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Chicago IL: The Chicago chapter of the Organization of Pakistani Entrepreneurs of North America (OPEN) held its inaugural event around dinner on Wednesday, April 10, 2013, at Reza’s Restaurant, 432 West Ontario St., Chicago. There were 55-60 community leaders, business executives, potential investors, and governmental officials present, including Consul General of Pakistan Zaheer Pervaiz Khan and Alexander “Sandy” Weissent, Head of the CEO Roundtable. Highlights were a talk on “Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Pakistan” by Jehan Ara, President of the Pakistan Software Houses Association for IT & ITES (P@SHA), and the OPEN Chicago presentations. CEO of Razor Hedge Navaid Abidi welcomed the guests and invited Rafiq Mohemmadi, Chair of the board of charter members, to introduce OPEN. The latter focused on mentoring students, fostering activity that translates into philanthropic activities, and this re-launch of the organization. OPEN VP Rehan Zaid then added his own observations and comments. Jehan Ara’s wide-ranging talk on “Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Pakistan” was backed by both long hands-on involvement and solid statistics. With 29 years of experience in marketing, communications, and interactive new media in Hong Kong, Far East, UAE, and Pakistan, Ara has been largely responsible for developing the P@SHA brand and for creating […]

Chicago IL: The Asian American Heritage Committee (AAHC) of Northeastern Illinois University (NEIU) hosted its third annual Asian American Heritage Awards Gala under the banner “Sharing Traditions, Celebrating Excellence” on Friday, April 12, 2013, at Alumni Hall in its main campus (North Park). Seven awards were conferred followed by Asian music and dance performances. MC for the evening was Yasmin A. Ranney, Director of NEIU Asian and Global Resource Center at the Angelina Pedroso Center for Diversity and Intercultural Affairs. NEIU students Ana Ren and Xiaoxuan Wu kept guests entertained on piano and guitar respectively during the reception. AAHC members Rohit Joshi and Saba Ayman-Nolley co-chaired the invocation ceremony. Provost and VP Richard Helldobler, joined them in lighting the auspicious lamp, and underlined NEIU’s status as the most diverse campus in the Midwest. NEIU Board of Trustees member Jin Lee followed with his own remarks. Laura Kina, Vincent de Paul Professor at DePaul University Department of Art, Media, & Design, delivered the keynote speech that defined the origin and necessity of the term “Asian American.” She urged those present to recognize and value their ancestral legacy and ensure transmission of these traditions to the next generation. Given the often invisible […]

Chicago, IL: The Vibrant Media Group, HC along with Studio Elite, Ravani & Mohindra, Attorneys at Law and Amedcoa Dental brings a weekend of music, fashion, and culture in celebration of 100 Years of Indian Cinema. The weekend will recognize and celebrate 100 Years of excellence in Hindi Cinema from August 31- September 1, 2013, in Hoffman Estates, IL. The launch of the event was hosted by Ms. Yukta Mookhey. Yukta was crowned Miss World 1999 and is an Indian model and actress. She has featured in several Bollywood movies and engages herself in social and charitable causes. The launch also saw playback singer Mr. Krishna Beura in attendance extending his support for the event. Mr. Beura is a playback singer known for his hit songs “Maula Mere” from Chak De India, “Soniyo” from Raaz-2 and “Rabba” from Musafir among others. Monty Sayed said “This is a once in a lifetime opportunity and along with a musical concert and performances, it is truly an honor to recognize icons from the Indian film fraternity that have contributed to making the industry what it is today. We are very happy to host the 1st ever event exclusively celebrating 100 Years of Bollywood!” […]

Chicago IL: Chicago community came in large numbers to support a very worthy cause of humanitarian work in Pakistan. The Human Development Foundation (HDF) held its 16th Annual Community Awareness & Fundraising Dinner on Saturday, April 13th 2013 at Rosemont Convention Center, 9301 Bryn Mawr Avenue, Rosemont, IL. This successful event was sold out, with over 400 attendees joining to support HDF’s mission in fighting poverty through its Holistic Model of Development in the program region of Rahim Yar Khan. During social hour, attendees mingled, enjoyed hors d’oeuvres, and browsed through a selection of unique vendors. There was a book signing by Rashid Osmani, debut author of “Word Posse.” A full silent auction table boasted a customized private chef dinner; gift certificates; exquisite jewelry; and designer outfits. Master of Ceremonies was conducted by Ash-har Quraishi, Emmy Award-winning television journalist, writer, photographer, and film maker. The Chicago community was welcomed by Humaira Abbasi, HDF’s Chicago Chapter Chair. She thanked all the volunteers, supporters, and event host committee members who made the event a grand success. HDF’s Executive Director, Fakhia Rashid highlighted HDF’s incredible milestones and achievements. She also gave updates on 2 projects funded by the generous Chicago Community last year. […]

Chicago IL: A gathering of over 85 people celebrated old and new Bollywood songs on Saturday April 6th, 2013 at Masala Grill restaurant, 2948 West Devon Avenue, Chicago, IL. This sold out event started at 7PM and went on till 12:30AM with non-stop Bollywood songs being sang by 20 singers. Both amateurs and professional singers pleased the crowd for 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 10 months, 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 […]

Chicago IL: The Hindu Temple of Greater Chicago (HTGC) in Lemont, Ill., celebrated the Holi festival with an afternoon dance program, followed by the traditional and indispensable throwing of colors at each other, and culminated in the burning of Holika as darkness fell. The crowd eventually numbered well over a thousand with even the planned remote parking facility filled to capacity. The cultural program was emceed by Om Dhingra, Chairman of HTGC Cultural Committee, and dance teacher Vidya Pandikaran, who performed recently at the temple for Shivaratri. A ten-minute animation of Prahlada’s devotion to God against his egoistic demon-father’s will was shown at the beginning. It explained how malicious Holika, after whom the festival is named, drew her devout nephew into the fire on her lap but ended up burnt to ashes instead of him. Welcoming the audience, HTGC President Tilak Marwaha observed that attendance has been increasing every year with even non-Desi parents bringing their children to enjoy the festive spirit. Quite a few were there at the start of the dance program. He later told Asian Media USA that many came out of curiosity after seeing images of Holi from previous years on Facebook. Most of the dance […]

Chicago IL: An annual health fair was organized at Shree Jalaram Mandir located at located at 425, Illinois Blvd , Hoffman Estates , IL , on Sunday, April, 7, 2013. About 275 individuals availed the free services provided at this health fairs. The health fair was it is annual community service event open to any needy individual without consideration of race, religion, ethnicity or age People taking advantage were many devotees and all those needy without medical insurance, visitors and others in need of medical check-up. More than 100 enthusiastic health care volunteers of Jalaram Mandir participate in organizing this community service event. These volunteers are also accountable for such community beneficial programs in addition to the religious activities. The social and humanitarian activities include blood donation drive, bone marrow drive, yoga classes, classical dance classes, music and instrument classes, youth activities didactic classes etc. One of such large scale significant program organized by the temple volunteers is the annual health fair. This event marked the 4th year of the health fair. Long lines of participants arriving early in the morning to take advantage of the medical services. The main coordinator of this event was Mr. Bakulbhai Thakkar. This healthcare […]

Chicago IL: Chicago community came in large numbers to support a very worthy cause- The Gift of Education” for the underprivileged Children of rural and tribal villages of India. Swar Sanjeevani 2013 was held on Saturday, April 06, at Glenbard North High School, 990 Kuhn Rd, Carol Stream, IL 60188. Ekal Vidyalaya Foundation Chicago Chapter organized this charity fundraiser event to provide free education to Rural & Tribal villages of India . Ekal Vidylaya- Peoples movement Started by Ordinary People. Ekal’s philosophy is to take a holistic approach to social and economic development and eradication of illiteracy from remote and tribal villages of India .The Ekal movement is the largest, grassroots, non-governmental education movement in India, operating in over 46,966 villages and educating over 1,335,078 children in rural India. Goal is to reach 100,000 villages by year 2015 . This year, 2013, marks 150th Birth Anniversary of Swami Vivekananda, the revered ‘spiritual master of modern age’, who more than a century ago, initiated the concept of ‘oneness’ of global humanity. Noting the vicious cycle of poverty and illiteracy in India, Swamiji had emphasized, “If the poor child cannot go to Education, then the Education must go to the child”. Chicago […]

Chicago, IL: Hand in Hand USA (HiH) held its 11th annual fundraiser the evening of Saturday, April 6, 2013 at the Holiday Inn, 3405 W Algonquin Rd., Rolling Meadows, Ill. Over $120K was raised during the event after a generous donor offered to match all other contributions dollar for dollar. There was also a cultural program of dances and songs by local performers. Mayors of three neighboring cities, chief guest Al Larson of Schaumburg, Bill McLeod of Hoffman Estates, and Rodney Craig of Hanover Park graced the occasion. Larson made a brief speech urging the community to vote for his colleague Bill McLeod in the upcoming municipal elections for Village President. MC for the evening was Elizabeth Munnich Dash, daughter-in-law of longtime active HiH volunteers Mihir and Usha Dash. A documentary on HiH philanthropic activities kept playing before the event began. HiH President Durga Chinduri acknowledged the presence of the Mayors, welcomed the guests, and emphasized that 95% of funds received go directly to the projects, with hardly any overhead costs, for everyone here is a volunteer with no paid staff. Munnich Dash quoted C.S Lewis that “the proper aim of giving is to put the recipients in a state […]