Gitanjali is a social entrepreneur and educationist. After having founded several business and social ventures, she is setting up Himalayan Institute of Alternatives, Ladakh, as its Founding CEO & Dean. HIAL is an alternative institute for mountain development that aims to revolutionise higher education in India through the pedagogy of contextual and experiential learning. Gitanjali is a spiritual seeker with a deep interest in Indian Spirituality. She is a lifelong student of Sri Aurobindo & The Mother, Sanskrit, Vedas & Upanishads and strives to apply her learnings gleaned from these sacred texts to existing educational frameworks.
Co-Founder
A mechanical engineer by training, Sonam Wangchuk has worked primarily in the field of education reform for the last 30 years. His work is directly responsible for bringing the percentage of pass grades in the crucial Ladakhi 10th grade examinations up to 75% from 5%. His vision for the Himalayan communities to lead sustainable lives has resulted in innovations like the Ice Stupa and passive solar heated buildings.
Co-Founder
Dr. Sampadananda Mishra is passionate about Sanskrit. He strongly believes that Sanskrit has immense potentiality to elevate the human consciousness to sublime heights. Dr. Mishra has spoken at various conferences, seminars, and literary & religious festivals, both nationally and internationally on Sanskrit, Indian culture, Yoga and Education. In addition Dr. Mishra, as a devotee of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, is familiar with their writings and feels comfortable in delivering lecture on Philosophy and practice of Sri Aurobindo’s Yoga. He has been to USA several times for giving lectures, conducting workshops and participating in conferences and seminars. He was one of the keynote speakers in the Waves conference that took place in Trinidad and Tobago in the year 2010. In the year (2014) Dr. Mishra was invited to the Monash university, Melbourne for giving a talk on character development and service to the humanity in a seminar on Swami Vivekananda. He is also closely associated with the members of the School of Philosophy and guides their Sanskrit teachers. Dr. Mishra worked as the Associate Editor of the Collected Works of Vasishtha Kavyakantha Ganapati Muni published in twelve volumes. Dr. Mishra has launched the first ever 24hours Sanskrit Radio called Divyavani and is single handedly managing the entire content since its inception in 2013. In the year 2014 Dr. Mishra founded Samskrita Balasahitya Parishad with the aim of creating, evaluating and propagating children’s literature in Sanskrit.
