Important Message about Membership

For 2010 Membership Year, all Deluxe members of A2MM will get Basic membership of MMD for NO ADDITIONAL COST.
Members will PAY Event fees for Basic Membership charges.
This policy is reciprocal and same rule apply to MMD Deluxe members who will be treated as A2MM Basic Members.
If you have any questions please contact Committee members.

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Mahashivratra (Friday January 12, 2010) - महाशिवरात्र

Sankrant   महाशिवरात्र ही संपूर्ण भारतात भक्तिभावाने साजरी केली जाते. मराठी पंचांगाप्रमाणे प्रत्येक महिन्यानील वद्य चतुर्दशीस शिवरात्र असे म्हणतात. माघ महिन्यातील कृष्ण पक्ष चतुर्दशी म्हणजेच महाशिवरात्र ! या दिवशी शंकर आणि पार्वतीचे लग्न झाले अशी कथा आहे. याच रात्री शंकराने तांडव नृत्य करून मानव जातीला विनाशापासून वाचविले असे मानतात. लिंग पुराणामध्ये या दिवशी शंकर लिंग स्वरूपात प्रकट झाले असा उल्लेख आहे. म्हणून महाशिवरात्रीचा दिवस हा अतिशय पवित्र समजला जातो. या दिवशी संपूर्ण दिवस उपवास करून शंकराची आराधना केली जाते. पहाटे उठून गंगा - यमुना यासारख्या पवित्र नद्यांवर ब्रह्मस्नान करून शिवलिंग पूजा करून बिल्वपत्र वहाण्याची पद्धत आहे. गावोगावी देवळामध्ये शंकराच्या पिंडीची पूजा, दूध-तूप-मध यांनी रुद्राभिषेक करतात. या निमित्ताने अनेक धार्मिक कार्यक्रमांचे आयोजन केले जातात. भजन व कीर्तन करून रात्र जागविली जाते. "ओम नम:शिवाय" असा जप करून शंकराच्या नामकरणात लोक तल्लीन होऊन जातात. काही ठिकाणी पालख्यांचेही आयोजन केले जाते. १२ ज्योतीर्लीन्गांची यात्रा करण्याचीही पद्धत आहे. ही बाराही शंकराची मंदिरे ऐतिहासिक आणि पौराणिक दृष्टीने महत्त्वाची आहेत. १. सोमनाथ (गुजरात) २. उज्जैन-महांकालेश्वर (मध्य-प्रदेश) ३. भीमाशंकर (महाराष्ट्र) ४. त्र्यंबकेश्वर (महाराष्ट्र) ५. रामेश्वर (तामिळनाडू) ६. श्रीशैलम ७. केदारनाथ (हिमालय) ८. वाराणसी (उत्तर प्रदेश) ९. नागेश्वर (गुजरात) १०. घ्रीश्नेश्वर (महाराष्ट्र) ११. वैद्यनाथ (बिहार) १२. ओमकारेश्वर (मध्य प्रदेश) महाशिवरात्रीचे हे व्रत मनोभावे केल्याने पापाचे परिमार्जन होते आणि जन्म-मरण याच्या फेर्यातून मुक्ती मिळते असे मानतात.


About MMD Sankrant - संक्रांत वृतांत

Makar Sankranti, the first program of the year presented by the MMD committee of 2010, was successfully celebrated on Saturday, January 23rd at the Southfield Civic Center. The program had record attendance of about 300 people.

The hall was decorated with colorful kites made by Vaishali Mahimkar. As people arrived to attend the program, they were welcomed with suvasik attar and gulab pani. Ladies were anointed with haldi-kunku and families were given Tilgul and Vaan. All families enjoyed hot tea as they arrived. The program events started with announcements and welcome for the new committee from the BOT members. Our president, Anju Vale introduced the committee members, followed by Indian and American anthems beautifully led by our youth committee members, Esha Joshi, Vaidehi Dongre and Aarti Anturkar .

The “Kaay Sangata?” game was conducted next. All the hard work and innovative design of the game was demonstrated in the presentation of “Kaay Sangata?”. Yashodhan Joshi, Mukul Atre, Amit Deshpande in addition to the youth committee members, Aarti Anturkar, Omkar Vale and Supriya Jalukar spent several hours brainstorming, researching and then actually putting together this “Jeopardy” like game. There were two league stage rounds to be conducted involving 24 participants. Each league round had four teams named “Til”, “Gul”, “Shengdane” and “Phutane” . Top two teams from each league participated in the final round. The game had various categories like Movie, Travel, History, Science, Glimpses of Maharashtra, Food, and even a “ Out of the Box” category. Audience got a chance to participate whenever the participants could not answer a particular question. The “Kaay Sangata?” was thoroughly enjoyed by audience as well as the team members. Parents could enjoy the program due the baby sitting managed by Vaishali mahimkar, Purwa Pendse and Manisha Bhusari . They kept kids entertained with board games and coloring books.

All along, the food committee was tirelessly working in the kitchen. The delicious aroma of Pav Bhaji was making everybody hungry. Of course, Dahi bhat and fruit salad were also there to cool it down. This year, the committee decided to keep it buffet style, which was well appreciated by the members . Milind Vale’s Pav Bhaji recipe was strictly followed by Oak, Purekar, Mehendale, Gokhale, Ketkar, Hingwe, Umarji, Mahimkar and Joshi families. The Dahi bhat with the masala mirchi fodni was cooked by Anturkar, Jalukar, Mohile, Kotnis and Kulkarni families. Delicious fruit salad was made by Anand and Kasturi Huprikar. To avoid delays ..... three stations were set up with the help of, Vikram Gokhale and Laxmikant Jalukar . Also this is first time, self-served arrangements were made available and everyone was really pleased with taste, quality & quantity .

The Sankranti program thus came to an end in a timely fashion. Our program manager Manjiri Jalukar was tirelessly planning and had put in lot of hard work. Of course, it could not have been possible without the tremendous team work and synergy of all the committee members right from testing out the music system, planning the menu, organizing the game, and eventually putting it all in action. This is just a glimpse of the quality of programs to be presented this year . We hope we can give quality programs through out the year & of course yummy food !