Does anyone know ..
Does anyone go
Does anyone stay
Does anyone Leave
When the day is done
You have to let go….
Today will never repeat itself
We enter tomorrow
With fragment’s from yesterday
Images from today
Paint the picture
On a clean slate
Framed nicely
With the yesterdays
Like a shadow
Yesterday follows me
How we stand from yesterday
Determines who we are today
It should be relatively simple
It should be relatively simple
To Love
To hold on
To move forward
To Let go
To simply Be
Does anyone know …
I am told the remedy is simple
Fix your eyes not in what is seen
But what is unseen…
Because who hopes in what one can see
Hope is for what we do not see
We then wait for it
Eagerly with patience
Does anyone know..
Does anyone go
Does anyone stay
Does anyone leave
When the day is done…
Does anyone know

My Journey into App Programming:

I was a Windows man through and through. Windows Desktop, Windows laptop. Windows at work, Windows at home. When ever I used to go to Somerset mall, I used to pass by Apple Store, stroll inside and smile at the people inside as I could not fathom their world. I felt like I was on different Planet. It felt odd trying Mac in the store. Mouse with one button felt weird.

My first Apple product was iPhone in 2007. I felt in love with it the day Steve Jobs announced it. I was in line at Somerset mall on the first day to purchase one. Fast forward today and iPhones are everywhere. Like me, millions of fellow Indians are using Apple Products: iPhones, iPads and IPods.

Every now and then I used to search for Apps related to Bollywood. All I used to get was apps that stream Bollywood Music. I always craved for Puzzles and Trivia apps based on Bollywood movies. The games that we played when we were young using pen and paper. Guessing movies,Actors… It was so much fun.

I waited for few years in hopes of finding such apps and still situation did not change. So I thought of making one for myself. I am glad to say that my app is in the AppStore and is named “BollyQuiz“. This is the app that I wanted to make for myself and for people who love and obsess with Bollywood Trivia.

I am not the only one who has great ideas and find that the games that they enjoyed in childhood are still not in AppStore.

So if someone wants to be creative and make their own app, what does it take ?
(1) If you don’t have, you will need a Mac. Either Macbook Air OR iMac. Cost $1000.
(2) Xcode: This is the name of application that you will need to code. It is FREE. ( Download it from Mac App Store)
(3) Books: There is lot of free help on internet but I bought books worth $300. Stanford has free video lessons on iTunes.
(4) Lots of Tea/Coffee and Time to learn and code.
(5) Once your App is ready, you pay $99 to apple and upload it to their App Store and Voila!!!!, Your app will be in front of 400 million users instantly. ( Apple is selling ~350,000 iPhones and ~200,000 iPads every day. )

Sunil Varia

“BollyQuiz” app is available in AppStore for 99 cents. ( http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/bollyquiz/id544468805?ls=1&mt=8 )

For more details check out the flyer below:

Congratulations to Michigan Indian Community Member Virinder Moudgil on being appointed Lawrence Technological University’s President. He is the seventh president of LTU. Virinder Moudgil succeeds Lewis Walker on July 1st 2012.

From Crain’s Detroit Business:

Moudgil, senior vice president and provost of Oakland University, oversees operations of six schools, the library, 16 administrative units, grants, sponsored research and other areas. He also co-chairs the steering committee for the Oakland University William Beaumont Medical School. He joined the staff of Oakland University in 1976 as an assistant professor of biological sciences.

Moudgil earned a doctorate in zoology and biochemistry from Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India.

For more details on Virinder K.Moudgil check out this page at Oakland University.

Anuja Rajendra

Anuja Rajendra, of Ann Arbor, is the founder and CEO of BollyFit, focused on improving physical and mental fitness through Bollywood-inspired dance classes. She also designed an ice dance routine performed by silver medalists at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, the first ever Indian dance-inspired routine. She earned a bachelor’s degree in industrial and operational engineering and a master’s of business administration in entrepreneurship and international business, both from the University of Michigan. Rajendra will replace Peter Ajluni.

Mumtaz Haque

Congratulations to Mumtaz Haque on being invited by Chrysler Asian Network as their VIP guest and speaker for their “Motivational Cultural Seminar” event on May 17th at Chrysler World Headquarters. CAN (Chrysler Asian Network) celebrates May as the Asian Pacific Heritage Month and organizes events in May  to highlight the  Asian Pacific Americans and their contributions to the society and to  spread awareness about the rich cultures.

Mumtaz was also invited on May 7th, by city of Troy to accept the Troy Asian Pacific Heritage Month proclamation (this is the first time City of Troy has done this).

On May 3rd Mumtaz was invited to be a keynote speaker at the John Dingell Veteran Affairs Medical Center in Detroit. At this event Mumtaz presented on Cultural Competence which was very well received.

Suicides are a tragedy in any and all communities, no question about it.

Just in the past three weeks, I heard of three suicides that have happened within a 60 mile radius in Metro-Detroit. Of the three, two were of Indian origin (from India). I also know two other families who lost a child to suicide; one in the past year and one just over 15 years ago. Frankly, even one suicide is too many to know of as far as I am concerned and so knowing of four suicides within the Indian community in Michigan makes me overwhelmed and extremely sad.

Three out of four of the above were male between the ages of 22 and 31. The fourth was a female over the age of 50.

Regardless of age, gender, or race, a suicide raises one common question: WHY?

Why did the person decide to end his or her life? Was it loneliness? Was it depression? Was it a chemical imbalance? Was it peer pressure?

Why did they not consider what their families would go through when they committed suicide? Or were they completely incapable of thinking of anything besides the helplessness they faced?

The latest suicide prompted me to post on my Facebook page the need for us to continuously remind our friends and family that they are loved and the need for awareness.

In the US, the Indian community is close and yet not so close to each other. Socially Indians do a lot of stuff together; celebrating their professional successes with a lot of personal get-togethers and parties. Professionally it is a well-known and well-understood fact that few people go out of their way to help other Indians in need. Also, the fear of gossip prevents people from talking about real serious problems to others. And there-in lies the problem.

To all of you reading this blog, what would you do if someone you know came to you and told you that they are depressed and wished they were dead or have contemplated ending their life? Would you give them a pat and say “come on, it’s ok, things will be better” or give some false platitudes to make light of the comment? OR will you take it seriously enough to recommend that they take professional help?

And that’s the other problem as I see it. We may miss obvious “help” requests from our loved ones by thinking that they are joking or by avoiding unpleasant conversations.

So what is my point? Why am I pontificating on this topic?

I don’t know if suicides be prevented with more awareness but I believe that MORE awareness is needed in the Indian American community. Although we have a community organization like Michigan Family Services (MAIFS.org), I believe that more involvement and community outreach is needed. We need to host discussions and forums to raise awareness. WE need to tell our friends and families that they are loved. We need to spread the word that NOTHING is worth killing yourself over, nothing!

Do you have any thoughts on how you’d like to create community outreach and awareness? I’d love to hear your thoughts…please comment or reach me directly through my website: www.jenesysgroup.com.

Tumma won the top honors in the competition that also saw two other Indian Americans – Neel Patel from Florida and Anirudh Prabhu from Indiana – finding a place in the top 10.

The winners overcame tough competition from a group of 40 finalists, seven of them Indian Americans, in what is touted as the toughest national science competition. The 40 finalists met President Barack Obama at the White House on Tuesday.

Tumma analysed the molecular mechanisms in cancer cells and found that by inhibiting certain proteins, the growth of cancer cells may be slowed and their malignancy decreased.

Placed sixth, Neel Patel of Florida received a $25,000 award for studying how non-speech patterns of sounds called sonifications can convey information, which could lead to a computer-user interface as revolutionary as the graphical interface was 30 years ago.

Prabhu from Indiana received a $25,000 for the seventh spot for his investigation of the odd-perfect number problem, and his suggestion that odd perfect numbers do not exist.

(via Economic Times and Zee News)