Careful!! - Mike's Hard Lemonade is not your plain Nimboo Pani

Christopher Ratte is a tenured professor of classical archeology at the University of Michigan. This means (quoting Detroit Free Press)

on a given day, he's more likely to be excavating ancient burial sites in Turkey than watching "Dancing with the Stars" -- or even the History Channel, for that matter.

Christopher goes to Comerica Park (downtown Detroit) with his 7 year old son. At Comerica Park he stops by at the concession stand which has a sign (shown in the image) to buy lemonade for his son. Considering the Professor's background I doubt if he realised that the lemonade had alchohol in it.

So he buys Mike's Hard Lemonade for his son. His nightmare starts now. Some snitch in the stands complained to the Comerica Park security guard. The Security Guard then escorted Dad and son out of the stands to a police station where it was decided that the professor's son had to be checked out at the Children's Hospital. What happens next (from Detroit Free Press)

an ER resident who drew Leo's blood less than 90 minutes after he and his father were escorted from their seats detected no trace of alcohol.

"Completely normal appearing," the resident wrote in his report, "... he is cleared to go home."

But it would be two days before the state of Michigan allowed Ratte's wife, U-M architecture professor Claire Zimmerman, to take their son home, and nearly a week before Ratte was permitted to move back into his own house.

Read more on this story at Detroit Free Press.

It was a colossal overreaction by the State. Now if the Dad really wanted to give alchohol to this son why would he do it in front of thousands of people at Comerica Park?

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)

Canton Hindu Temple allowed to rebuild

Despite a strong opposition from the residents of the area, the Canton Township Board of Trustees voted unanimously Tuesday (4/22/2008) to approve the rebuilding of the Hindu Temple.

The plan is to tear down the existing temple and construct a larger one in the center of the oblong lot on Cherry Hill just east of Canton Center Road. (via Detroit Free Press)

Fortune 1000 Companies in Michigan

Fortune is out with its annual list of "Fortune 1000 Companies". There are 33 companies in Michigan which made it to Fortune 1000 list. General Motors leads the list in Michigan (4th in Fortune 1000 list). Here's a Google Maps View of Michigan's Fortune 1000 list.

Indian Premier (Cricket) League

I have compiled a list of the Teams playing in the newly formed Indian Premier (Cricket) League currently underway in India.

Click here for a look a the teams with some basic information, like who owns the teams, how much it is worth, the home stadium, latest team news (via Google News RSS Feeds) and a team video (YouTube).

restaurants.mibazaar.com

I have started a new blog at mibazaar titled "restaurants.mibazaar.com". Here I list restaurants which have been recommended by readers of my blogs and friends. Currently the restaurants listed are all within Metro Detroit Area. If you are from Lansing, Flint, Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo, Ann Arbor then please do send in your recommendations.

In case you need to look up Indian Restaurants in your area then look at the left hand side of this blog and key in your zip code (for example if you are in Grand Rapids, MI then it would be 49501). This will bring up a page from my local news page with all kinds of information for Grand Rapids, MI (news,weather,traffic,movies,Indian dining, Japanese dining, Italian dining).

Late to Work because of Traffic Congestion on I-696/I-75/I-94?

In addition to checking out LIVE Traffic Conditions on Google Maps, you can now find out what the traffic will likely be on any given week day and also any time of the day. Check out the following post at MIBAZAAR.
MIBAZAAR: Traffic Prediction added to Google Maps

Events Update - April 2008

MIICC (Michigan Indian Chamber of Commerce)
Monthly meeting will be held on April 16th, 2008. Guest speaker will be L. Brooks Patterson who will share information about his recent trip to India as well as present thoughts about the role Indian Americans in Michigan play in supporting the economy.

Location: Dykema Gossett, 39577 Woodward Ave # 300, Bloomfield Hills, MI 48304, (313) 568-6525. Time: 5:30 pm to 7:30 pm EDT

Shanti Project
Shanti Project of University of Michigan presents a free showing of a HIT Bollywood Hindi Movie - Jab We Met.

This event will be held on April 19th, 2008 from 2.30 pm - 5.30 pm. at Jon Grant Community Center, 29260 Grand River Avenue, Farmington Hills, MI. Contact shantiproject [at] umich [dot] edu for more details.


Vaisakhi Mela
Vaisakhi Mela will be held on Saturday May 10th, 2008 at Wayne Memorial High School located at 3001 4th Street, Wayne, MI 48186.

The Event will start at 6.30 PM. Call 734-261-0936 or 734-560-2886 for more details.

Groovy Dancing Girl

Here's a talented girl dancing to:

Music by DAFT PUNK - "Harder Better Faster Stronger"

(She will do good in Bollywood :-)

Hindi Movies - A perspective

This past week and through the weekend, I had the opportunity to watch two new Hindi movies, Race & Shaurya. Yeah, not one but two movies in one week which is unusual for me because I generally go months without watching one, in this case the last movie I watched was two months ago.

Anyway, coming back to the movies. After watching both movies, I found myself thinking how different they were and how I felt after watching each of them.

Race was packed with all the hot stars of Bollywood including Saif Ali Khan (Mr. Hot), Akshaye Khanna, Anil Kapoor, and two beautiful women B. Basu & K. Kaif. The movie was action packed with a plot so complicated that at each turn you wondered who else would join the killing game. The movie showed rich playboys and seemingly simple girls, all of whom had no morals, plotting against each other for $100 M.

And then I watched Shaurya. No major stars per say, the main heroes included Rahul Bose (who is quite cute) and Javed Jaffrey (who looked great). The movie revolves around a soldier who is accused of killing his boss and is being courtmartialed. A happy-go-lucky lawyer gets assigned to the soldier to basically enter a plea of "guilty" and close the case. Thrown in were some scenes that closely resembled scenes from the Tom Cruise movie "A few Good Men" (after all what Bollywood movie is complete without some plagiarism?).

I saw Shauriya and actually felt teary eyed in a couple of scenes. The movie was well made and I couldn't help compare it to the previous one I had viewed. What a difference. Shaurya touted patriotism, loyalty, bravery, and of course "gallantry" (the meaning of "Shaurya"). And what Race touted was that morals be da****, do what you can, including killing, lying, tricking, etc. to win, the biggest reward being money.

I for one couldn't stop thinking about the impact these movies may have on our impressionable youth. More and more movies are sending messages that I for one don't want my kids to hear, lie, steal, money is the ultimate goal, etc. etc.

Are movies watched by folks merely as entertainment or do they get emulated and result in a change in the social and moral behavior of a society? I know that many youths want what they see their favorite stars emulating on stage, and impressionable minds have a tough time differentiating reality from fiction.

Movie makers and Bollywood (and Hollywood for that matter) have a responsibility towards creating a morally responsible society. They should be spending more time sending positive messages to the movie-viewing public and those impressionable youths who want to be just like the stars.

And before someone argues that these are "movies" and not to be taken seriously, let me say that there is no such thing. People take movies seriously whereby their clothing, their lifestyles, and their social events are all in some way, shape or form influenced by what was seen in a particular movie or show.

And call me old school, sentimental, whatever. I'll take watching Shaurya with a not-so--hot-bollywood cast over watching Race any day of the week.

Indian Bloggers in Michigan

Here's a list of Desi/Indian Bloggers in Michigan (if you know of anymore do let me know). The latest posts from these blogs can also be viewed at desibloggers.mibazaar.com

My Blogs:

• mibazaar.com (Google Maps Mashup)
• indians.mibazaar.com (MI Indian Community)
• restaurants.mibazaar.com (Good Indian Restaurants in the Metro Detroit Area)

Nipa Shah's Blogs

• miicc.com (MI Indian Chamber of Commerce)
• TheBloogle.com (Blogs on Politics/Entertainment/Current Affairs and host of other topics)

DJ Amri's Blog at snazzybeatz.blogspot.com

DesiClips

All That is Fit to Blog

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?

facebook - Michigan Indian Community

I have created a new Michigan Indian Community Group in facebook. Click here to join the community and start sharing information which will be beneficial to other members of the community.

Thanks to Rajiv Sanghvi (Michigan Indian Radio Host) for spreading the word about the facebook Michigan Indian Community.

L. Brooks Patterson, Oakland County Executive to speak at the next MIICC meeting

Nipa Shah informs me that the next MIICC (Michigan India Chamber of Commerce) meeting which is scheduled for April 16th will feature L. Brooks Patterson.

L. Brooks Patterson, Oakland County Executive, will share his experience about his recent visit to India. Mr. Patterson will also share insight about the Indian Community in the Metro Detroit Area.

The Meeting is scheduled for April 16th from 5:30 pm to 7:30 pm at the Dykema Gossett Bloomfield Office located at 39577 Woodward Avenue Suite 300, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan 48304-2820.

Happy Birthday Aarti...

Aarti, my daughter celebrates her 8th Birthday today. Back in February I had asked Rajiv Sanghvi, Subhash Kelkar and Mumtaz Haque to play a song for my wife (on their Radio Show) on my wife's birthday. So this time my daughter requested if I could ask Rajiv, Subhash Kelkar and Mumtaz Haque to play a song for her.

My daughter's request (I still don't why she selected this song...Ajab Si from Om Shanti Om)

Once again Happy Birthday Aarti..

कौन बनेगा रामायण गुरु (Who will become a Ramayan Expert)

The KBRE (Kaun Banega Ramayan Expert) Team is conducting a nationwide quiz contest that runs from April to June this year. The quiz focuses on making Ramayana an integral part of a child's early learning. The quiz is sponsored by Balagokulam, a magazine published by Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh (HSS), a non-profit, voluntary organization working to preserve, practice and promote Hindu values.

The quiz contest has two components, an online exam for the first round and the next level of competition as decided by the regional teams. The KBRE Website is open for online registration and practice tests from April 6th and the participants can take qualifying online exam starting from April 13th. This website is full of interactive resources and reading material suitable to different age groups.

Satrang - Indian Cultural Show at MSU

Coalition of Indian Undergraduate Students from Michigan State University present "Satrang - 13th Annual Cultural Show"

Date: April 4th, 2008
Time: 7.00 PM
Venue: Michigan State University Auditorium, East Lansing, MI (map and directions)

Check out Satrang 2008 website for more details

Rice going to cost more?

BBC is reporting (04/01/2008) on its website that "India introduces rice export ban". The news article states

The Indian government has banned the export of non-basmati rice to try and control soaring domestic food costs.

The decision, one of a series of measures to curb inflation, was taken during an emergency cabinet meeting.

The price for exports of aromatic basmati rice has also been raised to $1,200 per tonne to discourage exports.

It is obvious what this means for us

• Your Grocery Bill is going to go up
• Indian Restaurants will more than likely increase the price on Lunch Buffet and rice dishes
• And if you have Pot Luck get together at friends place, you might be asked to bring in a rice dish or Kheer