this noble cause. An intellectual resource in the form of our library will benefit the Indian community and the general public.

T he Membership Committee is still a one-member committee, but very well supported

by Vellore Gopalaratnam, H. R. Chandrasekhar, and Manjula Narasimhan. They have helped the Chair immensely in all aspects of membership – recruiting new members, providing updates on membership renewals, sending thank you notes, keeping accounts, and above all replying to all emails. The Capital Campaign Committee and

Membership Committee will work together to streamline things, keep a roster of members in the different categories, and increase Membership and Capital Contributions. In the past we have tried to constitute a 3 to 5 member committee but have not been successful as of this writing. Based on recent contacts, we feel that a full-fledged committee will come into existence soon. As of December 31, 2009, the membership in

the different categories stood at:

Honorary Members (HM) 4 Lifetime Family Membership [LFM] 64 Annual Family Membership [AFM] 28 Lifetime Individual Membership [LIM] 2 Annual Individual Membership [AIM] 3 Our 2010 membership drive has been

successful in adding several new members (see HTCC Directory on Page 39 for our membership list as of March 1, 2010). Looking at the Indian community in Columbia, these increases are small but we hope for better times are ahead. The Indian community in Columbia has over 175 families, and over 120 students. When you read this issue of Samarpanam please remember to invite your friends to attend functions of HTCC. The HTCC events are posted on the web and emails are regularly sent to members. All interested persons are welcome to HTCC organized events, regardless of membership in HTCC.

Members

H. R. Chandrasekhar1

Inder Khurana2

Arjun Khurana Brishti White Maya Cutkosky Nidhi Khurana Prerna Srinivasan Urmila Kutikkad

1. Chair 2. Executive Board Liaison

Library

Members

Dabir Viswanath1

Vellore Gopalaratnam2

1. Chair 2. Executive Board Liaison

Membership

SAMARPANAM PAGE 29

T he main responsibilities of the Operation and Maintenance Committee are the

upkeep of the Mandir, both indoors and outdoors, and to assist with Mandir fund-raising events. Mandir upkeep and cleaning The volunteer group that cleans the Mandir on

a weekly basis is now down to 19 families. They take their work seriously and continue to do an excellent job. We have had people visiting from outside Columbia asking us which "cleaning service" we use!! Thanks to all the volunteers for doing such a wonderful job. Still, considering the number of families we have in Columbia who use the Mandir, we would like to have more families sign-up for cleaning duties. We really need more families to help out in this essential “Shram Daan” task that helps us keep our Mandir clean. The cleaning schedules continue to be posted

on the Shanthi Mandir website under the Shram Daan page. All the volunteer families are requested to check the schedule on a regular basis. In October 2009 the HTCC Service Programs

and the Facilities and Renovation Committees jointly organized a very successful 'Seva Day' where a number of significant small projects were completed both inside and outside the Mandir. Volunteers ranging in age from 3 to 50+ years put in several hours power washing the Educational Center siding, rearranging the HTCC library furniture, weatherproofing the chairs that are stored in the garden shed, and taking care of various housekeeping chores indoors. Our sincere thanks go out to all of these volunteers for taking on this work and doing such a wonderful job.

Yard and Garden The Mandir continues to use a contractor to

mow the Mandir yard every alternate week during summer. A few of the HTCC members take turns mowing in the intervening weeks. Here again, we need more volunteers to help out. The 'Seva Day' volunteers also took care of

trimming trees and shrubs, as well as weeding the flower beds. They performed some landscaping around the air conditioner unit and planted four Japanese pine trees. The plan is to organize 'Seva Day' twice a year in the future, during early spring and in early October. We hope more people will join in this wonderful effort to keep the Mandir in good shape.

Fund-Raising Events This year there is again a plan to organize a

Garage Sale and Mela sometime towards the end of August. HTCC members are requested to go through their closets and find worthwhile items to donate. More details about this event will be announced in due course. Yet another fund raiser for the Mandir this year will be a 'Silent Auction' during the HTCC Fourth Anniversary Banquet. Concluding Note Thanks once again to the volunteer families

who help keep the Shanthi Mandir so clean, neat, and tidy! Again, we cannot stress enough the need for more families to volunteer for the cleaning and upkeep of the Mandir.

Congratulations to HTCC on their 4th Anniversary

Members

Shuba Ratneshwar1

Ravi Thawani2

Anantha Gopalaratnam Meera Chandrasekhar

1. Chair 2. Executive Board Liaison

Operations and Maintenance

SAMARPANAM PAGE 30

T he Publications Committee delivers “Shanthi Sandesh” an information-

packed colorful quarterly newsletter in a timely manner both on the Mandir web site and in hard copy form. The newsletter includes information about temple celebrations, special events, upcoming events schedule, and other informative feature articles. The youth in the community continue to express their thoughts in the Bal Sandesh section of the newsletter. These are contained in the center 2-4 pages of the newsletter and include poems, articles, book reviews and kudos information. Shanthi Sandesh is featured online on

the Mandir website at http://shanthimandir.missouri.org. We have recently started mailing the

printed newsletter to the membership. If you wish to receive a hard copy of the newsletter, please provide us your mailing address. Printed newsletter copies are also available at the temple. Remember to pick one up on your next visit to the temple. The newsletter submission guidelines

are also available on the temple website at http://shanthimandir.missouri.org/SSGuidelines.pdf

The Publications Committee welcomes feature articles from our readership for inclusion in future editions of Shanthi Sandesh. Please send your ideas and suggestions to the Publications Committee at sandhya.sharma@yahoo.com

T he Safety and Security Committee is responsible for ensuring that the

Shanthi Mandir building is safe for use by the community and is in compliance with the applicable City of Columbia codes and regulations. The Committee is also responsible for ensuring that the Mandir and the associated properties are adequately insured against potentially damaging events. The Committee also manages the parking at the Mandir during major events. The Committee successfully fulfilled its

responsibilities and ensured that Mandir facilities are safe for use, in compliance and insured. The annual fire inspections were

successfully carried out as required by the Fire department.

The required testing/recharging of the fire extinguishers was also completed.

The annual insurance of the Mandir property was reviewed and renewed

Committee members helped the

Facilities and Renovation Committee with the upkeep of the Mandir and made recommendations to that committee regarding the security aspects of the Mandir such as fence repairs.

The Committee members with some additional help from Mandir volunteers managed the parking situation at the Mandir during major events. Prior to major events at the Mandir, the Committee has made parking arrangements with Sunrise Optimist Club to accommodate the overflow vehicles. Volunteers also provided shuttle service between the Mandir parking lot and the Optimist Club parking lot. To ensure the safety and security of the

members during the Akhand Ramayan celebration (an all-night event), the committee made arrangements with the City of Columbia Police Department to perform additional patrols in the vicinity of the Mandir throughout the night.

Members

Sandhya Sharma1

Vellore Gopalaratnam2

H. R. Chandrasekhar Ajit Vasudevan

1. Chair 2. Executive Board Liaison

Publications

Members

Kiratadas Kutikkad1

Ravi Thawani2

Kannappan Palaniappan Krishna Ramesh Visala Palaniappan

1. Chair 2. Executive Board Liaison

Safety and Security

SAMARPANAM PAGE 31

SAMARPANAM PAGE 32

With Best Wishes for a

Prosperous 2010

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Days Inn Travelodge

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SAMARPANAM PAGE 33

Shanthi Mandir continues to be open 5 days a week. Saturday tends to be the busiest day. Scheduling has become a routine matter. Regular events hold priority in terms of scheduling. The regularly scheduled events have fixed time assignments that can be found under the “EVENTS” page on the website. We coordinate actively with the Devotional

Program Committee to ensure that Shanthi Mandir is available during times when the events are planned by the Devotional Program Committee. All other requests for use of the temple building are accommodated around the planned events. The HTCC Events calendar can be found at http://shanthimandir.missouri.org/Calendar10.pdf

The Service Committee successfully contributed to the following programs in 2009:

One hour volunteering at the Central Missouri Food bank -1st Tuesday of every month- This is 1 hour volunteer work at the Central MO food bank by several people on behalf of HTCC. The tasks are diverse and this Shram Daan activity is performed amidst mutual conversation and camaraderie. It is truly a rewarding experience for the soul.

The Clean up Columbia program in April 2009 - This is an annual event conducted by the City of Columbia. There are two teams from HTCC that participate in this activity, one around the Mandir and the other is a youth team in Ridgeway. The task in this event is to pick up any roadside trash in the city supplied bags. It is a great way to contribute to the clean-up efforts.

The CROP walk in Columbia in October 2009 –The local chapter of the CROP walk in Columbia MO was held on the 4th of October. The Crop walk recruiter meeting commenced on the 25th of August 2009. This meeting was lead by the Cleo Kottwitz, recruitment coordinator at the First Presbyterian Church on 16 Hitt Street. The meeting highlighted the importance of the cause and shared the need to create awareness and have citizens of Columbia contribute to reduce

hunger in the world. Information material was shared and the recruitment of potential crop walkers commenced. HTCC participated in this walk for the second year in a row and was well represented. The youngsters did a brilliant job of obtaining sponsorships and raising valuable contributions for this cause and the “not –so young” did not too badly either. The CROP walkers from HTCC were Prerna Srinivasan (who was also the highest contributor), Manjula Narasimhan, Ipsa Chaudhary, Trisha Chaudhary, Sumidha Katti, Vellore Gopalaratnam, Anantha Gopalaratnam, Arthi Vellore, Sonal Ghosh, Mayukh Ghosh, Shikha, Gyan and Soham Srivatsava. The contributions from HTCC were over $500.The actual walk was a route that was designed around the downtown area and started and ended at 16 Hitt Street. The total amount collected for the Columbia Chapter was just under $19,000. The walk was an enriching experience in near perfect weather conditions and helped create awareness for a very worthy cause.

The year 2009 was a good year for the Committee and we look forward to making more contributions in 2010.

Members

Inder Khurana1

Anantha Gopalaratnam

1. Chair

Members

Mayukh Ghosh1

Manjula Narasimhan2

Anantha Gopalaratnam Bandhana Katoch Chandra Rawlani Nilotpal Sanyal Pranavi Tella Rajini Tolani Senthil Kumar Shuba Ratneshwar Sushama Nagarkar Tarang Parashar 1. Chair 2. Executive Board Liaison

Service Programs

Scheduling

SAMARPANAM PAGE 34

The HTCC Youth Committee engages the entire community, specifically the youth, in various activities like the Summer Workshops, Youth Day Picnic and HTCC Anniversary contest. The Committee hosted several Summer

Workshops in 2009. These workshops were well attended and very successful mainly due to the countless hours of efforts from the coordinators and interest shown by our youth. The summer workshops held in 2009 are listed below:

Abhinaya – An Introduction to Odissi, by Aditi Bandyopadhyay Creative Arts – Stenciling and

Stamping, by Anjna Sethi The Creative Shutter Bug, a

photography workshop – by Vellore Gopalaratnam Math Workshop – by Ashok Cutkosky Creative Arts – Decoration with

Vegetables, by Pramila Viswanath Mumbo Jumbo with Accounting

Numbers, by Inder Khurana

The various workshop participants were awarded “Certificates of Recognition” at the Youth Day Picnic held on August 30, 2009 at the Cosmo Park. The Youth Day Picnic was very well attended and enjoyed despite the unexpected cold weather. The picnic was a fun event. The

volleyball game and tug of rope strength contests were enjoyed by all.

The potluck dinner was the highlight with fresh Aloo Tikki being cooked and served along with Indian Masala Chai. On display at the picnic were neatly framed photographs taken by our youth. The Youth Committee appreciates these young, budding photographers and recognizes their high quality photography work.

During February/March 2009, the

Committee organized the 3rd Anniversary Contest with the theme “I have a dream” in Visual Arts, Literature and Music. There were more than 20 entries. Many of them were published in “Samarpanam”, the Annual Report for year 2008. All participants were awarded a “Certificate of Recognition” and a gift coupon for at Andy’s Frozen Custard. This year also the Committee has

announced a contest under the theme “Be the change you want to see” to coincide with HTCC’s 4th Anniversary celebrations. The submitted entries are in the process of being screened, and selected ones will be published in “Samarpanam”. The Committee is open to ideas and those

interested in coordinating workshops and programs are requested to contact the Committee at htcc.youth@gmail.com

Members

Nandhu Radhakrishnan1

Inder Khurana2 Gagneesh Rawat Aditi Bandyopadhyay

1. Chair 2. Executive Board Liaison

Youth Activities

SAMARPANAM PAGE 35

Congratulations!

to HTCC on their 4th Anniversary

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SAMARPANAM PAGE 36

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SAMARPANAM PAGE 37

SAMARPANAM PAGE 38

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SAMARPANAM PAGE 39

Norman G Barrier Bussabarger, Robert

Morgan, Ginny Nagar, Murarilal Robins, Art

Honorary Members

Aggrawal, Kul and Archana Anand, Satish and Sushma Arunachalam, Vairam and Alagu Bal, Sharanjit and Ranjit Banerji, Shanka K Basu, Asit and Sandra Batchu, Sudhir and Priya Battula, Ravindra and Vijaya Kattumuri

Bhaskaran, Rajagopalan and Vasanthi Chandrasekhar, Anand and Chiengkham

Baccam Chandrasekhar, Holalkere and Meera Chaudhary, Kunal and Ritcha Mehra Cutkosky, Dale and Hema Srinivasan Dhand, Rajiv and Upinder Elangovan, Balakrishnan and Abirami

Shanmugasundaram Faizer, Rumi and Archana Ramaswamy

Gangopadhyay, Keshab and Shubhra Gopalakrishna, Srinath and Uma Gopalaratnam, Vellore and Anantha Gowda, Bhaskar and Shoba Jain, Arun Jashnani, Ghanshyam and Leela Katti, Kattesh and Kavita Khanna, Sanjeev and Vinita

Sustaining Members (earlier called Lifetime Members)

HTCC Directory 2010 The HTCC Directory for 2010 has been updated to include information as of March 1, 2010

The web version of the Directory does not include addresses and phone numbers to protect the privacy of our members. Members can pick up a hard copy version of Samarpanam at the Mandir.

SAMARPANAM PAGE 40

Khurana, Inder and Jasmit Krishna, Gopal and Santosh Krishnan, Hari and Latha Kulkarni, Rajesh and Indira Kumar, Lalit and Arpita Kutikkad, Kiratadas and Geetha Lal, Sunder and Nila Gupta Loyalka, Sudarshan and Nirja Mahal, Satnam and Jasvir Kaur Malhotra, Anil and Kusum Mantrala, Murali and Surya Manusmare, Purushottam and Usha

Mitra, Ranadhir and Roma Mohan, Rajiv and Sunilima Sinha Naik, Yogesh and Rashmi Nair, Satish and Jyotsna Palaniappan, Kannappan and Visala Panneerselvam, Ayyakannu and Gandhi Patel, Nitin and Harsha Pendurthi, Chalapathi Rao and Kavita Puri, Ravi and Mona Raghuraman, Kannan and Anandhi

Upendran Ramachandran, V. and Anuradha

Rajagopalan

Ramadoss, Umasankar and Sasi Rangnekar, Nitin and Kirthi Ratneshwar, Srinivasan and Shuba Rawat, Gagneesh and Aditi Rawlani, Ramesh and Chandra Sadhu, Vijay and Smita Sahota, Pradeep K and Shaku Satpathy, Sashi and Namita Seghal, Om and Toshi Sethi, Sanjiv and Punam Sethi, Yash and Anjna Sharma, Krishna and Sandhya

HTCC Directory 2010 (continued 2/4)

SAMARPANAM PAGE 41

Singh, Amolak and Kuljit Srinivasan, Bharath and Manjula

Narasimhan Subramanian, Krishna and Raji

Sukhla, Shivendra and Asha Tejwani, Lokesh and Varsha Pherwani Thawani, Ravi and Meena

Viswanath, Dabir and Pramila

Aroor, Annayya Rao and Sudha Balaji, B. S. and Akila Balakrishnan, Bimal and Lakshmi Nair Bishop, Randi Chokalingam, Anand and Smrita Dorairajan Ghosh, Mayukh and Sonal Guha, Subharup and Aditi Bandyopadhyay Gupta, Ghanshyam and Manorma Gupta, Mangal and Kala

Katoch, Bandhana Kumar, Adarsh and Sangeeta Kumar, Rajesh and Aruna Kumar, Senthil and Kala Kuppuswamy, Saravanan and Priya

Ravindran Malik, Sushma Mangalat, Rom and Rani Murugesan, Raju and Sudha Nagarkar, Sushama and Aarti

Pennathur, Shiva Kumar Premnath, Venkatesan and Vasanthy Radhakrishnan, Nandhu and Selvi Raikhanghar, Sunil and Komal Ramaswamy, Ram and Indira Ramesh, Krishna Rao, Samir and Shraddha Sengupta, Shramik Senthilkumar, Annamalai and Smruthi

Annual Members for 2010 (list includes a few 2009 Annual Members yet to renew to-date)

HTCC Directory 2010 (continued 3/4)

SAMARPANAM PAGE 42

Sivaraman, M and Sujatha Thakkar, Mahesh and Jollyin Thiruvengadathan, Rajagopalan and Rama

Kannan

Tolani, Bhisham and Rajini Vasudevan, Ajit and Deepa Walker, Kate

Yaddanapudi, Sridhar

HTCC Directory 2010 (continued 4/4)

Kayena vaachha mana-sendhriyerva Buddhyatma-naavaa prakrute-svabha-vaat |

Karomi yadyat sakalam parasmai Naaraa-yanayeti samarpa-yame ||

Everything I do with my body, speech, mind, senses, intellect,

instinct or nature, I dedicate to the lord.

SAMARPANAM PAGE 43

I nitiated in March 2002, the Vedic Society was registered at the University of

Missouri under its founding student-president Ms. Sharanya Rao in April 2003. Dr. Murari Lal Nagar of Columbia performed a “Homa” at its inauguration and Dr. Subhas Kak of Louisiana gave an enlightening talk on ancient Sarasvati-Sindhu civilization of the Indian subcontinent that encrypted the Vedas - the massive treatise on philosophy of life and the art of living shown by the savants over 5000 years ago.

To relieve stress of modern living, the Vedic Society aims to promote spiritual awareness through the teachings of Sanatana Dharma as described in the Vedas and other scriptures of Hinduism that followed. The focus is on prescribed processes to uplift the physical and spiritual wellbeing of individuals and the society in the spirit of “Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam” - Universal Fellowship principle enshrined therein. The activities of the Society include: Regular Activities: ♦ Biweekly spiritual discourse on Vedas,

Upanishads and Gita ♦ Yoga, Pranayam and Meditation ♦ Stress Relief through Yoga ♦ Vegetarianism to promote healthy

living Special Activities: ♦ Invited discussions by outside

speakers ♦ Invited discussions by University

Faculty& Community Leaders

♦ Yoga and Educational Retreats ♦ Informational booths at MU and

Columbia city events A student-run organization on campus, the membership of Vedic Society is open to anyone interested in its activities. Currently it has 24 active members from India, USA, Ukraine and Russia, and twice as many patrons of various faiths and nationalities. http://www.students.missouri.edu/~vedics/

The Vedic Society

Cultural Association of India L ed by its founding student-president V.

Balakrishna Reddy, the Cultural Association of India (CAI) was formed on October 4, 1957 - the first International Student Organization at MU (University of Missouri, Columbia), to let students from India organize to pursue their cultural traditions. From a few students-members and few programs way back then the CAI now has grown to a 52 year-old mature organization with over 250 student and non-student families on its membership roster, involved in organizing/participating in dozens of events on MU campus, in public schools, and in Columbia and neighboring towns all around the year. Annual Activities: ♦ Republic Day and Independence Day

of India commemoration ♦ Holi, Baishakhi and Diwali Celebration ♦ Promotion of local talent in performing

arts by staging INDIA-NITE - a song, dance, skit cultural extravaganza in fall, and

♦ SARGAM - an all classical song, dance, instrumental music event in winter.

♦ Promotion of literary arts by publication of Rangoli magazine.

♦ Presentations on India’s History, Religion, Culture and Display of art and

♦ Craft booths at MU campus, public Schools and City events.

♦ Participation in Diabetes Walk charitable fund-raising event and in events

♦ Promoting diversity on campus and in Town.

Special Events: ♦ Hosting performances by famous

artists from India (Ravishankar, Ali Akbar Khan, Nikhil Banerjee, Hariprasad Chaurasia, Shivakumar Sharma, Shahid Parviz, Ronu Mazumdar, Barun Pal, Mohan Singh, Lalitha Krishnan, Vinayak Torvi, Padmini, Indrani Rahman, Amita Dutt, Raja and Radha Reddy, to name a few from the past)

♦ Hosting diplomats and dignitaries (had 3 ambassadors and 4 consuls of India; renowned authors Drs. Subhas Kak and Robert Kanigal and several MU dignitaries, among others).

♦ Shram daan and fund-raising for victims of natural disaster (responded to Rocheport-Missouri flood, Latur and Gujarat earthquakes, India/Indonesian Tsunami)

Irrespective of religious faith and nationality, the membership of CAI is open to anyone interested in India or in her diverse culture. As the oldest organization in Columbia, CAI has been the pioneer forum in providing foundation for growth and sustenance of cultural heritage of India while promoting cross-cultural

understanding in the community in more ways than one. http://web.missouri.edu/~umcmedmayur/

SAMARPANAM PAGE 44

Open Prayer Time (Every Tuesday and Saturday from 6 p.m.- 8 p.m., Aarti at 7:45 p.m.) Shanthi Mandir is open for devotees to meditate, offer their prayers, and participate in the Aarti. We will have CDs of Bhajans and other devotional songs handy that can be played during prayer times. Please help us in volunteering to keep the Mandir open at these times. If there is interest in this type of open prayer time, and we receive adequate volunteer support to keep the Mandir open, we will

consider longer and more frequent access to the Mandir. For more information contact: Chandra Rawlani at 446-5960

Shram Daan (Every Saturday from 10 am – 12 pm at the Mandir) Volunteer and service projects at the Mandir and at other locations as required. For more information contact: Vellore or Anantha Gopalaratnam at 446-0663.

Suprabhatam and Sahasranaamam Prayers (Every Saturday from 9 - 10 am) The Saturday morning prayers are dedicated to Lord Venkateshwara, another form of Lord Vishnu. He is also known affectionately as Balaji or Srinivasa. These recitations are in Sanskrit, the language used for most Hindu scriptures. For more information contact: Vellore S. Gopalaratnam at 446-0663.

T hese regular programs held at Shanthi Mandir are open to all interested. While all these events are compatible and support HTCC goals and objectives, events not organized by HTCC are appropriately listed. The contact information for each activity is provided.

Please visit our web site at <http://shanthimandir.missouri.org> to be informed of special festival celebrations, pujas and other educational programs such as short courses and workshops scheduled at various other times during the year at the Mandir. We strive to keep our web site up-to-date on an ongoing basis.

Bal Puja* (2nd Sunday from 10 am – 1 pm at the Mandir) Bal Puja meetings are intended to create an awareness of Hinduism among community youth. Specifically, Bal puja meetings focus on Hindu Gods and Goddesses, mythology, tales, beliefs, rituals and practices. The meetings offer an opportunity to provide the core essence of Hindu faith and philosophy and to explain how mythology and varied practices emanate from the core essence. For more information contact : Punam Sethi at 514-0486 or Inder Khurana at 874-9647 Bal Sabha* (4th Sunday from 3 – 5 pm at the Mandir) The objectives of the Bal Sabha of Mid-Missouri are: (1) To create among youngsters an awareness of India's history and culture, (2) To provide youngsters an avenue to research topics related to India and present it to Bal Sabha membership, (3) To provide youngsters a means of acquiring knowledge about India from their peers, and (4) To provide youngsters a means of being involved and to serve the Columbia community. Bal Sandesh is published along with the HTCC quarterly Shanthi Sandesh. For more information contact: Ravi Thawani at: 660-882-5317. Bharata Natyam Class* (Every Wednesday from 5:30 – 8:30 pm at the Mandir) This dance class is privately conducted by the Soorya Dance Company of St. Louis. It is hosted at the Mandir for the convenience of many HTCC families and because it is in support of some of HTCC’s mission. Instructor fee is required. The class makes regular donations for facilities use to cover operating costs. For more information contact: Manjula Narasimhan at: 445-0033.

Hindi Language Class* (Second and 4th Sunday at the Mandir - see web site for timings) Hindi classes were started in February 2006 at Shanthi Mandir for the kids who are interested in learning Hindi. Children learn conversational Hindi so that they are comfortable talking to relatives back in India, learn rudimentary written Hindi, learn the culture through language and songs, develop a strong peer support structure, and generally have fun during the social time following each class. Classes are taught by volunteers. For more information contact : Inder Khurana at 874-9647 Kirtan* (1st Sunday from 10 am – 1:30 p.m.) The Kirtan program brings together local Sikhs and other followers of Guru Nanak Dev. Hymns and prayers are recited. A sacred pot-luck lunch called Langhar concludes this program. Sukhmani Sahib is read. It is the name given to the set of hymns divided into 24 sections which appear in the Sri Guru Granth Sahib, the Sikh Holy Scripture. The word Sukhmani literally means peaceful mind. This set of hymns or Bani is very popular and is frequently recited in Gurdwaras and at home. For more information contact: Kuljit Sandhu at 442-4471 or Chandra Rawlani at 446-5960. Sai Bhajans* (Bhajans Thursday from 7 - 8 pm. Narayan Seva 2nd Sunday from 11:30 am – 12:30 pm at the St. Francis Home on Rangeline) Sai Bhajan Group meets for a sing-along devotional program every week and on pre-announced special festivals. It is a non-denominational group. All interested persons are welcome to attend. Followers of Bhagawan Shri Satya Sai Baba strive to live the five important human values. These include: Truth (Sathya), Righteousness (Dharma), Peace (Shanthi), Love (Prema) and Non-violence (Ahimsa). The group also cooks a complete vegetarian lunch every

2nd Sunday and serves it at the St. Francis Home, a local shelter for the homeless. For more information contact: Anantha Gopalaratnam at 446-0063. Tabla Class* (Typically 2nd and 4th Sundays—but schedule and locations change as convenient) . Contact Pradeep Sahota at 874-0443. Tamil Language Class* (1st and 3rd Sunday from 3– 5 pm at the Mandir) Tamil Classes have been held in Columbia since 1996, hosted at participating families homes predating Shanthi Mandir. The hosting of these classes in Shanthi Mandir since October 2005 has allowed a better learning experience, given the state-of-the-art audio-visual infrastructure at the Mandir. Children learn conversational Tamil so that they are comfortable talking to relatives back in India, learn rudimentary written Tamil, learn the culture through language and songs, develop a strong peer support structure, and generally have fun during the social time following each class. Classes are taught by volunteers. For more information contact: Visala Palaniappan 446-1962. Yoga sessions (instruction fee required): Typically Saturdays from 10:15 - 11:45 am. Contact: Visala Palaniappan 446-1962. * Facilities use and infrastructural support provided by HTCC but not organized by HTCC

Events Organized by Other Groups

HTCC Organized Regular Events

Current Programs at Shanthi Mandir

Serving the Columbia community with convenience store and gas station!

Shell

ULTRAMART ARENA 3101 S. Providence Road Columbia, MO 65203 Ph: 573-443-3144

The Executive Committee on behalf of the Gujarati Samaj of Mid-Missouri

Congratulates the

Hindu Temple and Community Center of Mid-Missouri (HTCC)

Shanthi Mandir

On the occasion of their Fourth Anniversary Celebrations

Way to go!