Poornima Kini has been in Indianapolis since 1999. She is currently retired employee from Copeland working as an Inv control / Financial Analyst for 26 years. 

Initially she started at Balagokulam, along with Hansa Dave to get her son involved and be part of a group he could relate to. Since then she  has been involved with Balagokulam for 26 awesome years. It is very rewarding to see the kids grow with their wonderful personalities. The love they share is priceless.

She is currently a teacher for the Dhruv group. She strongly believes that Balagokulam gives young kids discipline, pride, a forum and a sense of belonging in a loving community. They get to learn about our values, great culture and traditions. Balagokulam being in the temple gives them a comfort level to remain engaged and involved with the temple and Hindu community at large. 

She and her husband are originally from Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, and moved to Indiana in 2001. Since then, Fishers has been their home. Both are IT professionals, and they have one child who is currently in college and previously attended Balagokulam.

She holds a Ph.D. in Child Development and has always been passionate about working with children. Balagokulam gave her a wonderful platform to combine that passion with her love for Hindu dharma, culture, and traditions. She especially enjoys teaching first-grade children, appreciating their enthusiasm, curiosity, and positive energy.

Sundays are something she always looks forward to, as they give her the opportunity to spend time with the children and share her knowledge and experiences with them. She finds great joy in helping young children build a strong connection with their cultural and spiritual roots.

Outside of Balagokulam, she enjoys cooking, gardening, reading, and writing poetry.

Deepali Songirkar is a software engineer by profession who moved to Carmel, Indiana with her family in 2010. She is a proud mother of two children. Her son is currently pursuing his studies at Purdue University, while her daughter attends Carmel High School. Both of her children have been actively involved in Balgokulam since the first grade, benefiting from its values-based education and cultural enrichment.

Deepali has been a dedicated member of Balgokulam since 2015 and currently teaches the Eklavya (1st Grade) class. She is passionate about nurturing young minds and believes that teaching is a two-way learning experience. While she strives to impart knowledge, values, and culture to her students, she also finds herself learning from their curiosity, innocence, and unique perspectives. Deepali considers it a privilege to be part of their growth journey and is inspired by the joy and enthusiasm these children bring to every class.

Kinal Patel moved to Indiana in 2015 and has been an active member of the temple community alongside her husband, Kirtikumar Patel. Together, they have dedicated their time to supporting various temple activities as volunteers. Their nine-year-old son, Krishiv, has been attending the temple since the age of four.

Kinal holds a Master of Business Administration degree from the United Kingdom and currently works as an Operations and Logistics Coordinator at Carvana.

As a Balgokulam teacher, Kinal believes that religious education extends beyond learning traditions. She is passionate about helping children develop strong values, kindness, confidence, and a meaningful connection to their faith, culture, and community.

Kinal looks forward to learning and growing alongside the Balgokulam students while creating positive and memorable experiences for them and their families.

Puja Pandya is  proud mom of two kids Prachi and Om and believes in spiritualism and yoga. She came to Indiana with her family in 2011. She has been associated with temple since 2015. She is a computer engineer by profession an enjoys various activities like sports, walking, music, yoga,home chores and spending time with kids. Puja likes to be around kids and is always ready to contribute back to community.

Chetan Dave is the father of three children and all of them are Balagokulam students. Chetan has been actively involved in temple activities for many years.  He is a firm believer of passing on Hindu Heritage and values to the next generation as most of his  religious and spiritual learning happened in early formative years through his parents and grandmother. Chetan is an IT professional with two decades of experience working for a company with a global footprint. His hobbies include traveling and exploring outdoors and learning new skills. 

Snehal Patil lives in Carmel, Indiana, and works in the Information Technology field. Her journey with Balagokulam began when her daughter joined at the age of six. Her daughter has since graduated from college, and Snehal has been a Balagokulam teacher for the past three years.

Snehal enjoys volunteering and giving back to the community. She is passionate about helping children stay connected to their Hindu heritage, culture, traditions, and values. She also enjoys teaching Marathi and helping children stay connected to their language and roots.

Hansa Dave is a mother of two daughters and a grandmother (Nani) of seven grandchildren. She is actively involved in our Mandir’s Balagokulam program since last 25 years as she believes educated children will be the leaders of tomorrow’s Hindu Community. On a national level, she travels all over the world to participate in forums that bring Hindu’s together. In her professional life, she worked for JP Morgan Chase for 18 years. She is a certified Yoga teacher teaching at various schools around the city and works as certified teacher in Perry Township school district. 

Rajnish Chauhan and family came to Carmel in 2007. He joined Balagokulam in 2013 and has been working with the Arjun class for past seven years. He and his wife, Ritu Chauhan are active members and volunteers at HTCI. They have two daughters, Rishma and Raya, and one son Dashiv. He feels grateful for any opportunity to do Seva and believes that serving the community brings joy, peace and hope. 

Anita lives in Fishers, Indiana, with her husband, Anil Gupta. They have a son, daughter-in-law, and daughter. Their son is an ER physician, and their daughter is an ER physician resident.

Anita is a self-taught sculptor and has created Ganesha and Durga statues for the HTCI Mandir for the past several years. She has also been commissioned by temples throughout the Midwest to restore marble murtis (statues) of Hindu gods and goddesses. Her artistic work is a beautiful expression of her devotion and passion for preserving Hindu culture and traditions.

Anita is also a certified teacher and worked with Carmel Clay Schools from 2007 to 2019. For the past six years, she has been working with a knowledge-services company as a Research Analyst.

Anita has been a dedicated Balagokulam educator for the past 23 years. She was initially drawn to this service because she saw how much it benefited her own children. After witnessing how Balagokulam helped her children learn about and appreciate their culture and religion, she felt it was both her responsibility and her passion to teach and share knowledge about Hindu culture, traditions, and religion with other Indian children in Indiana.

Every week, Anita reminds her students that “Community service is a service to God.” Her involvement with Balagokulam for the past 23 years has been a true expression of this belief. She loves being an educator and is deeply thankful for the opportunity to serve the Hindu community through her passions for education, art, culture, and service.

Vrinda Doshi is a mother of 2 daughters (11 years & 5 years). She is active as Balagokulam teacher in 4th grade since 2019. She is also a Gujarati language teacher. She takes baking classes for young kids. Currently she works as substitute teacher in Carmel Clay Schools.

Chandrashekhar is a software professional who is passionate about helping children learn about our rich cultural heritage. He also volunteers as a Sanskrit teacher, where he enjoys helping young learners connect with this ancient language and appreciate its cultural significance.

He lives in Carmel with his wife, Shweta, and their two sons, Atharva and Aarsh. Atharva is a senior at Carmel High School, and Aarsh is a seventh grader at Creekside Middle School.

Outside of work and volunteering, he is a big movie enthusiast and enjoys catching a good film whenever he gets some downtime.

Smitha has been a part of Balagokulam since 2015 and has loved teaching children for the past 11 years. She enjoys sharing stories, shlokas, Sanskrit, Indian culture, and dharmic values with children in a way that is engaging and meaningful.

A lifelong learner, Smitha has been learning and teaching Sanskrit since 2015 and is passionate about keeping our language and traditions alive for the next generation. She also works in the IT field and enjoys reading, learning, and spending time with children.

Her husband, Sanjay, and their daughter have also been actively involved in temple activities as volunteers and teachers. Their daughter has been part of the temple community since she was four years old, making Balagokulam a special part of their family’s journey.

Smitha especially looks forward to Sundays—when she gets to see the children, share what she loves, and learn from them too. For her, teaching is not just about passing on knowledge, but about growing together as a community.

Kumar Dave has been in Indianapolis since 1990. He and his wife Hansa Dave started Balagokulam in Indianapolis in 2001 along with other dedicated teachers. He has two daughters Keya and Preya. He is a Civil Engineer and is working with Indiana Department of Transportation. He served in India Association of Indianapolis  Executive Board and is an active member of HTCI.  In addition, has been responsible taking national level projects that he is working on and bringing them to the local community, such as hosting like EKAL musical concert, HAVAN  conference and active participation in HMEC  (Hindu Mandir Executive Conf) and HMPC (Hindu Mandir Priest Conf). He believes that it is his swadharma to serve the community. He has committed, along with his wife and daughters, to work with the Balagokulam and temple. 

Sanjay Kalluparambil joined Balgokulam in 2011. He has been teaching in Balagokulam for the past 14 years. His wife, Smitha, and their daughter have been involved in Temple activities as volunteers and teachers. His daughter has been going to the Temple since she was 4 years old. Sanjay works in the IT Field. He has been teaching Sanskrit in Indianapolis since 2012. 

Priya Menon has a long standing interest in teaching. She comes from a family of teachers (her grandfather was a headmaster of a boys school in Kerala and 4 of her mother's 6 sisters are teachers). By profession she is a physician where she believes that her main job is to educate her patients about their conditions rather than to simply prescribe meds. 

Her aim is to provide the kids who come regularly to Balagokulam with a friend and a mentor who can help guide the great potential within them. Every kid has a spark of creativity in them that is waiting to be unleashed. If she could help some of them attain their goals through a medium of sustained interaction and teach them to utilize the tenets of discipline , dedication and devotion to their KARMA, she believes we would achieve the great goal of furthering the numbers of productive and fulfilled global citizens. 

Anand has been an Indiana resident for more than 15 years and currently works at Cummins as a Senior Technical Manager. He holds a Master’s degree and a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering and values lifelong learning, discipline, and service.

He grew up in India with a strong foundation in Hindu values, which continue to guide his personal and family life. His two children have been part of the Balagokulam family for over five years, giving him a deep appreciation for the important role value education plays in helping children stay connected to their culture, traditions, and community.

He enjoys working with people through community involvement and believes in creating a positive, inclusive, and engaging environment for children. He looks forward to contributing as a value education teacher at the local Hindu temple in Indianapolis and helping students learn, reflect, and grow with confidence in their cultural and spiritual values.

Outside of his professional and community work, he is also a trained percussionist and enjoys playing tabla at local musical events.

Priyesh moved to Indianapolis in 1995 and lives with his wife, Jignya, and their two sons, Ravi and Vineet. Born and raised in Kenya, he has been involved with Bharatiya Swayamsevak Sangh shakha activities since childhood and has a strong passion for teaching Hindu Dharma and helping children take pride in their heritage.

Priyesh has been part of Balagokulam since its inception and currently teaches the Chetana group. Professionally, he spent 11 years in public accounting with Ernst & Young and Deloitte and now runs his own consulting and furniture businesses. He is also actively involved with the Vadtal Swaminarayan Sansthan as its National Youth Coordinator.

In his free time, Priyesh enjoys coaching basketball, reading, and deepening his knowledge of Hindu Dharma.

-

-