Ashraf Sha of Northville, MI on board Delta-Northwest Flight

Ashraf Sha's FB status says it all - "Thanking God after surviving Plane Blow up attempt at Detroit Airport returning from Mumbai via Amsterdam". Ashraf and family were on board Delta-Northwest flight from Amsterdam to Detroit which a Nigerian man allegedly tried to blow up with explosives.

Ashraf along with family (wife and Son - 12 months, daughter - 6 years) were returning to Detroit after visiting his Dad who underwent a ankle surgery.

Ashraf and family were sitting way at the back of the plane. Ashraf says "We heard commotion up in the front and then we see folks running up the aisle with fire extinguishers". Even though there was no panic, passengers were scared and "I said to myself.. this is it and started praying".

Fortunately for Ashraf and the passengers the terrorist was not successful and the plane landed safely.

"This gives a new meaning to life" says Ashraf.

Alka Jupudi - Indian Talent from Canton, MI

Alka Jupudi a resident of Canton, Michigan is a great singer and classical dance performer. She developed her skills in formal Classical Karnatic Music under the guidance of Guru Smt. Ammula Sathyavathi. Alka’s songs were broadcast on All India Radio as well as Doordarshan, Hyderabad. She is a popular playback singer and rendered her great voice to many regional TV serials on Doordarshan, ETV and Gemini TV.

On the silver screen, Alka also had many playback performances to her credit, including songs in popular movies like “SMS”, “Pourusham”, and “ALEX”. These songs were produced under the music direction of famous directors including, Deva, Sanjeev Mogoti, and Dr. Bunty.

This is one of the songs from Alka Jupudi's album Sama which is available here. (info for this blog post provided by Alka Jupudi herself)

Michigan International Chamber's Holiday Party

The Michigan International Chamber of Commerce hosts its 1st Holiday Party and Awards Night on Wednesday, December 9th, 2009. The following companies and individuals will be receiving awards.

• Community Outreach Award: Michigan Asian IndianFamily Services
• Diversity Champion Award: Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Michigan
• Academic Outreach Award: Walsh College
• Academic Leadership Award: Virinder Moudgil, Oakland University.
• Champion of the Chamber Award: Dykema Gossett.
• Friend of the Chamber Award: Corp! Magazine.
• Minority Champion Award: Jay Sandhu of NYX Corporation.
• Woman Entrepreneur Award: Neha Patel of Neha Patel Agency.
• Community Leader of the Year: Dr. Rajesh Gulati; MAPI 2009 President.
• Community Leader of the Year: Dr. Dinesh Shah.
• Community Service Award: Oakwood Hospital

The Michigan International Chamber of Commerce is also seeking dynamic individuals to participate in various committees. For more information about participating and joining the Michigan International Chamber of Commerce, please write to Nipa Shah at nipa [at] miicc [dot] com or call 248-470-6299.

My4DWorld launches Edutainment Line of Products

Sivakumar Mambakkam a "Game Designer" from Windsor, Ontario informs me of launch of his company "My4DWorld". My4DWorld provides teachers and parents with professional tools to create lessons for children of all grades. It also provides the general public with easy-to-use and powerful tools to create animations and games. The official launch of "My4DWorld" product line is scheduled for December 12th, 2009 from 1:00 PM to 3:00 PM at the Ontario Room, WFCU Center, 8787 McHugh St, Windsor, ON Canada.

Their first product is an Edutainment game 'My 3D Crossword'. The game is an excellent way to supplement education of fact-oriented subjects like Science, Social Studies and English. Children can have fun and learn at the same time. The game also encourages the child to understand 3D space as well as help remember word spellings. This game will be available for demonstration, test drive and sale at the December 12th event.

Siva also informs me that he is writing up 3 more games which will be released by the end of 2010, the 3rd Game will fall under MMORPG (Massively multiplayer online role-playing game) with 2 versions, one with a Hindu Theme and another with a Western theme.

Pink Glove Dance for Breast Cancer Awareness #jaysean

Check out this "Pink Dance Glove" video put together by staffers of Providence St. Vincent Center hospital. They created this video to the tune of Jay Sean's hit song "Down". They did this to raise money and awareness to fight breast cancer. This video has had nearly 2.8 million views on YouTube. (via Mashable)