Browsing: Bombay

While Christmas is important to Indian Christians as a celebration of faith, many non-Christians enjoy it as a secular holiday in ways small and big. Indeed, Christmas is such a huge, high voltage commercialized event in America that few can escape its allure, be they Christians or not.

If there’s only one thing you do today to make yourself happy, watch this excellent video! For all those who love the street foods of India this is the ultimate experience, traveling state by state and eating the delicious eats right on the road. The tears sting your eyes, your nose runs, your tongue burns – and you’re in foodie heaven!
It is amazing how everything is available in the open – be it spicy chat papri, ragra patice, alu tikki, chole bature or seekh kebab. You’ll see foods you’ve never eaten!

She was a captain in the US Military, has served in the war-torn hell-hole of Iraq and been awarded several honors, including the Bronze Star – but she has never fired a shot. She was in the combat zones of Northern Iraq for 12 months, surrounded by the cacophony of bombs and mortar attacks – yet she has never carried a gun.

She says simply, “My defense is God.”

With his grey hair, rimmed eye-glasses and gentle smile, Mani Ratnam is an unlikely global rock star. Yet rock star he was when the prestigious Museum of the Moving Image in New York showed the film series ‘Politics as Spectacle: The Films of Mani Ratnam’ – ‘Roja’, ‘Bombay’ and ‘Dil Se’, three films from his stormy, much loved oeuvre.

The US has several Indian-Americans doing important work in academia. Meet Beheruz. N. Sethna, President of the University of West Georgia with a budget of $ 100 million and 100 programs of study through the doctoral level.

He’s a Parsi who’s got some important firsts affixed to his name: he is the first person of Indian origin to ever become the president of a university anywhere in the US. He’s also the first person from any ethnic minority to become president of a predominantly white or racially-integrated university or college in Georgia.

Kirti Mukherjee and Sulekha Rawat are the two bloggers behind Chatty Divas. They tell stories of ordinary people, of family love and angst and of lives lived in India and America. Here are some of the highlights of their blogs posted in 2014…Flying the Friendly Indian Skies, Bombay – A train to Nowhere; Diwali on Two Continents. Stories so simple and natural that it’s like being in a circle of friends.

What happens when there is a massive power cut and Mumbai’s trains stop running? The buses are jam-packed and cabs are at a premium. Can one walk three hours to the suburbs? On a dark and rainy night, nameless people become friends and it’s all about the kindness of strangers. Guest Blog post from The Chatty Divas.

Picture this: The world of global fashion designers who dress glamorous celebrities with bold-face names and fashionistas; leggy models wearing fabulous fashions and glittering jewels; high-end stores showcasing the whimsies of fashion.

Then picture this: Struggling South Asian women without marketable skills, little income, closeted lives and low expectations, no language skills, always working, always the care-givers with no prospects of a better life.

Two very different world views – yet in a moment they can come together to the benefit of both. Meet Ranjana Khan, noted jewelry designer, and Naeem Khan, the iconic designer who has dressed everyone from First Lady Michelle Obama to Hollywood Royalty. Come September 26, they are opening up their penthouse studio for a fashion fundraiser to support struggling South Asian women achieve success and confidence through the non-profit organization Wishwas.org.

It was only 8 pm on Dec 31st in Mumbai but already the drums were beating wildly outside my window in an apartment close to the Gateway of India. People are packing the streets here and I’m struck by the sheer energy of the crowds. The vitality of Mumbaikars is catching, their passion to live, to succeed. I’ve been in the city just three days but already I’ve met so many ordinary people who take each day as it comes and pack a punch into it.

Great music lives on forever, and great artists are never lost. If you look at the Google doodle today, it’s a tribute to the legendary performer Freddie Mercury who died at the age of 45. The doodle opens out into a wonderful video which captures the essence of Freddie Mercury perfectly – check it out!

Mercury, who has been hailed as Britain’s first Asian Rock Star and one of the greatest singers of all time, would have been 65 today. This charismatic performer has a huge fan following all over the world.

“Salman was my first boyfriend. I had a huge crush on him as a teenager. The crush led me to leave Florida and move to India and join films just so I could find him and get married to him. You have a license for doing idiotic things when you’re 15. However, I do not have a single regret of pursuing my first love.”

Somy Ali chats about Salman Khan, the Single Life, and her non-profit No More Tears on ‘Sex and the Single Desi’

Have you met Radical – I mean – Radhika Vaz? Known as Rad for short, this stand up comic and sketch artist is the mouthpiece for all that women have been dying to say – but were too afraid to, or perhaps too ladylike. Vaz’s new one woman show ‘Unladylike’ takes on everything one would hesitate to discuss in polite company. It’s all about letting your hair down and speaking your mind.

“My father was a CEO, so I grew up in a family that gave me a very real sense of the positive impact that business can have upon society – from providing goods and services to creating jobs to building entire communities,” says Nitin Nohria, Dean of Harvard Business School.

Yes, all the high drama, the tall tales of tall cities like Bombay and New York started on a narrow balcony on a narrow street in Bada Bazaar in an old and densely packed part of Calcutta.

He is quite the rock star in the world of cigars because he is the creator of one of the hottest selling cigars in the US and many other parts of the world – the Rocky Patel.