As a college professor, Grishma Shah uses her storytelling skills to teach her students about economics, culture and globalization.

"Students rarely remember the numbers, graphs or data, but they do perk up and recall the colorful, rich stories I tell them to bring the knowledge to life," said Shah, a Monroe resident who has received three degrees from Rutgers and now teaches at Manhattan University.

Shah decided to set aside the textbooks for a while and take her storytelling to another level. Her debut novel, "Anagram Destiny," was released in September by Spark Press/Simon & Schuster.

In the world of publishing, they say, "Write what you know," and Shah seemed to have followed that advice. She uses her life experience as the daughter of Indian immigrants and her academic knowledge of world economies to tell the story of Aanya and her childhood friend and eventually her husband Ayaan Parekh. The story is about the sacrifices immigrants make to achieve the American dream, but it’s also about the rise of India as a major player in the global marketplace.

The families are friends because they share a bond of culture and familiarity, being the only Indians within 100 miles living in Georgia. The two fictional families run a 34-room roadside motel, mirroring Shah’s own childhood experience as her family ran a motel in New Jersey. Her uncle still runs a motel in New Jersey.

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Shah’s family came to America when she was 7 and settled in Lawrenceville, but there are little references to the Garden State, or its well-known locations, including Rutgers, in her book. She said she wanted to create some space between fact and fiction.

"The experience is real, but the locations are made up," Shah said.

She picked Georgia as the primary American location of "Anagram Destiny" because she also wanted to convey the Indian immigrant experience in the U.S. It’s estimated that about half the country’s mom-and-pop motels are owned by immigrants from India and the majority of those, Shah added, are in the South along Interstate 95.

Rutgers may not appear by name in her book, but Shah said the story behind "Anagram Destiny" began to take root while she was a student at the university. As an undergraduate majoring in political science, Shah went to India in 1999 as a part of Rutgers’ Study Abroad program.

"That time profoundly impacted me," Shah said.

Though she had been to India many times before, it was the first time she was going without her family, enabling her to see the country from another perspective.

"I volunteered at the Missionaries of Charity in Old Delhi, helped rebuild homes for earthquake survivors, and witnessed firsthand the stark contrast of 'two Indias' – one racing toward globalization with skyscrapers rising in Gurgaon, while another battled severe challenges, like poverty, inequality and gender inequity. This duality of India left an indelible mark on me," Shah said.

She received her bachelor’s degree in 2001 and her master’s in public affairs and politics a year later from the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy. As she was working toward her doctoral degree at Rutgers in Newark, her professor Kevin Kolben asked her in 2006 to join him as an assistant on a study trip and return to India.

"That’s when I really began to see all the changes taking place in India – all the impact of globalization, how people were changing, how culture was changing," she said. "Prior to that, the last time I had gone back was during the study abroad trip, so I felt a shift happening."

The economic policies were implemented in the early '90s, she said, with results a decade later. In those short years between 1999 and 2008 between Shah’s visits, India "went from being an economy that was once stagnant to being an economy that was fast growing. We call it the India Rising era."

Kolben, who lived in India between 1995-96, saw those changes firsthand.

"While a lot of the discussion, particularly in business circles, was about 'India Rising,' it was clear that there were two Indias – one that was entering modernity and the global economy, and one that was left out," said Kolben, who is a professor of business law at Rutgers Business School, Newark. "I was interested in exposing my students to all facets of that. So, it meant exposure to realities that might have been uncomfortable, or that challenged their world views. Many of the students had never been to a developing country before. Some had never been out of the U.S., and India – especially the unfiltered version – can be a lot for someone who is more used to the New Jersey suburbs."

He added it’s particularly rewarding to hear the impact his teaching left on Shah.

"It doesn’t matter which way they might have been affected, but at least you made a difference in someone’s life, whether it be intellectual, professional or personal," he said.

In the book, Aanya also witnesses these changes as she, too, arrives in 2008 in Gurgaon, a modern city of high rises, luxury hotels, malls and rapid transportation in northern part of the country. The software engineer is there for a long-term tech project for her job. Her story is told in dual timeline – 1980s Georgia and 2008 India. As the story unfolds, the reader learns why Aanya has come to India alone, telling her love story between the two timelines.

Shah said she began the book in 2018 and completed the first draft a year later. She calls it her passion project and hopes to follow up with another novel, but she plans to return to the classroom to tell her stories to her students.

"When I focus on one person, their personal stakes, their highs and lows, their gains and losses, their triumphs and tribulations, that is when they listen intently," she said. "That is when they absorb and become invested. It is then that they begin to build empathy and see themselves in a stranger across the world. It is then that we develop conscious and compassionate future leaders and decision-makers."

Shah will reunite with her former professor, Kevin Kolben, to discuss "Anagram Destiny," for a discussion of her novel and how her time at Rutgers impacted her novel during a talk Nov. 20 at noon at Rutgers Business School, 1 Washington Park, room 508, Newark.

MONROE – Residents have mounted a campaign opposing a plan to build an approximately 176,085-square-foot warehouse at 63 North Disbrow Hill Road and Butcher Road.

"We recognize this is a David and Goliath battle, but this is extremely important to us as we are concerned about safety, pollution, the value of our homes, and the quality of life for our children who live in the area," said resident Claudette Klimczak, who lives in Monroe Place, a townhouse community across the street from the proposed warehouse.

Federal Business Centers, of Raritan Center in Edison, wants to construct the project on the northeast side of the intersection of North Disbrow Hill and Butcher roads in the southernmost portion of town, according to documents on file with the township.

The site is bordered to the north by single-family residential and commercial properties. To the south, across North Disbrow Hill Road, is vacant land and large-lot, single-family residences. The site is bordered to the east by Bentley Brook and vacant land. To the west, across Butcher Road, are apartments and townhouses.

The property is located in the Highway Development District, where a warehouse is permitted. Much of the eastern section of the property is located in the Flood Hazard Conservation Zone, where the applicant confirmed no improvement is proposed, the documents say.

The hearing on the project began in July and is set to continue at the 6:30 p.m. Sept. 26 at the Monroe Township Senior Center.

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"Federal Business Centers is basically putting the warehouse with the entrance and exit to their property in a residential area on North Disbrow Hill Road, a very narrow street. It’s just crazy," Klimczak said.

Residents have mounted a campaign that includes distribution of circulars and flyers, as well as a petition on Change.org that had generated more than 1,350 signatures as of early Monday afternoon.

At the July meeting, where Klimczak was the only public commenter during the public portion due to the lateness, she said project opponents believe there are more appropriate areas in Monroe to build warehouses and offices like Route 33 and Station Road, and more remote and nonresidential areas that Monroe has plenty of, rather than building in a neighborhood.

Patrick Connelly, executive director of Federal Business Centers, said Federal is a family-owned company that's been in business since 1938.

He said the building is being built as a speculative venture without having a tenant identified, and has been designed for flexibility.

Township Planning Board Chairman Marc Gaffrey said the hearing would resume Sept. 26 in order to give residents who wish to speak a chance to be heard, as well as give the applicant and township engineer time to do additional research regarding some of the traffic issues discussed.

Among the traffic issues discussed was Butcher Road, a county road.

Councilman Terence Van Dzura, who is Council Liaison to the Planning Board, said he thinks Butcher Road is a problem, not wide enough for what's needed to be accommodated by the warehouse.

Van Dzura and Planning Board Engineer Mark J. Rasimowicz said they wanted to meet with the county about traffic impact.

Email: sloyer@gannettnj.com

Susan Loyer covers Middlesex County and more for MyCentralJersey.com. To get unlimited access to her work, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.

OLD BRIDGE – The Central Group 5 wrestling final had all the worthy drama, complete with lineup moves, surprise pins and upsets between Old Bridge and Monroe.

It came down to the final two bouts and Monroe’s biggest wrestler and smallest scrapper couldn’t be more cool or more poised in the most frenzied of atmospheres.

Heavyweight Anthony Marcos, who said he could barely hear his coaches, avoided getting thrown and won 6-3. Freshman 106-pounder Kyle Capodanno sprinted to the head table for the check-in, seized an early lead and fought off a cradle for 30 seconds in a tense second period to prevail 13-5.

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With that, Monroe’s bench jumped and down as the Falcons won 34-31 Wednesday for their first NJSIAA wrestling sectional title.

“It feels amazing,” Marcos said. “The atmosphere, everyone’s celebrating, we all feel amazing. … We’re a great team. We’re family. We’re all close.”

The second-seeded Falcons (18-14) took on all comers this season, constantly improved and eventually got guys in the right weight. Now, they’ve put together a memorable postseason run with wins over Hunterdon Central and Hillsborough to claim the hardware.

“It's been up, it’s been down,” Monroe coach Joe Eurell said. “Sometimes it’s banging your head against the wall but I knew that if we kept pushing them they would keep on pushing each other and that’s what they did.”

He added, “The kids knew what they had to do and they just kind of all rallied around each other and these are the results. They had a positive attitude.”

Monroe travels to the North 2 Group 5 winner Bridgewater-Raritan for Friday’s state semifinal with a trip to Sunday’s final at Rutgers on the line.

First, they had to get by top-seeded Old Bridge, which won the dual in late December, before a spirited crowd. As the lights dimmed, the wrestlers from the neighboring towns produced plenty of excitement under the spotlight.

The match had a 7-7 split in bouts but Monroe found a way with four pins, an upset, a surprise fall and limited bonus points.

The Shumsky twins – Josh at 144 and Matt at 150 – each dropped down a weight and scored pins. Monroe had a couple choices at 165 and went with sophomore Luke Pawliczak, who got a pin via a cradle in 3:21 while trailing 12-8.

Eurell said they considered bumping Pawliczak up and noted the team felt it needed to win tossup matches at 165 and 285 – both Falcons delivered.

At 132, Jafar Rizvi was the underdog but pulled out a 15-13 win against Daniel Ferraro, who had won 10-2 in the dual meet. The Falcons’ Nick Cavallo scored the pin at 120 in the second bout.

Also credit Monroe’s wrestlers who lost, including by three technical falls, which saved three team points. At 126, Joel Cholula fought off his back by bridging hard and lost to Lorenzo Granato, 20-3. Old Bridge’s Jake Tenebruso won 16-1 over Arjun Biju at 157 and Gavin Young opened the match at 113 with a 19-4 win over James Verderami.

Every move counted.

At 138, Old Bridge’s Griffin Nugent upset Greater Middlesex Conference Tournament champ Anthony Caponegro 10-5 to avenge an earlier loss. Old Bridge was without injured Viktor Ilnytskyi (120/126) but rallied late with three straight wins in the upper weights to set up the late drama.

Temiloluwa Odumbo won 13-4 at 175 followed by Dominick Paulino winning by disqualification because of too many stall calls at 190.

Zach Florio took an exhausting 2-1 match at 215 as both he and Hayden Cannon jostled for positioning in neutral in the third period. In the dual, Florio won 14-2.

Enter Marcos’ win at 285 to cut Old Bridge’s lead to 31-30 entering the final match.

Capodanno paced up and down during the 285-pound match, noting he “was just getting in the zone, kind of blocking out all the noise. I was cool, calm and I was just ready to wrestle.”

He edged Peoples 7-4 in the GMCT final on Jan. 25 and again won an exciting match in a tussle of promising freshmen.

The poised rookie credited the coaches and upperclassmen like Cavallo, the team captain, for setting the tone.

“We always have a positive attitude and we didn’t start off the best,” Capodanno said, “but we really bounced back in the past week. The energy has been all positive. The spirit was high, everyone was wrestling hard trying to get better for this and now we’re not done yet.”

Monroe 34, Old Bridge 31

113: Gavin Young (OLBR) over James Verderami (MOTO) (TF 19-4 4:30) 120: Nick Cavallo (MOTO) over Romeo Roman (OLBR) (Fall 0:45) 126: Lorenzo Granato (OLBR) over Joel Cholula (MOTO) (TF 20-3 4:25) 132: Jafar Rizvi (MOTO) over Daniel Ferraro (OLBR) (Dec 15-13) 138: Griffin Nugent (OLBR) over Anthony Caponegro (MOTO) (Dec 10-5) 144: Joshua Shumsky (MOTO) over Aiden Roman (OLBR) (Fall 4:56) 150: Matthew Shumsky (MOTO) over Ryan Hoey (OLBR) (Fall 0:42) 157: Jake Tenebruso (OLBR) over Arjun Biju (MOTO) (TF 16-1 3:30) 165: Luke Pawliczak (MOTO) over Dylan Miller (OLBR) (Fall 3:21) 175: Temiloluwa Odumbo (OLBR) over Yidan Wong (MOTO) (MD 13-4) 190: Dominick Paulino (OLBR) over Jayden Badillo (MOTO) (Def.) 215: Zachary Florio (OLBR) over Hayden Cannon (MOTO) (Dec 2-1) 285: Anthony Marcos (MOTO) over Liam Kellgren (OLBR) (Dec 6-3) 106: Kyle Capodanno (MOTO) over David Peoples (OLBR) (MD 13-5)

A Middlesex County man is the third New Jersey person facing federal charges in a multi-million-dollar scam of a popular home goods company.

Jose Pena, 46, of Monroe, was charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud. He appeared in Newark federal court on Wednesday.

Pena owned and operated a trucking firm that subcontracted with a national transportation and logistics company for deliveries in the New Jersey and New York metropolitan area, out of a Williams-Sonoma distribution center in Cranbury.

Between June 2018 and September 2020, Pena plotted with others who worked for Williams-Sonoma and “Company 1” to overbill them for more than $3.6 million in phony deliveries and services, Acting U.S. Attorney Vikas Khanna said.

In exchange for helping, Pena allegedly paid participants lavish kickbacks including cash, a Chevy Tahoe, tickets for sporting events like Knicks games and a Yankees playoff game — and a Rolex Submariner watch priced at $13,400, court documents show.

An internal audit ultimately revealed the fraud and the companies no longer wanted to work with Pena.

Starting in September 2021, Pena hid his interest in another trucking firm that also worked for Williams-Sonoma, prosecutors said.

He allegedly kept scamming the company for made-up deliveries through June 2024, resulting in nearly $1 million in additional losses.

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Two of Pena’s co-conspirators pleaded guilty last month, separately in Trenton federal court, to conspiracy to commit wire fraud.

Raymond DeLeon, 38, of Ridgefield Park, worked as an operations general manager for “Company 1.”

DeLeon admitted to receiving over $200,000 in kickback payments, in exchange for his role in submitting the phony billing requests.

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Cintia Elaxcar, 40, of Perth Amboy, worked as a billing and dispatch manager for “Company 1.”

She admitted to receiving over $435,000 in kickback payments, in exchange for her role in the overbilling scheme.

Conviction of conspiracy to commit wire fraud carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.

It also is punishable by a fine of up to $250,000 or twice the gain or loss from the offense, whichever is greatest.

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