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Chicago IL: Hari Om Mandir celebrated the New Year 2015 with 24 hours Akhand Ramayan Path. At 11.55pm on 31st Dec. the Ram Dhun was chanted by all the devotees present in the hall in full enthusiasm to say goodbye to 2014 and to welcome the New Year 2015. At midnight all the devotees greeted each other and sweets were distributed to all as Prasad by temple priest. We experienced an unprecedented number of devotees who visited the temple and celebrated the New Year with the bhog of Akhand Ramayan Path. As usual Mr. Subhash Sharma took the responsibility of the 24 hours Akhand Ramayan Path. The sponsors were Subhash and Kiran Sharma and Salwan family. Hari Om Parivar extends its best wishes for the prosperous, peaceful, healthy, happy and successful New Year – 2015 to everyone in the community. In the congregation, BOT Chairman Mr. Ayodhia Salwan announced the name of the new president Mr. Indrajit Sarkar who is re-elected this year also. He welcomed him saying, “Mr. Sarkar is a very devoted and hardworking President. He continuously brings new ideas and conducts great programs for the benefit of all devotees.” Mr. Sarkar said “I feel blessed and consider […]

Chicago IL: The New Year Eve event at Ashyana Banquets presented by the Indian Event Management (IEM) team was once again a roaring success. Clearly, the banquet hall was charged up with the amazing intensity of folks wanting to see the beautiful Bollywood actress, Anjana Sukhani of Salam-e-Ishq fame along with the other attractions such as the Samba dance performance. The IEM team has been making its name in the Entertainment Industry by first launching ‘Chicago Indian Icon’; then presenting the ‘Bappi Lahiri’ concert and now adding another feather to their cap by this sensational show for 2015 NYE. The five members of the IEM namely , Brij Sharma (President), Pratibha Jairath (Vice President), Sharan Walia (Director of Planning and Management), Raju Bankapur (Director of Entertainment and Execution), Anoop Walia (Director of Public Relations and Business Services) were pleased to announce the Full House show. The hall echoed with excitement and applauded when Ms. Anjana Sukhani walked down the beautiful stairs …All eyes were on her…She greeted the audience as she walked up to the stage for a Charismatic retro medley with professional dancers from Sonia Dance Rhythm Academy and the Chicago ADAA dancers. The event was Grand sponsored by […]

Chicago IL: Beautiful strains of melodious carols, euphonic musical presentations, colorful dances, message centric skits and inspiring sermon marked the spectacular Christmas Party organized by Willow Creek Community Church (WCCC), on Friday, December 19, 2014 at 67 East Algonquin Road, South Barrington, IL. The attendees ranged from toddlers to seniors and were dressed in vibrant and colorful Indian attire. Despite adverse weather over 4750 joined the Christmas ceremony in the main auditorium and 1300 plus in Indian-Style Christmas Party after the service. The purpose was to organize the largest Indian Christmas celebration. This luminous festive event had a sizeable attendance of Christian families complemented by the presence of representatives from the Asian communities, thus making a grand inter-faith and inter-denominational Christmas celebration. Every year 60,000+ people in the Chicago area experience this Christmas tradition over the 6 days leading up to Christmas at Willow Creek Community Church (WCCC). Saray Rodriguez was the coordinator of the event. The program was highly successful with the active support of the Executive Committee of Section 102F, WCC church members and volunteers. The highlights of the Christmas extravaganza was the Indian-Style Christmas Party which was full of entertainment such as live traditional Indian Christmas music, […]

Chicago IL: The holy celebrations become even more joyful when we feel the divine blessings being showered. It turned out to be a pleasant miracle in the middle of December month in Chicago when we had a 50-degree weekend for the holy event of Hanuman Ji Moorti Sthapna. A vast number of devotees have been praying dedicatedly for many months for this day. Devotees of Hanuman Mandir had a pooja for Bhoomi Shudhi on December 14, 2013. Ground breaking pooja was done in April 2014. Hanumanji arrived in Chicago in July 17th with the help of Chamu & Sampath Ramesh and He reached on Mandir ground on August 14, 2014 and resided in a 70-foot top container. He was visited everyday by his devotees and Pooja prayers were performed with Kumkum flowers, dhoop Deep, Prasad & Hanuman Chalisa chanting (even during very cold weather) until Asthan was constructed. On December 9, 2014, Priest Nagendra Rao performed special Pooja from 6:00 A.M. to 9:00 A.M. for Murtisthan with special prayers to make Holy Assan for Hanuman ji. The Sthapna procedure started with prayers on Dec. 12, 2014, to bring out beloved Hanuman ji’s Moorti from its strong shipment container. It was […]

Chicago IL: Beautiful strains of melodious Carols, euphonic musical presentations, colorful dances, message centric skits and inspiring sermon marked the grand Christmas Banquet organized by United Christian Cultural Association [UCCA] at the Bristol Court Palace in Mount Prospect, Illinois on Saturday, December 13, 2014. This luminous festive event had a sizeable attendance of the gathering of Christian families complemented by the presence of representatives from the Hindu, Muslim and Sikh communities — thus implicitly making a grand inter-faith and inter-denominational Christmas celebrations. Chief Guest Consul General Dr. Ausaf Sayeed – in his remarks – sincerely expressed his thanks and appreciation to the organizers for inviting him and added that he always looked forward to the Christmas celebrations with a sense of anticipation year after year. Consul General outlined the role of Christians in building the modern India and how a small minority of Christian population made notably significant contributions especially in the field of imparting quality education students and providing health care services. Consul General also recalled his schooling days at Catholic school and how he is familiar with the values and tenants of Christianity and how he regards them. Following his remarks, Consul General Dr. Sayeed gave away Community […]

Chicago IL: Harish Bhatt, president of the renowned Association of Indian Pharmacists in America (AIPHA), hosted AIPhA’s exciting Annual Diwali Party on Saturday, December 13, 2014 in the Sheraton Lisle, 3000 Warrenville Road, Lisle IL to celebrate the upcoming holiday season with members and their families. AIPHA also took the opportunity to discuss the progress and outlook of the pivotal group to the over 400 guests in attendance. Harish Bhatt was the Coordinators of the event. The program was highly successful with the active support of the Executive Board, AIPHA members and volunteers. The Banquet was attended by dignitaries including Tim Schneider Chairman Illinois Republican party, Dr Yash Amin Director of drug compliance state of Illinois, Fernando Grillo Former Secretary of Department of Financial and Professional Regulation, John Lagattuta Director of Human Resources and Labor relations, Nimesh Jani Elected Trustee of Schaumburg Township, Ryan Higgins Republican Committeeman for Schaumburg Township, Jake Miller Our lobbyist for Pharmacy Association, Aarti Parikh Drug Compliance Investigator, Steve Lawrence Cardinal Drugs and Bill Bodin HD Smith drugs HD Smith drugs and Dale Smith as today they complete 60 years in business. The event will start with the social hour at 6:00 PM where the guests […]

Please join us in expressing our deepest condolences due to the sad demise of our beloved Naren Patel, President & CEO of Medstar laboratory. Narenbhai passed away, on Monday, December 15, 2014, at about 4:36 pm in Chicago. Narenbhai will live for years to come within our hearts. May his soul rest in peace…. Narenbhai always believed in “Simple living and high thinking”. He lived a joyful and fulfilling life. While he was a successful and accomplished businessman, he remained involved in community advocacy and humanitarian work. He believed in “giving back” to the communities, especially to those families who are less fortunate. He had a strong faith in the youth of India and believed that our younger generation must participate in our culture and heritage. Narenbhai resided with his wife Sumitra. They have two sons, Neal and Raj. Neal is the Executive Vice President of Business Development, his younger brother Raj, is the Executive Vice President of Operations. Neal is married to Sonal, and they have two children, Nishal (17) and Shriya (10). Raj is married to Nisha, and they have two sons, Ronak (10) and Raveen (7). A true family man, Naren Patel was close to his sister, […]

Chicago IL: Indian Christian Federation of Midwest (ACF) celebrates Spectacular Christmas Party on Saturday, December 6, 2014 at Levy Center, 300 Dodge Ave, Evanston, IL. This was the first time such an event was held in Chicago by ACF. The attendees ranged from toddlers to seniors and were dressed in vibrant and colorful Indian attire. Despite adverse weather; Over 300 members joined the celebration of Christmas Party. Babu Varma and Clerin Parmar was the Coordinator of event. The program was highly successful with the active support of the Board of the Directors, Advisory Board, volunteers and various churches. The Banquet was attended by dignitaries including Rev. Timothy Rathod, Rev. Dr. John Rathod from Emmanuel United Methodist Church. Rev. Walter Christian, Shailesh Alendry, Irene Christian, Vivek Solanki, Shailesh Christian, Vidhyaben Christian and Ruthben Vyas from Gujarati Christian Fellowship of Naperville and members from Bolingbrook, Gujarati fellowship. Other community representatives Sher Rajput, Vergesh Chako, Mujeeb Ahmed, Vijender Doma, Sunil Shah attended the event. The program start right on time at 6:30 pm. Rev Timothy Rathod performed a prayer followed by dinner served. Delicious dinner, yummy chicken Biriyani, Chicken Chapli Kabob, Testy Begun Bartua, 4 kinds of different Naan, Salad and 3 different […]

Chicago IL: Sri Sri Ravi Shankar (Guruji), a Global Humanitarian and the founder of the Art of living foundation, was in Chicago on Oct 23 to 26, 2014 to conduct a happiness program for the people of Chicago. This event was at Hilton Chicago, 720 S Michigan Ave, Chicago, IL. For the auspicious occasion of Diwali, there was also Lakshmi Pooja on Oct 24, 2014 – 7 PM onwards, at Hilton Chicago.. The Pooja was open to all and free of charge. It was performed amidst cheering of thousands of people present. Attendance at the event was house full. There were many dignitaries present from all different professions such as Political, Entertainment, Education, Business, Medical, IT (Information Technology), along with prominent Community Leaders. Extremely good news was lots of students from university and second generation of USA born youngsters also attendance this event. Acharya Rohit Joshi, of Northeastern Illinois University, a Community Leader and a Hindu Priest who also performed religious Pooja accomplished the Lakshmi Pooja in rituals manner, who greeted Guruji and said he had good fortune of doing pooja with a legendary Guru- men behind Art of Living and his followers. He also mentioned that students, staff and […]

Chicago IL: A gathering of music lovers celebrated Old and New Bollywood Songs on Saturday August 30th, 2014 at Masala Grill Restaurant, 2948 West Devon Avenue, Chicago, IL. Event started at 7PM and went on till 1:30AM with non-stop Bollywood Songs being sung by 20 singers. Both amateurs and professional singers pleased the crowd for five hours. Masti-Entertainment was started by Mr. Mujeeb Ahmed on June 15th 2012. It went from a handful of members to over 125 members currently and continues to grow. Over the past year, Masti Entertainment has supported or organized 19 meet-ups. Masti-Entertainment organizes karaoke night called “Chicago Ki Awaaz” every 6-8 weeks, at venues all over Chicago Land. This night is for music lovers to get together and sing their favorite songs or just enjoy listening to other singers. Chicago Ki Awaaz provides a platform for singers to express themselves through music and welcomes artists of any Age, Religion and Culture. Its mission is to bring out hidden talents within the Desi Community and support singers who have God given Talent to realize their potential. Being an integral part of the group will provide the singers opportunity to perform at local events. DCA (Deccan Cultural […]

Chicago IL: Shere Punjab Sports & Cultural Club, Chicago held its 8th Annual Kabaddi Cup Tournament” Chicago Kabaddi Cup 2014, Volley Ball and Cultural Program” from 10:00 AM, on Sunday, August 31, 2014 at Busse Woods Forest Preserve South, Grove # 5, Elk Grove Village, IL which turned out to be a big festival of fun, food and sports. People not only from Chicagoland area but from Indiana, Ohio, Michigan and Wisconsin came in large numbers to enjoy this sports festival. The Kabaddi and Volleyball teams from Detroit, Arkansas, Milwaukee, Indianapolis and Chicago participated in the tournament. In the evening a famous Punjabi folk singer Sarbjeet Cheema entertained guests with his Punjabi hit songs, entertained the audience with his popular songs for more than three hours. Mr. Raghbir Singh (GHUN) from Houston was the Chief Guest. In the open Kabaddi Cup matches the first prize was won by the Punjab Sport Club [PSC] Milwaukee. They defeating Shere Punjab Sports and cultural Club, Chicago. The first prize of $5100 was sponsored by Jaswinder Singh Gill & Najar Singh Gill of Waukegan, Illinois and 2nd prize of $4100 was sponsored by Gurdev Singh Gill and Amritpal Singh Gill of Ludhiana Four teams […]

Chicago IL: Shreya Ghoshal Live in Concert rocked at Sears Centre Arena, 5333 Prairie Stone, Parkway, Hoffman Estates, IL On Friday, August, 15 2014. The magnificent Sears Centre Arena was packed with a phenomenal number of people who attended this sold out Concert. A record breaking attendance of over 7000 plus audience attended the concert, making it the Biggest Shreya Ghoshal Concert Ever In Chicago!!! Shreya Ghoshal, the heart-beat of Bollywood music and Cinema, who is a playback singer, mesmerized enthusiastic crowds for about 3.5 hours. Tickets for the show ranged from $39, $59, $69, $99, $150, $250 (VIP) and $500 (VVIP). The National promoter of this concert tour was Balaji Entertainment and the Chicago show was organized by Babubhai Patel and Bhavesh Patel from Sahil and Nick Patel and Mayur Patel from L.A. TAN. Shreya Ghoshal Live in Concert had many skilled musicians who looked stylish and very remarkable. The orchestra included 1 violinist, 1 keyboard player, 1 drum player, 1Dholak/ Tabla player, 1 Congo player, 1 Octapad player, and 1 Guitarist and 4 female performers. Sahil and L.A. TAN did a fabulous job organizing this event. The stage was decorated by Sears Centre Arena along with directions from […]

Chicago IL: Dr. Virchandbhai Kahandas Patel of Skokie passed away on August 27, 2014. He was known to most as Dr. V.K. Patel, or “VK”. He succumbed to a lengthy battle with thyroid cancer. He was born in Langhnaj, India on October 2, 1939. He was the second of 5 children of Kahandas Patel and Jadiba Patel. Dr. Patel was a loving and devoted father, grandfather, brother, community leader, and friend; he will be missed by all who were fortunate to have known him. The funeral/ceremony was held at Bohemian National cemetery located at 5255 North Pulaski Road, Chicago, Illinois. Besides members of Dr. V.K. Patel’s immediate family, the great hall of the historic Bohemian cemetery was packed with over 1000 well wishers who showed up despite short notice, working day and adverse weather. The ceremony was conducted by priest Jani consistent with Hindu Cremation Code of Ethics and Guidelines to send VK’s soul to the eternal journey to ‘Moxa’ or haven. His son Dr. Satyen V. Patel performed the Antim Viday rituals. Quality and quantity of emotional Eulogy given that day reflected Doctor’s connection with persons from his helping nature to the people to the “all walks of life”. […]

Chicago IL: Kala Utsav, A cultural extravaganza was organized in cooperation with over 20 Indian Community Organizations in the Midwest on Saturday, August 23, 2014 at Copernicus Center, 5216 W Lawrence Ave, Chicago. Kala Utsav was the brain child of Consul General of India, Dr. Ausaf Sayeed and his dream became a reality with the assistance of various cultural groups and community organizations. Kala Utsav gave a platform for various Indian cultural groups to showcase their best performance and expose their abundant talent. It was instituted to bring to the fore front top-class performances in both Indian music and dance. The categories included Indian Dance (Classical, Folk, Bollywood & Modern, Indian Music (Classical, Devotional, and Instrumental). The organizing committee members were: Kiran Chouhan, Vinita Gulabani, Pranita Jain, Brian Keigher, Harish Kolasani, Beena Patel, Kanti Patel, Naren Patel, Hema Rajagopalan, Keerthi Ravoori, Kshama Shah, Iftekhar Shareef, Rita Singh, Dr BK Sinha, Hina Trivedi, Jatinder Singh Bedi, Santhosh Varghese, and Vandana Walia. Participating Organizations included: Aekluvya Aashram, Anila Sinha Foundation, Assam Association of Greater Chicago, Bharathanjali School of Dance, Bollywood Rhythms, Kala Eternal Rhythms, Kalapadma Dance Academy, Kalapriya Center for Indian Performing Arts, Mudra Dance Academy, Natya Dance Theater, Nrityamala Dance Academy, […]