Indian Culture in Michigan

Tanya Muzumdar writes an excellent article in the current issue of Metromode about "How South Asian culture as expressed through Bollywood films, dance and specialty foods has moved beyond local enclaves onto Main Street Michigan".

She writes about "Bhangra" which is India's famous pop culture export, which is also a inspiration for dance numbers in bollywood films and how Michigan's very own - the talented Anuja Rajendra (founder of Bollyfit) teaches it all over Metro Detroit. Anuja's students are not limited to Indian dancers. Its pretty diverse.

I have written about this before and Tanya also mentions it: Nipa Shah of MIICC has arranged for Bollywood Acting classes in our area which will be taught by Anupam Kher's Actor Prepares School.

Tanya then writes about Novi Town Center 8 where bollywood films are screened and where folks come from as far as Toledo, Lansing, Cincinnati.

The article also writes about Indian Restaurants in our area and there are plenty of restaurants here. Tanya writes about Royal Sweets located in Farmington Hills which is the only store in Michigan carrying fresh sweets, made in-store daily, from all regions of the Indian subcontinent.

Tanya makes a brief mention about the various Michigan Indian Radio Hosts including Mumtaz Haque who is advisor to Gov. Granholm on Asian and Pacific Affairs in Michigan.

Finally yes, Tanya writes about my Michigan Indian Community Blog and the work I do with Google Maps, Twitter, YouTube API's.

Michigan Indian Community: Mentors and Mentees wanted!

The Michigan India Chamber of Commerce (www.miicc.com) has had a fantastic 2008. With speakers such as L.Brooks Patterson (Oakland County Executive, Sujata Chadda (Registered Dietician), Mary Ann Golen (Financial expert), Harry Whalen (MEDC), and many others, the MIICC meetings have been well received by the community.

In 2009, speakers will provide chamber members and participants valuable insight and tools to help polish their professional and business skills.

We also plan to launch our mentoring program and seek 10 mentors & 10 mentees.

Mentors will be people who are:

1. Successful career professionals or business owners
2. Able to spend TWO hours per month (phone and in person meetings) with mentees
   
3. Able to guide and coach younger professionals or business owners
4. Able to maintain confidentiality
   

Mentees will be people who are:

1. Young professionals or business owners
2. Willing to take constructive feedback and guidance
3. Able to maintain confidentiality regarding discussions with mentees
4. Willing to spend time building and fostering good relationships with mentors
   

An application form be loaded on the MIICC.com website soon.

In the meantime though, if you feel that you may be a good mentor or a prospective mentee, please email me at nipa @ jenesysgroup dot com.

Good mentors are those who can commit the time and are willing to help. Similarly, good mentees are ones who are willing to take constructive feedback and learn from others.

I look forward to hearing from you if you think you may fit either requirement.

Tragedy in Novi, Mi - Domestic Violence and Support needed by the Michigan Indian Community

It is Diwali season and celebration of the beginning of a Hindu New Year. And yet in the midst of all the revelry came news of a tragedy; a woman and her two kids were murdered in their home, and the police are looking for the husband and father as a person of interest.

More relevant to this discussion is that this tragedy has befallen an Asian Indian family in Novi, Michigan.

The story as reported by the local news is that the family had recently moved to Novi, husband had lost his job, their car was repossessed, and basically they had fallen into hard times. The father and husband, Lakshminivasa Rao Nerasu, appears to have fled to India and there is an international manhunt underway to locate him.

So what's my point?

If Lakshminivasa is indeed the person who killed his family, questions that come to my mind are:

• Did anyone in the Nerasu extended family (like the brother who notified the police) know Lakshminivasa was approaching breaking point?
• Did the family suffer any kind of domestic violence before the day when they were killed?
• Did the father suffer from depression that went untreated?
• Did the wife and kids tell anyone of the situation at home that may have caused this ultimate tragedy?

It is impossible perhaps to know what may be happening in someone's home. But by raising awareness about available support and by letting people know about the Michigan Asian Indian Family Services (MAIFS.org) we can perhaps avert such tragedies. The MAIFS has professionals who can help provide counseling and guidance in domestic violence situations. If you know of someone facing tough times, let us all encourage them to contact MAIFS. The MAIFS is known for maintaining absolute confidence when working with people facing such situations.

We don't know what led to the Nerasu family tragedy. We can only speculate that hard times led to such a tragedy. But domestic violence happens in various different situations. Even though we all live busy lives, let us all go an extra mile to offer support and a lending hand to those who may need it. And let us raise awareness about available resources such as the MAIFS so that we can help a family in need.

All my best....
Nipa

Beautiful Spring Day in South East Michigan

Its a Beautiful Spring Day today here in South East Michigan. A month or so ago a lot of us were sick and tired of the long harsh winter and wanted to get out of this place. No Complaints now...

(This image taken on on April 27th at Plymouth, Michigan)

Quiz - Which Desi Restaurant is this?

This is a image of a front entrance to a desi restaurant in the Metro Detroit Area. Can you guess the name and location? Samooooosay Anyone?