Author: Lavina Melwani

How many Indias are there?

As many as the eyes that perceive it.

Each visitor sees a different India, bringing in their own experiences to the encounter. British photographer Clive Limpkin has a lively new book ‘India Exposed: the Sub-Continent A-Z’ which shows the results of his brush with India. His camera, however, returns time and again to what really moves him: the human connection. As he writes: “When friends ask for one good reason to visit, I offer them a billion – it’s the people.”

For most Indian immigrants the two most mouth-watering words in the English language are “Indian Food”. Last summer I enjoyed a great culinary journey back to India: I visited Anjappar, a noted ‘military hotel’ in Chennai famous for its non-vegetarian Chettinad cooking , and also the iconic Sarvanna Bhavan beloved for its dosas, uttappams and other vegetarian delights. I next ate my favorite street foods at Kailash Parbhat, my family’s favorite Sindhi eatery in the by-lanes of South Mumbai. Final stop was of course the classic Moti Mahal in my hometown of Delhi where I’d first tasted the divine makhani murg or butter chicken in my childhood.

Yet you’ll be surprised to know that I visited all these treasure troves of regional cuisine without ever boarding a flight or stepping out of America!

New York taxi drivers, including a few desi ones, pose as pinups for a 2017 calendar which will benefit charity.

For the last eight years we have seen President Barack Obama do this symbolic act of pardoning the turkey, though of course lots of turkeys are going to be eaten today! However, there is freedom and respite for these two lucky turkeys, Tater and Tot.

When Sunita Advaney, now married and settled in Forest Hills, was seven years old, she came home from first grade and asked her immigrant parents about Thanksgiving. Her father Lal Lakhati, who had migrated from India, didn’t just explain the holiday to her, he actually went out and bought a small rotisserie bird and all the trimmings and the family had a Thanksgiving dinner. In later years they did two turkeys – one traditional and the other a bright red, coated with tandoori spices, coloring and stuffed with biryani and boiled eggs. Says Sunita, “We need our chillies and it was a good way to ease people into turkey because turkey is not our culture.”

The Metropolitan Museum Of Art & India’s Ministry of Culture have renewed for five years the two-way partnerships with Indian museums for sharing knowledge and expertise.So over the next five years there will be 35 new fellowships; annual seminars and workshops in India; follow-up visits by host supervisors at fellows’ home institutions; visits by the directors of the participating Indian museums to the fellows’ host institutions; and meetings of the advisory committee to organize and plan seminars, workshops, and interviews.

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.”

November 8 came and went and it’s the morning after, and many of us seem to be in the grips of a surreal nightmare from which there is no waking.
Donald Trump is the new president-elect of America, and the world is undergoing shock waves and trying to understand what really happened.

November 8 is here and today America decides its future as millions go to vote. Here are some of the stories from around the web as we cast our ballots, then hunker down for the outcome.
What kind of a morning will it be in America tomorrow?

There’s a solid 18-karat gold toilet in America – but it’s not in one of Donald Trump’s opulent bathrooms. It is instead in a humble public restroom, to be used by the 99 percent of ordinary people. You can use it and so can I. See it at the Guggenheim Museum!

The Metropolitan Museum of Art will host its first ever World Culture Festival on Saturday, November 5, from noon to 5 p.m. with the theme of Epic Stories.

Ae Dil Hai Mushkil’ -There could be few better ways to spend 170 minutes – it’s like traveling in an air-conditioned spaceship to another dimension where there is only beauty, youth and wealth. Jobs, work and family hassles don’t exist – it’s the proverbial Bollywood NRI golden life – dance, music, money.

Rarely do you get to see that strong silent stunner Ajay Devgn in person. And when he’s accompanied by his wife, the wonderful Kajol, that’s a double bonus! The two celebrities were in New York in September to promote Ajay’s new film ‘Shivaay’ and the press got to meet them at a luncheon at the Pierre on Fifth Avenue

Mansion, the official home of the Mayor of New York, had probably never seen so many Indians or cooked up such a big batch of samosas!

Hundreds of Indians from all walks of life – diplomats, community bigwigs, journalists, artists, chefs and business people had all gathered in a huge tented space on the lush lawns of Gracie Mansion, overlooking the East River. This was the biggest Diwali bash in memory and included so many faces from the Indian-American community of New York.

At Hope in Hyderabad Gala, it was an evening which celebrated the past and the future. While rich rust and gold draping, minarets and images of the Char Minar and the art, crafts and cuisine of this fabled city emphasized the past glories of Hyderabad, the evening was really about the youth, its potential and the future.

The upcoming IAAC Lit Fest has not one, not two but three Tharoors! It’s being billed as a Trio of Tharoors and promises to make for some intriguing conversations: Shashi Tharoor and his twin sons Ishaan and Kanishk.

In our hi-tech, virtual world where blogs, tweets and e-mail rule, is there place for a good old-fashioned story lovingly told? Seduced by smart phones and I-pads, TV and laptops, can we still revel in a classic, slowly unfolding story – and that too on a blog?
The stories we read and the stories we write help shape us and create the scaffolding for our world. So let’s end this year with a beautiful piece of fiction by the great Bengali writer Leela Majumdar – a story about love, compassion and humanity.

Little could Indian immigrants have dreamed that technology would connect them in many ways – and their own efforts would finally bring them a US Diwali stamp to put on the letter to the homeland, making them feel truly at home in their adopted home.

How would you like to go to Hyderabad – without ever leaving New York? Visit the famous Char Minar, the colorful Lad Bazaar and taste some of the traditional cuisine – and also help educate and empower the children of this city.

Far from the 3 hour plus Bollywood extravaganzas, this little film is just 89 minutes but it packs a punch. It is in Marathi and set in small-town India where both lives and dreams are modest. 1000 Rupee Note is about the cost of being human, the price set on values.