Samarpanam2008Web

Samarpanam A humble offering...

March 14, 2008

2007 Annual Report kmR{yevai"karSte ma )le;u kdacn , ma kmR)lhetÉ u m UR aR te s¼ae=STvkmRi{a .

KARMANY EVA ADHIKARASTHE MA PHALESHU KADHACHANA, MA KARMA PHALA HETHUR BHUR MA TE SANGOSTHAV AKARMANI

You have an obligation to perform your prescribed duty, however, do not expect to be entitled to the fruits of this action. Never consider yourself to be the cause of the results, nor let your attachment be to inaction

Hindu Temple and Community Center of Mid-Missouri

Contents Daily Prayer Page …..……………….………………….…………………………….

Message from the Board of Trustees ……………..…………………………..

Map and Directions to Shanthi Mandir …………………………………………

HTCC Benefactors ……………………..………………...………………..………..

Report from the Executive Board ……………………………...……………….

HTCC Executive Committee ……………………………………………………….

2007 The Highlights ………………………...………………………………………

HTCC Volunteers ………….………………………...….………………………….

Capital Campaign ……………………..……………………………………………..

Cultural Programs ……………………………………………………………………

Devotional Programs ………………………..………………………………………

Educational Programs ………………………..……………………………………..

External Relations …………………………………………………………………….

Photo Gallery …………………………...……………………………………………..

We Can Make A Difference - Contest Selections …………………………..

Facilities and Renovation …………………….…………………………………….

Financial Policy ……………………...…………………………………………….

2007 Financial Report …………….…….………………………………………….

Library …………………………………….…………………………………………….

Membership …………………………………………………………………………….

Operations and Maintenance …………………………...……………………..

Publications and Communications ………...………….……………………….

Safety and Security ……………...……………..…………………………………..

Scheduling ………………………………….…………………………………………..

Service Programs ……..………………..……………………………………………

Youth Activities ……………………………...…………………………………………

HTCC Directory …………………………….…………………………………………..

HTCC Calendar for 2007 ………………………...………………………………..

Current Programs ………………………………….….………………………………

2 3 3 4 5 7 8 9 12 15 17 19 21 23 25 31 33 33 35 35 36 37 38 38 39 40 41 44 45

Our Advertisers All Phase Heating 47 Boone County National Bank 6 Chandra Publications 29 Comfort Inn, Boonville 18 Courtyard by Marriott 46 Dale Parker - State Farm 11, 46 Dances of India IFC Days Inn 13 Fast Signs 29 First National Bank 10 Going Bonkers 46 Gujarati Samaj IBC Hilton Garden Inn 11 Jashnani Family 18 Kuljit Sandhu 16 Kumon Center OBC Missouri Cancer Associates 32 Mitra Family 18 Motel 6 16 Nanoparticle Biochem, Inc. 34 Seema Enterprises 20 Soorya Performing Arts 14 Taj Emporium 22 The Little Gym 18 Tires Plus 48 Travel Lodge 13 Ultramart Arena IBC Virginia Dooley 11 IBC - Inside Back Cover IFC - Inside Front Cover OBC - Outside Back Cover

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SAMARPANAM

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.

HTCC ANNUAL REPORT FOR 2007

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Message from Board of Trustees

A

t the second anniversary of our Hindu Temple and Community Center (HTCC) in Columbia, we want to express our great satisfaction in seeing the Temple Center become a hub of a wide spectrum of activities, propounding spirituality and devotion to the Almighty, and promoting the spirit of service to the community as we envisioned at the outset.

However as the growth patterns in membership and activities are on the rise, (see the Shanthi Mandir web site and Page 8), the space constrains at our current facility is posing a major challenge to raise funds for getting a larger facility to fulfill the need of the community at our best.

Towards this, we have made some progress in our Capital Campaign as reported in Page 13 and look forward to getting wider support from our community to reach the goal.

The path may not be easy, but is not insurmountable. As is said:

Mookam Karoti Vachalam Pangum Langhayate Girim Yat-kripa Tamaham Vande Paramananda-Madhavam Blessings of the Lord can make even born-mute speak and born-cripples cross mountains - so can we, with His blessings.

Map and Directions to Shanthi Mandir 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.

Sign-up to receive timely notices: Please send us your e-mail address if you would like to be included on the Friends of the Mandir distribution list to receive timely program notices. Visit us at: http://shanthimandir.missouri.org

Board of Trustees Laxman Alreja Vairam Arunachalam Holalkere R. Chandrasekhar2 Meera Chandrasekhar Balakrishnan Elangovan Srinath Gopalakrishna Anantha Gopalaratnam Vellore S. Gopalaratnam Nila Gupta Arun Jain4 Kattesh Katti Inder Khurana Jasmit Khurana Kiratadas Kutikkad Sunder Lal Neerja Loyalka Sudarshan Loyalka4 Anil Malhotra Kusum Malhotra Moonmoom Mitra Ranadhir Mitra1 Kannappan Palaniappan Harsha Patel Nitin Patel Anuradha Rajagopalan V. Ramachandran Gagneesh Rawat Chandra Rawlani Ramesh Rawlani Vinay Rawlani Krishna Sharma Bharath Srinivasan Hema Srinivasan Ravi Thawani Dabir Viswanath3 1.

2.

3.

4.

Trustee President Trustee Vice-President Trustee Secretary Elected Trustee

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HTCC Benefactors Thanks go to members of Shubh Kaam, LLC. for donating the Shanthi Mandir minor subdivision lot, appraised in early 2007 at $250,000. Members include the following families: Arunachalams Chandrasekhars Cutkosky/Srinivasan Gopalaratnams Kattis Khuranas

$49-

Anand and Moe Chandrasekhar Asit and Sandra Basu B. S. Balaji and Akila Suguvanam Bimal and Alpana Ray Dale Cutkosky and Hema Srinivasan Ghanshyam and Leela Jashnani Kannappan and Visala Palaniappan Kattesh and Kavita Katti Keshab and Subhra Gangopadhyay Krishna and Raji Subramaniam Lakshmi Mangunta Lokesh and Varsha Tejwani Manush and Monika Goyal Milind Ratnaparkhe Murali and Surya Mantrala Naresh Gandhi and Sriyala Kajula Rajini and Bisham Tolani Rajiv and Sunilima Mohan Rakesh and Sunita Bajpai Ritcha and Kunal Chaudhary Sanjeev and Vinita Khanna Saroj Mohan Sashi and Namita Satpathy Shuba and Ratti Ratneshwar Sushma Nagarkar Yash and Anjana Sethi

$50-$99

Das Keshwani H. R. and Meera Chandrasekhar Heera Inder and Jasmit Khurana Mohan and Rajalakshmi Adusumilli Ramesh and Chandra Rawlani Satish and Sushma Anand Sheela Chockalingam

$100 - $499

Thank You!

Bhaskar Gowda and Shoba Kannan Shankaranarayanan Lakshmi Rangachari Om and Toshi Sehgal Rajesh and Indira Kulkarni Ranadhir and Roma Mitra Sanjeev and Alka

Lal/Gupta Mitras Palaniappans Patels Ramachandran/Rajagopalan Rawlanis Satish and Chaya Nagarajiah Sudhir and Priya Batchu Vellore S. and Anantha Gopalaratnam Westminster College

$500 - $999

Bal Puja Youth Group Madhavi Sunkar

$1,000 - $2,499

Kul and Archana Aggarwal Sanjiv and Punam Sethi V. Ramachandran and Anuradha Rajagopalan

$2,500 - $3,999

Kiratadas and Geetha Kutikkad

$4,000 - $4,999

Balakrishnan Elangovan and Abirami Shanmugasundaram Shubh Kaam, LLC. Soorya Performing Arts

$5,000 - $5,999

Arun Jain Bharath Srinivasan and Manjula Narasimhan Dabir and Pramila Viswanath Gagneesh and Aditi Rawat Krishna and Sandhya Sharma Ravi and Meena Thawani Srinath Gopalakrishna and Uma Srinath Sudarshan and Nirja Loyalka Vinay and Roshni Rawlani

$6,000 - $6,999

Laxman and Rajeshwari Alreja

$10,000 - $14,999

Vairam and Alagu Arunachalam

$15,000+

Anil and Kusum Malhotra

HTCC ANNUAL REPORT FOR 2007

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Report from Executive Board T

he theme for our Second Anniversary Celebration is “We can Make a Difference”. This thoughtfully selected theme reflects our passion for service.

Service is indeed one of our two pillars, as the sign board outside of Shanthi Mandir proudly proclaims – “A Place for Worship and Service”. Manava Seva-e Madhava Seva as the saying goes, meaning “Service to Humanity is Service to God”.

The strengthening of the devotional, educational, youth and cultural program offerings during our second year is evidence of support of our theme. As we grow and learn, we are constantly striving to better serve Columbia in general, and the Hindu community in particular.

We have had many important developments in 2007. After a survey of the 2006 Holly Avenue property was completed, it was platted in February as the Shanthi Mandir minor subdivision. Soon to follow was the March approval of HTCC’s application to IRS for a tax exempt status (under IRS Section 501 (c) 3). This paved the way for Shubh Kaam, LLC. to deed the property over to HTCC in May. HTCC’s first ever elections were also held in May. We elected Sudarshan Loyalka and Arun Jain as our first set of Elected Trustees. Congratulations to them! The General Assembly also returned the Interim Officers of the Executive Board as the first elected Officers of the Executive Board.

Soon after the property was deeded over to HTCC (registered as a non-profit corporation with the State of Missouri) we applied for and received approval from the Boone County Assessor’s office of exemption from property tax.

In April the group of parents affiliated with the weekly Soorya Dance Classes at the Mandir teamed up with Soorya Performing Arts, Guru Prasanna Kasthuri and other visiting artistes to put together a fundraising dance drama to benefit HTCC. The performance titled Rainbow II integrated Bharata Natyam and Kathak styles of dance with famous English poetry and raised approximately $4,500 for the Mandir. Our sincere thanks to this dedicated group.

Just when we thought it would be hard to top the heady progress of the first half of 2007, we began the second half with recharged enthusiasm. Many festival celebrations draw an overflow crowd to the Mandir. This has prompted the Board of Trustees to work on providing more parking at the Mandir and also examine ways to safely serve the increasing numbers of devotees. We disposed off the single-wide trailer on the south-west corner of our lot as a first step to enhance security and increase the capacity of our parking lot. We

have also proactively launched a Capital Campaign with a target of $250,000 to facilitate infrastructure improvements and capital for our medium and long-term plans.

In the short few months, we were able to raise well over a third of this target. By December 31, 13 additional families joined the 12 original families by contributing $5,000-$15,000 to the Capital Campaign.

We warmly welcome these new benefactors to our Board of Trustees who are recognized elsewhere in this report. As we enthusiastically march towards our Capital Campaign target, the Board has appointed a five-person committee to investigate and make recommendations about infrastructure needs to support the growth in our activities and membership.

This group will review several medium and long-term options for HTCC, based on our needs, practicality and affordability, including the plan recommended by the HTCC Facilities and Renovation Committee.

The desire for new programming, experience from our first year, and the need to be able to distribute the work-load among more volunteers, provided the impetus to reorganize our Executive Committee. The new Cultural Programs Committee was born from this reorganization. The former Publicity and Public Relations Committee on which we relied heavily was reconstituted into two committees – “Publications and Communications” and “External Relations”, each with a distinct but related mission.

Similarly, the Fundraising and Membership Committee was split into two committees to better serve our present needs – the Capital Campaign Committee and the Membership Committee. We have new Chairs heading these five new/ reconstituted committees. The turnover in the leadership of several other committees gives some former Chairs a break and infuses new ideas and enthusiasm to the Executive Committee. Numerous other Chairs were retained to provide continuity and experience to the group. Several new Chairs are looking for new members to serve on their committees. We hope you can help us by serving on a committee or two. We look forward to the benefit of your input and experience. If you desire to join one or more committees, please contact the Chairs directly.

On the membership front, we have made steady efforts to increase our ownership base. We now have 60 lifetime members with several recent upgrades! Our 2008 membership drive has been underway since late December. We already have several new members in 2008 along with renewed 2007 members (see HTCC

Membership Directory). Please remember to renew your membership, if you have not done so as yet.

On the programming front, an exhaustive summary is included in the section HTCC 2007 Highlights. HTCC also played host to Dr. Gurunathan Lakshman and his wife, Kumudini in July. We are very grateful to them for bringing their contagious enthusiasm and passion to all our program offerings during their short visit, which included a Samuhika Satyanarayana Puja and several lectures at the University and the Mandir. Quite a few new programs were initiated in 2007. Shanthi Mandir hosted its first Akhand Ramayan in 2007, an event that was very well received, even if challenging to organize. Amritvani is held at the Mandir every third Saturday at 6:00 pm. The group met for the first time in February. The hour-long program includes singing hymns in praise of Lord Rama. The new Tabla classes at the Mandir are also going strong, with a group of 9 students who meet alternately at the Mandir and in the instructor’s studios in Chesterfield, once each month at each location. Other regular programs, special pujas, summer youth activities, yoga classes bring a varied but dedicated group of members to the Mandir. The Mandir bustles with action most weekends. With the exception of Mondays and Fridays, there is at least one activity at the Mandir every weekday.

Last year also saw us actively engage with several interfaith groups and participate in joint service projects besides our own service projects listed under Service Programs. We teamed up as a part of the Faith and Education Collaborative to organize an American Red Cross supported blood drive and a Habitat for Humanity building project. We also teamed up with the Interfaith Council of Columbia to organize/participate in the Thanksgiving Around the World celebration.

All in all 2007 was a very memorable year! Judging by the level of enthusiasm for organizing and participation in HTCC Second Anniversary Celebrations, 2008 promises to be just as lively!

See you at the Mandir!

Executive Board Vellore S. Gopalaratnam1 Inder Khurana2 Visala Palaniappan3 Anuradha Rajagopalan4 1.

2..

3.

4.

President Secretary Treasurer Vice President

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HTCC ANNUAL REPORT FOR 2007

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

HTCC Executive Board for 2008 President – Vellore S. Gopalaratnam Vice President – Anuradha Rajagopalan Secretary – Inder Khurana Treasurer – Visala Palaniappan

HTCC Committee Chairs for 2008 Capital Campaign – H. R. Chandrasekhar Cultural Programs – Hema Srinivasan Devotional Programs – Chandra Rawlani Educational Programs – Arun Jain External Relations – Leela Jashnani Facilities and Renovation – Ravi Thawani Financial Policy – Krishna Sharma Library – Rajiv Mohan Membership – Dabir Viswanath Operations and Maintenance – Meera Chandrasekhar Publications and Communications – B. S. Balaji Safety and Security – Kiratdas Kutikkad Scheduling – Inder Khurana Service Programs – Manjula Narasimhan Youth Activities – Nandhu Radhakrishnan Membership Secretary and Assistant Treasurer: Indira Ramaswamy

Outgoing Chairs from 2007 Anantha Gopalaratnam – Service Programs H. R. Chandrasekhar – Library Gagneesh Rawat – Public Relations and Publicity Kalai Kumar – Youth Activities Kattesh Katti – CoChair, Fundraising and Membership K. Palaniappan – Safety and Security V. Ramachandran - CoChair, Fundraising and Membership Rajiv Dhand – CoChair, Fundraising and Membership Ritcha Mehra-Chaudhary – Educational Programs Vairam Arunachalam – Financial Policy Vellore S. Gopalaratnam – Facilities and Renovation

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2007 The Highlights Significant Accomplishments Shanthi Mandir minor subdivision plat on the books - Boone County Recorder of Deeds Tax exempt status under IRS 501 (c) 3 approved

by IRS Shubh Kaam, LLC donated Shanthi Mandir minor subdivision property to HTCC Property Tax Exemption from Boone County Assessors Office HTCC Executive Board and Board of Trustee elections held Community Outreach Columbia Values Diversity – Planning Committee Faith and Education Collaborative – Blood Drive Project Faith and Education Collaborative – Habitat for Humanity Building Project MU Center for Religion and the Professions Presentations Moberly Area Community College – Religious Studies Boone Hospital Center Liaison/Presentations Hickman High School – Religious Studies Lectures Westminster College – Regional Interfaith Organization Interfaith Council of Columbia – Thanksgiving Around the World – Planning and participation Membership Highlights Lifetime Family Members: 58 Lifetime Individual Member: 2 2007 Annual Family Members: 38 2007 Annual Individual Members: 5 Access Data Base ready for the 2008 Membership Drive Fiscal Highlights Net revenues positive all eight quarters of operation to date Steady appreciation of balance to support growth and capital improvements Detailed financial reports published every quarter in Shanthi Sandesh Proactive investment strategy to protect principal while maximizing earnings Yearly audit by Financial Planning Committee Infrastructure Upgrades Parking lot sealed/striped Education center soon to be operational (internet/telephone connection underway) Single-wide trailer disposed off Gas meter relocated for safety Garden shed repairs to increase storage capacity (Shram Daan underway) Shanthi Mandir lot is ready for possible expansion of the parking lot

HTCC

Devotional Programs

Regular Programs:

Sai Bhajans Venkateshwara Suprabhatam/Vishnu Sahasranaamam Kirtan Open Prayer Hours (Tuesday and Saturday)

Pujas and Festivals:

New Year Puja HTCC First Anniversary Puja Samuhika Satyanarayana Puja Maha Shivaratri Shri Rama Navami Akhand Ramayan Guru Purnima Bhajan Shri Krishna Jayanthi/Janmashtami Ganesh Chaturthi Navaratri Durga Puja Vijaya Dashami/Dusshera Karva Chauth Deepavali Lakshmi Puja Skanda Sashti Gurupurab/Guru Nanak Jayanthi Dhanur Maasa Puja (Thiruppavai)

Please Donate Generously!

Remember, HTCC is tax-exempt under IRS Section 501 (c) 3. So your donations are tax deductible. Also, since we are an all-volunteer run non-profit corporation, 100% of your donation goes to improving our facilities, programs and services to the community.

Service Programs

Regular 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 – Volunteer projects at the Mandir

Special Programs:

Clean-up Columbia – HTCC Helping Hands Eldercare visits – Bal Sabha Publications and Publicity Very dynamic and informative web site Shanthi Sandesh – An information-packed quarterly newsletter completes 2nd year Samarpanam – HTCC Annual Report for 2006 Timely E-Mail notices to “Friends of the Mandir” list Timely media and hard-copy notices for programs Maintain up-to-date Photo Gallery Timely and regular media coverage Operations and Maintenance

Regular Activities:

Weekly Mandir cleaning Weekly lawn mowing Purchases and supplies for Mandir programs

Special Programs:

Gardening/Landscaping Garage Sale and Mela

Educational Programs

Regular Programs:

Tamil language classes Hindi language classes

Special Programs:

Bhagavad Gita Study Circle (not currently active) Yoga Sessions Buddha Purima Talk – Metta Bhavana by Ginny Morgan Divine Mother Talk – Kate Walker Youth Activities

Regular Programs:

Bal Puja (including Dashaavatar Show) Bal Sabha

Special Programs:

HTCC Tennis Tournament Art Workshop 1 – Wall Hanging Art Workshop 2 – Foil Embossing HTCC Chess Tournament Math Workshop Yoga for Better Living – Youth Workshop HTCC Youth Day/Bal Sabha-Bal Puja Picnic Cultural Programs

Regular Activities:

Bharata Natyam classes – Soorya Dance Company Tabla classes (Tabla Interest Group – TIG)

Special Programs:

Rainbow II –Fundraising dance performance – Soorya Performing Arts HTCC Fall Violin Concert

Library Acquisition and assembly of book cases Acquisition of holy scriptures Acquisition and cataloging of books Online search facility Ready for regular open hours Safety and Security Fire inspection of Shanthi Mandir Safety and security guidelines and First Aid Kit provision Overflow parking – Standing arrangement Investigating safety and privacy fence options Insurance coverage

HTCC ANNUAL REPORT FOR 2007

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HTCC Volunteers 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 2007. The Aarti Nagarkar Abi Elangovan Aditi Rangenekar Aditi Rawat Alagu Arunachalam Amit Patel Amolak Singh Anand Chandrasekhar Anantha Gopalaratnam Anchal Sethi Anil Malhotra Aniruddha Raychaudhuri Anjna Sethi Anmol Sethi Anuradha Rajagopalan Archana Aggrawal Arjun Khurana Arkashubra Ghosh Aroor Annaya Rao Aroor Sudha Ashish Upadhayay Ashok Cutkosky Aswath Kumar Avanti Rangnekar B. S. Balaji Bala Elangovan Balkrishna Ratnaparkhe Bharath Srinivasan Bhisham Tolani Chandra Rawlani Dale Cutkosky

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 of making a difference in your own

Deepika Upadhayay Gagneesh Rawat Geetha Kutikkad Harsha Patel Hema Srinivasan Holalkere Chandrasekhar Inder Khurana Indira Ramaswamy Jasmit Khurana Kalayarsi Kumar Kannappan Palaniappan Kate Walker Kattesh Katti Kavita Katti Kiratadas Kutikkad Kirthi Rangnekar Krishna Sharma Kul Aggrawal Kuljit Sandhu Kunal Chaudhary Kusum Malhotra Leela Jashnani Lokesh Tejwani Manjula Narasimhan Manjula Nathan Maya Cutkosky Maya Ramachandran Meena Thawani Meera Chandrasekhar Meghna Srinath Milind Ratnaparkhe

community. The rewards are as unique and personal as your reasons for wanting to volunteer. While our focus during 2006 was largely on volunteering at Shanthi Mandir, in 2007 we have systematically made an effort to serve the larger Columbia community as well, as described on Page 39. 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!

Mrs. Ratnapaparkhe Mythili Ramachandran Nahush Katti Namita Satpathy Nandhu Radhakrishnan Naresh Kujala Nidhi Khurana Nila Gupta Nirja Loyalka Nitin Patel Nitin Rangnekar Niyati Rangnekar Pramod Srivastava Prerna Srinivasan Punam Sethi Raj Lal Raji Subramanian Rajini Tolani Rajiv Dhand Rajiv Mohan Ram Ramaswamy Rama Srivastava Ramesh Rawlani Ranadhir Mitra Ratti Ratneshwar Ravi Thawani Richard Sternadori Ritcha Mehra-Chaudhary S. Akila S. Naimesh S. Nitya

Sandhya Sharma Sangita Sharma Sanjiv Sethi Saroj Mohan Sashi Satpathy Satish Anand Senthil Kumar Sheela Lal Shreyas Srinivasan Shuba Ratneshwar Srinath Gopalakrishna Sriyala Kujala Sumidha Katti Sunder Lal Sunilima Sinha Surya Mantrala Sushma Anand Sushma Nagarkar Uma Srinath V. Ramachandran Vairam Arunachalam Varsha Pherwani Vasanthi Bhaskaran Vellore Adithi Vellore Gopalaratnam Vidhya Mantrala Vikram Arunachalam Visala Palaniappan

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SAMARPANAM

HTCC ANNUAL REPORT FOR 2007

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Our sincere gratitude‌

Virginia E. Dooley, DMD 1480 Ashley Road Boonville, MO 65233 660-882-7522

To the members of HTCC Second Anniversary Planning Committee and to the numerous volunteers who have helped tirelessly in bringing the event to you

Thank you for your dedication and hard work!

Dental care in a Friendly atmosphere With no pressure

Congratulations to HTCC on their 2nd Anniversary

Together, We Can Make A Difference!

Garden Conference Center Elegant place, Cozy environment, Excellent service Facilities for up to 800 people. Three spacious conference rooms with audio visual service for weddings, receptions, rehearsals dinners, cocktail parties, business meetings and parties with on site kitchen and full bar.

Contact : Jody Lewis, Sales Manager 3300 Vandiver Drive, Columbia, MO 65202 573.864.5464 (Phone) 573.864.5465 (Fax)

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Capital Campaign W Please contact the Chair if you would like to serve on this committee. We appreciate your donation of time and talent to serve HTCC. Thank you!

Holalkere Chandrasekhar1 Inder Khurana2 Vellore S. Gopalaratnam Sunder Lal Kusum Malhotra Ranadhir Mitra Gagneesh Rawat Chandra Rawlani 1. Chair 2. Executive Board Liaison

e are pleased to update the progress with our ongoing Capital Campaign.

During the last several months, we have attracted another 13 families to the trustee-fold.

This is in addition to the 12 original families. The families are listed below. We proudly welcome the new families as HTCC Trustee families. In the very near future, we will arrange for a meeting of the trustees.

Alreja, Laxman and Rajeshwari Elangovan, Balakrishnan and Abirami Shanmugasundaram Jain, Arun Kutikkad, Kiratadas and Geetha Loyalka, Sudarshan and Nirja Malhotra, Anil and Kusum* Rawat, Gagneesh and Aditi Rawlani, Vinay and Roshni Sharma, Krishna and Sandhya Srinath, Gopalakrishna and Uma Srinivasan, Bharath and Manjula Narasimhan Thawani, Ravi and Meena Viswanath, Dabir and Pramila * Two-trustee family

With these recent capital contributions, we have, over the course of the last two years, exceeded the $100,000 mark in large donations (cash donations of $5,000 and higher). In fact just since May 2007 (when Shubh Kaam donated the Shanthi Mandir property to HTCC), we have raised more than $93,500. This represents over a third of our Capital Campaign target of $250,000!

During this early Capital Campaign drive, many other families expressed interest in making their donations during 2008. We will follow-up on these potential benefactors and get them on board as trustee families. We could use your support to expand our ownership base beyond the current 25 families. Please help us reach other friends who share our common goals with regard to the Mandir. The Capital Campaign will continue in earnest until we reach our target. We are grateful for your help in this campaign.

HTCC ANNUAL REPORT FOR 2007

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HTCC ANNUAL REPORT FOR 2007

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Cultural Programs T

he Hindu Temple and Community Center (HTCC) plans to add regular cultural events in addition to the classes in music and dance.

The HTCC Cultural Programs committee was formed in November 2007 as there was a growing interest in this area and a need to have regular cultural events organized. Within a short span of time the committee organized a classical music concert featuring Violin by Dr. Purnaprajna and Mridhangam by Shiva Narasimhamurthy, both of Kansas. The concert was held in December 2007 and was a huge success. The February 2008 issue of the

Shanthi Sandesh provides more details on the event.

Upcoming Events: We are pleased to announce that we will have a classical music concert from a group coming from India on Saturday, April 26. Please look for details on the HTCC website.

Our committee hopes to have at least two quality concerts in classical music or classical dances. We are also seeking sponsors for these cultural programs. Please contact us if you have any suggestions or ideas.

Hema Srinivasan1 Sanjib Bhattacharyya Anand Chandrasekhar Shubra Gangopadhyay Anuradha Rajagopalan2 Subha Ratneshwar Bimal Ray 1. Chair 2. Executive Board Liaison

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SAMARPANAM

The HTCC Devotional Committee proudly welcomes

Congratulations to HTCC on its Second Anniversary!

Sant Jitender Sant Naresh Shri Raj Gupta, and Shri Bhim Kalyan Dasani of the Prem Prakash Temple, NY Join us for the Devotional Program on Saturday, March 15 at 10:30 am at

Shanthi Mandir

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HTCC ANNUAL REPORT FOR 2007

PAGE 17

Devotional Programs H

TCC Devotional Committee members work on planning the devotional calendar for the whole year and on organizing the various events to mark special festivals during the year. We are very pleased with the enormous support from the HTCC members and the community.

Our 2007 devotional calendar started with the New Year Puja - a devotional celebration, which began with meditation led by Kate Walker and followed by reciting shlokas and singing bhajans.

The program concluded with Aarti and Prasad.

On Saturday morning , January 20, 2007, Shanthi Mandir was decorated and devotees were buzzing around to keep the Mandir ready for the HTCC First Anniversary devotional program. The program started with Puja , performed by Sant Naresh and Sant Jitender from the Prem Prakash Temple, New York. They started the Katha with a silent prayer followed by singing about divinity. The priest concluded the day’s program by performing “Havan - a sacred purifying ritual that involves a fire ceremony” later that evening.

Maha Shivaratri was celebrated in the month of February at the Mandir. The Puja started with the Shri Ganesha Pancharatnam and concluded with the recitation of Shiva Gayatri. The Puja was led by Srinath and H. R. Chandrasekhar.

The new event of this year, held on March 24, 2007, was Akhand Ramayan, a non-stop recitation of Tulsidas’s Ramcharitmanas for over 24 hours. This event was successful and made possible with the blessings of Shri Rama and the selfless devotion, commitment and dedication of numerous volunteers. Shri Rama Navami, the birthday of Lord Rama, was celebrated on March 27, 2007. Shlokas and stotras on Shri Rama were recited by everyone.

The 2007 Samuhika Satyanarayana Puja was conducted on July 7, 2007, under the guidance of Dr. Gurunathanan Lakshman and Mrs. Kumudini Lakshman from Canada. A Guru Purima special bhajan was held at the Mandir by the Sai Bhajan group on July 26, 2007.

Janmashtami was celebrated with great joy and high spirits on September 2, 2007 at the Mandir.

The Puja and recitation of shlokas was followed

by Aarti. There was a lot of excitement as kids reenacted the Matki breaking ceremony. The festivities continued with children and adults singing in praise of Lord Krishna. Ganesh Chaturthi is one of the most popular Hindu festivals. An idol of our beloved Lord Ganesha was modeled from clay with lots of input from our younger members who also participated in the making of the idol, his Vahana, the mouse, and his favorite food - the Modakas. The idol

was painted and decorated and worshiped for 10 days from Ganesh Chaturthi to Ananth Chaturdashi. Aarti was performed on all 10 days and the celebration concluded with Visarjan (immersion of the idol in water).

The next major festival was Navaratri or Durga Puja. Devi Jaagran was celebrated by performing a Puja officiated by Shri Sarish Bhagawat, a guest from Chicago. Shri Bhagawat chanted shlokas and sang Devi songs, transporting us to the holy shrine of Vaishno Devi. The Mandir was open for all 10 days of the festival and Aarti was performed every day. On the 10th day Dussehra (Vijaya Dashami) was celebrated with great enthusiasm. More then 75 people came for the celebration and enjoyed the program that reflected the underlying diversity of the rich Indian culture.

Karva Chauth was celebrated this year on October 29, 2007. Karva Chauth holds tremendous social and cultural significance for married Hindu women. Women dressed in all their finery gathered at Shanthi Mandir and performed Gauri puja, Katha and then exchanged thalis and karvas in the traditional way. In the evening after moon-rise all the women performed a moon Puja before breaking their fast.

Deepavali was celebrated at the Mandir on Nov. 10th. The Mandir was decorated in grand style with lights and diyas to welcome wisdom and remove darkness. Adults and children alike worshipped Goddess Lakshmi by reciting shlokas in Her praise. There was a big gathering and everybody enjoyed the fireworks that followed the Puja.

Guru Nanak Jayanthi, one of the most important festivals in the Sikh religion was celebrated on November 22, 2007. The prayer was led by Giani Jagtar Singh from Kansas City.

The committee also ensured that the temple was kept open for the devotees to have the opportunity for open prayer time every Tuesday and Saturday. Committee members also help out with other related events held at the Mandir including Sai Bhajan, Kirtan and Suprabhatam.

One recent addition to the devotions offerings at the Mandir is, the Amritvani, on the third Saturday each month from 6:00 - 7:00 p.m. The Amritvani is a selection of songs in praise of Lord Rama.

The Columbia Hindu community and Shanthi Mandir have come a long way during the last couple of years. The devotional committee has already started planning for festivals and Pujas for 2008.

Chandra Rawlani1 Kusum Malhotra2 Vellore S. Gopalaratnam3 Siriyala Gandhi Srinath Gopalakrishna Vinita Khanna Nirja Loyalka Manjula Nathan Varsha Pherwani Kuljeet Sandhu Punam Sethi Hema Srinivasan Meena Thawani 1. Chair 2. Secretary 3. Executive Board Liaison

PAGE 18

• • • •

SAMARPANAM

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With best wishes for a bright and prosperous future for HTCC and many more years of celebrations!

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HTCC ANNUAL REPORT FOR 2007

PAGE 19

Educational Programs “To look backward for a while is to refresh the eye, to restore it, and to render it the more fit for its prime function of looking forward.”

Margaret Fairless Barber

A

nother year has rolled by and we have stepped into the New Year with a lot of enthusiasm. The last two years have been formative years for the Hindu Temple and Community Center (HTCC) and its various committees. It has been a learning exercise and we as a committee have made substantial progress and have come a long way. Despite the steep initial learning curve and challenges the committee has been successful in providing intellectual, organizational and logistical support to the education efforts of HTCC. As it is very well said “The mind is not a vessel to be filled, but a fire to be kindled.” – Plutarch.

The education committee has tried to kindle that fire in the hearts and the minds of children and adults alike. The committee’s educational program offerings not only benefit the Hindu community but cater to all residents of MidMissouri area.

•

• •

•

hands-on programs such as “Meditation & Stress Management” and “Yoga & Healthy Lifestyle”. These workshops were very well received.

The committee also helped organize several special lectures including “Is Buddha Relevant?” and “Metta Bhavana - Bringing Loving Kindness into our Hearts and Minds”.

The committee was instrumental in initiating an adult Yoga class which is now continuing for over an year.

In conjunction with the Youth Activities committee, several summer educational workshops were organized, including a youth Yoga camp..

Conducting regular fortnightly Hindi and Tamil language classes at the temple. The Hindi classes also serves several non-Indian students from colleges in Columbia.

The committee would like to acknowledge and thank the members of the other HTCC committees who have always been helpful and supportive of our efforts. The committee has been successful in accomplishing its objectives only because of your all active support and Accomplishments The education committee has been involved in participation. Please continue to provide your support on an ongoing basis. It would be very initiating several new programs in the last two years. Some of the notable accomplishments of appropriate to conclude the education committee report with a quote from Nelson Mandela, the committee are listed below:

• Starting the “Bhagvad Gita Study Circle”, a program which has now been temporarily suspended.

• The Food and Thought brunch meetings with

“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world,” Surely we all can make a difference collectively in many important ways!

Arun Jain1 Aniruddha RayChaudhuri Sriyala Devi Kujala Inder Khurana2 Kalai S. Kumar Arpita Kumar Sushma Nagarkar 1. Chair 2. Executive Board Liaison

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SAMARPANAM

HTCC ANNUAL REPORT FOR 2007

PAGE 21

External Relations T

he External Relations Committee is a newly formed committee, partially a spin-off from the Public Relations and Publicity Committee. The committee was formed to better address the increasing demands on the public relations areas, to further expand our collaboration and participation with interfaith groups, increase our presence in the city’s service programs and contribute to the community with new service based initiatives.

The temple’s community events, devotional celebrations, cultural events and service programs have grown phenomenally in the last 2 years of our existence. This growth and visibility in turn has generated lot of interest in Hinduism and presented new collaborative opportunities with interfaith groups, the city’s diversity affairs office and the extended Columbia community.

Future Plans Despite being in existence for only a few months, the committee members have been very actively involved with the planning and execution process for the HTCC Annual celebration event. The committee has met and identified some short term goals and is working to set long term goals and plans. The committee needs your support to meet its stated goals and objectives. Please come forward and share your talents and interest in any of the following areas - Arts (Visual/Literary/Music), Public speaking,

Planning and Management, Data Management/ Organization and Cultural aspects.

The committee’s long term goals include:

• To develop a Speaker's Bureau to represent the Hindu Community at various cultural and informational sessions to which we are invited. In order to accomplish this in a cohesive and uniform manner the idea is to prepare a general presentation in digital and brochure form. This may be an ongoing process and the presentations may need to be continuously refined with additional information.

• To expand our involvement in the interfaith initiatives and projects to a much larger scale.

• To develop extended relations with the surrounding Hindu communities such as Kansas City and St. Louis. It would be a good idea to share ideas with them and exchange information for our mutual benefit.

• To create a web presence that would include a comprehensive description of Hindu customs, culture and religious aspects including some basic prayers and shlokas.

The committee needs you – please consider volunteering your time, effort and share your talents and ideas for the committee. Please come and join us.

Please contact the Chair if you would like to serve on this committee. We appreciate your donation of time and talent to serve HTCC. Thank you!

Leela Jashnani1 Visala Palaniappan2 H. R. Chandrasekhar Vellore S. Gopalaratnam Arun Jain Ranadhir Mitra Gagneesh Rawat 1. Chair 2. Executive Board Liaison

PAGE 22

SAMARPANAM

HTCC ANNUAL REPORT FOR 2007

PAGE 23

Photo Gallery 1

PAGE 24

SAMARPANAM

Photo Gallery 2

HTCC ANNUAL REPORT FOR 2007

PAGE 25

We Can Make a Difference Contest - 1

From the top-left in a clockwise direction: We can make a difference Donate food, Nithya Balaji, Doesn’t matter if you are black or white, Nandhu Radhakrishnan, I can make a difference by keeping the earth green, Trisha Chaudhary, and Respect all cultures and protect our earth, Mohana Ratnaparkhe.

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SAMARPANAM

We Can Make a Difference Contest - 2

From the top-left in a clockwise direction: We can make a difference together - Anmol and Anchal Sethi, Make a difference - Love animals, Gauri Ratnaparkhe, Peace, Love and Shanthi Mandir, Nila Palaniappan, Make a difference by helping at the food bank, Suryanshi Rawat.

The “We Can Make a Difference” - HTCC Second Anniversary Contests included competitions in Visual Arts, Jingle Competition and Literary Arts. The theme for this year’s anniversary celebrations and for these contests is a take-off from this year’s Reflections Contest organized by the Missouri PTA entitled “I can make a difference”. Age group classifications were Group I: 3 - 10 years, Group II: 11 - 18 years, Group III: 19 years and above. A total of 24 entries were received for Visual Arts and 14 entries for Literary Arts contests. No entry was received for the Jingle Composition contest. Anand Chokalingam and Rumi Faizer served as judges for the Visual Arts category while Meera Chandrasekhar and Sandhya Sharma served as the judges for the Literary Arts competition. All contest entries will be displayed in the lobby of the Courtyard by Marriott outside the banquet hall on Friday, March 14 and at the devotional program at the Shanthi Mandir on March 15. Judges have chosen select entries to share with Samarpanam readers..

HTCC ANNUAL REPORT FOR 2007

PAGE 27

We Can Make a Difference Contest - 3 You Can Make A Difference, I Can Make A Difference, We All Can Make A Difference!!!

Suryanshi Rawat If you have a birthday coming up, you can make a difference.

You can make a difference, by asking your guests to not bring YOU gifts, but to bring small donations or gifts for a place that may really need it, such as the Rainbow House, Ronald McDonald the Humane Society or your very own temple (the Shanti Mandir in this case). My little sister (Tia) is turning five, and she has decided to ask her friends to not bring gifts for her, but for her preschool (LSS Lenoir). She says, “My daddy will bring me gifts, so my friends can bring something for my preschool’’, that is something very nice for a five year old child to do. It is always very hard to say that you don’t want any presents for your birthday. I have decided that on my birthday, I will ask all my friends to bring things for the Humane Society. I am very fond of animals so I am happy that I am able to help them. I will make a difference and my sister will make a difference. There are many ways to make a difference this is just one of them.

So you see it doesn’t matter what age you are, you are always old enough to make a difference!!!

Free Yourself Mohana Ratnaparkhe Do you ever feel like you want to try something new? Something you have never tried before? Add a new thing in your life and make a nice difference? Then think about the pros and cons of the thing and give it a shot. But there are some things you should never change like liking yourself and self respect.

Worries do exist in our heads but it is up to us whether to accept them or not. If some parts of you are full of worries that are the parts you might want to make a difference in. Worries do nothing but hurt you. You can make a difference in yourself by getting rid of worries by thinking about positive things, and things you have achieved so far.

Jealousy is something you don’t want to be friends with. You make the person, you are jealous of, your master. That is not right. A person should control themselves; he/she should be the master of their minds.

The ways to get rid of your jealousy are… you can think about something good about yourself instead of something bad. Or you

can even try harder to do something you really like and make good memories for future.

Fears are things that scare you and you get scared of them for no reason. Fears also hurt you and keep you away from trying something new. There is always going to be something new in your life. You can try. It is your choice no one else should tell you what to do and what not to do.

There are many things which we fear in this world some are ok but others are not.

People are scared to participate or go on stage in front of others. You can get rid of that fear by acting in front of yourself and complimenting yourself; you can also correct some mistakes and practice them to get them right. Some kids are scared to raise their hands and answer the questions that they are asked. They have to believe that they are talking to someone who cares for them and will not laugh at them if their answers are wrong. That’s how one learns.

That is how they can get rid of their fear. If you are scared of animals you have to believe that animals are our friends and will not hurt you.

Now you know what can come between you and your happiness and you also know how you can face them. You are being kind and respectful to yourself by liking yourself and being nice to yourself. You are being safe by not letting yourself get hurt by the things that come between you and your happiness. You are being responsible by understanding that things can come between you and your happiness. You are cooperating with yourself by letting everyone like you for who you are. Be yourself, like yourself, and enjoy your great life. Remember it is a very precious gift, treasure it!

We Can Make A Difference Naimish Balaji We can make a difference by doing volunteer works such as collecting food cans for CMFB, cleaning the streets, and helping your neighbor. When you do these things with you friends and family it makes everyone happy and you have lot of fun.

At the Shanthi Mandir we collect food cans for the CMFB. The CMFB is made for the people with not enough money to buy food. They distribute the foods for the needy people. So I and my little sister donate one can of food every Saturday at the mandir. I and my friends also donate food cans at Balpuja and Balsabha every month. We also collect food cans every

year at Pongal. My dad with his friends helps at CMFB in sorting the cans once in a month.

We have an event called “Clean Up” Columbia. It comes twice a year. I and my friends with their parents clean Ridgeway School and near by places such as playgrounds and road. Sometimes I collect stones (for fun) to take home. We enjoy doing the work together and happy that we help the community stay clean.

We can make a difference by reading books to our sister, and older people who cannot read. We can help our old neighbors by mowing their lawns. When you do with some one it makes the job easier. It makes a difference.

We Can Make A Difference Ashwini Mantrala Have you ever felt really hungry and you find yourself looking at the clock, waiting for lunchtime or dinnertime? Well, thousands of people across Mid-Missouri feel this way every day, kids in particular. They don’t have enough to eat, and sometimes they have to skip a meal, not because they want to, but because they have to. Sometimes I think,” Can I help? Can I make a difference?”

We can make a difference by donating canned goods that we don’t need to the local Mid-Missouri Food Bank. Thousands of unlucky people don’t have enough to eat in Mid-Missouri. That’s why we donate to the bank. An easy way to donate is if you see a big purple bucket that says MidMissouri Food Bank on it.

Everyone can donate to the bank, including kids like you and me. If you have money that you want to donate, you can go to your local grocery store and hand a dollar or two in. Did you know that one dollar can buy twenty pounds of food, and those twenty pounds can give one kid fifteen meals, or fifteen kids one meal?

That’s about five days worth of food for one kid! You can also buy an extra can of Chicken Noodle Soup or an extra packet of spaghetti and donate to the bank via your local grocery store.

The HTCC has donated to the bank in the past on numerous occasions. Some of the more recent ones are the Pongal celebrations we had in January and the regular Shanthi Mandir bucket we have. So my closing words are this: Everyone can make a difference, including kids!

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SAMARPANAM

We Can Make a Difference Contest - 4 We can make a difference

By picking up garbage One piece can do a lot

Do Pokemon - it’s fun Don’t be bored - it’s not fun!

We can make a difference By helping an old man Walk by a van

Vishnu Arunachalam

Plant a tree - it’s beautiful Don’t throw garbage outside - it’s not beautiful!

Help others - it’s good Don’t waste things - it’s not good!

Travel to many places - it’s exciting Don’t hurt others - it's not exciting!

Have fun, but be good WE CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE!

Alone

Anchal Sethi She is working on her garden Sowing the seeds on one end Planting the trees on the other Watering the plants A single pair of hands Working and wishing for the birth of new life Wiping the sweat off her brow Alone Alone He types and strings convincing words together Hoping to please the other A single pair of hands Formulating and thinking of the ultimate compromise Staring Waiting for the reply Alone Together Multiple hands Laughing and living Adoring, appreciating, and loving Working Bouncing ideas off one another Distributing the work within themselves Making tasks that seems impossible before Get completed Finishing Dreaming Achieving Praying And together making a difference

We can make a difference

We can make a difference By becoming a doctor Saving a life Could make everything just right We can make a difference By giving to the poor It’s definitely not a chore We can make a difference By doing the right thing By not doing drugs Will let us still sing We can make a difference By staying in school Getting an education Will let us rule We can make a difference Because everyone counts!

-

I see…

Vidya Mantrala Do you see the pull tabs on soda cans Fall into the hands of ill children as golden coins?

I do.

Do you see one dollar Feeding a child three meals for 5 days?

I do.

Do you see two hours of sweat Flourish into one hundred pounds of green goodness?

I do.

Do you see ten minutes of drawing Clothing a child for the winter?

I see one drop of water Filling an entire ocean.

I see one hand healthy and strong Link with another and another of its kin To lift those hands frail and weak Towards the sun.

Do you see the world as a brighter More colorful place?

We cannot on our own But together through small deeds, We build the bigger picture And it is different.

Me or We?

Nandhu Radhakrishnan Why try alone to make the world nicer Join hands and let’s work together “Me!!!” is not the answer Turn upside down the first letter “We!!!” can do it, and that is wiser

We can make a Difference Meena Thawani

“ We Can Make A Difference” By taking small steps and big strides in the sand: By climbing rolling hills and steep mountain tops: By sharing our vision of service and worship: By getting our Capital Campaign off the ground; By involving more people: big and small, young and old; By building giant walls and gigantic halls; By ordering brick and cement, wood and nails; Wooden doors and glass windows; With the sun shining on us and The moon glowing in the dark starry night.

With all the Religious, Social, Youth, Community Activities like: Sivaratri , Ram Navami , Janmashtami and Ganesh Chathurthi : Picnic, HTCC Anniversary and Computer Classes: Summer Workshops and the Bal puja and Bal Sabha : And the Tamil, Hindi and the Yoga Classes .

All organized and executed by our Community leaders ; With their precious time, great faith and toil ; By praying to the Almighty ; To give us strength , power , trust and hope ; By oneness, patience, love and understanding To believe in a bigger dream: “Hindu Temple and Community Center of Greater Columbia”

We can make a difference.

Anmol Sethi

We can make a difference To our world By helping out Because it is all we got We can make a difference

Slogans submitted for the We Can Make A Difference Contest are included on Page 36

HTCC ANNUAL REPORT FOR 2007

PAGE 29

KARNATAKA BHAGAWATHA (Volumes I and II) 12884 poems in Bhamini Shatpadi, 12 chapters, color prints of the original palm-leaf manuscript, English translation, concise dictionary The Bhagawatha Purana is the most famous and sacred text after the Ramayana and Mahabharata. It contains the story of Krishna in fullness and glory. The 22 incarnations of Vishnu, lineage of ancient rulers of India, discussions on the creation and dissolution of the world are among the many breathtaking narratives of this epic. Profound philosophical discussions on par with the Bhagawadgita are found in the pages of this book. Ultimately this is the story of spiritual love, submission and supreme devotion. This sixteenth century epic, passed on through palm-leaf manuscripts written in the Kannada language, is presented in full for the first time.

To be released in April 2008

TALES FROM INDIAN EPICS includes timeless classics such as the legends of Shakuntala, Damayanti, Savithri, Bhagiratha, Harischandra, Urvashi and Devayani; rare treats such as the tales of Astika, Jadabharata and Madalasa; abridged versions of the Ramayana and the Mahabharata; and stories from the Bhagawatha Purana.

PAGE 30

SAMARPANAM

Men’s 16’ x 7’

Changing table

Shower 5’ x 7’

Exit corridor 6’ x 12’

Service counter

Utilities 5’ x 5’

Kitchen 25’ x 12’

Storage 6’ x 6’

Pantry 6’ x 6’

Garden Spigot

Women’s 20’ x 12’

Restroom

Shoe/Coat storage

Foyer 8’ x 36’

Shoe/Coat storage

Shoe/Coat storage

Sliding door

All dimensions NS’ x EW’

N

Main Prayer Hall New: 70’ x 36’ Old: 45’ x 36’

Medium-term Mandir renovation plan recommended by the HTCC Facilities and Renovation Committee

Circle drive through option

(may add additional 5 parking spots)

Renovation Footprint

Covered Deck

Shanthi Mandir current footprint

Current Parking 27 Spots + 2 Handicap Spots

Garden Shed

Educational Center

N

New Parking

After disposal of storage trailer

14 Spots

Storage Trailer

Parking expansion recommended by the HTCC Facilities and Renovation Committee that can add 20 additional spots

HTCC ANNUAL REPORT FOR 2007

PAGE 31

Facilities And Renovations T

he year 2007 was an eventful year for the HTCC and the Facilities and Renovation Committee of HTCC with several positive developments and accomplishments: Shanthi Mandir’s old and weak main entrance door was replaced with a new metal entrance door.

In mid-February, Shubh Kaam LLC arranged for surveying and platting of the “Shanthi Mandir Minor Subdivision”.

After receiving the approval of the application for tax exempt status (under IRS Section 501©3) in mid-March, Shubh Kaam LLC members transferred the “Shanthi Mandir Property” to “HTCC”.

The significant accomplishment of the ownership of a surveyed and platted “Shanthi Mandir Minor Subdivision” property, allowed HTCC to proceed with the Capital Campaign over the course of the rest of the year.

Removal of the old and dilapidated trailer freed up space that can now be used for more parking.

As the HTCC Capital Campaign was underway, the members of the HTCC Facilities and Renovations Committee were working behind the scenes to draw up a proposal for medium-term repair and renovations of the Shanthi Mandir so that all the members will have a safe and convenient home for our expanding congregation and increasing services.

During the course of the normal Mandir operations, we noticed two main situations that could be cause for concern: Several times during the year we noticed that the Mandir was filled to capacity with people standing in the entranceway, partly due to lack of enough seating room. This is a potential fire hazard. On such occasions, parking at the Mandir is also currently inadequate. On busy festival days, Mandir attendees had to park in the street, grassy lot and also in the side streets of the neighborhood. This could be a potential safety problem, especially after dark.

The above facts, developments and observations lead us to believe that: We have outgrown our physical infrastructure (prayer hall/parking) in the short two years,

thanks to the excellent community support.

We need to facilitate safer operations of the Mandir as we plan for the next phase of our growth.

We need to provide improved facilities, including weather protected entry, large kitchen and rest-rooms, full handicap access to the Mandir, and additional parking spots.

We also need to accommodate the growth in programs and retain the momentum of the current services.

Recommendations: As we plan for the next phase of the operations of the Mandir, we need to identify short-term, medium-term and long-term needs and goals.

Clearly, there are several routes with pros and cons for each option that relate to our needs, wishes, cash flow and affordability. The possible options include but are not limited to: SHORT-TERM: Ease our immediate problem of parking safely.

An expansion of the parking lot by adding 14-20 more parking spots can be easily achieved within a short time. Security enhancements can also be provided by repairing and/or upgrading fences.

MEDIUM-TERM: Undertake medium-term renovations of the existing facility to serve us safely for the next 5-6 years. This will buy us time to develop long-term plans for the Mandir. Please see details of the plan on Page 30, alongside, that HTCC Facilities and Renovations Committee has developed over the last year.

LONG-TERM: Acquire a 5-10 acre lot at a location that is convenient to the HTCC membership. Develop consensus for a temple structure. Design, construct and inaugurate the custom temple facility.

In closing, we must emphasize that whichever option is chosen for the medium and long terms, we need to ensure that there is no break in the momentum of the operations and growth of HTCC.

Ravi Thawani1 Vellore S. Gopalaratnam2 Nitin Patel Bharath Srinivasan Richard Sternadori 1. Chair 2. Executive Board Liaison

PAGE 32

SAMARPANAM

HTCC ANNUAL REPORT FOR 2007

PAGE 33

Financial Policy During 2007 the Financial Policy Committee (FPC) met with the HTCC Executive Board representatives (Treasurer Visala and President Gopalaratnam) to discuss and review the revenues, expenditures and accounts. In addition, the Committee also conducted a year-end internal audit of the books. The audit indicated that all the donations and revenue were appropriately documented.

The expenditures were all justified and recorded. FPC believes that HTCC is a

financially healthy organization. Highlights of the 2007 financial report are included below.

• The revenue in each of the eight preceding quarters exceeded the expenditures.

• Donations and memberships dues were the major sources of revenue.

• As of March 1, 2008, the total cash assets of HTCC are $160,976. $60,000

of it is invested in a CD (reflecting 60 lifetime members). The remainder of the assets are in our capital (money market) and operating (checking) accounts.

• All special events generated more income than the expenditures. Some of the special events in the year 2007 were the anniversary celebration and the violin concert. A more exhaustive list of all events is included on Page 8.

2007 Financial Report Period: January 1, 2007 – December 31, 2007

Prepared by: Visala Palaniappan, Treasurer, HTCC Executive Board Dated: January 2, 2008

Balance Forward (From December 31, 2006) Interest Income CD Interest Money Market Interest

$43,613.32

New Lifetime Family Members (LFM) 4 @ $1,000 Upgrades (AFM to LFM) 11 @ $950, 1 @ $900

$1,163.02 $2,354.88 $18,736.00 $4,000.00 $11,350.00

Final installment of LFM 1 @ $500

$500.00

Upgrade (AIM to LIM) 1 @ $570

$570.00

Annual Family Members (AFM) 41 @ $50, 3 @ $25 Annual Individual Members (AIM) 5 @ $30, 1 @ $16 Donations Prayer Services/Hundi Donations Check Donations Facilities Use

1. Chair 2. Executive Board Liaison

$3,517.90

Membership Dues

$2,150.00 $166.00 $81,825.78 $2,478.00 $77,745.78 $1,602.00

Other Revenues

$8,192.17

Special Events

$6,789.50

Miscellaneous Revenues

$1,402.67

TOTAL 2007 REVENUES

$112,271.85

Expenses Start-up

$1,044.30

Maintenance and Supplies

$2,824.51

Upgrade and Repairs

$1,069.21

Utilities

$4,698.45

Special Events

$5,875.64

Printing and Mailing Insurance and Fees TOTAL 2007 EXPENSES ENDING BALANCE (December 31, 2007)

Krishna Sharma1 Vairam Arunachalam Visala Palaniappan2 Surya Mantrala Kannan Raghuraman Ravi Thawani

$701.22 $1,414.72 $17,628.05 $138,257.12

PAGE 34

SAMARPANAM

HTCC ANNUAL REPORT FOR 2007

PAGE 35

Library T

he mission of the HTCC Library is to create a hub for learning Hinduism, Indian culture and heritage as well as support our educational and devotional activities among children, youth and adults. The past members of the HTCC Library Committee have done an incredible amount of work to acquire, assemble, classify and maintain a collection of books and digital media that provide glimpses of the richness and diversity of our cultural heritage.

Currently we have over a hundred books in the library selected by the members of the Library Committee. Some books were donated by the members of HTCC. The HTCC library has Shri Rama Charita Manas (Tulsi Das), Valmiki Ramayana, Mahabharata by Vyasa and the Bhagawata Maha Purana, Sukhmani Sahib and Thirukkural – all of them with complete text in the original and English translation in attractive hard cover volumes. We also have a complete and erudite version of Rigveda Samhita (original

Membership T

he Membership Committee, one of two committees that were reorganized in November 2007, is just getting ready to take on new members. Given our present need for a Capital Campaign, it made better sense to reconstitute the former Fundraising and Membership Committee so that tasks could be shared and made more focused. Fundraising activities now come under the purview of the Capital Campaign Committee. The Membership Committee will focus on increasing all categories of members - lifetime and annual. There will also be focus on getting MU students more actively involved as members and in the governance of the Mandir through service on various committee. This will allow us to plan for various events with students in mind as far as logistics and transport is concerned.

Very soon the committee will send requests asking for volunteers to serve on important committee. We hope you will accept and take active part in the future working of the committee.

Late last year, we created an Access database of our membership so that recordkeeping of upgrades, renewals and sending out acknowledgement letters/receipts is

text, translation and commentary) and several publications of the Bhagavad Gita. The children’s section has the complete set of Amar Citra Katha, series on Ramayana, Mahabharata, Krishna Leela, Panchatantra, Hitopadesh, and Tales of Vikramaditya and so on. We also have books on Hindu Gods and festivals. Reference materials include dictionaries and source books on Sanskrit, Hindi and several other Indian languages. We also have books by or on celebrities such as Mahatma Gandhi, Pandit Nehru, Rabindranath Tagore, R.K. Narayan and V.S. Naipaul. The audio selection includes tapes of Bhagavad Gita and Shri Ramacharit Manas.

The list is growing, thanks to the good work by the past Library Committee.

We are looking for volunteers! We invite you to enrich this unique center of learning with generous donations of time, money, reading and digital material!

more streamlined. We thank Indira Ramaswamy for her dedication to this project. She now serves on the HTCC Executive Committee as a Membership Secretary and Assistant Treasurer.

As of March 1, 2008 the total membership stands at 88 (with an additional 17 annual members from 2007 whose renewals are due).

Please remember to renew your membership if you have not already done so.

The number of 2008 members in different categories to date are: Life Members [Family] Life Members [Individual] Annual Members [Family] Annual Members [Individual]

58 2 24 4

The activities of the Mandir and its membership have collectively made a positive impact on Columbia as evidenced by the numerous positive news stories in the local print media.

We need financial and other support from the Indian Community to make the Mandir a place we all can all be proud of. May we request each member to bring in one extra Life Member during 2008? We will approach you in the months ahead.

Please contact the Chair if you would like to serve on this committee. We appreciate your donation of time and talent to serve HTCC. Thank you!

Rajiv Mohan1 Inder Khurana2 Ajay Sharma Mahesh Thakkar 1. Chair 2. Executive Board Liaison

Please contact the Chair if you would like to serve on this committee. We appreciate your donation of time and talent to serve HTCC. Thank you!

Dabir Viswanath1 Vellore S. Gopalaratnam2 Indira Ramaswamy3 1. Chair 2. Executive Board Liaison 3. Secretary

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SAMARPANAM

Operations and Maintenance H

during the warm months. The contractor mows every alternate week, and our own volunteers, Ram, Bharath and Gopal take turns mowing during the intervening weeks. Mandir members have sponsored part of the contractor’s lawn services charge. We are seeking more families Yard and Garden: to help clean, so our turns come less frequently We had two gardening days in mid-May. Two – a turn once a year would be ideal! We will be large groups of volunteers, kids included, seeking sponsorships again to help offset the showed up to pull weeds and plant the year’s cost of mowing the yard. We welcome your help annuals. It was great fun to watch older kids and your spirit of contributing to the upkeep of instructing younger kids about what to pull out of the Mandir! the ground and what to keep. The adults could New storage space: have learned a thing or two from these The single-wide trailer at the south-west corner experienced gardeners! Last year’s hard work of our lot was being used to store the Mandir has paid off - we had a terrific crop of bright perennial flowers to accompany this year’s bright supplies. However, it was deteriorating, and annuals. By the time we held the garage sale in was finally removed. Supplies have now been September, the garden was ready to be pruned. moved to the closets and cabinets of the Educational Center.

While volunteers sold stuff on one side of the Mandir, another group worked on pulling out the Garage Sale: overgrown plants.

The Mandir held the second annual garage sale cum mela on the morning of Saturday Sep 8, Mandir Maintenence: 2007. HTCC members donated appliances, During the week of Independence Day in early electronics, baby items, clothes, jewelry, July another dedicated group tackled household goods, etc. The Educational Center maintenance work inside the Mandir. They served as a storage and staging area in the two removed, cleaned, painted and put back (or weekends before the garage sale, and it was full replaced, when needed) the acoustic tile on the by the time Sep 8 came along. In addition to ceiling of the main hall. Painting of the interior garage sale items, baked goods, Indian fingerwalls of the prayer hall is among the tasks the food and Mehendi were set up in the front yard. group will take up shortly.

Despite the day’s competition – the huge Blues Cleaning/Mowing: festival downtown that attracted 60,000 people The volunteer group that cleans the Mandir on a the garage sale netted over $400. This year we weekly basis has swelled to 26 families. The plan to conduct the sale in May, so we catch new linoleum in the kitchen and bathrooms has people as they come out of their winter blues. made cleaning those areas a snap. The Mandir Thank you to all the volunteers who helped sort, has employed a contractor to mow the yard cook and sell. You made it happen!

aving established our primary activities in 2006, the Operations and Maintenance committee continued to work on the upkeep of the yard and the temple building and running the garage sale.

Meera Chandrasekhar1 Jasmit Khurana1 Visala Palaniappan2 Kavita Katti Sunder Lal3 Ram Ramaswamy4 1. Co-chairs 2. Executive Board Liaison 3. Garden Subcomm. Chair 4. Yard /lot Subcomm. Chair

We Can Make A Difference - Slogans We Can Make A Difference

We Can Make A...

Wonderful World

Suryanshi Rawat

Shreyas Srinivasan

Nila Palaniappan

We can make a difference by serving our community and making it a caring and better place to live in.

Development Is everywhere For the Future Education Reminding Everybody Not to Consider Ever quitting again!

We can make a difference by: Planting trees, not polluting, recycling, and conserving energy

We can make a difference by promoting peace and harmony.

HTCC ANNUAL REPORT FOR 2007

PAGE 37

Publications and Communications T

he year 2007 has been another year full of accomplishments for the Public Relations and Publicity Committee. This committee has a very focal role to play as it provides public relation services to all other committees of HTCC and is thus involved with every temple program offering. In November 2007, the committee was reconstituted into: (a) Publications and Communications Committee, and (b) External Relations Committee to better serve HTCC membership and other organizations in the city and mid-Missouri region.

Accomplishments* The committee successfully met its various stated objectives of providing timely publicity on temple events, bringing out informative newsletters, annual reports, sending out email notices and reaching out and collaborating with City organizations and Interfaith groups. The temple’s programs offerings – devotional, service, youth and cultural events have increased manifold and have contributed to the cultural enrichment and promoting service, dialogue, understanding and diversity for the City of Columbia.

Committee members have very actively contributed to many ongoing tasks at the temple.

Some of the more noteworthy accomplishments include:

1

Timely e-mail notices to Friends of the Mandir: Sending out email notices have helped other committees publicize their activities and special temple events to the community in timely manner.

2

Media release and publicity for temple events: Providing the right amount of visibility for HTCC activities in the local media has been one of the tasks of the committee. The committee also helped with publicity of special events including the HTCC First Anniversary Celebration, RAINBOW II fundraising performance and Buddha Poornima talk. All these events were a great success and have of provided positive visibility to the temple and the Hindu community contributions and also helped with our fundraising efforts.

2

Community outreach and collaboration with other interfaith groups: The committee members worked with interfaith groups like Columbia Interfaith Council and Faith and Education Collaborative. They actively participated and helped organize interfaith events “Thanksgiving Around the world”, “Interfaith blood drive” and “Habitat for Humanity project”. These activities have helped promote dialogue, understanding, service and diversity.

Future Plans The committee has plans to expand on its 1 Maintaining a dynamic and very informative community outreach, networking and “Shanthi Mandir” website: The temple website collaboration with interfaith groups. Also on has been a one-stop place where one can get all internal communications side, the committee the information from past events to the future plans to implement new and better ways to plans of HTCC and among the more visited sites communicate to the membership and to the on the COIN network.

“Friends of the Mandir”. This may include implementing Yahoo Groups for communicating, 1 Publishing “Shanthi Sandesh” newsletter – improving on membership database and An information-packed quarterly newsletter is directory and timely sharing of videos via delivered in a timely manner both on the Mandir Youtube. web site and in hard copy form. It typically To better address these future plans, and the covers temple celebrations, special events, lists increased growth in temple activities and to upcoming community events and includes expand on the community outreach efforts it has informative thematic lead and support article.s made it necessary for us to reconstitute the old The newsletter submission guidelines are also Public Relations and Publicity Committee into available on the temple website. two separate committees as detailed earlier on 1 Maintaining an up-to-date online photo this page. gallery: The photos for various HTCC events We are all very excited as we move forward to and celebrations are just a click away on the serve the HTCC community and the greater temple website. Photographs and Videos of Columbia community with our existing and new most of the HTCC events are captured and used initiatives and offerings. We need you, your in HTCC publications (Newsletter, Highlights leadership and your ideas on these future flyer, Annual Report, DVD production and the initiatives to help us deliver our services more temple website) effectively. Please come and join us… * The tasks with a superscript notation 1 are now under the purview of the Publication and Communications Committee. The tasks with a superscript notation 2 come under the purview of the new External Relations Committee.

B. S. Balaji1 Gagneesh Rawat2 Vellore S. Gopalaratnam3 Arkasubhra Ghosh Geetha Kutikkad4 Selvi Nandakumar 1. Chair 2. Vice-Chair 3. Executive Board Liaison 4. Webmaster

PAGE 38

Please contact the Chair if you would like to serve on this committee. We appreciate your donation of time and talent to serve HTCC. Thank you!

Kiratadas Kutikkad1 Visala Palaniappan2 Kannappan Palaniappan 1. Chair 2.Executive Board Liaison

SAMARPANAM

Safety and Security T

he Safety and Security Committee is • Per the recommendations from the Fire responsible for ensuring that the Mandir Department, the committee got the building building is safe for the use by the community inspected by the City Building Codes and it is in compliance with the applicable City Department to get an Occupancy Limit . The codes and regulations. occupancy limit of 165 is posted near the The following items were completed with Mandir entrance. This includes 120 in the regard to safety of the Mandir during the last main prayer hall and 25 in the four rooms and year: the entrance corridor based on floor areas.

• The annual fire inspections were successfully • The Safety and Security Committee also carried out as required by the by the Columbia unanimously recommended to the Executive Fire Department. This required the recharging Board that the parking expansion and fence of the fire extinguishers and replacement of repairs/upgrade should be completed as soon fused lamps in the exit signs. as possible.

Scheduling Please contact the Chair if you would like to serve on this committee. We appreciate your donation of time and talent to serve HTCC. Thank you!

Inder Khurana1 Dale Cutkosky Anantha Gopalaratnam 1. Chair

T

he Hindu Temple and Community Center (HTCC) has been growing and expanding its operations and program offerings in many areas including service, devotional, educational, cultural or youth programs. All these have contributed to increased traffic at Shanthi Mandir. Accompanied with this growth has come associated scheduling challenges. We have been successful in running the operations smoothly, despite the increased usage of facilities. An issue that has been brought to our attention is the parking and safety of members during special programs organized at Shanthi Mandir in the evenings. Our goal for the upcoming year is to work with the Executive Board and the Board of Trustees on this matter.

The Facilities Use policies and check out

procedures are posted on our web site. Please check out the information at: http://shanthimandir.missouri.org/contact.htm.

The users are now more familiar with the policies and procedures and our committee now receives fewer questions. Regularly scheduled events (e.g., Bal Puja, Bal Sabha, Kirtan, Open Prayer times, Sai Bhajans, Suprabhatam Prayers, dance classes, Yoga classes, and Tamil, and Hindi Classes) are on a regular schedule. We also coordinate actively with the Devotional Program Committee to ensure that Shanthi Mandir is available during times when the events are planned by them. All other requests for use of the temple buildings are accommodated around the regular and special events.

HTCC ANNUAL REPORT FOR 2007

PAGE 39

Service Programs W

hen HTCC was formed two years ago, there were a few service programs already in existence, which were undertaken by various groups in the community such as Narayan Seva, Clean-up Columbia and Adopta-Spot . These activities have been integrated into the service programs of the HTCC under the banner HTCC-Helping Hands, and several service projects have been added since.

Narayan Seva For over six years, the Sai Bhajan group has been cooking a lunch and serving it at the St. Francis House, a shelter for homeless men, on the second Sunday of every month from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.

summers since the children’s busy school schedule does not leave much time during the time school is in session.

Collection of Towels and Blankets This has been started as an ongoing program to collect donations of lightly used towels and blankets for donation to St. Francis House, a shelter for the homeless. Members are requested to bring their donations to the Mandir and these will be taken to St. Francis House at each Narayan Seva, which is carried out on the second Sunday of every month.

Repackaging of Food at the CMFB This activity has been in place since October 2006. Volunteers meet at the Central Missouri Clean-up Columbia Food Bank (CMFB) warehouse on Vandiver Drive on the first Tuesday of every month to In April every year, the City of Columbia assist in repackaging of bulk food received at organizes this event in which residents of the city can singly or in groups, undertake to pick up the Food Bank. trash around the city. A group has been Donation of Cell Phones volunteering for over six years to clean up the Old cell phones are being collected at the area around Ridgeway Elementary School.

Mandir for donation to “The Shelter”, a home for Since the formation of the HTCC, this activity victims of domestic abuse. The intent is to make was expanded to two groups, one group these phones available to those in need of quick cleaned up around Ridgeway and the second access to the emergency “911” service. around the Shanthi Mandir and surrounding Anna Daan streets.

This is our ongoing program of collection of Adopt-A-Spot non-perishable food items for the Central The children of Bal Sabha have participated in Missouri Food Bank. Visitors to the Mandir are the Adopt-a-Spot program for several years. requested to donate food during attendance at Twice a year, the children meet at Ridgeway various cultural and devotional programs. Two Elementary School and pick up trash in the drums have been set up at the Mandir and playground and in the streets surrounding the visitors are requested to drop their donations school. into the drums. When these are full, the food is Shram Daan (Donation of labor) transported to the Food Bank warehouse.

This is a regular feature being held every Interfaith Service projects Saturday from 10 a.m. to noon. This time is HTCC has become actively involved in the used to carry out maintenance and Columbia Faith and Education Collaborative, an improvements to the Shanthi Mandir property. interfaith group under the auspices of the MU In preparation for winter the summer flowers Peace Studies Program. were pruned and spring bulbs were also Community Blood Drive planted. The trailer which used to be storage In keeping with its “seeking common ground” space has been disposed off to provide better initiative, the Columbia Faith and Education security to the Mandir and the surrounding area.

Collaborative sponsored a community blood The garden shed is also being repaired to drive in July at the First Baptist Church. Four provide additional storage. In addition, the volunteers from the Mandir donated blood and prayer hall ceiling tiles were painted and kitchen three others volunteered to help with the blood cabinets were stained to give the Mandir a fresh drive. look. Future projects include painting the walls Habitat for Humanity Building Project and performing other routine maintenance. As Following the successful Faith and Education part of Shram Daan, a group also volunteers to Collaborative first service project (Community mow the lawn during summer months aside Blood Drive) in July in which HTCC participated, from the regular mowing service to help keep the Interfaith Collaboration participants the costs low. executed a building project in conjunction with Visits to Eldercare Centers the Columbia Chapter of the Habitat for Groups of children along with adults have Humanity. Twelve members from the Mandir made visits to Columbia Manor, and Candlelight volunteered in various activities including Lodge to help entertain seniors with songs, putting up siding and roofing. dances, jokes and by playing musical instruments. Most such visits were made during

Manjula Narasimhan1 Anuradha Rajagopalan2 B. S. Balaji Anantha Gopalaratnam Sushma Nagarkar Manjula Nathan Subha Ratneshwar 1. Chair 2. Executive Board Liaison

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SAMARPANAM

Youth Activities T

he year 2007 has been another productive one for the Youth Committee. Summer workshops were in full swing and kept the kids and adults busy. Here is an short summary of the highlights of the year 2007.

Please contact the Chair if you would like to serve on this committee. We appreciate your donation of time and talent to serve HTCC. Thank you!

Nandu Radhakrishnan1 S. Akila2 Inder Khurana3 Gagneesh Rawat Sangita Sharma Bharath Srinivasan 1. Chair 2. Secretary 3. Executive Board Liaison

were also enlightened on what each asana meant. Instructor Richa Mehra-Choudhary kept the workshop interactive and fun-filled.

YOUTH DAY 2007 Youth Day is one event the members of HTCC Tennis Tournament family look forward to each year. For the second A tennis tournament was conducted on June 2, time in a row, the Youth Committee of the HTCC 2007 in Cosmopolitan Park tennis grounds. The organized an energetic fun-filled evening on kids enjoyed the tournament and seemed to August 25, 2007 at the Cosmo Park, Columbia. have improved on their technique compared to The event this year was very well attended partly last year, as reported by the coordinator Senthil because it was a joint effort by HTCC Youth Committee, Bal Sabha and Bal Puja. The Youth Kumar.

Committee organized several games for the Chess Tournament picnickers like pinning the tail on the monkey, Vairam Arunachalam coordinated a chess musical squares, water balloon, lemon and tournament on July 21, 2007. Some of our spoon (of course with grapes), volley ball, and talented kids participated in this tournament and Tug-of-War as a grand finale. The kids were won prizes. thrilled playing these games while the adults Art workshops were busy at the volley ball court. A delicious Creativity juices were flowing at the art potluck dinner was arranged following the fun but workshops coordinated by Akila Balaji. The tiring games. Apart from food and games, the presenters were Renuka Jain for innovative wall Youth Day is also a platform to recognize youth hangings and Indira Ramaswamy for foil who participated and placed in several embossing. These workshops were well received programs and competitions. The youth by parents and kids. participants were presented with certificates for their participation/placements in various Math Workshop workshops and tournaments.

Around 15 students attended the week-long The committee is gearing up for another year of math workshop conducted by Ashok Cutkosky.

The topics varied from Geometry to Pre-calculus exciting activities. You can forward your ideas for workshops, tournaments, and other thoughts to and the kids loved what they learned. htcc.youth@gmail.com. The past and current Yoga Workshop committee members thank everyone for their More than 20 members attended the week-long continued support. yoga workshop. Attendees had some hands on experience with different types of asanas. They

HTCC ANNUAL REPORT FOR 2007

PAGE 41

HTCC Directory - 2008 The HTCC Directory for 2008 has been updated to include information as of March 1, 2008.

The web version of this report does not include addresses and telephone numbers for obvious privacy reasons. These are included in the print version that can be obtained by contacting the HTCC Officers.

Lifetime Members 1. Kul and Archana Aggrarwal 2. Satish and Sushma Anand 3. Vairam and Alagu Arunachalam 4. Sharanjit and Ranjit Bal 5. Shanka Banerji 6. Asit and Sandra Basu 7. Sudhir and Priya Batchu 8. Ravindra Battula and Vijaya Kattumuri 9. Holalkere and Meera Chandrasekhar 10. Kunal Chaudhary and Ritcha Mehra 11. Dale Cutkosky and Hema Srinivasan 12. Rajiv Dhand and Upinder Kaur 13. Balakrishnan Elangovan and Abirami Shanmugasundaram 14. Keshab and Shubhra Gangopadhyay 15. Srinath Gopalakrishna and Uma Srinath 16. Velllore and Anantha Gopalaratnam 17. Bhaskar and Shoba Gowda 18. Arun Jain 19. Ghanshyam and Leela Jashnani 20. Kattesh and Kavita Katti 21. Sanjeev and Vinita Khanna 22. Inder and Jasmit Khurana 23. Gopal and Santosh Krishna 24. Hari and Latha Krishnan 25. Rajesh and Indira Kulkarni 26. Kiratadas and Geetha Kuttikad 27. Sunder Lal and Nila Gupta 28. Sudarshan and Nirja Loyalka 29. Satnam Mahal and Jasvir Kaur 30. Anil and Kusum Malhotra 31. Murali and Suryamani Mantrala 32. Ranadhir and Roma Mitra 33. Rajiv Mohan and Sunilima Sinha 34. Yogesh and Rashmi Naik 35. Satish and Jyotsna Nair 36. Kannappan and Visala Palaniappan 37. Ayyakannu and Gandhi Panneerselvam 38. 500 Highway 89 N, Qtrs #3 39. Nitin and Harsha Patel 40. Chalapathi Rao and Kavita Pendurthi 41. Ravi and Mona Puri 42. Kannan Raghuraman and Anandhi Upendran 43. V. Ramachandran and Anuradha Rajagopalan 44. Umasankar Ramadoss and Sasi Ramadoss 45. Nitin and Kirthi Rangnekar 46. Srinivasan and Subbalakshmi Ratneshwar 47. Gagneesh and Aditi Rawat 48. Ramesh and Chandra Rawlani 49. Rumi Faizer and Archana Ramaswamy 50. Vijay and Smita Sadhu 51. Sashi and Namita Satpathy 52. Om and Santosh Seghal 53. Sanjiv and Punam Sethi 54. Yash and Anjna Sethi 55. Krishna and Sandhya Sharma 56. Amolak and Kuljit Singh

57.

58.

59.

60.

61.

Bharath Srinivasan and Manjula Narasimhan Krishna and Rajalakshmii Subramanian Lokesh Tejwani and Varsha Pherwani Ravi and Meena Thawani Dabir and Pramila Viswanath

2008 Annual Members 1. Ganesh Kumar and Nitu Agrawal 2. Alreja and Rajeshwari Laxman 3. B. S. Balaji and Akila Sugavanam 4. Rajagopalan and Vasanthi Bhaskaran 5. Anand Chandrasekhar and Chiengkham Baccam 6. Praveen Edara and Sowjanya Paladugu 7. Ghanshyam and Manorma Gupta 8. Mayukh and Sonal Ghosh 9. Subharap Guha and Aditi Bandhopadhyay 10. Senthil and Kalaiyarasi Kumar 11. Sushma Malik 12. Saroj Mohan 13. Sushama and Divya Nagarkar 14. Vivek and Manjula Nathan 15. Venkatesan and Vasanthy Premnath 16. Nandhu and Selvi Radhakrishnan 17. Ram and Indira Ramaswamy 18. Mohan K and Kalpana Rao 19. Pradeep K and Shaku Sahota 20. Milind Ratnaparkhe 21. M and Sujata Sivaraman 22. Pramod and Rama Srivastava 23. Madhavi Sunkar 24. Mahesh and Jollyin Thakkar 25. Rajagopalan Thiruvengadathan and Rama Kannan 26. Bhisham and Rajini Tolani 27. Ashish and Deepika Upadhyay 28. Kate Walker 2007 Annual Members (yet to renew) 1. Annayya Rao and Sudha Aroor 2. Muthu and Indumathi Baskar 3. Venkat and Jyothy Bathini 4. Rekha Bhanuchandran 5. Anand Chokalingam and Smrita Dorairajan 6. Siva and Sheela Chokkalingam 7. Nadish and Shallu Garg 8. Arkashubra and Anuprita Ghosh 9. Munish and Monika Goyal 10. Jagabandhu and Pitu Halder 11. Ramesh and Pushpa Khanna 12. Naresh Gandhi and Siriyala Kujala 13. Adarsh and Sangeeta Kumar 14. Rajesh and Aruna Kumar 15. Saravanan Kuppuswamy and Priya Ravindran 16. Satish Nune and Padmaja Gunda 17. Prashanth and Meeta Pradhan 18. Richard Sternadori 19. Chandrasekar and Lakshmi Prabha Venkitasamy

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SAMARPANAM

2008 HTCC Directory (Continued 2/3)

The web version of this report does not include addresses and telephone numbers for obvious privacy reasons. These are included in the print version that can be obtained by contacting the HTCC Officers. These pages are, as a result, intentionally left blank.

HTCC ANNUAL REPORT FOR 2007

PAGE 43

2008 HTCC Directory (Continued 3/3) The web version of this report does not include addresses and telephone numbers for obvious privacy reasons. These are included in the print version that can be obtained by contacting the HTCC Officers. These pages are, as a result, intentionally left blank.

PAGE 44

SAMARPANAM

Shanthi Mandir

Hindu Temple and Community Center of Mid-Missouri (HTCC) 2006 Holly Avenue, Columbia, MO 65202-2043 http://shanthimandir.missouri.edu, (573) 814-1286

January S

M T 1 6 7 8 13 14 15 20 21 22 27 28 29

February W 2 9 16 23 30

T 3 10 17 24 31

F 4 11 18 25

S 5 12 19 26

May S

W T 1 4 5 6 7 8 11 12 13 14 15 18 19 20 21 22 25 26 27 28 29

F 2 9 16 23 30

S 3 10 17 24 31

F 5 12 19 26

S 6 13 20 27

September M 1 7 8 14 15 21 22 28 29

M T

W T

F 1 3 4 5 6 7 8 10 11 12 13 14 15 17 18 19 20 21 22 24 25 26 27 28 29

S 2 9 16 23

June

M T

S

S

March

T 2 9 16 23 30

W 3 10 17 24

S 1 8 15 22 29

M 2 9 16 23 30

T 3 10 17 24

W 4 11 18 25

T 5 12 19 26

F 6 13 20 27

S 7 14 21 28

W 1 5 6 7 8 12 13 14 15 19 20 21 22 26 27 28 29

T 2 9 16 23 30

F 3 10 17 24 31

S 4 11 18 25

October T 4 11 18 25

S

S

M T

April

S 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31

S

July

August

S

M T 1 6 7 8 13 14 15 20 21 22 27 28 29

W T

W 2 9 16 23 30

T 3 10 17 24 31

F

F 4 11 18 25

S 5 12 19 26

November

M T

S

M T

M T 1 6 7 8 13 14 15 20 21 22 27 28 29

F 4 11 18 25

S 5 12 19 26

F 1 3 4 5 6 7 8 10 11 12 13 14 15 17 18 19 20 21 22 24 25 26 27 28 29 31

S 2 9 16 23 30

S

M T

W 2 9 16 23 30

T 3 10 17 24

W T

December W T

F

S 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30

S

M 1 7 8 14 15 21 22 28 29

T 2 9 16 23 30

W 3 10 17 24 31

T 4 11 18 25

F 5 12 19 26

S 6 13 20 27

HTCC Calendar of Events for 2008 January Tuesday, 1 Sunday, 6

May New Year Puja Guru Gobind Jayanthi (5)

February

Saturday 16 HTCC Concert (Tentative)

March Thursday, 6 Saturday 8 Friday 14 Saturday 15

April

Mahashivaratri Special Bhajan Mahashivaratri Puja (6) HTCC Anniversary Weekend HTCC Anniversary Weekend

Saturday 12 Rama Navami Puja (14) Saturday 12 Akhand Ramayan Sunday 13 Akhand Ramayan

October

Saturday 3 HTCC Garage Sale and Mela Saturday 10 Buddha Purnima Talk (20)

June Youth Workshops (Jun.—Aug.)

July

(see below - details by early May)

Thursday 17 Guru Purnima Special Bhajan (18)

August

Saturday 23 Janmashtami/KrishnaJayanthi (24) Saturday 30 HTCC Youth Day and Bal Sabha/Bal Puja Picnic

September Saturday 6

Saturday 4 Navaratri/Devi Jaagran (9/29) Sunday 12 Dusshera/Vijaya Dashami (9) Saturday 18 Karva Chauth

November

Saturday 1 Deepavali Puja (10/28) Saturday 15 Guru Nanak Jayanthi (13)

December Friday 12

Samuhika Satyanarayana Puja

Ganesh Chaturthi (3)

The actual festival dates are noted in (brackets), when these do not coincide with the date of celebration at the Mandir.

Look for Youth Workshops and related activities during summer (June-August) including but not limited to: Creative arts: Origami, Glass Painting, Foil Embossing,, and Madhubani Painting, Technology: Build Your Computer, Video and Photo Editing, Educational: Wizardry Beyond Data, Math Workshop, Be Voice Healthy. Chess and Tennis tournaments will also be held like last year.

HTCC ANNUAL REPORT FOR 2007

PAGE 45

Current Programs 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.

HTCC Organized Regular Events 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 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. More details can be found on pages 7 and 27. For more information contact: Vellore or Anantha Gopalaratnam at 446-0663.

Suprabatham 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 known 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.

Yoga sessions (instruction fee required): Typically Saturdays from 3:00 - 4:30 pm.

Contact: Visala Palaniappan 446-1962.

Events Organized by Other Groups Amritvani* (3rd Saturday from 6-7 pm at the Mandir during Open Prayer Time) Amritvani is a prayer in group enchanting one's faith in the existence of God and spreading the glory of Ram Naam. Amritvani was written by Param Pujya Swami Shri Satyananda ji Maharaj comprising praise of Lord Rama. He described the exisitence of Rama in living as well as nonliving things. In brief nothing exists without Ram Naam. Amritvani is very popular throughout India and has been translated in many languages.

Group chanting of spiritual Bhajans evokes devotion towards God. Prolonged enchanting of Ram Naam in group produces spiritual vibrations in the ether. The entire environment vibrates with positive energy and gives soothing affect to one's mind. Amritvani simran- chanting the name of God Rama in a group of like minded people is the highest social activity that takes an individual closer to Almighty--the ultimate goal of one's life. Contact: Mona Puri 875-0703 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: 882-5317 Bharata Natyam Class* (Every Wednesday from

3:30 – 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 or Surya Mantrala at: 446-0865 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 : Ritcha Mehra-Chaudhary at 445-0842 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 Shelter on Rangeline)

Sai Bhajan Group meets for sing-along devotional program every week and on preannounced special festivals. It is a nondenominational 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 homeless shelter. For more information contact: Anantha Gopalaratnam at 446-0063.

Tabla Class* (Typically 2nd and 4th Sundays—

but schedule and locations change as convenient) . Contact Sanjeev Khanna 441-8988

Tamil Language Class* (First 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: Kalai Kumar at 445-9579

* Facilities use and infrastructural support provided by HTCC but not organized by HTCC

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SAMARPANAM

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HTCC ANNUAL REPORT FOR 2007

Congratulations on the Second Anniversary of the Hindu Temple and Community Center of Mid-Missouri !

PAGE 47

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SAMARPANAM

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