Avinash Rachmale of Bloomfield Hills wins SBA Award

Avinash Rachmale, resident of Bloomfield Hills and a founder of Lakeshore Engineering Services was honored with the U.S. Small Business Administration’s 2009 Champion Award for Entrepreneurial Success. Mr. Rachmale went to Washington, D.C., to be recognized by President Obama with the national award.

Mr. Avinash Rachmale is originally from Maharashtra, India. He studied engineering at Wayne State University.

Mr. Rachmale founded Lakeshore Engineering Services in 1994. Lakeshore Engineering provides a full range of construction, environmental and technological services for public- and private-sector employers.

(via Oakland Press)

Bollywood Acting classes coming to Michigan

MIICC (Michigan Indian Chamber of Commerce) has invited Anupam Kher's "Actor Prepares" school to host a 4 week "Bollywood Acting" workshop here in Michigan. The workshop would begin sometime in October 2009.

The curriculum for the 4 week workshop:
(There will be 2 concurrent sessions during the four week period)

Bollywood dance
Acting techniques
Acting for Camera

Workshop Duration & Timings

Session 1 - 4 weeks total duration

Timing: 10:00 am to 2:00 pm (4 hours per day)
Days: Monday to Friday (5 days per week)
Location: Novi
Cost: $1500

Session 2 - 4 weeks total duration

Timing: 5:00 am to 9:00 pm (4 hours per day)
Days: Monday to Friday (5 days per week)
Location: Novi
Cost: $1500

Early Bird Registration

15% off if registered between July 1st to July 31st 2009 - $1275
10% off if registered online between August 1st to September 1st 2009 - $1350

There will be a 5% additional discount to the 2nd member of the same family.

Visit MIICC for more details

DJ Naveen competing for "Best DJ" in the Detroit area - vote for him!

DJ Naveen, owner/operator of NS Events is competing for "Best DJ". NS Events is an innovative company with a highly talented, well-trained staff of experienced consultants to help plan your special event. They have been in this business for over 10 years.

To keep a fresh approach on entertaining, DJ Naveen trains himself weekly on the art of beat-mixing and reading the crowd. DJ Naveen is considered one of Metro Detroit's best Disc Jockey’s and MC (master of ceremonies).

You can contact DJ Naveen at (248) 797-9707.

Click here to vote for DJ Naveen.

Here's DJ Naveen in person:

BollyFit performs at Top of the Park, Rackham Stage, Ann Arbor, MI

The very Talented Anuja Rajendra of Ann Arbor, MI along with her BollyFit group premieres their rendition of the world - famous dance finale of the Oscar - winning film, “Slumdog Millionaire."

When: Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Time: 7:40pm - 8:10pm
Location: Ingalls Mall, Ann Arbor, MI (map)

About Bollyfit:

BollyFit synthesizes artistic elements of Bollywood “film dances” with classical (Bharat Natyam) and Bhangra styles in a dynamic dance experience. A spiritual thread is woven in and consciousness awakens through dance. Guided by BollyFit Founder, Anuja Rajendra, BollyFit epitomizes a true 'mela' or 'coming together' of souls - from never-before dancers to grandmothers who haven't danced in 30 years - who experience increased athleticism and emanate aliveness into the universe!

Ford's Fiesta Movement (#fiestamovement)

(cross posted from mibazaar.com)
Some time back Ford recruited 100 "Agents" to test drive their Ford Fiesta (to be launched in 2010/2011). These agents will spend 6 months behind the wheel of their own Fiesta, lifestreaming their experiences on Twitter/YouTube.

Check out what they are upto in this twitter map I created.

(Fiesta Movement website)


View Larger Map

Embed the map in your website. Here's the code!!


<iframe width="425" height="350" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" src="http://www.mibazaar.com/fordfiesta.html"></iframe><br /><small><a href="http://www.mibazaar.com/fordfiesta.html" style="color:#0000FF;text-align:left">View Larger Map</a></small>


Dad wears a Helmet but what about his kids who are riding with him?

This is bizarre. We were watching "Aapki Antara" (Indian TV Serial) on Indian TV (ZeeTV)....and bumped into this image.

Dad is about to ride his bike with his kids sitting at the back. Now he takes care of himself by wearing a helmet but there are no helmets provided for the kids. Of course "Dad" is just a actor but still this is crazy. The producers, directors, actors all should be ashamed of themselves. Law enforcement folks from India (if they care) should look into this. (YouTube Link)

Michigan India Chamber of Commerce Event - June 17th, 2009

Focusing on the topic of “growth through professional and business coaching,” MIICC (Michigan India Chamber of Commerce) will host an interactive panel discussion on Wednesday, June 17th, 2009 from 5:30 pm to 8:00 pm. The business coaching interactive panel will be held at the Dykema Gossett offices located at 39577 Woodward Avenue in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. The panel members are:

Prafulla Pande, President of Pande Associates (http://pandeassociates.com/pande/) and Doron York, President of Business Edge International (www.bizedgegroup.com)

MIICC will also announce the launch of a group coaching session to help business owners take advantage of coaching at affordable, group rates. Register today by visiting: http://www.miicc.com/event_register.php

RIP - Rajeev Motwani

Cross posted from (mibazaar.com)

Rajeev Motwani a professor of Computer Science at Stanford University, was a brilliant young man (47) who died in a accident at his home in Atherton, California on June 5th. From Wikipedia:

Motwani was one of the co-authors (with Larry Page and Sergey Brin, and Terry Winograd) of an influential early paper on the PageRank algorithm, the basis for Google's search techniques

So where did Rajeev come from? Here's a Google Maps Journey of Rajeev Motwani which includes a video tribute at the end.

India's Cabinet Ministers

Here is a educational map for our community. Manmohan Singh, Prime Minister of India recently appointed 33 cabinet ministers. So who are these ministers and where were they born and how old are they? For answers to these questions check out this Google Maps Mashup I created:

Indian Bloggers in Michigan

Are there any Indian Bloggers in Michigan? If you know of any do let me know..and I will publish the list here.

Here are couple of bloggers I know of.

Nipa Shah's blog at:
Michigan Indian Chamber of Commerce (http://www.miicc.com/blog)

Anuja Rajendra of Bollyfit. Her blog is at:
http://www.bollyfit.com/index.php/bollyblog/

I maintain couple of blogs:
My Google Maps Blog at: (http://www.mibazaar.com)
Random/Miscellaneous stuff at (http://www.virenderajmani.com)
Michigan Indian Community at (http://indians.mibazaar.com)

Michigan Indian Community Channel on YouTube

I have created a Michgian Indian Community channel on YouTube. I plan to add videos related to news and events related to Michigan Indian Community.

Some of the videos I have added to the community channel are videos which feature the following members of our community:
Anuja Rajendra, Darshana Menon, Nipa Shah, Mira Bedi, Naveen Sharma

If you have videos which you would like to suggest then do let me know by posting your comments or sending me a note.

Maharashtra Mandal of Detroit presents a play by local artists

Maharashtra Mandal of Detroit brings to you over 2 hours of non-stop entertainment (play) by local artists.

Details:

Ghetlay Shingawar (directed by the legendary Michigan Indian Radio Host: Dr. Subhash Kelkar)

Date: Saturday June 13, 2009

Time: 4.00 pm

Location: Groves Little Theater, Groves High School, 20500 W. Thirteen Mile, Road, Beverly Hills, MI

For more details visit Maharashtra Mandal of Detroit website.

HH Sri Chinna Jeeyar Swamiji in Metro Detroit

HH Sri Chinna Jeeyar Swamiji will be in the Metro Detroit area on June 16th and June 17th.

June 16th:

at Bharatiya Temple, 6850 Adams Road, Troy, MI 48098.

The event starts at 6.00pm

The Program:
1. Essence of Srimad Bhagavad Githa in English (Geetartha Sangraha)
2. Sri Krishna Puja
3. Maha Prasad

June 17th:

at Dr. Krishna Prasad & Vimala Yarlagadda, 609 Weybridge Drive, Bloomfield Hills, MI

The event starts at 8.00AM

The Program:
Theertha Ghosti

For more details on Swamiji's US visit click here or contact Narsraj at (248-924-4367) or email JETMichigan@gmail.com

Happy Memorial Day

This Memorial Day we honor those who serve in the United States Armed Forces, their families, and all military retirees and veterans. On this occasion I would like to share couple interesting/educational pages I have created:

• Michigan casualties of Iraq War
  (For other states check out iCasualties.org)
• National Cemeteries maintained by Veterans Affairs and National Park Service and Army
• IRAQ War Casualties Count (both Dead and Wounded) by State
• Women Casualties of IRAQ War

Anuja Rajendra's Bollyfit featured on Fox 2 Detroit

Congratulations to Anuja Rajendra (Bollyfit) of Ann Arbor for being featured on Fox 2 Detroit in their Health Works segment. (video shown below).

So what is Bollyfit. From their website

BollyFit synergizes artistic elements of Bollywood film dances with classical (Bharat Natyam) and Bhangra styles in a dynamic dance experience. A spiritual thread is woven in and participants increase consciousness ("Presence", as described by Eckhart Tolle) through dance. Clock time slips by and, by the way, you've worked up a sweat and strengthened BollyMuscles!

Listening to Indian Radio in Michigan

Did you know that there are couple of really good Indian Radio programs you can listen in to during weekends. I had mentioned this a year or so ago, thought I should mention it again.

Saturdays:
Subhash Kelkar (Geetanjali) 9 AM - 10 AM on WPON 1460AM
Narendra Sheth (Geetmala) 11 AM - 1 PM on WPON 1460AM

Sundays:
Mumtaz Haque (Manoranjan) 9 AM - 11 AM on WPON 1460AM
Rajiv Sanghvi (Swar Bahar) 11 AM - 12 Noon on WNZK 690AM

Metro Detroit has 4 of America's Best Pizzas

According to GQ Magazine, Metro Detroit has America's Best Pizzas. 4 of the 25 best pizzas in America are right here in the Metro Detroit area. They are:

• Ranked: 13 - Luigi's at 36691 Jefferson, Harrison Township, MI
• Ranked: 15 - Buddy's at 17125 Conant, Detroit, MI
• Ranked: 21 - Tomatoes Apizza at 29275 14 Mile Road, Farmington Hills, MI
• Ranked: 24 - Niki's at 735 Beaubien Street, Detriot, MI

.

From the recently concluded event: Indian Musical Show

I would like to share some photographs which were sent to me from the recently concluded "Indian Musical Show" event in the Detroit Area, where the chief guest was Dr. Sanjay Gupta of CNN.

Mumtaz Haque, host and producer of Manoranjan Radio Programme with Dr. Sanjay Gupta.	Darshana Menon (one of the judges and a previous winner of Sa Re Ga Ma Pa USA) with Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

Here is Dr. Sanjay Gupta addressing the gathering:

Asian Pacific American Heritage Month Celebration at Lansing, MI

The seventh annual Asian Pacific American Heritage Month Celebration will take place at the State Capitol (Lansing, MI) on May 19, 2009. This year’s theme, “Celebrating Asian Pacific American Heritage” honors the many contributions citizens of Asian and Pacific Island ancestry have made to America.

The celebration features a multi-cultural program highlighting traditional dance performance, video clips of various Asian ethnicities and sampling of authentic Asian cuisines. Most importantly, Dr. Leslie E. “Les” Wong, President of Northern Michigan University, will give the keynote address.

For additional information or to request special accommodations, please contact Hoon-Yung Hopgood at 313/510-4358 or hoonhop@hotmail.com.

For more information on the Governor’s Advisory Council on Asian Pacific American
Affairs, visit http://www.michigan.gov/mdcr-acapaa.

CRY Detroit presents fundraising dinner

The Detroit Chapter of CRY will be having its fundraising dinner on Saturday May 16th, 2009 from 6.00PM to 11.00pm at St. Lucy Croatian Catholic Church Hall, 200 East Wattles, Troy, MI 48058.

CRY, which stands for Child Rights and You, is an Indian Non-Government Organization (NGO) that works towards restoring basic rights to underprivileged Indian children.

The funds raised during this event is for Child Rights in India and the US. The highlights of the evening include keynote speech by CRY Project Leader from India.

For more info visit CRY Detroit website or contact

• Monika Khanna 586-610-6329
  MKHANNA06[AT]GMAIL[DOT]COM
• Apoorv Agarwal 248-505-1519 APOORV.AGARWAL[AT]GMAIL[DOT]COM