Nitha Raghunathan moved to Dallas 2002, from Mumbai. My family has been visiting DFW temple regularly since then. My kids attended Vidya Vikas since 2006. In 2015, my kid’s class needed a teacher to help so I volunteered. I have been volunteering since.

Kids in my class are the youngest in the school. We teach them through stories. Each class will have at least one fun activity to engage them. Growing up here brings its own challenges. It is important that our kids feel confident and find joy in our culture. There will be tough times and my hope is for our kids to find a sense of belonging and community in Vidya Vikas which they can tap during those times for strength.

Ramya Kannan was born in Chennai, Tamil Nadu but grew up in Singapore. She and her family moved to the DFW area 5 years ago. In her free time, Ramya loves to dance and play the veena. Ramya started volunteering at the temple since 2018 when her daughter was in Pre-K religion class.

Brototi Bhatt has been with Vidhya Vikas since 2011. She absolutely loves being around kids which is why she enjoys volunteering as a religion teacher at VV. She has 2 daughters Tanushri and Tanvi; both of them have benefitted from VV programs tremendously learning more about their culture and religion. She loves traveling, reading, eating different cuisines, and spending time with her family. Brototi can't wait to start another wonderful year with our VV temple association.

Satish Tandle journey with Vidya Vikas started when he enrolled his kids at Vidya Vikas in 2017. He has been volunteering at Kitchen. He has started teaching religion since 2021 for Grade 3. He is also 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.

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. 

Milind Chauk has been associated with Vidya Vikas as a volunteer teacher since 2010. His first introduction to Vidya Vikas was as a parent volunteer. He was inspired by the dedication and hard work of the Vidya-Vikas teachers and decided to join as a teacher. He had been a religion class teacher for multiple levels, and also served as a Yoga teacher when he conducted Yoga-Vikas sessions for all religion class levels.

He considers Vidya Vikas a forum for children to discover and manifest the divinity within. It enables Hindu children in the US to appreciate their cultural roots and learn Hindu values.

Milind lives in Irving with his wife Meenal and daughters – Shreya (21) and Khushi (17), both of whom had been Vidya Vikas students, and his pet dog “Prince”. He works in the information technology industry at Oracle.

To him, Vidya Vikas is a place of disciplined and dedicated learning about Hindu dharma. It is doing a great work of passing on the wealth of knowledge about Hindu dharma to our next generation Hindu Americans. It is not only his passion but also his social responsibility towards the Hindu society to support and contribute to this noble cause.

“Giving food to a person is a great deed, but giving vidya (education) is even better. The satisfaction (obtained) from food is momentary, but that (obtained) from vidya lasts a lifetime” (Shiv Purana)

Tarun Saran has been teaching religion for since 2014. He has been a religion teacher for Grade 8 students, for the past 3 years and taught level Pre K for 4 years before that. He started at Vidya Vikas when the Pre K teacher had to leave the session midstream and he was provided the opportunity of volunteering in that class. He enjoys interacting with young children and imparting knowledge of Hindu Dharma is deeply satisfying for him. Vidya Vikas provides a great platform for young children to learn the essentials of Hindu religion and culture and he wishes every child avails of this wonderful opportunity. Outside of Vidya Vikas, he is associated with many non-profit organizations and values the opportunities they provide. He lives in Coppell with his wife, Devika, who is also a Vidya Vikas teacher and their two children.

Abhishek Bansal has 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.