Monday,May 31,2010
(Shailesh Bhatt and Mahesh Mehta, members of the Indian American Cultural Center in Merrillville, walk through the foyer and entrance area of the new Bharatiya Temple of Northwest Indiana)
MERRILLVILLE, INDIANA : When Northwest Indiana’s growing Indian population wants to worship in a proper setting, they must currently travel 40 minutes west to Lemont, Ill., site of the closest Hindu temple. That is about to change. As of June 20, the Indian American Cultural Center at 8605 Merrillville Road will house an expanded cultural center and temple where its approximately 450 families can gather for meetings and weddings, Sunday school classes and Hindu worship. “Our community is expanding and the first generation wants to maintain their own identity,” said Dr. Shailesh Bhatt, a Munster resident and member of the building committee. The center is culminating its expansion 10 years to the day since it opened its current building. The expansion brings the building from a 5,000-square-foot cultural center to an 11,300-square-foot building that includes the Bharatiya Temple of Northwest Indiana, said Dr. Panna Barai of Munster.
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