Bringing Connecticut’s Indian Community Together

$20,238 RAISED AT CT INDIAN’S LIFE FIRST ANNUAL FUNDRAISER

A total of 103 donors contributed $20,238 to make CT Indian Life’s first annual fundraiser a resounding success. The publication supported four charities in 2007. The Ekal Vidyalaya Foundation headquartered in New Delhi, India, and Houston, Texas, U.S.; Atma Vidya Ashram located in five regions in India; Single Teacher Schools in Tamil Nadu, India, and the Blind School in Andhra Pradesh, India. Seventy two people attended the fundraiser on December 8, 2007,held at the Ambassador of India in Glastonbury. For a complete list of contributors, please see below.Photos and event coverage by Radhika Sarma.

CT Indian Life looks forward to your continued support and participation in our Annual Day of Giving Please join our community’s charitable giving initiative by donating $100 or more per year to any charity of your choice. We will greatly appreciate it if you could talk to your friends and relatives to join us in this cause. Of course any contribution, even $5, will be accepted with gratitude.

Anita Patel, a sales representative from Liberty Mutual (at left), set up a table to offer free, no obligation auto or home insurance quotes to attendees. The insurer donated $5 to CT Indian Life’s fundraising event for every person who signed up. At right is Rajesh Sundaram of Middletown.

From L to R: Seated are Priti Limbachia, Janki Buch and Nikhil Buch. Standing are Vijay Limbachia and Hasit Parikh. All of them have supported Ekal Vidyala since 2003. “My grandfather was a teacher in Gujarat. So I understand the value of education. I feel fortunate to be able to help,” said Parikh, a resident of Southington. According to Nikhil of Glastonbury, “My wife’s father was a doctor in India who provided free services to the poor. He also paid the school fees for so many children. We want to continue in his footsteps.”

From L to R: Dr. Niranjan Sankaranarayanan and his wife Dr. Varalakshmi Venkatachalam of West Hartford, both health columnists for CT Indian Life must be in italics, donated to all four charitable organizations.“We are from a very middle class background and most of our own education came from the support of others. We came up the hard way so we wanted to ease the path for others,” the couple pied up. At their right are Drs. Sundaram Ramanan and his wife Chitra from West Hartford, who have been actively involved in philanthropic activities for several years.

From L to R: Arun and Sujata Srinivasan of Manchester, Dinesh Rajagopalan, a mortgage columnist for CT Indian Life must be in italics, and Madhu Reddy.

Swamini Lalitananda of Atma Vidya Ashram (standing) outlines the charitable organization’s myriad activities in India. Atma Vidyashram houses, feeds, and educates more than 300 children in five locations in India, and serves 36 handicapped children and 30 destitute women. In addition to receiving a standard education, the students are taught mridangam and Bharatanatyam. Swamini narrated the story of a boy who learnt to play the instrument with such expertise that he now visits the U.S. on invitation just to give concerts.

From L to R: Pauline, Vinnay and Akash Verma of Middletown.
The Verma family has supported. Atma Vidya Ashram since 2004 by sponsoring a child.

From L to R: Meena and Anup Khattar of South Windsor, and Atul Dave of Middletown, who volunteered his time and skills to help organize the fundraising event. The Khattars have supported the educational activities of Ekal Vidyalaya since 2003. “One can give money for food and clothing; yes, it helps people. But education is something that lasts for life,” said Anup. Added Meena, “A dollar a Day is all it takes to sponsor an entire school for a year.” The couple’s contribution covers the cost of providing education to 23 children in Orissa.

From L to R: Kumar Palreddy and Dr. Madhavi Gorusu of West Hartford (with their children) donated to the Blind School in Nalgonda, Andhra Pradesh. “My parents were both physicians and throughout their lives they used to donate free services to the poor. My husband’s father was a freedom fighter. Service is nothing new in our blood,” said Dr. Gorusu.

The donors are listed in alphabetical order.
Distribution of Contributions Not Readable
Kamalnayan and Suman Agrawal,Stamford Vranda and Keshav Aithal, Durham Swamy Basavapatna, Manchester Neelima and Anil Bathula, East Windsor Shamal and Srirammohan Beltangady, Old Lyme Jaya and Ajay K Bhargava, Woodbridge Megha and Samir Bhatt, West Hartford Lakshmi and Subbarao Bollepalli,Middletown Janki and Nikhil Buch, Glastonbury Hema and Madhusudhan Chintapelly, Weatogue Kalpana and Sreenivas Chittajallu,Manchester Taragauri and Ranchhoddas Chokshi, West Hartford Vidyawati and Girish Chokshi, Rocky Hill Catherine C. Conant, Middletown Vijaya and Prabhakar Daggula, South Windsor Vinayarani and Ranganna Dasari, Glastonbury Falguni A. and Atul N. Dave, Middletown Jincy and Biju Devassykutty, South Windsor Bhagya Reddy and Mohan Etikela, Hamden Kalpana and Nagaraju Gudipudi,Glastonbury Indu and Tarun K. Gupta, Hamden Roma and Tamanash Gupta, Newington Vijayalakshmi and Dr. JanardhanaIyengar, Manchester Chandana and Sudhakar Javangnula, West Hartford Lata and Sarma Jayanthi, Oxford Saritha and Srinivas Jonnakota, Glastonbury Kristina Joyce, Concord, Massachusetts Dr. Anitha J. and Dr. Prakash R. Patel, Avon Jayantilal and Lalitaben J. Patel, Vernon Seema and Anup Pillai, Rocky Hill Srilatha and Jagan Puttoju, Rocky Hill Sandhya and Amit Raj, Glastonbury Dinesh Rajagopalan, Bethel Priya Tandon and Michael J.Rajkumar, Colchester Preethi and Srikanth Ramabhadran, Rocky Hill Anuradha and Bala Ramachandran, Avon Dr. Shyamala and Dr. Krishnan Raman, West Hartford Dr. Chitra and Dr. Sundaram Ramanan, West Hartford Aparna Gopalakrishna and AnandRamnath, Glastonbury Rajini and Madhusudhan (Madhu) Reddy, Glastonbury Vijay S. and Baldev Sachdeva, Niantic Bama and Arun Sankar, Encino, California Dr. Lakshmi and Dr. Niranjan Sankaranarayanan, West Hartford Anusha and Ganesh Sethumadhavan, Glastonbury Geeta and Jagdish K. Shah, Glastonbury Sudha and Suresh Shenoy, Wallingford	Shaila and Milind Kale, Glastonbury Rojaramani and Narender Kasarla,Manchester Jaya and Bhaskar Kende, Hartford Meena and Anup Khattar, South Windsor Vijaya L. and Bharat R. Kolluri, South Windsor Usha and Gopalrao Kommuru, Glastonbury Geeta and Bagepalli Krishna, Concord, Massachusetts Shranya and Madhan Kumar Krishnan, Hartford Kavitha Rangi and Ashish Kulkarni, Glastonbury Anita and Rakesh Kumar, Glastonbury Poojitha and Ravi Kuraganti, Milford Rakhi and Rajesh Kurup, Rocky Hill Madhu and Sandeep Laul, Rocky Hil Priti and Vijay Limbachia, Berlin Ken MacGregor, Glastonbury Hira and Anil Mehta, Canton Jyoti and Ramesh Mugalam, Simsbury Kavitha and ArumugamMuthukumaren,Glastonbury Tanuja and Ramesh Nadimpalli,Middletown Dr. T.C.Nanavati, Seymour Premalatha and Ashwatha Narayana,Wallingford Pramila Nathan, Woodbridge Manasi and Sudhir K. Oak, Watertown Madhavi and Kumar R. Palreddy, West Hartford Saroj and Lalit Pandey, Glastonbury Dr.Nithyanandhi and Dr. Chelliah Pandian, Glastonbury Beena and Ashvin Pandit, South Windsor Rutuparn Paratkar, Hartford Taru H. and Hasit Parikh, Southington Asha and Pankaj Patel, Manchester Kalpana and Kashyap Shukla, Redding Shivani and Sameer Sonalkar,Glastonbury Sujata and Arun Srinivasan, Manchester Usha P. and Selvanaigam Subramaniam, Windsor Premalatha and Kalidas Sukumar, Rocky Hill Vidisha and Sridhar Talluri, Ellington Aparna Karumanchi and VeerendraTelaprolu, Middletown Dr. Vimala and Ajit Thalody, Rocky Hill Krishna and Pishka Upender, East Lyme Chandra and Raju Vage, East Lyme Rashmi K. and Kirit Vaidya, Trumbull Shantha Varadarajan, Sunnyvale,California Sarika and Raju Vemulamanda, Windsor Locks Pauline and Vinnay Verma, Middletown Sandhya and Venkat Viswanathan, Glastonbury Anuradha and Sunil G. Warrier, Middletown Venkata Ramana and SubramaneshwarRao Yalamanchili, Glastonbury Saritha and Prashanth Yelukati, Rocky Hill

Pennsylvania-based Adesh Saxena, formerly a resident of Connecticut, stays in touch with the Nutmeg State by writing for CT Indian Life. For the full story, please obtain a print copy of CT Indian Life.

$20,238 RAISED AT CT INDIAN’S LIFE FIRST ANNUAL FUNDRAISER

The donors are listed in alphabetical order.

Distribution of Contributions Not Readable