Lalit Kumar Modi, (Hindi: ???? ????? ????; born November 29, 1963, Delhi, India) is an Indian cricket administrator and businessman. He is best known for his stint as the Chairman and Commissioner of the Indian Premier League and the Chairman of the Champions League from 2008 to 2010. He is also the Vice President of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) since 2005 and Vice President of the Punjab Cricket Association. Modi is also the President and Managing Director of Modi Enterprises and the Executive Director of Godfrey Phillips India. Lalit Modi was born in a wealthy and successful business family. His father Krishan Kumar Modi is Chairman of Modi Enterprises, a Rs.40 billion business empire which was founded by his grandfather, Raj Bahadur Gujarmal Modi(Founder of town Modinagar). He attended boarding schools like Bishop Cotton School in Shimla and others in Nainital. He disliked school, and often ran away. After his schooling, he was determined to continue with his studies in the United States. He scored well in the SAT and chose to skip the school-leaving examinations, which were required for entrance to colleges and universities in India. Subsequently, he gained a place at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Modi had claimed the top slot as the highest tax payer in the country for the 2009-2010 fiscal. He paid Rs 8 crore in the first half of the current fiscal. He is currently married to Minal, who he met while he was a student in the US and she was already married and a friend of his mother. She was nine years his senior and was then living in London with her family. Minal got a divorce, and she and Lalit were married in Mumbai despite his family’s initial disapproval. Modi has had two children named Ruchir and Aliya from his marriage with Minal. Son Ruchir lives in Mumbai with Modi and studies at the American School of Bombay. Aliya currently studies in Switzerland. Minal has a daughter named Karima from her earlier marriage. Karima is married and lives in London presently. Karima has a daughter named Arya. Lalit and his family sometimes travel in a private 13-seat Bombardier Challenger 300 jet. He claims to have purchased it in 2008 for $20 million (Rs. 96 crore) but the DNA (newspaper) has reported that the aircraft is owned by somebody else, and its Rs. 3 lakh/hour operating fees are paid for by the IPL. On March 1, 1985, while a sophomore at Duke University, Modi was arrested on charges of conspiracy to traffic cocaine and assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill. On April 2, 1985, Modi and another student were indicted on second-degree kidnapping, a misdemeanor charge of assault inflicting serious injury and conspiracy to kidnap. Modi pleaded guilty to the crime when the case was heard in the Durham County court, North Carolina and later entered a plea bargain, which resulted in a suspended two year prison sentence. Modi moved the court again in 1986 after he graduated from Duke University, he sought permission to move to India on health grounds. The court ordered: "As a fact the defendant has been hospitalized. His doctors indicate that a return to his home in India would facilitate his recovery… The said probation be modified to unsupervised probation. As a condition, the defendant is to perform 200 hours of community service by 1990. He may return to his home…"An article in Tehelka magazine alleges that Modi was involved in a court case for cocaine abuse as recently as 2006 in the UAE. Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association He joined the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association in 1999 (when it had no cricket stadiums) after promising to build a cricket stadium that would be used to play cricket in the Indian summer. In 2000, he started raising concerns with the way things were run in Himachal, and was booted out when Mr. Dhumbar became the Chief Minister of HP and installed his son as the President of the HP Cricket Association. Rajasthan Cricket Association and BCCI He then tried to join the Rajasthan Cricket Association. He became a member of the Nagore district. He allegedly submitted his name to the RCA as Lalit Kumar, because he did not want to be "cut-off" like he was with the HPCA. He raised concerns with the way RCA was run by the Rungta family for 40 years. There were 32 district associations in Rajasthan and 57 members, of which all 57 were related to the Rungta family. There were no elections in the RCA for 40 years. He eventually became president of the Rajasthan Cricket Association, with the help of then CM of Rajasthan, Vasundhara Raje. They changed the law in Rajasthan, effective 18 Aug 2004, so that the RCA becomes a more democratic organization with elections. He then ran for president of RCA and won. This gave him a seat on the BCCI. In 2005, Modi figured in a power struggle that resulted in Sharad Pawar, an influential politician and national cabinet minister, ousting former Indian cricket supremo and Internatio

This is the East end of the block the Drake Hotel is on. This series of storefronts have shown much more life in the last year, although we've still been getting more of what we already have. There is already a fast food sub franchise down the street, and frankly the Pizza Pizza on this corner is just fine. (Sorry pizza lovers.) I'm still waiting for a bakery or a book store. (Oh and could that please be a bakery that specializes in good bread and not just cakes and pastries?) The Subway franchise on the left was formerly the "Income Tax Dancing School."