Meet The Team
Diversity is a satisfying mix of ideas, cultures, races, genders, economic statuses and other characteristics necessary for promoting growth and learning among a group. Same goes for Arogyam where the balanced team comprises of people from various fields of life which constitutes the Pillars of Arogyam.
The Project was envisioned by Shri Rajesh Ojha, chairperson of Banjara Camp and Smt. Vimla Mehra, ex-DGP Tihar Jail. It is led by Divya Sunil Yogacharya who has devoted his life to Yoga and ascetic living, and his association brings a wealth of knowledge to the project.
Arogyam is proud to introduce it's Founding members below in alphabetical order :
Ankit Tyagi
Ankit Tyagi is Technology Manager for one of the leading digital business transformation companies in the USA even though his heart, he says, firmly dwells in India. A middle-class Indian boy, Ankit went to University of Westminster, London for his undergrad in Software Engineering. A PG Diploma in Management from IMT Ghaziabad followed, post which he has been working with several reputed clients in the world of finance and trading as their digital transformation partner. A maverick, he sees his association with Arogyam as a step towards giving back to the community that has contributed to his station in life in no mean measure. He leads the IT department at Arogyam.
Bhavana Pankaj
Bhavana Pankaj, after studying English literature and Mass Communication at Panjab University, Chandigarh, spent nearly a decade and half as a newsperson in both print and electronic media. Briefly, she made documentary films before returning to writing. Based in Delhi, she currently pursues her love for the written word by writing, editing and translating on subjects ranging from music and dance to education and healthcare. She has authored a biography on Vinoba Bhave, written a few books for hospitals, collaborated with a painter and a classical dancer to write on Ganapati and anchor a dance production based on the river Narmada respectively. A seeker at heart, among her abiding interests is healing and health, and distilling their definitions through knowledge and practice.
Divya Sunil Yogacharya
With more than 15 years of experience in yoga and natural healing therapies, Divya Sunil Yogacharya has a Masters in Yoga from JVBI, Rajasthan. He has been a disciple of Swami Niranjanananda Saraswati, erstwhile head of the Bihar School of Yoga, Munger, one of the foremost schools of yoga. For the last few years he has been researching and experimenting on creating sustainable models for running cow-sheds where cow products can be processed and put to use. Apart from running a non-profit yoga ashram and gaushala on the premises of Tihar Jail, New Delhi, he continues to work since 2015 with the AYUSH ministry, Government of India. A master of Reiki, he continues to attend discourses at Munger to stay abreast of developments in yoga and regularly lectures on it. Sunil hails from a small village in Uttar Pradesh where he had his first taste of spirituality and social work in the company of his great grandfather, Vaid Pyarelal, a prominent doctor of Ayurveda of the time.
Pranaay Gupta
Pranaay Gupta is a young business manager who has, in a short span, gained considerable marketing experience through working with several international firms. Currently, managing business globally for a fast-growing consulting firm, Pranaay has been actively promoting ethical tourism with the CIO of DBS Bank in Indonesia and Singapore. Love for nature prompted him to the sea and he became a certified diver to educate people about the importance of saving oceans and sustainable development. For someone who graduated from ESSEC Business School, France, Pranaay is keen on not merely theory but also to put it to test through practice. He has gained first-hand experience of an active, stressful corporate life and now wants to testify to the importance of yoga and naturopathy for young and dynamic professionals like himself.
Rajesh Ojha
Google Rajesh Ojha and a travel site pops with a moniker for him – travel guru. He is indeed that for those who know Rajesh as a pioneer in the field of camping in remote Himalayan locations. From pursuing a double masters in philosophy and politics at Panjab University in the early nineties, Rajesh serendipitously relocated to setting up and running one of India’s earliest luxury camps in the Kinnaur valley. Today, he is well-known as a founder/partner at Banjara Camps & Retreats and a very successful restaurateur in Delhi (Cafe Lota, Roots Cafe and Triveni Terrace Cafe).
Sudesh Behal
Born in Punjab and brought up in Delhi, Sudesh Behal post-graduated in tourism from Delhi University. A polyglot, he went on to learn French, German and Spanish to serve foreign clientele visiting India. Today, he runs a travel company named Indo Asia Tours in partnership and is quite the globetrotter what with his professional obligations. Yoga, Ayurveda and spiritual literature are dear to his heart and he likes to attend talks on these subjects whenever he can make time. He has been a member of the RSS since he was a young boy and has great faith and regard for its philosophy and in the work the organisation does.
Sudhir Kumar
A serial entrepreneur, Sudhir Kumar was very young when his love for Indian culture and art took him to Macau – the Las Vegas of Asia – where he set up an Indian handicrafts retail store. Undaunted by the language and cultural barriers of the region in the eighties, he picked up not only the local language but also learnt Portuguese and Japanese to enable a personal interactive experience for tourists visiting his store. Four decades later, Sudhir is not only actively supporting the Missionaries of Charity in Macau, he is also quite involved with the Rotary Club of Delhi (North) and the Bharat Vikas Parishad. As one who believes in giving back to the community, he has led a number of projects around afforestation, organised blood donation and free health camps for the underprivileged and donated medical equipment to hospitals.
Smt. Vimla Mehra
An IPS officer of 1978 batch Vimla Mehra has had an illustrious career of 38 years which began in the beautiful Andaman & Nicobar Islands. At superannuation from the Delhi Police, she was serving as Director-General, Prisons. Known well for her reform work for prisons inmates and women’s empowerment, she broke new ground with starting a police helpline for women in 2002, a first in the country. Hanging up the uniform has spurred her to don other hats. An ardent espouser of alternative medicine, she has trained in sound healing and now practices it professionally. At Teherki, where she spends much of her leisure hours, she chooses to bring to ground valuable lessons in organic farming which she pursues for love.
Vishwas Makhija
At a time when adventure tourism was a remote career destination, Vishwas Makhija was well on his way to trekking through the Himalayas. Starting out modestly as a camp boy of 17 and leading commercial treks and climbing expeditions to exploring the Indian subcontinent and owning two internationally known – India Insight Tours & Luxury India Holidays, Vishwas has come a long way in three decades. Living up to his name, Vishwas believes in putting his faith in people which he believes is the reason for his success. Even as he finds the enthusiasm and energy for philanthropic work, he has continued to serve the tourism fraternity of India for nearly two decades now. He currently serves as an Executive Committee member of the Adventure Tour Operators Association of India (ATOAI).