Indian desis in San Ramon, Dublin, Pleasanton, Livermore & Danville

On 29th January, 2012 (Sunday) attend a free workshop on the Spiritual Practice of Chanting at the Dublin Library. The workshop would cover topics like what is Chanting, what name of God should one chant, how should one chant and benefits of Chanting.

• Venue: Dublin Public Library 200 Civic Plaza Dublin, CA 94568
• Language: English
• Date: Sunday, 29 January 2012
• Time: 2.00 PM – 3.30 PM
• Total seats available: 30

This event is being organized by the Spiritual Science Research Foundation (SSRF). SSRF’s aim is to “educate society on the spiritual dimension and how it affects our lives. We conduct research and convey knowledge about the spiritual dimension to help people understand it, advise those who are curious to experience it for themselves, and guide those who have intense desire for spiritual growth and God-realisation towards achieving their goal.”

SSRF was founded with the blessings of His Holiness Dr. Jayant Balaji Athavale. As a Consultant Clinical Hypnotherapist, he had learned that some of his patients with whom he had very little success, had recovered after adopting spiritual remedies such as visiting sacred places, remaining in the holy company of spiritually evolved people (Saints) or performing certain religious rituals. After interacting with Spritual minded people, he concluded that there are spiritual causes behind not just illnesses of patients, but also behind all major events and most problems in life. He worked tirelessly in the field of Spirituality to share with others his research into the understanding of the spiritual dimension using a scientific approach. The believers also believe in their ability to perceive the subtle dimension or the unseen world, or in other words, sixth sense.
The organization is based out of Australia, has very active member base in Europe, and also registered in the USA.
Not sure what brought the workshop to the Dublin (California) Library, but it may be worth attending – even if just to get more exposed to the intriguing concept.
Check out this video on the concept:

Understand Your Child – Workshop will be conducted on February 3rd, 2012 – 7:00pm in Dublin, CA.
Parenting can prove to  be a very rewarding experience in one’s life. Because of the changes in our  lifestyles, values and human relations, parenting is also becoming a challenge with parents having to deal with many issues related to children’s behaviour.  Often parents are found saying my kid

· Does not listen to me
· Jumps around and breaks  many things
· Does not eat properly
· Is just glued to the TV  all the time
· Is just not interested in studies, etc.

Understand Your Child workshop is a 2.5 hour interactive seminar from the Art of Living which helps parents deal with several such issues by finding the root cause behind them. It gives them an insight into how children think and thus a better understanding of their behavior. It points out small things that adults tend to overlook that may have a deep impact on children. Several hundred such workshops have been conducted benefiting many thousands of parents making their relationships with their children much more harmonious.

Please click on the following link to register for the workshop: http://secure.artofliving.org/event_details.aspx?event_id=102175

WORKSHOP DETAILS
Date & Timings: Feb 3rd 2012 Friday at 7.00 p.m.
Course Location: 6690 Amador Plaza Road, #215, Dublin, CA 94568
Contact Information: Sridhar Nomula (510) 334-7908 and Rashmi Patel (925) 3361203

 Invite your friends, family& peers!

Stop by at the Dublin Library on Sat, Jan 28 for a “breathtaking” bollywood music concert by Jhankar Live. Started in 2006 by a group of passionate music enthusiasts, the team excels in presenting soft, melodious songs as well as fast-paced numbers.

JhankarLive also performs for charitable causes and supports education and artistic talent development of poor children. Members of JhankarLive, fondly called “the jhankaris”, are all full-time employees of leading Bay Area organizations. Since its very first year of performing, Jhankar Live has performed to massive applause and rave reviews. For more information about the free afternoon concert, please call (925) 828-1315 or write to jhankarband@gmail.com.

An afternoon of Bollywood Music
Saturday, January 28
2 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.
Dublin Library
200 Civic Plaza, Dublin
(925) 828-1315

Update: Jan 28, 2012
The group performed to a packed hall. The songs were chosen in memory of late Deva Anand and Shammi Kapoor. Entertaining!

Jhankar Live Performs in Dublin Library

If you have interest in designer Indian clothing, be at La Quinta Inn & Suites (6275 Dublin Blvd, Dublin) on Saturday Aug 20 from 11:00am – 7:00pm.
A company called RCKC of London is doing a Designer Sarees and Shalwar Kameez exhibition. They claim ‘outstanding quality and a combination of tradition and modernity’, in their ‘vibrant and elegant collection’.

Hi, I am offering preschool and pre-k program in Dublin this fall.  You could enroll for a 3 half-day or 5 half-day program, morning or afternoon sessions.  I have taught at Stratford for 4 yrs. and have a MS in child development from India.  Please call me at 4084318736 and leave a message and I’ll get back to you.

And onto a sports field – running, exercising and playing sports !!

Holi kab hai…Kab hai holi…?!

For the second year, the Tri Valley India Association is organizing the Festival of Colors ‘Holi Dhamal’  in the Dublin, Pleasanton, San Ramon area. The Holi itself is on Mar 01 (Monday) as per holifestival.org and is being celebrated widely in the San Fransisco Bay Area.

• When: Mar 7th, 2010 (Sunday)
• Location: Emerald Glen Park, Dublin, CA (Use 4201 Central Parkway, Dublin CA – 94568 for GPS/Online directions)
• Time: 11:00pm – 2:00 pm
• Cost: Adults $7; Kids (4 -12 yrs):$5; Kids 4 and under: Free; Group of 10 of more -Adult $5; Group of 10 or more – Kids $4  (Apparently Cost includes  colors)

No water guns allowed

Email tviaweb@gmail.com for tickets or more Info

Tickets Available At:

• Kamal Spices (Pleasanton) – 6700 Santa Rita Road Pleasanton, CA 94588-3467 (925) 227-1600
• New India Bazaar (Dublin) – 4552 Dublin Boulevard Dublin, CA 94568-7564 (925) 875-1692
• New India Plaza (Dublin) – 6040 Dougherty Rd (at Houston Pl) Dublin, CA 94568 (925) 829-9950
• ONLINE at https://www.sulekha.com/ticketsV3/buytickets.aspx?cid=588997

Holi - Festival of Colors Celebration 2010 - at Emerald Glen Park, Dublin CA (Pleasanton San Ramon Livermore Danville - Bay Area)

Map:

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4584 Dublin Blvd
Dublin, CA 94568
(925) 560-9830

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7150 Village Pkwy
(at Amador Valley Blvd)
Dublin, CA 94568
(925) 235-3672

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(925) 551-5800
4582 Dublin Blvd, Dublin, CA

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(925) 829-7944
6830 Village Pky, Dublin, CA

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(925) 556-0202
7467 Village Pky, Dublin, CA

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(925) 829-7944
6830 Village Pky, Dublin, CA

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(925) 829-7944
6830 Village Pky, Dublin, CA

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Its not an easy situation to be in. We finally decided that we are ready to uproot from Burbank (Los Angeles), and would settle down somewhere else. I started travelling to projects to make the transition easy. Now the deal was to find an ideal place to live in the entire US, for us as an Indian family with two little ones 5 and 2.
It wasn’t easy to figure out what that some place could be. The place needed to be liberal and cosmopolitan such that we as immigrants feel comfortable.
Away from vagaries of weather and snow meant that east coast was not the best. And Chicago and Minneapolis. Florida and Texas was too hot and humid, though the real estate prices were enticing. And places like Austin fell out of the list based on economic opportunities.
California still seemed golden. If not south, we decided to consider the bay area. As we focussed more, it just seemed too expensive. A good school district and nice houses couldnt just seem to come together. Palo Alto, San Jose, Fremont. Then San Ramon came into picture. Though a litle away from center of action in the silicon valley, this city seemed to have it all – excellent schools and parks, new, nice, houses, a lot of Indians. Seemed like this was where the silicon valley was new and growing. So one day, we searched on internet to find the options for a three bedroom apartment on the ground floor – and it just so happened that we found availability in the small city of Dublin, next to San Ramon; signed up on the lease for six months, and within two weeks, moved there just in time before the schools started.
The idea was to continue scouting for houses as they came on sale, primarily, but not limited to San Ramon. As we started driving through the city we really liked the plenty of parks and schools, the library – it looked like a beautiful city with good roads, slightly hilly and scenic. The newer San Ramon, the Windermere and Gale Ranch and all, were either too expensive or too small. And with a higher tax rate. But then we found out that shopping and entertainment was a challenge in San Ramon. Going up to Walnut Creek or coming down to Dublin didn’t seem very practical – taking Dougherty Road all the way down didn’t seem easy. The idea of driving many miles for anything but schools didn’t seem very appealing, and we started questioning the very idea. Then some realtor gave us the long and short of living the tri-valley area. San Ramon afterall was designed as a family, residential community, with no plans for a mall or big shopping, other than plans for a high end shopping square. We weren’t so sure if we liked that. Even access to the BART system or nearest freeways seemed at least 20 minutes away. We heard the concentration of Indian and other Asian students was very high in the otherwise above par schools of the city. The schools were great, but we then also wondered if we instead would prefer a more rounded and cosmopolitan group in the schools…
We next checked out Danville; the downtown was cute, but the communities, many gated, seemed to have an over-emphasis on golf. If golf was not important, the city which was anyway even farther off from commute perspective didn’t seem very appealing in terms of the value of the houses.
We started checking out Fremont again, and Pleasanton. But couldn’t seem to be find a right balance between size, age, schools and location. By this time, we had already increased our price range by 25% since we had come to the bay area.
Then, we thought why not Dublin – we kind of seemed to like the town. Specifically the Hacienda-Tassahara area in the east. We saw that a lot of collataral benefit of the growth of San Ramon and surrounding area was actually coming to Dublin. It had in its catchment area big parts of San Ramon, Pleasanton, and probably even Livermore and Danville. We realized many people were actually coming down to the Hacienda area for restaurants, shopping or spending the evening. And some new, exciting developments were about to take shape – Whole Foods, the super new and up coming shopping area called TheGreen, The Promenade, etc. And that is where our daughter’s elementary school was as well – at no less than 945 API. And not to forget BART and the fact that 580 was right there. We quickly started scouting the Emerald Glen and Dublin Ranch area for any houses coming on sale. Dublin Ranch seemed like good value – but for some reason it just seemed to much of an extension or a new development and seemed a little far out there on the hill. Luckily a house came up for sale in a street right facing the Emerald Glen park within the main Dublin city, and we wasted no time in snapping it up.
We are all set to move in there with the closing around Thanksgiving this year (09). Only time will tell if east Dublin is really the best value in terms of weather, reasonable commute to an area of immense opportunity, good schools, and good value for the home in terms of age and style, in the entire US of America, or not. We have made out bet that it is!