Meet some of the Big Apple’s hottest and happening Indian chefs…

They are the interpreters of Indian Cuisine, the innovators who aren’t afraid to experiment and create, adding new dimensions to the food they grew up with, giving an exciting buzz to the ho-hum chicken tikka masala and palak paneer which has become the norm of Indian restaurants around the world. Some of them are at the helm of New York’s most noted Indian restaurants and bring in the foodies.

Warning: Do NOT Separate an Indian from his Onions! It’s the one ingredient that no self-respecting desi cook would want to be without; whether you are whipping up a Mughal feast or a poor man’s meal – onions are absolutely necessary. In fact, a shortage of onions can cause a near revolution in India!

Would you like to import an elephant or a rhino perhaps? Ornaments of jade, lapis lazuli, crystal and carnelian?

We may think of global trade as a modern day invention but way back in the ancient world there was a brisk trade and rich cultural exchange going on between far-flung countries. ‘Arts of Ancient Viet Nam: From River Plain to Open Sea’ is an intriguing new exhibition at The Asia Society in collaboration with Museum of Fine Arts Houston, which shows the interconnections which existed between Viet Nam and many countries, including India.

It was the Mercedes-Benz New York Fashion Week and Sabah Mansoor-Husain was one of six student designers from the Academy of Art University in San Francisco who showed their debut collections at the tented extravaganza. For Sabah, the destination was particularly thrilling for the journey to Bryant Park had started all the way in Bangalore, her hometown.

Think of home, and for many Indian immigrants it evokes memories of cool interiors, a whirring fan and the street sounds floating from the outside. Inside was a cool, domestic heaven, outside was the chaos, the traffic, the ugly realities of the work world, of political upheaval, of price cuts. It was always about inside and outside, two very different worlds. And now in our new global world it is about India interacting with a larger, more complex world at its doorstep.

New Yorker Meera Gandhi was appointed a centennial councilor for RNID which will be completing a hundred years in 2011. She is one of six centennial councilors who will serve for a year and highlight the mission of RNID in the US, India and China.

Life seems to be turning into a Bollywood movie and you won’t even need to lip-sync as you sing and dance your way through life with your romantic hero – just wear a musical sari! Yes, you’ve seen those Made in China Christmas cards which sing, autos from everywhere which talk and clocks which nag you to wake up. Now you have a Made in India intricately embroidered sari which comes embedded with a digital player in the ‘pallu’, 8 micro-speakers on the border and can play over 200 songs for four hours.

As if there aren’t enough big breaking news stories or international crises to report – Elizabeth Hurley wears a sari and discards the blouse – and Huffington Post reveals all! Great investigative reporting!

India and Indians seem to have a finger in every pie, and recently New Yorkers got to see the full gamut of India’s 7 billion dollar leather industry, from bags to stylish leather jackets in every possible hue.

Saks Fifth Avenue, Cole Haan, Jones New York, Levi’s, Guess, and Norma Kamali were just some of the style leaders who came in to check out Indian leather at Know Leather, Now India, a sourcing show at the Westin Hotel. Models displayed a rich array of fashion garments which underlined the fact that Indian leather has moved from just basics to high fashion too.

Want to know where you can get WiFi connection in Manhattan? Confused by the labyrinth of subway connections? Or just hungry for a great meal? Now, thanks to a team of Indian IT professionals, you can have all that information at your finger tips on your iPhone – and it’s free.

NYC Way is the name of this neat application and it’s got Mayor Bloomberg’s seal of approval. It got an honorable mention for the App of the Year but also won the Public Choice Grand Prize and the Investors’ Choice Award in the NYC Big Apps competition