Thanks for the overwhelming response to the Yosemite Trip. We should be about 100 people on this trip. This means – it will be a lot of fun, but it also means, we will need a lot of volunteers to make this trip a memorable one.
Check-in and other Logistics:
The RANA Executive committee will be at the House Keeping, Yosemite at 6:00pm and will be assigning cabins. We will definitely try to be sensitive to your requests for having cabins near your friends and relatives as requested.
Please plan to check in before 8:30pm on Friday, 7th September. In case you need to contact one of us, please refer to the numbers provided at the end of the email.
Activities Friday, 7th September:
Dinner will be potluck most of us would be having dinner before reaching Yosemite .
Once you are in Yosemite , please check in at the House Keeping Gate. One of the EC members will be there to welcome you.
Once we have settled down, we will have a campfire @ 9:00pm.
We will have Badam-Kesar Milk (on public demand – actually some of you who joined us last year have requested that we definitely have this) – along with some musical fun.
Activities Saturday, 8th September:
The day starts at 7:00 with your morning Tea.
BREAKFAST:
Will be served at 8:30am – Cereals, Bread, Muffin……
HIKING:
It’s preferred that you go hiking early and come back by lunch.
LUNCH:
Will be served at NOON. Volunteer help is highly appreciated.
EVENING TEA and Games:
Will be served at 3:00pm. Volunteer help is highly appreciated.
DINNER:
Will start at 6:30 pm. We are planning to do it a bit differently, hope you all love it.
Talent Evening and Games:
This will start at 7:30pm sharp
We are planning to have a small cultural program/ Talent evening. If any one of you or your kids would like to present please let us know so that we can plan accordingly. This normally takes around 90mins. Look forward to some bolly-wood dancing, singing, jokes and Rajasthani Skits.
Don’t forget the delicious badam-kesar milk……..
Activities Sunday, 9th September:
The day starts at 6:30 with your morning Tea.
BREAKFAST:
Will be served at 8:30am – Cereals, Bread, Muffin……
HIKING, Biking, Horse Back riding:
Please check with the Yosemite Information center for more details. These are not RANA organized activities.
LUNCH:
“Create your own Sandwich ” - We will have all ingredients for making sumptuous sandwiches before you pack-up for the day and go hiking….
Check-out:
Check out time is 11:00am. You could pack up and keep your stuff in the car and go hiking, biking or horse backriding……
Things to bring:
Your fun attitude….
Extra blankets…. It might be a bit cold. Though blankets are available at Housekeeping.
Warm clothes – please bring your sweatshirts and jackets – it’s a bit chilly in the morning.
Flash light are recommended.
Some chairs – will definitely be helpful.
Wear your sneakers –
Bottled water for hiking.
Contact List – Just in case !!!
Vikram Bhandari: 408-234-3897
Vinod Jain: 510-710-7199
Ruchira Pungaliya: 510-676-1179
Nirmal Baid:408-531-8421
Sanjay Bhandari: 510-366-8540
Link to Housekeeping camp http://www.yosemitefun.com/housekeeping_camp.htm
address to get direction
Housekeeping Camp, North side of Southside Dr., near Curry Village, Yosemite Village, CA
Looking forward to a fun filled trip to Yosemite !!!!
Cheers,
Vinod
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The Rajasthan float was a presentation of colors, colors that only Rajasthan could throw up. Wearing a multi-colored ghagra, the 20 foot long truck bed was dressed like a kalbelia woman, with pink choli and a beautiful Hawa mahal face. The truck was carrying our beloved Isharji and Gangoreji on a beautiful deewan under a spectacular chhatri led by a procession of devotees. Devotees were seen dancing before Ishar-Gangoreji and keeping them cool with a chamar. The 3 feet high idols of Isharji and Gangoreji were air lifted to Fremont straight from Jaipur especially for the parade. Thousands of people came for their darshan in the first ever procession of Ishar-Gangore in the United States of America.
The most fascinating portion of the Rajasthan float were its people. The entire float contingent was in traditional Rajasthani dresses. The women folk were their bright lahariya and bandhej sarees and donned elegant jewelry. Mightily watched for their turbans, men dressed in white dhotis and kurtas. Beautiful girls aged 4 to 10 dressed in their choli, lahenga, and chundari with borla in their hair and kandoras on their waists. Most attractive of all were boys aged 5 to 10 wearing colored achkans, white dhotis and little colorful pagdis and jewelry in their ankles, wrists, and around their neck. The crowd cheered loudly at the sight of these traditionally dressed men, women, boys, and girls. The float was a sight to cherish for all the Rajasthani families and people from all over India and California celebrating India’s Independence Day.
Boys and girls were dancing along the float path on Rajasthani tunes performing a ghoomar dance and boys ably supporting them. These little children were practicing daily for the past several weeks to learn the dance of their ancestral homes. Even after the exhausting parade in the hot sun, these children were excited to perform several Rajasthani dances on the stage. The entire troupe of nearly 20 children trotted over from the parade route to the India Festival being held half a mile away. At the festival, they were to draw the attention of more than a hundred Rajasthani families and thousands of Indian and American guests.
Their dance was performed in the presence of Shri Romesh Jhapra, the man behind the India Festival, and Amrita Rao, a famous Indian film actress. Their performance made all the parents very happy at what the children had achieved. All the children developed a strong sense of Rajasthan through their participation in the parade, which is a big achievement for their families and the Rajasthani community in the United States. RANA hopes to develop these children into global ambassadors of Rajasthan and India.
The San Francisco Bay area is residence for over 500 Rajasthani families with parents in the ages between 25 and 45. These Rajasthanis have a very strong sense of affection for their des, even though many of them have not lived in Rajasthan as they were desavar in Mumbai, Raigad, Bangalore, Nagpur, or elsewhere in India. RANA has brought them together to provide a cultural and social platform to these families and provided them with a sense of community. RANA has nearly 200 member families and has served the Rajasthani community in the San Francisco Bay Area for more than 20 years. RANA organizes celebrations of festivals including Holi and Deepawali. Besides these, RANA also facilitates bringing together businessmen and entrepreneurs in America and Rajasthan. RANA also raises funds for charitable purposes to be utilized for advancing Rajasthan and bringing happiness to its people.
You can learn more about RANA through its Web site www.rana.org or by sending an email to comm@rana.org.
]]>The IT/ITeS zone is being developed in a total area of 850 acre. We have already received the ‘Notification’ for the phase I of 188 acre of our IT/ITeS zone, where Infosys, Wipro, Nagarro are joining us to build their campuses. The land development work has already started on site. The zone is being developed in such a manner that offers high flexibility & accommodates dynamic requirements of business expansion.
* Mahindra Technology Park (MTP)–
Our prime initiative within the IT/ITeS Zone - when complete, the park will have 1.5 million sqft of built up area spread over 25 acre having state of the art facilities & amenities.
o Warm Shell space with Plug n Play infrastructure, Thoughtful design having adequate redundancy with seamless broadband connectivity
o Focus on Energy efficiency, Sustainable environment, Green surroundings to help create very conducive working atmosphere.
o Three level Power redundancy - two levels at the grid & ESS stage & third at captive power back up stage.
o Floor plates upto 25000 sqft which can be subdivided based on the need.
o Food Court, Bank ATMs, Recreation Center & the GYM, Jogging tracks etc.
o This is being developed in modular building fashion. The first two buildings having a total area of 200,000 sqft shall be ready for internal fit-out by June 2008.
o Incubation space starting from 2000 sqft each.
Since the development of MTP is in on modular buildings line, while we offer warm - shell space in a building, we can also dedicate building/s to suit the business requirement & accommodate expansion as the business grows.
MTP can also be treated as the ‘Start Up Facility’ with the possibility of making the land available for the campus development at a later stage.
* Developed Land Parcel –
We offer developed land parcels 5 acre onwards. If required, we can do ‘Built – To – Suit’ facilities.
As is clear, we have absolute flexibility to meet the business requirements. Our intent is to attract global best – in- class companies——- provide custom made solutions for their businesses — right from ‘Start Up’ & scalable to ‘Dedicated Campus’ & create a
‘City Of Future’.
Rajasthan - The leap from sight seeing to site seeing
Rajasthan’s strategic location and connectivity has elevated it from its position as a major tourist attraction to its current status as a key business center of India. With a well-developed road network that spreads over 1.55 lakh kms and 14 highways networking the state, it scores high on infrastructure. Its state-wide Optic Fibre Cable (OFC) network is a definite asset as are its airports - 3 domestic and an international airport at Jaipur.
The State’s proactive and pro-investment governance has already convinced corporations like Honda Motors, JK Tyres, DCM Shriram and the KK Birla Group and multi-nationals like Coca-cola, Ericsson, Electrolux, Genpact, Infosys, Wipro and Gillette to establish their base here.
Another compelling feature of Rajasthan is the ready bank of quality human resources. 14,000 engineers, 64,000 graduates, 5,000 technical students, 16,500 ITI technicians, 2,30,000 non-technical students, 1370 MCA graduates and 2,650 MBAs graduate every year.
Jaipur ——- the capital of Rajasthan, a prominent global tourist destination, in close viscinity of Delhi & Gurgaon, a vibrant lifestyle and an excellent social infrastructure, Jaipur is indeed a city whose time has come.
NASSCOM and Department of Information Technology & Communication (DoIT&C), Government of Rajasthan, in the month of November 2006, had launched an employment benchmarking test for ITES-BPO in Rajasthan called NASSCOM Assessment of Competence (NAC) TEST.
Approx.2500 students from Rajasthan appeared for this test, out of which approx 2200 students qualified for the interviews. NASSCOM conducted a Job Fair only for NAC qualified students on 31 March-01 April 2007 at Maharani’s College, Jaipur. Companies like Genpact, Infosys, Quatrro, EXL Service, Emphasis, NIIT Smart Service, Fiserve, E-Fund, Cleave Global Services, Auxi Cogent, E-Fund & many more visited the fair and recruited the NAC qualifiers.
Therefore,
A forward looking state—- significantly large talent pool—- best of the infrastructure at very competitive price—- comparatively low operating costs—- very peaceful & conducive working environment—- & to top it all, Mahindra’s commitment to excellence—-
MAHINDRA WORLD CITY, JAIPUR – AN INTRODUCTION
Mahindra World City, Jaipur is a 3000 acre Multi – Product SEZ development just off NH 8 in Jaipur. This SEZ is a joint venture between Mahindra Gesco Developers Ltd. & RIICO – the nodal body of Rajasthan Govt for industrial development.
The Mahindra World City, Chennai — our first SEZ venture already is a success story with companies like CapGemini, Wipro, Infosys, BMW, Sundaram Clayton, TVS & other such highly reputed companies operating out of that development. Today, MWCC is probably the only operational corporate SEZ. We dreamt of something & went ahead with the process of converting the vision into reality. Mahindra World City, Jaipur is our second ambitious project planned by Jurong Corporation, Singapore (JTC), DPR by Ramky Consultants.
The total area, as written earlier is 3000 acres with 2500 acres as the SEZ & balance 500 acres being developed as DTA (Domestic Tariff Area). The PA (Processing Area) is subdivided into dedicated zones.
* IT/ITeS
* Light Engineering & Auto/Auto component manufacturing
* Apparel & Furnishing
* Gems & Jewellary
* Pharma & bio – tech
* Ware housing & Logistics
Because there is life beyond business, we at Mahindra World City, Jaipur, understand that every business is driven by people who have a life after work as well. They have families, leisure interests, daily needs, entertainment and more that make their life complete. Keeping this is mind Mahindra World City, Jaipur, has designed its offering to provide a holistic environment. It will offer premium housing facilities, healthcare, educational facilities, recreation centers, shopping malls and more.
]]>Recently, RANA hosted Bhopa and Bhopi, traditional cloth storytellers, who narrate the epic of Pabuji from memory with music, dance, and singing. The event brought together people of all ages - children, grown-ups and seniors.
Previous to that, RANA hosted an exclusive preview of an art exhibition focusing on the art of Mewar over the past 5 centuries. The exhibition was organized by the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco and brought together more than 75 pieces of art from all over the world. This exhibition was the first of its kind in the world - there has never been such a big display of Mewar art - outside Rajasthan.
RANA also hosted the Holi celebration free to all participants - whether they were RANA members or not. The present Executive Committee would like to invite the opinions of RANA’s community members to make this an even more dynamic and responsive institution.
RANA is a voluntary and non-profit organization and needs all the help and effort that you can provide it. Please post replies to this post or respond to us by email - comm@rana.org
]]>He became sick last week and was rushed to emergency surgery. He eventually succumbed from a very aggressive infection. Mr. Giri Khatod breathed his last on Friday, March 9, 2007.
His family appreciates your prayers and thoughts during this time. The family will be holding daily prayers in the evening at their home on Monday from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m.
10141 Lebanon Drive
Cupertino, CA 95014
408-996-9315
Services will be held on Tuesday, the 13th of March at 1PM at
Chapel of Chimes
32992 Mission Boulevard
Hayward CA
510-471-3363
Prayer and Bhajans at 6:30PM followed by dinner
Swaminarayan Temple
25 Corning Ave.
Milpitas, CA 95035
408-262-0707
More information and pictures can be found at:
the family’s Web site
We have also set up a new registration system that allows you to RSVP online rather than calling us or sending us an email. For each of the upcoming events, we request that RSVP by register online for the event. By sending us an RSVP, you are reserve space for yourself and your guests and get benefits such as free admission, discounts, and priority treatment. If you are not already a RANA member, we suggest strongly that you sign up for membership, as it will enhance our ability to offer more and relevant programming for you.
Upcoming Events
Visit Mewar Exhibition at Asian Art Museum
Saturday, 10 March 2007 from 1:00 PM - 4:00 PM
After a roaring response to the preview of the Asian Art Museum’s Mewar exhibition, we are very excited to organize a visit to the museum. Don’t miss this once in a generation opportunity to marvel at Rajasthani art from the last half a millenium.
RSVP required for admission discounts. Please register online for RSVP.
Yoga and Art in San Francisco
Saturday, 10 March 2007 from 10:30 AM-5 PM
Those who wish to spend the entire day in San Francisco while visiting the Asian can join us for Yoga and contemporary art in San Francisco.
RSVP recommended for attendance register online for RSVP.
Holi Celebration
Saturday, 17 March 2007 from 11:00 AM to 3:00 PM
Baylands Park, Sunnyvale
Please note revised date.
Holi is just around the corner and marks the beginning of Spring. Although Holi festival is going to be celebrated in India on March 3rd, we have organized the Holi celebration keeping in mind the local climate conditions and to prevent scheduling conflicts with other Bay Area organizations. As usual, we will have a blast with colors, water, and lots of great foods and dizzying drinks.
Free admission and food to those who register before March 8. register online today!
Entrepreneur Forum
Thursday, 22 March 2007 from 7:00 PM - 8:00 PM
Second in this series of face-to-face meetings, we bring to you Prem Jain, a distinguished businessman and highly successful entrepreneur of Silicon Valley.
RSVP required for participation. Please register online for RSVP.
Membership
If you have not already renewed your annual membership for 2007, this would be a great time to do so as it will provide valuable discounts to all the RANA events. We would also like to invite volunteers to help out with the organization and publicity of these events to the broader RANA community which includes even those who are not paying RANA patrons.
Please feel free to share the RANA web site with those friends who are interested in Rajasthani culture and also suggest registering with www.rana.org to them. Also, please feel free to suggest to us any other means of informing the community that you feel will help us in better serving the Rajasthani community.
]]>It is just 100% pure and so entertaining, it takes me back right in the middle of where there is pure nature and joy live.
Enjoy
Raj Nathawat
]]>The Mewar Exhibition Preview
Sunday, 28 Jan 2007 at 4:00 PM
1281 Via Di Salerno
Pleasanton CA 94566
First up is an exclusive preview of a major fine art exhibition being organized by the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco. The Mewar exhibition preview is this weekend, so let us know (by email) immediately if you are interested in attending it. Seating is limited and we only have a few more spaces remaining.
The preview will describe the theme of this exhibition, highlight the most important pieces on display in this exhibition, explain the behind-the-scenes activities over the last seven years to bring together this exhibition, and detail the various upcoming events organized around the main exhibition such as performances from visiting Rajasthani folk artists and demonstrations as well as lectures on Mewar art traditions.
Entrepreneur Forum
Thursday, 22 Feb 2007 at 7:00 PM
Secondly, in keeping with the culture of the Bay Area, RANA has initiated an entrepreneur forum featuring successful RANA members. These busy members will take time out from their business and family duties to share the secret of success in their entrepreneurial ventures and engage in a two-way conversation with the audience in an intimate setting. Seating to this event will also be limited, so be sure to RSVP to us in advance. The details of this program including location and speakers will be announced shortly.
Tentative Day Trip to Bear Valley Resort
Saturday, 24 Feb 2007
Bear Valley Resort
Thirdly, we are hoping to organize a trip to Bear Valley this year. It will only be a day trip to keep down the costs of participation in this event. Since we are still unsure about the level of interest in the community, we would like to hear your feedback on whether we should organize this event. You can post your comments directly on the RANA blog using your log on. If you have not received a log on already, please register online with RANA or contact us for help.
Holi Celebration
Saturday, 24 March 2007
Baylands Park, Sunnyvale
Finally, Holi is just around the corner and marks the beginning of Spring. Although Holi festival is going to be celebrated in India on March 3rd, we have organized the Holi celebration keeping in mind the local climate conditions and to prevent scheduling conflicts with other Bay Area organizations. As usual, we will have a blast with colors, water, and lots of great foods and dizzying drinks.
If you have not already renewed your annual membership for 2007, this would be a great time to do so as it will provide valuable discounts to all the RANA events. We would also like to invite volunteers to help out with the organization and publicity of these events to the broader RANA community which includes even those who are not paying RANA patrons. Please feel free to share the RANA web site with those friends who are interested in Rajasthani culture and also suggest registering with www.rana.org to them.
]]>Vinod Jain
Nikunj Mehta
Rajeev Jain
Sanjay Bhandari
Neelu Bhandari
Pinky Jain
Ruchira Pungalia
Raj Nathawat
Dinesh Drimali
Neeraj Punglia
Jaya Pungalia
Ashok Bhatnagar
Juhi Bhatnagar
Vikash Rungta
Saturday, January 13, 2007
Agenda
- Communications and Web site
- New RANA Web site
- Mailing and communications
- EC discussions online
- Newsletter
- VP & Co-VP Communications and Marketing
- VP & Co-VP Events
- VP & Co-VP Cultural Programming
- VP VP & Co-VP Membership Development
- Asian Art Museum evening in the South Bay
- Support for Rajasthani artists
- Holi program
- Ski trip
- Enterpreneurs meeting
- Assistance to new families coming to Bay Area
Discussions
- Neeraj Punglia and Ashok Bhatnagar suggested extending the EC and president tenure for two years. Asked current EC to review and propose changes to Bylaws.
- Neelu would look in to the celebration of Holi by other organizations and suggest a date for Rana to celebrate Holi which will not co-inside with others.
- Raj Nathawat will explore the possibility of organizing SKI trip to Bear valley and make suggestions.
- As the by-laws were written 25 years ago, it was discussed to review the current need of the organization and come up with amendments to be voted at next general meeting.
- the Non profit status of RANA was lapsed in 1995 and revoked due to non-filing of returns. In this regard finance VP will contact Anil Deaora to get the papers and follow up with Mr. Maheshwari (contact to be obtained from Dinesh Shrimali or Neeraj Pungalia)
- Entrepreneur meeting to be held every month on 4 Thursday of the month at Vinod’s office. Successful senior member will address.
- Asian Art museum will will exclusive preview to RANA members for celebration of Mewar art exibition at Mr. Dinesh Sreemali’s residence.
- Responsibility and assignment of portfolio’s be taken offline.
- Suggestion by Mr. Neeraj Pungalia and Ashok Bhatnagar ensure full participations by all EC members and regular attendance to EC meetings.
- To promote Rajasthan cultural and artifacts, provide link on RANA website for arts / artifacts from Rajasthan.
RANA organizes its own events and promotes various partner events. Our Web site makes it easy for the RANA community to promote events and provides a built-in calendar. Every article posted as an event automatically shows up in this calendar. The RANA calendar also provides links to non-event articles. Upcoming events are shown beneath the calendar on the RANA home page as well as on the blog home page.
Adding new events
In order to add a new event to the RANA calendar, only one additional step needs to be performed. This step is performed in the Write/Edit post form. Make sure that you have selected one of the event sub-categories for the post. Then, scroll to the bottom of the form where you will notice the ‘Event Editor’ panel. Click on the ‘+’ sign and select the date and time for the event. You can also set the event to be an ‘all-day’ event, for occasions such as festivals and multi-day events.
Subscribing to RANA calendar
Not only is the RANA calendar available from its Web page, it is also available as a public calendar subscription. If you are using an iCal aware calendaring application such as Google Calendar or iCal (Mac), then it is a breeze to add the RANA calendar directly in your personal calendaring tool. Just copy the link location from the little feed icon in the top-center portion of the RANA calendar. Then, add this URI to your iCal aware calendaring application as a public calendar. Boom! RANA’s calendar will now be visible to you in your personal calendaring tool.
Questions
Do not forget to leave your questions, curiosities, and suggestions as comments to this post. We are constantly striving to improve your experience of the RANA Web site!
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