Author: Lavina Melwani

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

The delight of New York is that it embraces every festival and makes it its own – and in a grand way. So it was that the mighty Golden Dragon in all its spectacular churning and beat of drums came to the Temple of Dendur at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on February 20.

PadMan has landed in New York City, and the do-gooder while doing good for society is also bringing in the big bucks at the box-office! A review

Falu’s Bazaar shares South Asian culture through a fun learning experience with a mélange of instruments and languages, spices and foods – and of course music, both classical and modern.

eera Gandhi likes to do good – and always manages to have fun doing it.  Whether it’s a CD, a documentary or a coffee table book, she creates it and all funds go to the non-profit Giving Back Foundation which she founded in 2010 to help women and children.

It is a pleasure to have a bit of respite and see ‘Pad Man’ – a film which is a true story about a very different kind of man, a man who respects all women and wants to make their lives easier, better and full of dignity.