Author: Lavina Melwani

A vegetarian Sindhi meal at the James Beard House is indeed a unique event, and the one selected to introduce it to the larger world is Chef Roshni Gurnani who is the chef at Hotel Derek in  Houston, Texas. She offered a really old world treat for gourmets but as interpreted by a modern day Sindhi chef.

In the 60’s this bitter-sweet story about changing times and a changing India became a screenplay by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala and was made into ‘Shakespearewallah’ – a winsome little gem of a film by the intrepid team of James Ivory and Ismail Merchant – just their second venture after ‘The Householder’.

The New York Indian Film Festival, organized by the Indo-American Arts Council (IAAC)  has always prided itself on being about real people, ordinary people, and at the cinematic table there’s room for stories from every kind of independent film maker, in every format and in every regional language.

Ten ticking minutes which won’t ever come back are a valuable commodity.
You could spend them waiting for the subway train to arrive or watching your chicken biryani cook on the stove.
Or you could spend ten minutes having a most happening conversation with the very happening Kumail Nanjiani! Well, that’s what I was lucky enough to do – and I tried to squeeze an hour’s conversation into those ten minutes – and we really talked fast!

Minorities have long been invisible, reflected only on their own ethnic mirrors – now this innovative new initiative will ensure that these bold new stories are told in their own voices with their own cadences and spirit, but on the larger canvas of New York City.

For those who’ve lived in and loved Calcutta – or Kolkata as it’s now known – feasting is an important part of life. Here four Bengali-Americans share their best memories of the city’s innumerable, incomparable eats: Partha Banerjee, NY activist, talks of his favorite haunts in his favorite city; Mukti Banerjee, home cook, shares some delicious Bengali food through her meetup group in Brooklyn; Kriti Mukherjee, foodie and consultant, reflects on the importance of food in a Bengali’s life, and businesswoman Priyashmita Guha shares a tale about eating street foods with her father in Maddox Square.

Remembering legendary actor Omar Sharif on his 86th birthday through a Google Doodle, some video interviews and one’s own memories of ‘Lawrence of Arabia’ and ‘Dr. Zhivago’ and other films.

Indian immigrants who have spent time in the homeland will remember their childhood passion for Cadbury chocolates – the only big brand available in India in the good old days! In those days chocolate was a rarity and a treat. NRI relatives visiting India would always be asked to bring back  just about any kind of ‘foreign’ chocolate and as much as could fit into a suitcase. Now some of them are turning into chocolate-preneurs!

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBTJU7-sdKE Abu Jani Sandeep Khosla Presents Black Magic Woman

NYIFF 2018 promises tributes to Sridevi, Shashi Kapoor and a Merchant-Ivory Retrospective besides independent films, documentaries, shorts and regional films. A film buff’s dream!

I have had mixed feelings all day – a sense of sadness that children have had to lose their innocence, their childhood to take on such large, ugly issues. Issues of life and death, of morality and cowardice, of justice and standing up for their rights

All of us are always searching for a better version of our selves, for love, spirituality and happiness. What can be more fun than Meera Gandhi putting you in touch with remarkable people who’ve already been on the journey and have valuable ideas to share?

They are superwomen who can fly and carry thousands with them to distant lands. I speak of course of Air India’s magnificent women pilots, the largest such force in the world.

Art is often about aesthetics and beauty but in Chittaprosad’s work it was about the ugliness of life and the horrors of the Bengal famine. This retrospective of Chittaprosad’s work is a not to be missed event for it illuminates the life of a little known artist whose searing body of work is being seen for the first time in New York.

A law degree has been the avenue for a number of Indian-American women who have done very well in corporate America and private legal practice. It has also been the building block for a handful of strong women who have entered public life via this route as judges, attorney generals and lawyers in the public sphere, this having an impact on the lives of ordinary citizens.

Celebrities may wear the armor of success but as Anupam Kher shows they all have human failings and frailties and he shares ways to deal with everything from stress to fear to failure. And that is why readers will catch glimpses of themselves in the pages of his new book, find strength for the days they lose confidence or feel useless. Says Kher, “They need to discover that the best thing about them is them. It is the truth, it is not just a catchy title. I believe in it.”

you know that there’s another showman named Raj Kapoor – a young Indian-American in Hollywood who’s on the Oscars production team? His company, Raj Kapoor Productions, designed the screen content and performances for the big night.

Superstar Rekha shares pictures of her friend the late great Sridevi