Alamelu Iyemar is a third-grade teacher at PS 24 in Queens. The 55-year-old teacher who came to America from Karnataka, India, is a regular worshipper at the temple. For Iyemar, "the successful efforts in raising relief, are a reflection of our temple's spirit and soul."

The Ganesha Temple is a 16,000-square-foot silver-toned building. It was the first Hindu temple to be built in North America, according to its President Dr. Uma Mysorekar. Ironically, the Ganesha Temple was set up on Jan. 26, 1970 - 31 years before and on exactly the same day the earthqauke struck in India this year. The temple was built and financed with the help of the government of Andhra Pradesh in India and the Hindu community in New York City. The Ganesha Temple now has 17,000 members and draws devotees from all over the country.

There are more than an estimated one million Indian Americans living in America. About 140,00 live in the New York area, making it the second largest state with an Indian Asian community. California has the largest Indian Asian population in America.

According to an Indian government census taken in 1991, 82.4 percent of Indians are Hindus. Teh rest of the country's religions include Islam, 11.67 percent, Christianity 2.3 percent, Sikhism, 1.99 percent, Budhism 0.77 percent and Jainism 0.41 percent.

Rangarajan recites the prayers in front of the gold statue of Lord Ganesha, the most widely worshipped deity in Hinduism. He is the son of the Hindu god Shiva.

All Hindu prayer must first begin with an offering to Ganesha, says Rangarajan. The Hindu worshippers pay their respects to Ganesha, with ritual offerings of fruit and flowers, fragrant incense and freshly broken coconut. These ritual offerings can only be placed at the feet of or drapped on the body of Ganesha by a Hindu priest or pujari, like Rangarajan. The voice of the pujari, his prayers and the chanting of holy mantras serve as intermediaries between Hindu worshippers and god. These prayers must first be recited in front of statue of Lord Ganesha, before beginning worship to any other Hindu deities like Vishnu, the preserver, and Shiva, the destroyer or Brahma, the creator.

The Lord Ganesha is symbolized by a four-foot-high-golden statue. His form is of a short pot-bellied man with an elephant’s head, with one tusk, four arms and yellow skin. He is the god of wisdom, prudence and appropriately the god of salvation and new beginnings.

New beginnings are exactly what Rangarajan and his Hindu community are praying for - new beginnings for the survivors and the families of the victims of India's earthquake.