North America homes not only the largest Akshardham Temple in New Jersey, but also the temple with the tallest gopuram in stark contrast to the skyline of North Caroline dotted with modern high-rises. GOPURAM, a most distinctive feature of South Indian temple architecture, is more than a majestic structure at the main entrance of a temple. Rising to the sky, it attracts positive energy from the universe and serves as the gateway to a divine space brimming with cosmic energy. Precisely, it stands for India’s ancient history, cultural prosperity, and spiritual glory.

PC: Sri Venkateswara Temple, Cary | Facebook

North Carolina’s Sri Venkateswara Temple is the only Hindu shrine with the tallest gopuram in not just the States, but North America. Cary, a quaint town near Raleigh in the Research Triangle Park where thousands of Indians have settled over years, is the location of the temple. Though the temple was built in 2008, the 87-feet raja gopuram is the newest addition. The 7-storey gopuram of Sri Venkateswara Temple in Cary, NC was commissioned when the COVID-19 pandemic brought the world to its knees. The tower was erected and inaugurated when the world began to rise over the pandemic.

“The raja gopuram is the threshold between the mundane and the divine. Named the ‘Tower of Unity and Prosperity’, the intricately sculpted gopuram of North Carolina’s Sri Venkateswara Temple is where devotees leave their worries behind while stepping into the sacred complex, according to the board of trustees. So high is the sociocultural significance of temple towers that the entrance of Trichy International Airport’s new terminal is modelled on the 240-ft high gopuram of Ranganathaswamy Temple,” said Sourav Agarwal, the Editor of Travel Beats.

The 2.5-million-dollar tower came into being because of the “donate a brick” program that elicited a warm response from the local Indian Diaspora. Evidently, the Tower of Unity and Prosperity signifies the growth and harmony of the Indian community in North Carolina, especially Wake County that houses over 51,000 Indian-origin immigrants, according to the 2021 census. Built in adherence to the Shilpa Shastra and Vastu Shastra principles, the tower was unveiled on Diwali, the festival of lights, in 2022, with North Carolina’s Governor Roy Cooper in attendance.

The temple housing a 9-ft murti of Sri Venkateswara Swamy is the Tirupati Balaji Temple of North Carolina. In the late 1990s, an Indian couple bought 2.8-acre land for the temple, raised funds for construction and laid the foundation brick. Inaugurated in 2009, the temple has the Dravidian style of architecture and features beautiful carvings of Hindu deities as well as mythological figures from the Indian epics. 14 skilled artisans from India were brought to Cary to sculpt the idols and figurines for the temple. There are also small shrines consecrated to 18 other gods and goddesses besides the presiding deity, Lord Venkateswara.

A bridge to the roots and a spiritual anchor for Indians in and around North Carolina, the temple has a gurukulam (traditional school) among other facilities within the 9-acre complex, which will house a two-story multipurpose assembly hall and a sprawling cafeteria in the next phase of expansion. It was at this temple that the state governor signed the historical Diwali Proclamation in 2017, declaring October as the month of Hindu Heritage.

Sri Somesvara Temple on Mount Soma, known as the Mount Kailash of America, is another must-visit place in North Carolina for Indians. Mount Soma, a 450-acre Vedic community amidst lush greenery and profound serenity, is where science and spirituality complement each other. Read our exclusive article about Mount Soma, home to one of the most beautiful jyotirlinga shrines outside of India.

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Not many Indians in America know that the United States is home to the Mount Kailash of the West. Mount Soma in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina is known as the Mount Kailash of America, as it is a hilly abode of Lord Shiva amidst lush greenery. Named after the Sri Somesvara Temple located here, Mount Soma is a 448-acre Vedic community, educational hub, cultural haven, and spiritual retreat. The vision of Mount Soma is to be an enlightened city in compliance with the Vedic technology, the Vaastu science, and the principles of nature. Mount Soma is where science and spirituality complement each other to make a unifying divine force, while these two phenomena oppose each other in most parts of the world.

The magnet of Mouth Soma is Sri Somesvara Temple, one of the best and most beautiful Jyotirlinga shrines outside India. An ivory granite jyotirlinga is the presiding deity of the temple soaked in profound silence, cosmic vibrations and spiritual vibes. As many as 46 tons of granite imported from India were hand-carved to create the lingam and other deities, including a 20-ft tall statue of Lord Hanuman. The scenic hilly landscape, especially when it snows, likens North Carolina’s Sri Somesvara Temple to Kedarnath Temple on the Garhwal Himalayan range in Uttarakhand.

Though Sri Somesvara Temple, the heart of Mount Soma, was founded in 2011, the idea of the temple had started taking shape in 2006. Lots of Vedic knowledge, Vaastu consultation, architectural prowess, funding and commitment went into the construction of the temple envisioned by Dr. Michael Mamas. Every minute detail of temple construction described in the ancient Hindu texts was followed in harmony with the American engineering and construction standards.

Guided by Dr. Vaidyanatha Ganapati Sthapati from Tamil Nadu, Santhana Krishnan Sthapati, Krithika Karuppiah, and Michael Borden – some of the best architects – collaboratively architected the design of Sri Somesvara Temple. Dr. V. Ganapati Sthapati served as the principal architect for several grand sculptures and architectures in India and abroad. The statue of Thiruvalluvar, a renowned Tamil poet and saint, at Kanyakumari; Valluvar Kottam, a landmark monument in Chennai; Sri Shiva Vishnu Temple of Maryland, and Sri Ganesh Shiva Durga Temple of Greater Chicago were designed by him. He was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 2009. He took his last breath three months after the Shiva temple on Mount Soma was inaugurated.

A view of Mount Soma in winter | Hilltop Nandi on Mount Soma (PC: Reddit.com/r/hinduism)

After the 46 tons of granite stones were shipped to North Carolina from Chennai following months of the careful selection, artisans from India worked hard even in atmospheric extremes such as snowfall and transformed the stones into a Vedic masterpiece. Indian American Professor Ganesh Rajagopalan from Iowa State University College of Engineering served as a Vaastu consultant for the temple construction.

Also Read: How America got the first Jyotirlingam Temple in California

The sanctity of Sri Somesvara Temple is maintained in close adherence to the Vedic traditions and rituals. Devotees, irrespective of color, caste and community, are advised to perform pradakshina clockwise outside the temple, touch the threshold of the entrance with the right hand, and step into the temple with the right foot, and wear decent clothes. Wearing shorts and leather items, walking between the lingam and Nandi in the temple, stepping into the sanctum sanctorum, touching the deities, and using cellphones inside the temple are prohibited for visitors.

Picture Credit: SriSomesvara.org

There is provision for overnight accommodation and meals for devotees who travel great distances to visit Sri Somesvara Temple in North Carolina. Cottage suites and dorm rooms are available 365 days a year. The visitor center on Mount Soma has a cafeteria where an Indian buffet is served on weekends and holidays. Lunch is served on weekdays for $12 per adult and $6 per child. Devotees wishing to have lunch are advised to call 828-531-9925 one day prior to their visit. Vedic weddings, various community events and cultural activities are held at the Visitor Center on Mouth Soma.

Brought to you by Indian Eagle, a leading travel-booking partner of Indians in the US, this article is part of our continued series on the hidden gems of America for the Indian community. Travel Beats, a subsidiary of Indian Eagle, is a one-stop portal for US-India travel news, US visa and immigration updates, and community stories.

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There is a history of foreigners adopting orphan kids from India. Orphanages in India house as many as 20 million kids, according to a 2018 study conducted by SOS Children’s Villages India, an international charity for orphaned and abandoned children. The number of orphans in India is likely to increase by 2021. Foreign nationals adopt 600 to 800 abandoned or orphaned Indian children annually. In 2018, Elin Kristin Eriksson, a nurse in Sweden, adopted an 8-month-old baby girl from Rajasthan, who was abandoned right after her premature birth and left to die on a railway track.

In one such instance of adoption of Indian orphans by foreigners, a 2-year-old boy with a rare disease from an orphanage in Hyderabad found home and care in the United States. Laura Dellicker, a nurse from the US state of North Carolina, adopted him in 2018 and became a proud single mother.

Picture Credit: The Times of India

Salim is affected by Epidermolysis Bullosa, a rare skin problem which is also known as butterfly disease. The moment Laura met Salim at an orphanage in Hyderabad she made up her mind to give him a new lease of life. Neither his religion nor his rare disease bothered her to give a second thought to her decision.

It has been a year since Salim was brought to the US. Though adopted by an American, he is very close to whatever is Indian in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. He binges on Hyderabadi biryani, takes Indian dance lessons and participates in various cultural events that the Indian community of Chapel Hill organizes for kids – which keep his umbilical cord with India alive.

Nursing Salim’s rare skin ailment is a bigger challenge, which Laura accepted while embracing single parenthood, than making sure to nurture his Indian roots in the USA.

Epidermolysis Bullosa is a rare skin disease which causes the upper layers of one’s skin to fall off or blister acutely even at a mild touch or friction. The discontinued production of collagen 7, a hormonal protein that binds the layers of skin together, is the root cause of the disease that Salim is affected by.

Also Check: A Tale of Two Indian Americans Who Conquered Mt Everest 

The blisters all over Salim’s body are dressed with special bandages. The adoptive mother spends several hours dressing his skin and changing bandages daily. The blistered part of his skin requires complete protection from dirt and dust. The cost-intensive medical care for Salim does not bother Laura, as she has health insurance for him.

One of Laura’s friends has a son suffering from the same ailment, which is why she adopted Salim in spite of knowing about his disease. Initially, it was not easy for Salim to call Chapel Hill his home thousands of mile away from Hyderabad, India, as the neighborhood kids’ curious stare at the bandages all over his body would cause discomfort to him.

However, Salim began to feel at home in Chapel Hill, North Carolina with time passing on and made friends with most of the kids in the neighborhood. Today, both Laura and Salim share an abode of bliss under the same roof.

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2019 seems the year of Indian American girls. Since the onset of 2019, we have added stories of several Indian American girls and their achievements to our continued series of Young Indians at Travel Beats, a community portal for Indians in the US by Indian Eagle Travel.

This article about four Indian American teen girls among the 2019 Regeneron Science Talent Search finalists is a story of their commitments to keep the earth green and safe through low-cost, accessible solutions to environmental issues including various types of pollution. Though these four desi girls could not make it among the 2019 Regeneron Science Talent Search winners, they are awarded $25,000 each for their unique, innovative approaches towards mitigating the direst threats to the existence of life on earth.

Anjali Chadha

One of the Regeneron Science Talent Search finalists in 2019, Anjali Chadha from Louisville, Kentucky is awarded $25,000 for her groundbreaking device that helps detect arsenic in well waters. Consumption of arsenic-rich water is leading cause of cancer in the developing countries including India, where millions of people depend on well water sources. A significant population of rural India has no other option than using arsenic-contaminated water because of acute water crisis. 16-year-old Anjali Chadha’s low-cost, portable device can help over one billion people accurately detect arsenic and measure its quantity in the water sources they have access to.

Anjali’s discovery of arsenic in the groundwater within 90 miles of her neighborhood compelled her to develop the sensor. During her research on harmful effects of arsenic in water, she came to know that about 50 million Americans are at risks of arsenic contamination as they primarily depend on well water sources. Indian American Anjali Chadha is a bioengineering career enthusiast. Featured in the award-winning documentary ‘Science Fair’, Anjali Chadha is a budding Bharatanatyam exponent. Her nonprofit ‘Empowered’ trains underserved high school girls in technological skills.

Preeti Sai Krishnamani

Among the 2019 Regeneron Science Talent Search finalists, Preeti Sai Krishnamani received $25,000 for her unflinching commitment to remove arsenic contamination in rice. A resident of Hockessin in Delaware, 17-year-old Preeti found that if soil minerals are enhanced, it can help bind arsenic components to the soil and thereby preventing contamination of rice plants. She has created a solution – silicon amendments – with rice husk and rice husk ash, which are usually dumped as wastes from rice cultivation. These can be recycled to enhance soil minerals of paddy fields against arsenic contamination.

While researching on potential solutions to reduce arsenic toxicity in rice plants, Preeti found that rice husk ash, a burnt byproduct of rice production, helps bind up arsenic and prevent it from spreading to rice plants through water by increasing iron-oxide minerals in the soil. Her solution, once perfected, will bring in a revolution in Asian countries where a significant number of people are exposed to health risks of arsenic-contaminated rice consumption. Indian American Preeti Sai Krishnamani aspires to be a social entrepreneur in agricultural technology.

Navami Jain

$25,000 is awarded to Navami Jain of Charlotte, one of the Regeneron Science Talent Search finalists 2019, for her relentless effort to produce bioethanol from agricultural waste products. Bioethanol, a biodegradable and nontoxic type of biofuel, is an environment-friendly alternative to conventional fossil fuels. Why ethanol production is currently not encouraged is because food crops like corn are mainly used to produce ethanol. Indian American Navami Jain’s research shows that it is inexpensive to produce bioethanol from wheat straw.

A student at the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics, Navami Jain aspires to major in biochemistry or chemical engineering. She co-edits her school’s STEM journal titled Broad Street Scientific. She is also cofounder of an ecommerce portal selling organic food waste for feeding cattle.

Sai Preethi Mamidala

17-year-old Sai Preethi Mamidala of Pennsylvania is honored with the same award for her extensive studies on optimal catalysts to make renewable energy sources more accessible. The rising level of fossil-fuel pollution in India compelled her to experiment with ways to bridge the gap between the amount of reviewable energy required to reduce people’s use of non-renewable energy and the amount of renewable energies currently being produced in the developing countries like India.

A senior at Garnet Valley High School, Indian American Sai Preethi Mamidala is hell-bent on creating efficient storage regeneration processes to promote the use of renewable energy, as part of her commitment to save the planet from fossil-fuel pollution. An avid STEM advocate, Sai Preethi aspires to make it big in energy engineering.

Travel Beats, a subsidiary of Indian Eagle, publishes latest visa, immigration, passport, aviation and Indian diaspora news stories. A leading travel booking partner of Indians in USA, Indian Eagle not only guarantees lowest airfares for flights to India but also strives to promote achievements of Indian community in North America. 

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More and more young Indian Americans in STEM are emerging into national spotlight for their mathematical wizardry. ‘Human Calculator’ Apoorva Panidapu from California stunned the international audience with her incredible math-solving skills on the NBC show, Genius Junior in 2018. Again in 2018, three Indian American school students swept away top prizes at the International Olympiad in Math, History and Physics. The latest sensations in the US world of STEM are the World Science Foundation Scholars for 2019, including two Indian American students with outstanding math skills.

Recently, the World Science Foundation in New York published the first list of 45 high school seniors and juniors, including two Indian American girls from Charlotte – Aakriti Lakshmanan and Saanchi Sampath – who will act as scholars and network with leading scientists at the World Science Festival 2019 this summer.   

Aakriti Lakshmanan (left), Saanchi Sampath (right). Picture Credit: The Charlotte Observer

Instituted in 2008, the World Science Festival takes place in New York City every summer. A meeting point for scientists, students, artists and civilians to celebrate Science, the World Science Festival has branched out to such activities as the World Science Scholars program which is meticulously designed to create a network of brilliant high school sophomores and juniors for science and math projects.

World Science Scholars 2019: Indian American Girls in STEM 

A sophomore at Ardrey Kell High School in Charlotte, North Carolina, Aakriti Lakshmanan is a versatile teen with several awards and accolades in her treasure. Her research on water-related science projects has been recognized by several prestigious institutions. Like most of the World Science Scholars 2019, Aakriti Lakshmanan has participated in various math competitions, like Math Olympiad. She also studied at Metrolina Regional Scholars Academy, a K-8 charter school for extraordinary students. Indian American Lakshmanan has written about the Shoelace Theorem, a formula for calculating the area of polygon.

The other Charlotte-based Indian American among the World Science Scholars for 2019, Saanchi Sampath is a chess enthusiast. A sophomore at Myers Park High School, Saanchi heads the school chess club and offers lessons on the game. She discovered her love for math while preparing for the SAT examination as part of Duke’s talent search in the 7^th grade. The only girl in the AP computer science class, Saanchi Sampath had been a STEM intern at Discovery Place in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Also Check: These Kids Win National Bravery Awards 2019

The World Science Scholars 2019 have been selected on the strength of their mathematical expertise. They are given an opportunity to put on their thinking caps, explore new disciplines and apply their merits to dealing with challenging ideas. Those who successfully complete the program at the World Science Festival are inducted into a global community of noted professionals, esteemed alumni, and talented math students. The program helps the scholars broaden their perspectives to spark epoch-making innovations.

The Indian American World Science Scholars for 2019 have not been exempt from the biased attitude towards girls in STEM. When they tell people they aspire to make it big in math or science, they are inundated with remarks, “How easy will it be for you?” However, they are sanguine about the changing scenario that the World Science Festive is trying to accelerate.

Subscribe to our free newsletter for upcoming Indian American community news stories on Travel Beats, an Indian Diaspora portal by Indian Eagle, a leading international travel organization booking cheap air tickets to India from US cities.

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What would be the best gift of the year for millions of women at risks of developing cervical cancer if not Dr. Nimmi Ramanujam’s invention for them! Indian American Dr. Nimmi Ramanujam has invented a low-cost diagnostic tool for painless detection of cervical cancer in women. AIIMS in New Delhi has successfully tested the tool called ‘Pocket Colposcope’ which, when connected to a mobile phone or laptop, can facilitate self-screening for women.

Dr. Nimmi Ramanujam’s Pocket Colposcope is a boon to over 436.76 million women (aged above 15 years) at a risk of developing cervical cancer in India, according to the National Center for Biotechnology Information. Cervical cancer is the second most common disease in women, which claims 68,000 lives out of nearly 125,000 women diagnosed with the disease in India every year. The statistics of cervical cancer cases in the world’s developed countries including the United States have improved over the years. The US has reported only 13,240 cases of invasive cervical cancer in 2018, according to the American Cancer Society.

Pocket Colposcope which is priced at $500 will reduce the costs of cervical cancer diagnosis for rural women in India where the current machine in use for the same purpose comes at the cost of $15,000. In addition, Pocket Colposcope causes mild pain during screening compared to the machine in use at present.

Dr. Nimmi Ramanujam is a professor of biomedical engineering in the department of Pharmacology and Cell Biology at Duke University, North Carolina. Also a faculty member in the Global Health Institute, she dons hats in innovation, teaching and entrepreneurship with equal expertise and at the same time. Indian-origin Dr. Nimmi Ramanujam is on a mission to design, develop and leverage low-cost, highly effective technologies for women’s health in developing nations.

She also leads the center for Global Women’s Health Technologies, where she imparts knowledge on the latest health technologies to the trainees and nurtures their critical thinking ability, thereby empowering them to play agents of change in the lives of women having inadequate means to access or afford modern health care. She continues inspiring others to create low-cost, impactful health solutions for women.

The driving force behind her mission is her dedicated research on different forms of cancer, which are common to women, including breast cancer and cervical cancer. Dr. Nimmi Ramanujam is focused on her unambiguously defined goals to make health care innovations accessible to women at the primary level, invest in technologies for women’s diagnosis and treatment at the initial stage of diseases, and work towards developing more effective cancer treatment methods.

Dr. Nimmi Ramanujam’s Pocket Colposcope is being lauded as a major breakthrough in cervical cancer screening for women from the socio-economically disadvantaged background. Pocket Colposcope is a simple, easy-to-use, portable, low-cost device. Workers at health centers, major and minor, can easily be trained to get the best of the tool. Images recorded by Pocket Colposcope can be sent to experts anywhere in the world. It records better and more vivid images than standard colposcopy.

Reportedly, Dr. Nimmi Ramanujam is in talk with the government of Tamil Nadu, looking to equip the state’s primary healthcare centers with her device for early-stage cervical cancer screening. Detection of the disease in the early stages will expedite treatment for higher chances of cure.

Indian American Dr. Nimmi Ramanujam has earned multiple awards and accolades for her cancer research work and technological innovations in health care. The TR100 Young Innovator Award and the Global Indus Technovator Award from MIT are among the achievements in her treasure. She has been conferred with fellowship of leading biomedical engineering societies, including OSA.

Also Check:

• Indian American Teen Makes Saltwater Drinkable
• Indian American Girl Educates Poor Kids on Health
• 17-year-old Indian American Invents Advance Heart Therapy

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A large swath of the United States from the Southern Plains to the Southeast is in the grip of Winter Storm Diego. According to the latest weather forecasts, heavy downpour, snowfall, ice accumulations and varying levels of precipitation are expected to disrupt the tempo of day-to-day life or bring it to a standstill this weekend into early next week, as the storm is gaining strength en route from the South to the Southeast.

A state of emergency has already been declared in Oklahoma. North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper might declare emergency later in the day. Schools in Arkansas have cancelled all events which were supposed to be held on Saturday. South Carolina’s annual Christmas parade and high school state championships have been postponed.

Winter Storm Diego is currently causing mountain snow and lower-elevation rains in some parts of Southern California and the Southwest. It is likely to interact with cold air blows generated due to high pressure to its north while moving towards the Southeast, and consequently cause heavy snowfall as well as ice accumulation, which will disrupt power supply, communication and travel across the Southern Plains into the Southeast.

Some areas in the Southeast coast of the US will be having precipitation until Monday or Tuesday, as a result of the Winter Storm Diego gliding eastward. Some of the Southeast locations will experience precipitation for a little long period, due to the slow pace of the storm. To be combined with copious amounts of moisture during its sluggish eastward movement from the Southern Plains, Diego may unleash heavy rainfall and snowfall in the Southeast USA.

The area from the Texas Panhandle into central Oklahoma will begin to soak in freezing rains tonight (Friday night), which will cause heavy ice accumulations only to trigger power outage and damage trees. Freezing rains may spread from central Oklahoma into northern Arkansas and southern Missouri later tonight.

Southern Texas, northern Mississippi, southern Arkansas, northwestern Alabama, southwestern Tennessee and Louisiana are likely to receive rains, light or heavy sometimes, tonight. The region encompassing eastern New Mexico, southern Kansas and northwestern Oklahoma will likely be affected by extensive snowfall later tonight.

In response to the current impact of Winter Storm Diego, major airlines including United, Delta, American, Southwest and Frontier have announced to waive flight rescheduling and cancellation fees for passengers traveling to, from and via the affected areas.

By tomorrow night (Saturday), Winter Storm Diego is likely to switch from freezing rains to accumulating snow in the Texas Panhandle and Central Oklahoma. The southern part of Kansas will continue to receive snowfall tomorrow night. Parts of the Ohio Valley and the adjacent Piedmont region may come under the influence of snow and ice by tomorrow night.

By Sunday night, Winter Storm Diego will spread snow, in varying degrees, to western North Carolina, southern Virginia, southern West Virginia and South Carolina, according to the National Weather Service. Western North Carolina, at its highest elevations, may continue to experience snow and strong winds on Sunday.

Parts of the Interstate 85 corridor in the Carolinas and the Interstate 95 corridor in southern Virginia are likely be impacted by snow or ice under the extended influence of Winter Storm Diego by Sunday night. Storm Diego may disrupt travel in parts of the Interstate 26, Interstate 40, Interstate 85, Interstate 77 and Interstate 95 corridors.

Further, thrashing surf from the southern mid-Atlantic coast to the outer banks of North Carolina may cause coastal flood as a result of turbulent onshore winds under the impact of Winter Storm Diego.

However, the Northeast US in general is predicted to remain out of the impact of Winter Storm Diego. Northern Virginia, Washington DC, and Philadelphia are unlikely to receive rain or snow from Winter Storm Diego.

Disclaimer: This article brought to you by Indian Eagle Travel  is based on the bits and pieces of the National Weather Service reports forecasting the movement and impact of Winter Storm Diego. Though the impact of Winter Storm Diego is expected to be historic for some locations, minor fluctuations in surface temperature and air temperature can make big changes in the weather forecast.                          

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We are glad to add two Indian American teens – Malika Rawal and Simran Bhargava – to our ever-growing community of young Indian achievers. 15-year-old Malika and 14-year-old Simran from the Indian community of Charlotte in North Carolina are on a mission to improve sanitation standards in economically disadvantaged communities.

Charlotte-based Simran Bhargava and Malika Rawal are among the few young Indian Americans who have gone extra miles to make their humanitarian initiatives permanent missions by founding non-profit organizations to help underprivileged groups and impoverished communities with basic needs. Malika and Simran co-founded HelpHygiene to accomplish their mission of educating people on sanitation and raise funds to eradicate sanitation crisis in backward areas.

They have raised $6000 and collected 1200 toiletry items over the past seven months, an initial step towards their mission. Even the other members of the Help Hygiene Foundation, who are directly or indirectly associated with the mission, are conducting fund collection and sanitary education drives. The fund is utilized to support campaigns on sanitation education and buy bedding and shoes for the underprivileged.

The seeds of HelpHygiene were sown into the mind of Malika Rawal, on her first trip to Delhi, India. While exploring slum areas in and around the capital of India, she met with a grim reality to her utter surprise. She came across kids wearing only undergarments and walking in the dirt without shoes. She found many families with ‘devastating living standards.’ Water, a most basic need of life, is an unaffordable luxury for them.

On return to Charlotte from Delhi, Malika shared her unpleasant experience with Simran Bhargava and proposed the idea of creating a non-profit foundation to her. Simran took interest in it because she too had witnessed repulsive pictures of poor sanitation in poverty-ridden areas during her visits to India. They joined hands to make a difference in the lives of those suffering from consequences of poor sanitation, which resulted in the foundation of HelpHygiene.

Read More Stories of Philanthropy by Indian Americans

9^th grader Malika Rawal and 8^th grader Simran Bhargava are planning a trip to India during the Christmas Holiday this year end, in order to visit pre-schools in the economically disadvantaged areas of Delhi, educate the students and their families on the importance of sanitation, and supply them with toiletries and other stuff for hygiene in day-to-day life.

The founders of HelpHygiene conduct membership drives from time to time. The first such drive was conducted on June 11 in Charlotte, and 30 new members joined the mission of HelpHygiene. The second membership drive is scheduled to take place on August 7. Those who are interested in the humanitarian goals of HelpHygiene in Charlotte  can catch up with Malika and Simran online at 6 PM on Wednesdays.

‘Donate Your Birthday,’ one of the noble initiatives by Malika and Simran, is a good opportunity for you to contribute to the mission of HelpHygiene in Charlotte. You can request your family, friends and relatives to donate to HelpHygiene on your birthday, instead of receiving gifts from them. Your birthday can be a happy occasion to make the world a clean, hygienic and livable place for the poor. Or, you can write to them at HelpHygieneFoundation@gmail.com, seeking to participate in or donate to their mission.  – Indian Eagle

Travel Beats is an Indian American community portal by Indian Eagle, a leading international travel organization. We celebrate the achievements of young Indians and publish the Indian Diaspora news besides sharing updates on air travel, India tourism, US visa and immigration.

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The celebration of International Day of the Girl has been continuing since October 12, with remarkable achievements of girls in education, extracurricular activities, and contribution to society worldwide. More and more Indian American girls are bringing honor to the global Indian community.

We are not yet done with the celebration of Ohio’s 13-year-old Indian American girl winning the crown of America’s Top Young Scientist 2016. Sadhana Anantha, a high school girl from the North Carolina Indian community, became the 2016 National Young Woman of Distinction in USA for introducing kids to the wide application of science to everything from everyday life to global issues such as the Ebola outbreak in 2014. She is in the first year of Bachelor of Science at the University of Miami.

The Girl Scout of the United States recognized 10 extraordinary girls from across the country as the National Young Women of Distinction for the year 2016 for their outstanding leadership in different niches. These young leaders have converted their individual ideas and visions into concrete plans with measurable and sustainable impact on life at local, national and international levels.

One of the National Young Women of Distinction 2016, Sadhana Anantha from North Carolina won the Girl Scouts’ award for her ‘Ebola Awareness’ project for school children in age group of 11-13. When Ebola broke out in West Africa in 2014, Sadhana Anantha found that school students were unaware of such global issues as the spread of Zika virus and why they were the topics of science outside school classrooms.

She approached the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences and approached the museum authority to create a mock Ebola testing lab simulation for school goers. This Indian American girl tried her best to give students a picture of science’s role in exploring the things related to the Ebola breakout and addressing such serious global issues, which are not taught at school. The students were introduced to clinical science in the mock Ebola testing lab.

Sadhana Anantha tasted the fruit of her initiative when one of the middle school students stood second in the North Carolina Science and Engineering Fair for demonstrating what he learned about clinical science and its application to the real world, at the simulation lab. This North Carolina Girl Scout’s project is now a recurring exhibit on display in the lab of the museum.

The 2016 National Young Women of Distinction, including Sadhana Anantha, will be felicitated at a ceremonious event to be organized by the Girl Scouts of the USA in Philadelphia and awarded a combined scholarship worth $50,000 by the Kappa Delta Foundation this fall.

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