Imagine sitting across the table from the iconic Amitabh Bachchan as he tells you – and only you – in his rich baritone about his daily life. Imagine the one and only Madhuri Dixit chatting with you about who does the cooking in her family as her husband Sriram Nene gamely shoots a picture of her and you together. Imagine the wonderful A.R. Rahman actually bringing you a glass of orange juice when he hears you are fasting that day.
Yes, all this actually happened to me!
You probably will never meet two more unmatched people than the lead pair in ‘Learning to Drive’: Wendy (Patricia Clarkson), a frenetic Manhattan book critic whose relationships are falling apart and Darwan (Ben Kingsley), a gentle Sikh taxi driver and part-time driving instructor.
Both are from New York City but inhabit worlds apart.
Their lives intersect when Wendy, devastated by the fact that her husband Ted (Jake Weber) has left her for a younger woman, decides to take driving lessons to regain her independence. Darwan, who is about to be entering into an arranged marriage, sight unseen with Jasleen ( Sarita Choudhury) a woman from his village in India, has his own immigrant upheavals in a new world.
Recently US Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard got married in a Vedic ceremony in Hawaii. A Hindu, she has even taken her congressional oath on the Bhagavad Gita. Her name Tulsi means the Holy Basil which is so central to Hindu belief. Her mother Carol Gabbard was brought up in the Brahma Madhwa Gaudiya tradition and named her five children Bhakti (worship), Jai (a Hindu salutation), Aryan ( noble one), Tulsi (sacred plant) and Vrindavan ( Lord Krishna’s abode).
It got me thinking – what’s in a name and how can one use such a simple device to enhance the spiritual lives of one’s children? It certainly has deeper connotations than naming a child after candy or a jewelry store!
At times you’re not even sure you’re watching a movie – it seems like a very extended, very elaborate dance contest on TV and goes on and on. If you’re with a group of teenybopper friends and love hip-hop dance moves, have access to a large size Coke and a huge tub of popcorn, you’ll have a pretty good time.
There’s probably nothing more valuable that you could introduce into your life than chanting. It’s been practiced for centuries in so many different faiths but is especially powerful in the Hindu tradition, where the Shastras and gurus have extolled the virtues of chanting God’s name as an anchor in the turbulence of life.
Listening to a chant can be as powerful as chanting yourself. Whether it is the sages chanting on the banks of the Ganges or a New Yorker commuting to work in the subway and listening to a CD of chants on her earphones, there’s a way to keep the spiritual in your life, no matter what life you’re living.
We talk of today’s India as a great global power and of its international trade and cosmopolitan nature, but all this was already happening in India’s Deccan Plateau in the 16th and 17th centuries where, drawn by the access to port cities, diverse immigrants, merchants, mercenaries and missionaries from different parts of the world had landed, lured by the riches of India.
The world rarely seems to agree on anything ever but this time a simple, peaceful four-letter word has brought them together – Yoga! Thanks to a suggestion by the Indian prime minister Narendra Modi, over 177 countries co-sponsored a United Nations resolution to make June 21st the International day of Yoga (IDY).
From the Great Wall of China to the Eiffel Tower, yoga is going to take a bow. So be it Shanghai or Vienna, Belize City or Chandigarh, Berlin or Edinburgh, yoga is having its day in the public square. In countries across the world yoga events are planned on this one day. Who says the world can’t speak the same language? Yoga asanas are certainly bringing people closer together.
If Alice went through the Looking Glass into a startling new world, this month thousands of museum-goers have turned Alice – and zapped through a disorienting world of mirrors into China!
A China right in the middle of New York.
As spring turns into fall, we should be seeing a lot of excitement and action in the fashion arena. Will more and more Americans be seduced by Indian fashion through travel to India, through cinema, and through Indian-American friends in an ever increasing Asian population?
Will American designers continue to find inspiration in India’s myriad delights of color, crafts and couture? Will Indian designers make it big in America? Will new mega-fashion stores dedicated to India ring up the sweet music of cash registers?
Advertisers really know how to pull on your heartstrings, and sometimes they get it right.
The work of mothers is so undervalued – it carries no pay, no certificates and no awards. Yet daughters are so strengthened by the unconditional love, the drive and determination of mothers to make the lives of their daughters so much better than their own. A touching tribute to mothers everywhere.
If you’re a mother or a daughter, you’ve got to watch this emotional video. It will make you want to call your mom immediately. Enjoy!
“I don’t know dance but my soul dances while singing in concerts. Many times I fly in void, my audience’s energy becomes the surface…Every pore of my body becomes the vent for breeze to pass through. I am weightless…in samadhi.”- Kailash Kher
Kailash Kher’s unique voice which makes you lose yourself – and also find yourself – in his soul-stirring music. Indeed, if you want to discover truths about life and humanity in a tornado of music, there is no better venue than a Kailash Kher concert.
The Sufi singer is now coming to the heart of Manhattan, to Times Square, and audiences are going to hear his raw, fabulously powerful voice at Town Hall, in concert with his band Kailasa on May 3.
What would be a filmiholic’s idea of heaven? A week full of back-to-back viewings of the most intriguing films, a mixed bag of drama, suspense, comedy and chills – by some of the most noted directors in Indian cinema. Think Vishal Bharadwaj, Shyam Benegal, Mani Ratnam, Aparna Sen, Hansal Mehta and Shonali Bose. Then there is the joy of seeing the work of so many regional filmmakers as well as getting to know so many new directors. Lots of films by Indian-American filmmakers too, including ‘Miss India America’ and ‘Meet the Patels’.
All this is happening at the upcoming New York Indian Film Festival with over 30 films, 30 alternate worlds to get lost in. You’ll find love, loss, laughter – and life…
A six figure job, a trophy spouse, an earth-shattering romance – we certainly think all these things will make us more happy – and isn’t happiness what we all seek and hunger for?
Yet listen to this: “There is nothing that you have to get, do, or be in order to be happy. I repeat, nothing. In fact, happiness is your innate nature. It is hardwired into your being, It is part of your DNA. It is always with you.”
These words of wisdom come not from some spiritual text or soothsayer but from Dr. Srikumar S. Rao, the very practical and philosophical professor who has made happiness an achievable goal…
Yes, it’s that time of the year when Asian art takes over New York City and art-lovers from all over the world come to the Big Apple. Just before Asia Week opened (March 13 -21) I spent a day with a group of bloggers and journalists in hot pursuit of hidden treasures.
‘India’s Daughter’ is banned in India but Jyoti Singh’s story cannot be put under wraps, it cannot be muzzled. It is all over social media, and it needs to be seen and seen by a lot of people, especially the gatekeepers of patriarchy.
What happened in Delhi on 16 December 2012 has come back to haunt people, and to see that justice gets done. It is said that a woman is raped in India every 20 minutes and the time is not for complacency. To those who say the documentary ‘India’s Daughter’ should be banned, there is only one thing to say – watch it and then decide.
Enjoy the joy of Holi, the festival of colors, with this delightful video from Hindustani vocalist Ila Paliwal. This beautiful Indian raga embraces the world with its power of celebration and inclusiveness. Indeed, Holi is increasingly becoming a reason to dance and connect with color in many parts of the world and this video by Bharat Bala shows that dance and music have a way of erasing differences and accentuating what we humans have in common.
Sometimes there’s a film so emotionally wrenching and yet so life-affirming that you just have to see it. Such a film is Shonali Bose’s ‘Margarita with a straw’ which opens the New York Indian Film Festival. In this unusual love story, a middle-class Indian teenager with cerebral palsy longs to experience that most basic of human desires – a love relationship. Sex and the disabled are hardly ever talked of in the same breath, and this brave film takes on this taboo topic
Life has many pressing questions but for Bollywood fans it has to be – which is the greatest Bollywood film of all time? It’s a highly subjective question and there can be no one clear answer but wonder of wonders, 30 Bollywood gurus have come together to agree upon a clear winner! It is ‘Sholay’ – Ramesh Sippy’s action thriller from 1975.
Check out the 100 greatest Bollywood films, according to Time Out.
There’s information overload on the Internet and many great stories are missed altogether! So every week I’ll do a roundup of the must-reads, the controversial stories, and the fun posts that I have found across the Net.
Check this one out! All your Facebook friends – are they really who they seem to be? With photos floating all over social media, how do you know who people really are? What would you think if you found your photo on diverse social media sites with a different name and a different life story?
Imagine entire streets, neighborhoods drenched in color. Imagine people so immersed in red, purple, green and yellow powders that you can’t distinguish one from the other!
Yes, Holi, the Indian festival of colors is here, heralding Spring and the exuberant love of Radha and Krishna in Mathura. There’s joy, playfulness, a reaching out to friends and strangers. The festival has traveled well to America, brought in as part of the traditions of Hindu immigrants. And on May 2nd it’s being celebrated in a free fun festival by a group of young Indian-Americans in Manhattan.