TEAM
Abhishek Bansal - Coordinator | |
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Abhishek Bansal has been the Vidya Vikas co-ordinator since the beginning of year 2021. He has primarily been a religion instructor since 2012. Abhishek lives with his wife Pooja and kids Rinika and Krishnay. As volunteer at the temple and a parent of young kids, Vidya Vikas was a natural stop for him. Teaching allows him to share quality time with the younger generation, something he looks forward to the entire week. He believes that as an adult, there is no better way to live, than to devote time towards shaping our collective future that has the foundation of Sanātana dharma and pillars of our time-tested sanskāras. The most important aspect of teaching at Vidya Vikas is to give back to the society, with a sense of pride & appreciation towards our religious roots. Abhishek also volunteers for several other temple events. As a host of the temple’s Radio Archana program, he finds pride in broadcasting temple events to the entire Hindu community within the metroplex, alongwith playing his favorite bhajans. Bhakti is an essential element of one’s sadhana, and Abhishek finds deep gratification in chanting names of Paramātmā and singing them in bhajan form, thus active with the Adults Bhajan group in the temple. He also cherishes participating and volunteering for kathās, pārāyans and cultural events in the temple. Abhishek also spends a lot of his time at work, at an IT major. |
Rajneesh Gupta - General Admin | |
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Rajneesh Gupta, an ex-Vidya Vikas Admin, until recently was the administrator in Dr. Guptas Oncology clinic. A very inspiring person, she has nurtured a culture of team work and recognizing and bringing out the strengths in VV volunteers. The Guptas have two wonderful grown up sons. She has been coordinating the Ram Leela program in our temple for several years. Make sure you are there to watch our children in action this year!! Outside of VV, Rajneesh attends Gita classes and focusses on community service with various organizations. |
Mahalakshmi Sivakumar - General Admin | |
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Mahalakshmi Sivakumar appreciates opportunity since 2000 to serve in Temple events, as volunteer, EC member and currently as OB member. Enjoys serving children and parents in Vidya Vikas. Currently teaching Bhagavad Gita chanting for children, Adult classes - Narayaneeyam and Bhagavad Gita Study Group. Working as IT professional. Blessed with a wonderful family of spouse and 2 children. Children went through the VV program all the way up to High School Graduation. Enjoys working with children and doing community service activities. Continues to serve her sons Boy Scouts Troop long after he became an Eagle Scout. |
Manoj Chopra - General Admin | |
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Manoj Chopra is a devotee and a volunteer at DFW Hindu Temple. He has been the Coordinator of Vidya Vikas and has also served as Secretary and a Treasurer at DFW Hindu Temple. Manoj has been actively involved with Vidya Vikas for more than ten years in various capacities, including religion and the Hindi language. He is passionate about creating an engaging, immersive learning environment for language, religion, and cultural heritage. He enjoys interacting with students, parents, and teachers to continually looks for innovative ways to collaborate and create a positive environment for the learners. Manoj’s wife Deepa also teaches at VV, and both their children have attended VV classes and have also taught the Hindi language during summers. |
Sunita Verma Kurvari - Youth Group, Seminars, Alumni Network, & Summer Program Coordinator | |
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Sunita Verma-Kurvari has been a part of Vidya Vikas group since 2002 when her sons, Jayant and Vasant, joined Vidya Vikas classes at the temple. Over the years, she has been intimately associated with the temple Hindi program. Under her leadership, the Hindi program grew from two levels and tens of students to six levels, a flourishing teachers’ aide program and hundreds of students. Sunita taught all levels of Hindi classes and served as the Hindi coordinator until 2018. She has also been involved in coordinating Vidya Vikas summer classes for the past three years. She enjoys working with the temple youth and has been fortunate enough to serve as the Youth Group coordinator since 2016. Sunita also oversees several activities aimed to provide value to the Vidya Vikas and temple community. These include,
Sunita believes that the Vidya Vikas school and the DFW Hindu temple represent an excellent place for children and parents to stay connected with their Indian heritage and culture. She is grateful for the temple community and the opportunities it provides. She resides in Plano with her husband, Venkatesh. Her hobbies include sports, reading and enjoying outdoors. |
Trushna Patel - Office Admin | |
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Trushna has been part of Vidya Vikas administration for more than 10 years and volunteering at the mandir for 24 years Trushna brought her daughter to VV back in 1997 to attend classes and within 3 months ended up as a Gujarati teacher because there was no one to teach her daughters class.. In those days she had to teach where ever she could find space as there were not enough classrooms. She has also volunteered extensively in the kitchen and knows all the people there. To her Mandir is like family and looks forward to seeing everyone, many of whom she does not even know by name. She has 2 kids who have gone through Vidya Vikas but still finds it very rewarding to come and volunteer at the mandir. Volunteer work has always been her passion for a very very long time and she spend a lot of time volunteering with different organization and helping her elderly neighbors whenever they need help. Trushna has been in the financial services industry for over 30 years and presently works part time so she can spend more time enjoying her passion of helping people who are less fortunate. In her spare time she enjoys travelling, nature and relaxing with friends and family. Vidya Vikas has become part of her routine and no matter how late she sleeps on Saturday night she always gets up and comes to the mandir. She believe it’s important to pass on Hindu religion/values and languages to our children. |
Ravindra Palshetkar - Annual Program Coordinator | |
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Ravindra Palshetkar has been associated with the DFW Temple since 2003. He started volunteering on every Sunday for assisting in making Maha-Prasad in the kitchen and serving the food. His wife was a Religion Class Teacher teaching Mahabharata in VidyaVikas. He has two children’s who has completed their Religion Class until their last year in High School. His Son Akash was part of the Youth Group Committee in VidyaVikas and is now in his final year of college. His daughter Sagarika was the former President of the Youth Group Committee and is now a freshmen in college. Ravindra has been a Religion Teacher since 2010, teaching Grades, 2-9, and currently teaching Grade 2. He is also an Annual Program Coordinator since 2018 and with his background in theatrical arts, he helps all the teachers in Drama Direction, Audio-Video recordings & editing. Ravindra believes in giving back to society what he has learned over his life. Mentoring the young generation and teach the Hindu Religion and cultural heritage to the youth. He holds a Master Degree in Finance and is working as a Technology Manager in a financial institution. |
Satish Tandle | |
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Satish Tandle journey with Vidya Vikas started when he enrolled his kids at Vidya Vikas in 2017. He has been volunteering at Kitchen. He is currently contributing on Vidya Vikas website development and maintenance. He believes that what kids learn at Vidya Vikas classes gives them a solid foundation on approach to life. He likes going on long drives and visit places. |
Vikas Dusad | |
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Vikas Dusad started as a parent volunteer when his kids joined Vidya Vikas. He started volunteering for Vidya Vikas and then became Hindi Teacher for Level 3. He is currently facilitating Hindi Communication Group (baato baato mein) with Level 3 and Level 4 kids. Based on his own experiences he firmly believes Vidya Vikas greatly fills the Spiritual and Linguistic needs of our next generation. |