The more things change, the more they remain the same. Annu Palakunnathu Matthew is an America-based artist who grew up in Kerala. In the late 1990’s she made a portfolio titled Satirizing Bollywood, about her memories of her life as a woman in India. She calls it her ‘Angry Woman’ years. Misogyny and a patriarchal society existed then, and as the recent gang rape and unending cases of abuse of women prove, nothing much has changed. Now two decades later, Matthew has taken on the subject again.
Year: 2013
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“It’s very Andy Warhol goes Indie-pop,” says designer Sabah Arenja Vig about her collection – and that got me a-wondering: what would Andy Warhol think about our wild, multi-hued surreal Indian fashions? Probably turn them into equally wild, multi-hued surreal art!
Yes, Indian couture is certainly riding high. With a young ever-burgeoning population in India and the diapora, the demand for bridal wear and fashion with a touch of India is only going to grow. Recently Shireen Vinayak of Shehnaai Couture showcased the latest collection and answered some burning questions about the new fashion trends, especially for New York fashionistas.
Guess who’s in town? Amitabh Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai, Shah Rukh Khan, Hrithik Roshan and Kareena Kapoor! They are all in Times Square and why this hasn’t quite caused a stampede yet is because they are not quite the real thing. Not even the reel thing. They are here in the wax! At Madame Tussauds, traveling all the way from London.
For thousands of fans this may be the closest they’ll get to the Bollywood superstars. You can stand inches away from them, breathe the same air and even get your photograph with them! True, Amitabh Bachchan can’t give you his autograph nor will you hear Aishwariya’s voice or Kareena’s laugh. Nor will King Khan rattle off an inimitable dialogue for you. But you can stand real close and maybe even shake their hand or sneak a hug! Won’t your friends weep with envy when they see your photo with Hrithik Roshan? Who’s to know he’s a fake?
Every day is an opportunity to learn something new and enter new worlds.
Here are three great events during April and May which guarantee you a new perspective and maybe even help you mobilize a new talent.
Really Useful News tells you about free lectures on innovations in technology sponsored by Tata at the Liberty Science Center; free scholarships for Indian students by the Government of India; a free art exhibition at the undiscovered architectural gem of the Flushing Town Hall in Queens, and more. The best things in life are free!
Given the amount of desi parties available to young and older desis, why are there so many dateless individuals? Studies and biology have suggested that love and intimacy is a great life landmark. Yet more and more people are shying away from that kind of connection. Is fear a factor? Have you viewed your parents’ marriage as something not to be desired and therefore connection is scary for you?
Ah – March! Comes in like a lion, goes out like a lamb – not! Just yesterday New York was suddenly blanketed in snow even as the floral buds were beginning to bloom in our backyards.
Today it’s supposed to be officially spring. So let’s think positive and prepare for a glorious golden season. And if spring is here, glorious summer and the barbecue season can’t be far behind!
Hemant Mathur, the noted chef of Tulsi, creates classic Indian tandoor dishes in the Homdoor, a Made in America tandoor.
“Stories of extramarital affairs are a class apart, especially in India when penned by Indian authors. Majority of protagonists end up going back to their husbands or wives, leaving the poor lover in the lurch. Nobody wants to cross the Laxman Rekha drawn by the caretakers of morality.”
Guest Blog – Chatty Divas
Call for Artists, Graphic Artists and Photographers by the Indian-American Project
What do you think of the H 1-B Visa? What are your thoughts on Immigration, outsourcing and the diaspora? If you’re an artist or photographer who can put these experiences into art, the Smithsonian wants you!
“When I was in Mumbai on holiday I was invited to an absolutely opulent, lavish Marwari wedding for 5000 guests. The entire set up and décor around the venue of the function was simply exquisite, especially the Mandap (stage on which the Wedding Ceremony is performed by the priest), which was carved with gold arching.
Great food, music and dance – and I got to meet – Karan Johar! ” Guest blog by Zoran Saher
“I wish that my family could pay our electricity bill because I would really like to study in the evenings but I can’t. Also, every morning I wake up with 5 new mosquito bites and I don’t like it.” – Laxmi, 8
“I wish that we had more computers because I love computer class but I get impatient having to wait my turn!”- Mansi, 13
“I wish that I could go for driver training. I LOVE cars and everything mechanical.” – Jeetu, 16.
Such small, modest dreams. The young professionals supporting Children’s Hope India granted all these in one evening of fun – Winter, Wine and Wishes.
It’s true – there’s hardly an Urdu couplet without the mention of wine, yet wine has rarely been part of an Indian meal. So it was only a matter of time before you had an entrepreneur looking to fill this gap. Sam Bhatia has just introduced a trio of offerings under the name of the poet Mirza Ghalib to the American market.
The name of the company is even more ambitious – Sufi Wines. Says Bhatia, “The Sufis were people who celebrated life, art and poetry, We wanted our wines to invoke that kind of creative spirit in the people who drink it, and so we named our company Sufi Wines.”
In the larger scheme of things, what does one minute signify? Nothing. Yet in the universe created by Radhika Khanna, fashion entrepreneur and yoga expert, these mini one-minute poses can translate into the difference between stress and calm, good energy and bad health. In fact, utilized well, these minutes can make all the difference in the world of busy professionals.
Khanna knows through her own experience, because yoga literally saved her life. While working in the fashion industry in New York, she got Lupus, for which there is no cure. Normal, day-to-day life was a thing of the past and she found after many treatments that yoga was her best ally in fighting this disease.
“Nearly every day for the past year I have been taking the same road to my parents’ house. I don’t live that far from their home. It is very important to me to know exactly where my destination is each day. I love stability and predictability when it comes to driving. I don’t like changes or surprises. I am one of those people that need to take a practice drive to a place I have never been before because I need to know exactly where I am going.
Well, on my way to their house there was a roadblock. No problem, I would take an alternative way. Unfortunately due to my lack of experimentation I didn’t know that many alternatives to get to where I needed to get to. It turns out, I was going to encounter several more roadblocks on my driving journey.” Guest Blog
This Valentine’s Day women finally sent a valentine to themselves. Isn’t It about time? After having always put themselves last, isn’t it time to love themselves, to stand up for themselves? Jyoti Singh Pandya was the catalyst for the awakening, for the realization that no one is going to watch out for women but women themselves.
The candlelit vigils, the protest marches and finally the opening up of the floodgates: women are now openly talking of the abuse, the violence so many of them have faced in silence, the covering quilt that has been thrown over transgressions within the family. Now women are talking about their trauma freely and in doing so are freeing up others to speak up too.
Desis are a dynamic, evolving breed who are constantly surprising themselves and others with their creativity, success, and growing place in the world. And yet, despite all this, there are some things about desi culture that never seem to change, such as our craving for spicy food, our inherently musical nature, our extremely dry sense of humor…and our work ethic.
No matter how much we evolve, desis just cannot seem to give up the laissez faire style of working that we have long practiced in our motherland and which we import with amazing tenacity to the new world. So mind-boggling is this phenomenon, in fact, that it is difficult to express its essence in plain prose and requires an imaginary conversation between two desis to be communicated effectively. Guest Blog.
Can you appropriate two worlds? Or to put it less elegantly, can you eat your cake and have it too? The Sa Dancers once again prove that you can, shifting effortlessly as they do between the world of business and the world of fabulous dance.
Their latest showcase at the Alvin Ailey Theater showed how effortlessly they mix their roots and faraway homelands with the here and now of frenetic New York.
The SA Dance Company took an audience of over 200 people on a journey into Indian villages, sitting on an imaginary slow-moving boat, then to Mughal India, and yes, out into the pouring Indian monsoon. The music was a wonderful blend of folk and Bollywood, modern and pop and the dance steps spawned from many different choreographies created a pattern all their own.
So what’s on the menu? Chef Roshni Gurnani showcases Fusion Sushi, Curry Infused Swordfish with creamed spinach, and Coriander crusted rack of Lamb with Bombay smashed potato, baby carrots and an onion tomato salad. Bon Appétit!
Chef Roshni Gurnani’s earliest memory of cooking is having her own mini rolling pin set and of rolling out chapatis next to her mother. The first meal she ever cooked was at the age of 5 when she whipped up some eggs and toast. By the time she was 13, she was working at a local Toronto restaurant.
No surprise then that for Gurnani, food was destiny.
She became the winning contestant on the popular Food Network show Chopped, and also participated in Hell’s Kitchen. She went on to become executive chef at an elite club, supervising a staff of 22. She is now part of 5 Star Chefs, noted chefs who travel and cook around the country. Food has certainly taken Chef Rosh, as she is popularly known, full circle.
“This is really my account of a year of returning to India. It’s strange how eight years of living somewhere else changes your entire outlook. I came back thinking I was coming home and home it was but it was eons away from where I had left it.
It is only when more than a year has gone by in a place that it starts spreading its tentacles around you, shaping you to fit to its contours, nipping you a little here and molding an extension there.”
Guest Blog: Chatty Divas