Meet your SILC Teachers and Board (2012-13)

Abhi Nayar:

Abhi a junior at Edina High School. He joined SILC four years ago as a student of Malayalm, and co-taught cricket. He has since then become the main teacher for cricket from the past two years. Abhi is also a substitute for Malayalam level 1 once in a while.

He loves playing and watching cricket and hopes to pass on his passion for this amazing sport to the kids at SILC. 

Aditi Kulkarni – Dance Teacher (6 – 7 years). 

Aditi Kulkarni is currently a Senior at St. Paul Academy and Summit School. She has been a dancer for 10 years studying Bharatanatyam under Neelam Malhotra (SILC's Cultural Director and Dance teacher). Aditi just completed her Arangetram last summer.

Along with Bharatanatyam, Aditi enjoys other forms of dance just as Bollywood and likes to choreograph dances for Bollywood. Outside from school and dancing, Aditi plays the piano under the instruction of Elena Piastro as well as soccer with her school’s Varsity soccer team and the Blackhawks Soccer Club of St. Paul Minnesota.

Aiswarya Menon: Children's Dance Teacher (8 to 10 years) 




Aishwarya Menon is a junior at the University of Minnesota double majoring in Linguistics and French. She joined SILC at the age of 7 as a student of Malayalam and dance. At age twelve she began teaching Hindi level 1. She also taught Malayalam level 1 as well as social studies level 2. She has also been a dance teacher for the past seven years. SILC has been one of the biggest and best influences in her life and has made her the person she is today.


Anil Kumar: Tabla Teacher - anil05@aol.com


Anil has been teaching tabla at SILC for 7 years now. He has breathed life into the tabla program and now SILC has approximately 20 adults and kids studying tabla at multiple levels. Anil is doctor by profession. His wife Kartika teaches Hindi at SILC. Anil and Karitka's two sons Jyotirmya and Anjaneya are students at SILC.


Anitha Nithyanand - Kannada Teacher



Anitha is from Davangere in Karnataka. She has done bachelors degree in Computer Science as major. She taught computer languages to college students after completing her graduation in India. She has studied Kannada as her primary language during her early years in school and loves teaching it to the SILC students.

Anitha lives in Woodbury with her husband Mohan Matada and two children Amogh and Anagha, ages 7 and 4 years. She enjoys Reading, Beading, Gardening, Baking and Photography in her spare time. 2012 is her second year as a SILC volunteer teacher.

Aparna Bhave: Marathi Teacher

This is Aparna's first year teaching Marathi at SILC.  

Ari S Anand : Hindi Adults Teacher

Originally from Mumbai, Ari Singh Anand has also lived in Chandigarh, Delhi and Shimla, as well as the midwestern, northwestern, and southwestern United States. While he was once a fluent child-speaker of Panjabi, and his Panjabi-Gujarati ancestry along with his Maharashtrian birth have left him incompetent at several languages simultaneously.

 After a childhood of reluctant school attendance, he came to the USA to attend college about 20 years ago, and, in an unimaginable irony, has never left the world of education since.

He completed a PhD in anthropology from the University of Arizona, and currently teaches courses in sociocultural and linguistic anthropology at the University of Wisconsin – Eau Claire. This is Ari’s first year volunteering at SILC, where his wife Rachel and their daughter Gita are also now attending classes.

Arshad Ali: Chess Teacher

A graduate of London University in mathematics, Arshad has spent the largest chunk of his life in England. He has been  playing chess for 44 years and and enjoys teaching it. Arshad also enjoys teaching math.  2012 is his first year volunteering for SILC. Arshad works as a .NET consultant and lives in downtown Minneapolis.  He loves to travel. 

B N Singh: Chess Teacher 

This is B N Singh's first year at SILC. 

Deepa Namboodiripad: Malayalam Level 2 Teacher: deepa_namboodiri@yahoo.com

Deepa was born in Kerala and brought up mostly in Delhi. She completed high school and college in India. She completed training in Secretarial Practice from YWCA. She worked in a private company for 5 years before getting married and moving to USA in 2006.

She is married to Krishnan Nambudiripad and has a son, Godhun and a daughter, Soorya. She enjoys cooking, dancing, singing among other things. She is currently a homemaker. She is considering taking up a course to better her job prospects. She has been associated with SILC for almost 5 years now. She started attending SILC regularly from 2007 and has taught Hindi and Malayalam.

Devi Prasanna Patnayak: SS Level 2 teacher

Devi is originally from state of Odisha in India. He moved to the United States in year 2000. He completed his Ph.D. in Veterinary Medicine (virology) in 2005 and is currently working as Assistant Clinical Professor at University of Minnesota.

 He lives in Shoreview with his wife, Kasturee and two daughters Shriparna and Sejal. He loves to be involved in social activities and that is what prompted him to volunteer to teach at SILC. This is his first year of teaching and second year at SILC with his elder daughter attending classes. He loves to spend time with his family and friends.

Erin OberdorFer: Former President, SILC Board

Erin has MLS in Library Science from the University of Maryland College Park and MM in Music History and Criticism from Peabody Conservatory of Music.

She currently works as Research Director at GovDocs, Inc.  She has 3 daughters, the middle one whom is adopted from Hyderabad. She has been involved with SILC for about 8 years and helps out with the younger children's dance. She served as Principal last year and she is serving as President of SILC this year. 

Gupthan Namboodiripad: Malayalam Teacher



Gupthan is from a small village called Pazhoor in the southern part of Kerala, India. Gupthan holds the record for the longest continuous association with SILC. For many years, his wife, Uma, was a Malayalam teacher at SILC. She also taught dance and was responsible for Indian Exhibit at the Festival of Nations. Uma was a most dedicated and a very cheerful volunteer whom SILC sorely misses. The annual Uma Namboodiripad Award for Excellence in Volunteering is awarded in her memory. Gupthan's daughter, Savithry was a student at SILC and later a Social Studies teacher. Guptha's Son, Vishnu was a student at SILC and is currently teaching Malayalam for the past couple of years. Gupthan also served as SILC Principal and President in the past.


Kartika Kumar Bhardwaj - Hindi Level 4 teacher



Born and raised in the North Indian town of Jodhpur in Rajasthan, Kartika moved to MN about 12 years ago. She lives here with her husband Anil (SILC Tabla teacher) and two sons, who are full time SILC students for the past many years.

Kartika is a Physician and is well versed in Hindi, Punjabi and Marwari. She enjoys traveling and sight- seeing with her family.

Krishnan Nambudiripad: SILC Board and Tabla Teacher




Krishnan Nambudiripad has been involved with SILC as a student, teacher and board member for about 15 years. He grew up in Burnsville, MN and completed the Masters in Elementary Education program at the University of Minnesota.

Currently he works as a mortgage consultant for Wells Fargo. As a student at SILC in the 80's he participated in dance, tabla, yoga, and language and social studies classes. Currently at SILC he enjoys teaching Tabla . At home he loves biking, playing guitar, and spending time with his family.

Lakshmi Buddhavarapu: Pre-School Teacher, Secretary, SILC Board

Lakshmi Buddhavarapu is an Information Technology professional currently working for Medtronic. She taught and is teaching Preschool/Kindergarten at SILC and is the secretary on the SILC Board. She has a Master's in Biochemistry and Engineering, both from the University of Minnesota.

She lives in Vadnais Heights with her husband Jagadish and their son Teja (9). She enjoys biking, traveling and spending time with family & friends.

Lakshmi Priya : SS Level 1 Teacher

Priya has always wanted to be a teacher and now she is thankful to SILC, for having given her that opportunity. It helps Priya that she has her own daughter coming to SILC, so she can easily identify with the kids in her Social Studies class and present the curriculum in the way that would appeal to them. She enjoys spending time with the kids at SILC and looks forward to Saturday mornings.

Priya is an MCA graduate and works as an analyst at STRS Ohio. She is from Chennai, Tamil Nadu and now lives in White Bear Lake, MN with her husband Vasu and two wonderful kids Sahaana and Aadithya. She loves Reading and spending time with family. She feels she is truly blessed in every way and enjoys a day at a time!

Mangala Achar: SILC Board (Treasurer)




Mangala is from a small village, Kadatoka in North Kanara district in coastal Karnataka. She completed her Electrical & Electronics Engineering from Karntaka REC, Surathkal. She worked in Electrical industry for 3 years in India before coming to USA. In USA she worked in software field for 10+ years. At present she is a seasonal part Tax professional at H&R Block, and a home maker.

She is married to Krishnananda Achar and has two sons, Manu (15 years) & Vishnu (11 years). She enjoys doing tax returns, Having light conversations with friends& family, reading, cooking, beading, sewing, walking, biking & learning new things.

She has been involved with SILC from 2002 and has been teaching Kannada from 2004 till 2010-11 school year. She has also been principal and currently the SILC treasurer and SILC Board member. She was also an active Board member of IAM(Indian Association of Minnesota) helped with cultural coordination for IAM’s IndiaFest for last 3 years..

Manju Nayar - Director Outreach & Coordination, SILC Board

Manju has been a SILC parent since 2009. Born and brought up in Trivandrum, Manju currently resides in Edina with her husband Rajeev and two boys Abhishek  and Adarsh, both of whom are SILC students.  Manju is a physician by profession and  enjoys reading,  dabbing in some poetry and story writing, theater, listening to music, playing the veena  and playing the Veena in any spare time if at all !  Manju substitutes as Malayalam teacher at SILC and is currently serving on the SILC Board. Manju thinks SILC has been a tremendously positive influence on her children and is a passionate advocate for SILC in the community. 

Nataraj Raman – SILC Board (Volunteer coordinator) 



Natarajan Raman is a Radiation Oncologist at Hennepin County Medical Center Minneapolis MN. He has three children who are enrolled in SILC and he is actively involved in the Local community with several socially important causes. He is actively involved in volunteering at SILC and is keen to recruit more volunteers. He also serves on the board of SILC.

Neelam Malhotra:  Dance Teacher and Director Cultural Activities and SILC Board  

After completing her M.Phil in Economics from Gokhle Institute in Pune, India, Neelam worked as a Lecturer of Economics in Pune (of-course that was in the ancient times). During her School and college years, she also pursued training in Bharatnatyum from age 11 to 24.

Neelam is now a stay-at-home Mom and Home-maker (not that her home reflects that fact!). And in her free time (all of 2 minutes a day), she teaches Bharatnatyum. Neelam and her family, husband Raj, daughter Meera and son Sesh, have been involved with SILC since 2001 and thoroughly enjoy it. She currently teaches Dance classes at SILC and is also SILC Board member.

Padam Sharma, Ph.D : Nepali Teacher - padamsharma@comcast.net



With B. Sc (Agric) from Udaipur University, and B.S., M.S., & Ph. D. from the University of Minnesota, Padam has about 25 years of experience in teaching, research and consulting services in the United States and Nepal. A long time resident of St. Paul, Padam is an active member of expatriate Nepali community in Minnesota. Padam is the founder President of Empower Nepal Foundation (ENF). Padam and his family currently own and operate Everest on Grand – the first Nepali restaurant in Minnesota. 2012 is Padam’s fourth year volunteering at SILC as a teacher.


Punjabhai Patel: Yoga Teacher - punjabhaib@gmail.com





Punjabhai Patel is teaching Yoga at SILC for the past 28 years (since 1984-85 school year). He came to United States of America as an undergraduate student in 1965 and did his BS and MS in Mechanical Engineering. He is grandfather of four beautiful children and is enjoying his retirement.

Raj Menon: SILC Board





Raj is an Information Technology professional, currently working at Boston Scientific. He is a graduate of Delhi University. He lives in Burnsville with his wife Lata and two children Aishwarya and Aradhana. Raj loves to play Table Tennis, though he cannot find partners, when he finds the time!

His association with SILC spans over many years and he served SILC donning different roles as Principal, President, Social Studies teacher.




Rajesh Gupta: SILC Board (Director - Registrations)





Rajesh Gupta is an IT professional currently working for Siemens PLM. This is his second year at SILC and 1st year on the SILC Board - looking after the registrations. He lives in Saint Paul with his wife Namrata and 2 beautiful kids, daughter Ishita (8) and son Aditya (2). He enjoys watching and participating in sports, traveling, outdoor activities and spending time with family & friends. His daughter's participation in SILC has definitely motivated him in volunteering and giving back to the community.

Sanjeev Pandya: Gujarati Teacher

Sanjeev Pandya lives in Woodbury with his wife Vaishali, their daughter, Sanjana and son, Siddharth.

Born and brought up in Ahmedabad, Gujarat he has a passion for teaching practical Gujarati, what he calls 'Gujlish'. This is Sanjeev's first year as a SILC volunteer teaching Gujarati.

An engineer by profession, Sanjeev is an R&D Manager with Boston Scientific since 2003. In his free time, Sanjeev enjoys working, working and working.


Sarah: Literature Teacher



This is Sarah's fourth year volunteering with SILC. She teaches the SILC Literature class. She loves getting to know the interests and skills of the SILC youth.

When she’s not at SILC, Sarah is working with teachers in Minneapolis Public Schools, helping to support their professional growth and the academic achievement of students. 

Sherry Smith: Cooking Class Coordinator

Sherry Smith is mom to McChesney and Ameer who both joined our family through adoption from SKB in Kerala, India. She and her children have participated in SILC since 2005 with a short break while the kids explored other interests. Husband David currently takes the tabla class with son Ameer.

Sherry works for H.B. Fuller as the Global Marketing Manager, Strategy. When she's not at SILC or work, Sherry enjoys gardening, cooking, and reading.

Shiv Bhatia: Hindi-1 Teacher, President. SILC Board




A former military officer, Shiv served in the Indian Army for many years on a variety of assignments, most of them in counter-insurgency and anti-terrorism roles. After hanging his uniform, he has been learning the art of Corporate “Warfare”, in the Healthcare Services industry. Currently, he works for iHealth Technologies, Inc, as VP of Business Operations.

A die-hard outdoors person, he will do anything not to stay indoors. An avid griller who also enjoys cooking on the stove top, Shiv lives in Woodbury with his wife, Varsha and two lovely daughters, Suparna and Sahana.

Siva Jasthi: Telugu Teacher, SAP Teacher, Web Master, Director-Instructional Design,  SILC Board




With Ph.D from Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi, Dr. Jasthi has about 22 years of experience in research, software development and teaching in India and United States. He currently works at Siemens PLM Software as Program Manager. He also teaches at Information and Computer Sciences department, Metropolitan State University as community faculty.

He also volunteers for "Chetana Foundation" – a charity organization supporting an orphan school in Guntur, Andhra Pradesh, India. He lives with his wife, Bhas and kids (Tapan – 16, Deepta –10 who are SILC students), enjoys spending time with his family, blogging, teaching, telugu music, movies, travel, ethnic foods, and volunteering. Jasthi has served SILC as Principal, President, Director of Communications in the past and he is currently serving as Director of Instructional Design focusing on designing and developing the tools, means, games to teach Indic languages at SILC. This is Jasthi's sixth year teaching Telugu at SILC.

Sonja Agarwal: Arts Teacher and Social Studies-3 Teacher




Sonja grew up in Northfield, MN. She attended Luther College in Decorah, IA and received a major in Social Work. Sonja worked at Microsoft for 3 years in Seattle. Sonja decided to be a stay at home mom after the birth of their first child.

This is Sonja's third year volunteering with SILC. She has 2 sons in the program: Rohan (6th grade) and Nikhil (4th grade). Her husband is Mukesh Agarwal and they live in Lakeville

Subodh Kulkarni and Aparna Bhave: Marathi Teachers

Natives of Mumbai, India, Subodh and Aparna have been residents of Minnesota since 1992. Subodh is self-employed and Aparna works with the R&D organization in Boston Scientific. Subodh and Aparna have two daughters, Aditi (who is a SILC volunteer as well)  and Neeti. Subodh enjoys cricket, racquetball and all other sports. Aparna enjoys painting and quilting. When time and weather permit, both enjoy gardening.

Sunita Mannamkunnath: Principal, SILC Board, Hindi Teacher -sunkun1@yahoo.com

Sunita has been a SILC Volunteer for several years and has participated in various SILC events. With a full time job in a Healthcare organization and family to keep her busy during the week, Saturdays are a day of volunteering to give back to the community. Her daughters are enrolled in SILC and look forward to SILC Saturdays! She enjoys gardening, reading and traveling.

This is Sunita’s fourth year teaching Hindi at SILC.

Surya Iyer: SS Level 3 Teacher

Surya Iyer was born in Erode (TN) and grew up in Kanpur (UP), where he got his engineering degree as well, and moved to the US for grad school in St Louis and the bay area. Surya is an operations manager at a semiconductor manufacturing factory in Bloomington and teaches part-time as an adjunct engineering professor at UST.

Outside of work Surya volunteers as a commissioner in the Edina Transportation Commission, and loves to run and work out at the Y. He lives in Edina with his wife Leslie and two SILC student daughters, Zoe and Macy. Surya co-teaches Social Studies 3.

Varsha Bhatia: Hindi Level 3 Teacher

Originally from Maharashtra, India, Varsha has been in the US for over 15 years. She has an undergrad in Mathematics, graduate degrees in Computer Science from UMass and  Teaching from U of M. She has been a Kumon instructor in CO and has now donned the cap of Math educator. She lives in Woodbury with her husband Shiv and two beautiful daughters, Suparna and Sahana.

Varsha likes to be involved in the community, and loves spending time with her family. In her spare time, she likes listening to music, solving Sudoku and crossword puzzles. 2012 is her third year of volunteering at SILC.

Vidya Suresh: SS Level 1 teacher, Assistant Principal



This is Vidya’s second year with SILC as a teacher. She grew up in India, Fiji Is., Australia, later moved to Canada and then USA.

Vidya taught Literature last year and moved on to teach Social Studies level 1 this year. She feels that it is a joy teaching and learning along with the little ones. This is the first year on the SILC Board as Vice Principal.

Vishnu Namboodiripad: Malayalam 1 Teacher




Vishnu is 16 years youngest teacher at SILC. He is in 10th grade. He knows how to speak Malayalam and was brought to SILC to learn how to read and write it. He is with SILC for 10 years, and started teaching 2 years ago as a Teachers Assistant for the previous Malayalam teacher. Starting 2008-09 year, he started teaching Malayalam on his own.

He is also a Student at SILC. He is currently in Literature Class and in electives. His hobbies include video games (no wonder – kids connect with him), computer, reading, writing, tennis, and biking.