The AGM at Ananda Mandir

TheAnnual General Meeting of Ananda

Mandir was held on May 15, 2022. Due to recent surge in COVID-19, it was decided to hold the AGM virtually. Approximately 47 life members joined the meeting, which satisfied the quorum requirement.

General Secretary Arun Bhowmik started the meeting at 12:30 pm with a short welcome address to all attendees. We observed a minute of silence to remember our life members (Haimonti Chaudhuri, Pronoy Chatterjee, Provat Sinha and others) who passed away recently.

In place of Jai Prakash Biswas, the President of Ananda Mandir being away on a business trip, Arun Bhowmik presented a brief overview of various activities and our performance during the pandemic. He mentioned that even under the challenging circumstances, we did well in the areas of fund raising, major Pujas, and all routine activities of Ananda Mandir. He thanked all that worked tirelessly throughout the year.

Financial overview was presented by Chanu Das. It could be seen from Chanu’s report that financially we did very well during the pandemic year since our last AGM. We had a healthy net revenue of about $764K for 2021 (before taking into account the loan repayment amounts). There was a $200K donation by one of our life members and a donation of $100K from Merck & Co. Additionally, $170K of loan balance was forgiven by some of our loan givers. The financial report has been duly

Reported by

Arun Bhowmik, General Secretary

reviewed and certified by an external auditor. The audit report will be made available in July.

Arun Bhowmik then presented an overview of Tagore Hall finances. We had practically no income from Tagore Hall in 2020 due to the pandemic. Things improved significantly during 2021, and 2022 so far has been very good. This year, we already have over $130K of bookings, exceeding our budget of $100K for the year.

Regarding Trustee election, Kamalesh Sirkar mentioned that there was no need for an election this year since no current trustee retired, and no trustee’s term had expired.

Mita Sinha presented the Puja Committee report. All major Pujas and the monthly routine pujas were held properly following the regulatory pandemic guidelines. It was quite remarkable that all puja activities were conducted efficiently without shutting down the temple even for a day. Our Puja committee provided an exemplary service to the community during the challenging times. The Puja committee conducted over 200 private pujas to serve the community members. Total revenue collected by the Puja committee was over $316K. We followed pre-registration process for all major pujas which worked very well.

Mita thanked all volunteers for their great support. We provided numerous end-oflife rituals, and 104 shraddha ceremonies were conducted (many times two in a day) by our priest at the request of community members.

Construction update was presented by Ashok Rakhit. The front gate has been installed to secure the property. Very attractive nameplates have been attached to the concrete pillars, the area at the gate has been landscaped. A 7 ft tall bronze statue of Rabindra Nath Tagore has been fully installed on the lawn in front of Tagore Hall. Ashok also reported that Ananda Mandir is working on starting a School for Arts and Culture (AMSOA) in our premises. Some modifications to our front house are being made to set up the school.

Sajal Mukherjee presented an elaborate report on the activities of the Cultural Committee. Ananda Mandir has established itself in the digital platform as well as live shows on the Tagore Hall stage. Very attractive programs were presented during Durga Puja, Bani Bandana, Naba Barsha, and Pochishe Baishakh. In 2022 there are plans to present a Summer Festival in June, a live JATRA for Bijoya, and some musical presentations with classical singers. Sajal mentioned the need for additional marketing to promote our programs, and the need to invite young active community members to form a “Kids Group” to manage their cultural programs.

Financial Planning, Cur-

DURGA PUJA-2022

rent Financial Status, Loan Repayment Plan– This important topic was discussed in detail by Anjan Lahiri who is involved in Planning, Budgeting and Expense reporting activities for Ananda Mandir. The total revenue for 2021 ($1.14M), generated a net revenue of over $764K after all expenses, which was truly outstanding. We were successful in lowering our liability from $3.06M in January 2021 to $1.99M in January 2022. Anjan thanked many loan givers for foregoing their loan interest which helped our bottom line, and to those who forgave their outstanding loan amounts. Based on our current status, it appears that we should be able to pay back 75% of our loan givers in 2 years which would be a great achievement.

Community service– Utpal Sengupta mentioned that we have been involved in major community service, like Blood Drive, Food Donation etc. Ananda Mandir will be providing our facilities again on August 15 for Blood Drive. Ananda Mandir has been donating canned food items each month to the Township Food Bank.

Other Committees, Accomplishments, Challenges, and Issues were discussed by Debajyoti Chatterji. He stated that there are about 25 other committees with about 100 volunteers who work behind the scenes 24/7 to keep the institution functional, clean, make sure the place runs like a “well-oiled machine”. Fund-raising Committee, Food Preparation Committee, Maintenance Committee, Publications Committee, and Community Relations Committee, are some of the committees whose work is not always directly visible, but these committees play a huge part in the overall performance of the institution. He presented an overview of the activities of the FundRaising Committee over the past three years because the Annual Fund-Raising Campaigns have brought in al- continue to page 6 }

Ananda Mandir

Calendar of Events (Dates are subject to Change) Please check our website frequently www.anandamandir.org

Tel: 732-873-9821

NOTE: If a particular Puja time is not listed, please contact temple or visit our website: anandamandir.org

JULY(*)

RATHA JATRA

Friday, 01

BIPADTARINI PUJA

Tuesday, 05

ULTORATH JATRA

Saturday, 09

SATYANASRAYAN PUJA

Saturday, 09

SHYAMA PUJA

Thursday, 28

Sahitya O Alochana (*)

Cultural Program (*)

AUGUST (*)

RAKHI PURNIMA

Friday, 12

SATYANARAYAN PUJA

Friday, 12

SRI KRISHNA JANMASTAMI

Friday, 19

SHYAMA PUJA

Friday, 26

GANESH CHATURTHI

Wednesday, 31

Sahitya O Alochana (*)

Cultural Program (*)

SEPTEMBER (*)

SATYANARAYAN PUJA

Saturday, 10

BISWAKARMA PUJA

Saturday, 17

MAHISHASURA MARDINI

Sunday, 25

TIL TARPAN

Sunday, 25

SHYAMA PUJA

Sunday, 25

Sahitya O Alochana (*)

Cultural Program (*)

OCTOBER, 2022

DURGA PUJA

Saturday, 01 – Wednesday, 05 (See Details in Box)

KOJAGORI LAKSHMI PUJA

Sunday, 09

SATYANARAYAN PUJA

Sunday, 09

MAHA KALI PUJA & DIWALI

Monday, 24

Sahitya O Alochana (*)

Cultural Program (*)

(*) See www.anandamandir.org or Call Mandir for details

Special Religious Services:

Upon request, the priest of Ananda Mandir offers services such as in-house Shraddhas, Rituals associated with Cremations (Antyesti Kriya), Shraddha Anniversaries, Pre-wedding rituals (Naandimukh, Ashirwad, etc.), Upanayan (Paitey), Annaprasan, Wedding Ceremonies & Wedding Anniversaries, Griha Prabesh (Bhumi Puja), Consecrations of new cars (New Car Pujas) and others. If you have needs for any of the above or more, please feel free to contact Biswabhai @ 732-873-9821

Ananda Sangbad

A Periodical Newsletter

Published By ANANDA MANDIR

(A Tax-Exempt, Non-Profit Organization)

269 Cedar Grove Lane Somerset, NJ 08873

Phone: 732-873-9821

Website: www.anandamandir.0rg

***

Guru

Chakravarty

Executive Editor

All queries, articles, news reports and letters should be directed to guruchakravarty@yahoo.com

Phone: 908-752-3065

***

For general information, please contact the following executives of

Ananda Mandir:

Jai Prakash Biswas President

Debajyoti Chatterji Vice

President