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Intro: MAFS celebrates 21 years of community services with Magical show, Dazzling Fashion show, Bollywood Dances, Soul rendering music and numerous dignitaries here & abroad Schaumburg, IL – People were awe struck, when they saw illusionary tricks of world famous magician, Dennis Watkins at the Metropolitan Asian Family Services annual fund raiser dinner to cover the gaps in State, Federal and local funding . MAFS is a not-for profit organization that provides an array of services to promote the well-being of South Asian immigrants celebrated 21 years of community service on September 21st, at India House Schaumburg. In the 21 years since its inception in 1992, MAFS has transformed and grown exponentially to serve the needs of the community. The present day MAFS serves the community through its various developed programs: Public Benefits Assistance, Citizenship and Immigration Assistance, an Adult Literacy Program, Light and Heat Program, Hot Lunch Program, Computer classes, and others. The program was started by the lightening of auspicious ‘Deep” by Kusumben Patel, Founder of Global Gayatri, followed by Ganesh-vandana prayer dance by Catherine Jafri and her group and welcome address of Dr. Firdaus Jafri, president MAFS. In his keynote remark, Bill Foster, US Congressman commended the […]

Chicago IL: Over 50 people gathered to celebrate old and new Bollywood songs on Saturday evening, September 14, 2013 at Saffron Indian Restaurant, 602 West Wise Road, Schaumburg, IL. Organized and presented by Ishaan Ahmed and Pramada Pathak of Chicago Desi Karaoke Group (CDKG), this “Musical Dhamaka Karaoke Night” was coordinated by Sanjay Varghese and Vipin Gulati. Ten singers, both amateur and professional, sang Bollywood songs nonstop from 7:30 till 11:30AM. The admission fee of $20 included vegetarian and non-vegetarian fare. Ishaan Ahmed began by singing “Tum Agar Saath Dene ka Vaada karo”by Mahender Kapoor from the movie Hamraaz; Sanjay Varghese “Akele Akele Kahan Ja Rahe Ho” by Mohammed Rafi from An evening in Paris; Vipin Gulati “Tere Chere pe wo jaado hai” by Kishore Kumar from Dharmatma; Pramada Pathak and Sanjay Varghese “Tujhe Deka to ye Jaana Sanam” by Lata Mangeshkar and Kumar Sanu from Dilwaale dulhaniya le jayenge; Ramesh Chalam ”Raat kali Ek Kwaab mein ayee” by Kishore Kumar from Budha Mil Gaya; Nipa Shah and Ramesh Chalam “Dekha ek khwaab to ye silsile hue” by Lata Mangeshkar and Kishore kumar from Silsila; Mukesh Shah “Lakhon hai nigah mein zindagi ki rah mein” by Mohammed Rafi from Phir […]

Chicago IL: Swami Mukundananda, founder of JK Yog and Bal-Mukund, launched his spiritual program in Chicagoland on Saturday, September 14, 2013, with a noon session of yoga, meditation, bhajans, and spiritual discourse titled “Body, Mind, Soul” at The Meadows Club, Rolling Meadows, Ill. Event sponsor and guest of honor Naren Patel who attended the event with his wife and sister, Lina Patel, welcomed the Swami with words of praise for his authenticity. Dressed in loose attire, attendees had brought long yoga mats for the exercises. The proceedings were conducted by Ajay Chandok. The Swami’s writings, songs, and other output were available in the form of books and digital media. Swami Mukundananda led the assembly in performing an ordered sequence of asanas (physical postures) accompanied by regulated breathing, shifting of attention to different parts of the body, and creative visualizations. In every case, he explained the various benefits in precise medical terms not forgetting to mention precautions for those suffering from specific ailments or subject to special conditions. Beginning with sitting (frog, etc.) postures, they transitioned to reclining (crocodile, etc.) asanas, and ended up with a “subtle body relaxation” in the corpse posture (shavaasana) to detach the soul from the body […]

Chicago IL: Air Tours, Inc., “One Stop Travel Shop” hosted its annual customer appreciation banquet on September 22, 2013 at The Meadows Club in Rolling Meadows, Ill for their Ticket / Holiday & Cruise Customers. There were many raffles including Two Business Class Air Tickets & Vacation Packages to Dubai/Singapore/Malaysia/Thailand/Turkey & India and many surprise prizes for their valued clients, the Mumbai Masti Group (MMG) provided live entertainment with full energy. The Air Tours have been market leader in Midwest Region for Tickets since inception and today is one among the top consolidators for the most major airlines. The hall was packed with more than 600 valued guest & invitees. The event started with socializing hour of cocktails and hors d’oeuvres, The Air Tours Staff welcomed the guest from the entrance and continued the hospitality, Program started by MC Beena Patel welcomed the guests present, and also clients who could not make it, to celebrate the company’s growth and achievements. Air Tours President Mr. Mafat Patel, VP Mr. Tulsi Patel, and Founder Mr. Amrit Patel—Joined by Amathi Patel and Medstar Laboratories CEO Mr. Naren Patel lit the auspicious lamp. MC recognized Mohammed Anwar from Etihad Airways, CEO Ravi Shankar from […]

Chicago IL: Hindi Lovers Club of Chicago celebrated Hindi Diwas Day and 150th Anniversary of Swami Vivekanand on 15th of Sept 2013 at Ashyana Banquets,1620 75th Street, Downers Grove, IL. Consul General Dr. Ausaf Sayeed was the Chief Guest. Hindi Lover’s Club is the first club of its kind for American Indians and showcases the true potential and versatility of the age-old language. This club is a part of the Indian culture and is a part of the Indian identity in Chicago. Hindi Lovers Club was officially formed as a non-for-profit social welfare organization on September 24, 2010 by three Hindi enthusiasts: Gurbachan Shewakramani, Usha Kamaria and Manjit Gill. Its main goal is to promote Hindi in simple ways, like day to day talking, writing our thoughts in Hindi bringing out Hindi literature which has been buried in this western world. Hindi Diwas was celebrated on 15th of September to commemorate the declaration of Hindi as the National Language of India on 14th September, 1949. Vinita Gulbani is the President of Hindi Lovers Club and it is her keen desire to promote their activities on a large scale and expand its horizons to greater heights. Vinita Gulbani in her unique […]

Chicago IL: Bharde Jholi Presented “Mehfil –E-Sama & Ghazal”, a Special Performance by Famous Qawwal Amjad Sabri, Son of the Legend Gulam Fareed Sabri, on Friday, September 13, 2013 at The Meadows Club, 2950 Golf Road Rolling Meadows, IL. Bharde Jholi is a group formed by Four likeminded friends with a view to present various programs. They are: Aqeel Akhtar, Ahmed Karim Jangda, Abdul R. Jangda, and Abdul Wahid Karim. “ Mehfil- E Sama & Ghazal” started with welcoming by Amin Haider Principal and MC of the evening. He introduced ‘Bhar De Jholi Group and also introduced Amjeed Sabri. Amjeed Sabri visited Chicago after lapse of 7 years in the same place, accompanied by Vocalist- Mohammed Salim Sabri and Talha Sabri, they were ably supported by Pervaiz Bijli on Dholak; Jamil Tampoo on Tabla and Dholak and Robin Jon on Key Board. Amjeed Sabri literally mesmerized the personified audience so much so that they were made dance on every songs and also made them rain Dollars in appreciation. He sang many wonderful songs lik, ‘Bharde Jholi’ ‘Mera Koi Nahi Tere Siva Allah’ Ye Shaadi Hai Mere Maulaki’ ‘Mohe Angana Angana Apu Khwaja Mere’ ‘Piyaki Shadi Men Tan Man Dhan’ ‘ […]

Chicago IL: Dada JP Vaswani’s commemorated his 95th birthday in Chicago on September 15, 2013 with an evening discourse on the “Five Pillars of Spirituality” at the Marriott Hotel in Burr Ridge, Ill. Among the guests of honor were the Mayors of Oak Brook and of Burr Ridge. Almost 500 devotees and members of the public, composed largely of members of the Sindhi community, filled the entire hall. This free event was preceded by an hour of melodious bhajans in Hindi by Pramila Bhatia and in English by Vinay Vaswani, a touching documentary presenting the work of the Sadhu Vaswani Mission in bringing joy to the poor and helpless in India, including dogs and other animals, and followed by a question and answer session with the renowned humanitarian. Sister Krishna Kumari presented the activities of the Pune Mission and Vaswani’s recent books brought from India, several of which focused on women. His birthday is of special religious significance for devotees. Ashiyana Narayani recounted his life work and presented her Chicago Youth group of volunteers, who were felicitated for their selfless services. Chair of the Sadhu Vaswani Center (SVC) of Chicago Gopal Lalmalani, who is also Mayor of Oakbrook, introduced Mickey […]

Elk grove Village, Illinois: Northwest Republican Annual Picnic this year had a very new look. The attendance estimated at over 1200 was twice the usual crowd that gathers every year. This year was unusual as Ex-NRCC Chairman and currently the Chairman of House Rules Committee, Congressman Pete Sessions, made a special trip from Dallas to attend the picnic and secondly, over 400 Indian Americans joined in. Republican party is truly going all out to reach out to the minority and ethnic communities to build a new coalition. The occasion was to launch the campaign of Manju Goel, a first generation Indian American, for U.S. Congress. Chairman Sessions and Shalli Kumar, Chairman of Indian American Advisory Council of House Republican Conference, a Chicago native, are co-chair of Sessions-Kumar project to elect as many as 8-10 Indian Americans to Congress. In introducing Chairman Sessions to the crowd, he said “ Chairman Pete Sessions is no ordinary leader. As head of NRCC in 2009, right after Obama’s big victory, he challenged Nancy Pelosi that we are going to take back the house in 2010….we all know what happened , it was the biggest gain of seats in over 50 years. And then in […]

Gandhinagar, Gujarat state (India): A successful three-day international conference on “Bakhtin in India” held at Gandhinagar, the capital of the Indian state of Gujarat, concluded on August 21, 2013, with the resolution to host a complementary follow-up conference on the relevance of Indian traditions to contemporary global issues. The conference was hosted by Prof. EV Ramakrishnan, Chairperson of the Centre for Comparative Literature and Translation Studies at the Central University of Gujarat (CUG), and was jointly organized with Prof. Prafulla Kar, who directs The Balwant Parekh Center for General Semantics and Other Human Sciences and The Forum for Contemporary Theory both based in Baroda (Vadodara, Gujarat). “Bakhtin in India” explored the relevance of the ideas of this famous Russian theorist of the last century on polyphony, dialogue, carnival, etc., towards understanding and reassessing Indian culture. Well more than a hundred, mostly Indian, scholars and enthusiastic students participated and responded to a wide range of papers. Participants came mostly from Depts. of English and Comparative Literature keen on consolidating their understanding of this difficult, problematic, and controversial thinker. They sought to contribute something original to Bakhtinian studies by testing his models and concepts against Indian religious and secular practices both ancient […]

Chicago IL: The Aurora-based Illinois chapter of the Jeeyar Educational Trust (JET), headquartered in New Jersey, hosted a collective ritual performance of the “auspicious marriage of Lord Rama and his consort Sita” (Sita Rama Kalyanam) conducted by his HH Sri Chinna Jeeyar Swamiji. Preceded by an afternoon program of devotional songs and South Indian classical dances, the unusual event took place on September 7, 2013 at Harper College located in Palatine, Ill. The large number of registered participants seated in orderly rows with the divine images and material for worship neatly arranged before them filled the entire width and length of the gymnasium as many others followed with their eyes and ears from the stepped galleries on both sides. Chinna Jeeyar Swamiji is a “wandering monk” who belongs to the Vaishnava spiritual lineage of philosopher and reformer Acharya Shree Ramanuja. He walked between the rows distributing images of Rama, Sita, Lakshmana, and Hanuman, before explaining the philosophy underlying Hindu image-worship through a familiar idiom appealing to the American and Christian sensibility that did not hesitate to draw on the Bible. Inspired by his message and example, JET provides humanitarian services including schooling for tribals, fishermen, and the visually challenged, and […]

Chicago IL: Shere Punjab Sports & Cultural Club, Chicago held its annual Kabaddi cup tournament on September 1st at Busse Woods forest preserve 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 Toronto, California, Indianapolis and Michigan participated in the tournament. In the evening a famous Punjabi folk singer Gill Hardeep entertained the audience with his popular songs for more than one and a half hour. Mr. Madan Popli from Milwaukee was the chief guest. In the open Kabaddi Cup matches the first prize was won by the Fateh Club, California defeating Miri Piri Sports Club, Indiana. 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 Jaswinder Singh Jassi in memory of his father late. S. Major Singh. In under-21 kabaddi matches host Shere Punjab Sports club was the winner and Malton Sports club-Toronto (Canada) was the runner-up. Total four teams played. Under 21 Kabaddi prizes were given out by Baldev […]

Chicago IL: In the last few years Chicago land has become the hub of Indian programs and activities, in the row a musical evening with Siniti Mishra a remarkable singer of SAREGAMAPA (the Judge of Chicago Indian Icon) was organized by Shri Prashant Mohanty an Oriya community activist with support from Cecil Joseph of IDF USA, local Singer Chetan Saini a.k.a DJ Magic and Ravi Rawat of India House. The sole motive was to raise funds for Uttarakhand flood relief. Over 300 people were present at the event The program was held on Saturday September 7, 2013 at India House Banquet Schaumburg. Sound system was sponsored and coordinated by Chetan Saini and Milan Banerji who were accompanied by Live Band known as Apna style Band: having Asif on Keyboard, Zeeshan on Bass Guitar, Subhashish on Tabla and Nadeem on Drum. The program was emceed by versatile Stage artists Noman Khan and Nishma Patel who welcomed the crowd and began with National Anthem sung by Karen Joseph and Indian by Noman Khan. This was followed by Slide show depicting beginning and progress of IDF highlighting its activities and recognition. Thereafter Noman khan described vows suffered by Uttarakhand Disaster and a Slide […]