Author: Lavina Melwani

Fast, Cool and Fantastic – and Made in India Meet the M-Zero India is known for producing the smallest car and the cheapest car. But now put on your seat belts! Here’s news for speed lovers.  India may be on to something cool and fast! Sarthak Paul, a 21-year old entrepreneur is planning to launch India’s first sportscar. Here’s  M-Zero  – and it’s going to cost anywhere from $125,000 t $150,000! Paul calls his fledgling car company Mean Metal Motors (MMM). The automaker has already produced a couple of planned concepts, and if all goes well, Paul hopes the first…

News for You! The case of the vanishing Asian American characters in ‘The Martian’ “NASA’s Director of Mars Operations is Dr. Venkat Kapoor — an Asian Indian character who identifies as Hindu.In Scott’s film, he is played by British black actor Chiwetel Ejiofor and the name is changed to Vincent Kapoor. Character Mindy Park is written as Korean American in the novel, but portrayed by Mackenzie Davis — a white blonde actress. http://nydn.us/1PqSCJ8

The word ‘home’ immediately conjures up images of comfort, security and peace – yet for many women, perhaps there is no more dangerous and frightening place than home. Behind its closed doors and curtained windows can be a whole litany of horrors from domestic violence to psychological traumas, intimidations and beatings to molestation by family members.

The 2015 Children’s Hope India Gala set a new record with its Educate India initiative raising over $ 1 million for children’s education in India. Over 450 guests attended the very successful event on October 11 at Pier Sixty in Manhattan, NYC, where Prakash Melwani and Manjul Bhargava were honored for their contributions to the cause of education for underprivileged children in India.

Many, many years ago, to catch a reflection of India in America was to be over the moon: a saree on the streets of New York, an Indian name in the phone book, a snatch of Indian music in a mainstream performance. Now of course India has become woven into the fabric of America, so it was no surprise to see the JFK Express – the train which takes you from the city to the airport – immersed in the images of Incredible India!

Where would we be without words, words, words? Without books, digital and the real touch me-feel me papier ones? And where would we be without literary festivals which celebrate all the joys of the thinking, writing, musing world? Think Salman Rushdie and Suketu Mehta!

So if you’re missing your word-fix, here’s good news! The Second Annual Literary Festival at Hunter College, New York City, October 23-25th, brings some of your favorite South Asian writers to a stage near you.

Our world is full of irrational, brutal acts and unbelievable consequences, and yet sometimes good can come out of evil. A flying bullet can end a life – or start a bloodless revolution that can change the world.

The film “He named me Malala” documents just such a real life story.

What is it with New York City – it’s simply buzzing! Today Manhattan is overrun by security, cops and traffic police, there are closures and enclosures everywhere and yet there seem to be people, people, people everywhere too! From the Pope to world leaders, from PM Modi to Malala everyone is in the city. Not to mention Priyanka Chopra too!

A mobile ‘Chalta Phirta’ school, computer learning in the slums, performance arts and sports are just some of the innovative ways education is being brought to the underserved children in the urban slums and in rural India, by Children’s Hope India.
So what better theme for this year’s gala than ‘Educate India!’?

Jashobanti Mahanand is the nineteen-year-old daughter of a migrant worker from Orissa, India. Since she was nine she has worked in a brick kiln, tossing bricks in the blazing sun. So what was she doing in New York at a glittering event with some of the city’s most powerful and influential people?

The answer is just one word: AIF.

The American India Foundation (AIF) is the development organization which connects the dots between the poorest of the poor and affluent society, where funds are raised for a better future for the children in the slums, the forgotten villages and small towns of India.

“Educate a Child – and Change a Life’ A mobile ‘Chalta Phirta’ school, computer learning in the slums, performance arts and sports are just some of the innovative ways education is being brought to the underserved children in the urban slums and in rural India, by Children’s Hope India. So what better theme for this year’s gala than ‘Educate India!’? The CHI ‘Educate India!’ Gala on October 11, 2015 will bring awareness of the great need to impart basic education to the many children who have never been to school or are in failing schools. The 2015 Gala at…

If you’re brown, come from Asia and practice a different religion, you’re often seen as exotic, sometimes as strange and almost always as a curiosity by the mainstream, and these misconceptions are often triggered by the stories that are written about ethnicity in the media.

Shaandaar: Wedding Fever in Bollywood Ah, weddings and Bollywood! A match made in Heaven. Go to any Indian wedding and you see the big influence of Bollywood dance numbers, right from the baraat to the dances done by family members and friends to the entertainment provided. Now comes ‘Shaandaar’ which is all about the big, fat Indian wedding. Art imitating life imitating art? This is the fantasy wedding every Bollywood fan wants in real life. Music, dancing and feasting without end. The movie which stars Shahid Kapoor and Alia Bhatt is about what often takes place in real life…

A tribute to the late great Dev Anand whose birth anniversary is on September 26. He is an evergreen part of the golden years of India’s film industry and adapted himself successfully into the contemporary decades. His fans were of all ages and all walks of life. He introduced some of the most beautiful actresses to the Hindi film industry. His film ‘Guide’ is a classic and one can see it again and again.

‘Court’ is India’s official nomination for the Oscars. Director Chaitanya Tamhane on how he made the movie: “Instead of drawing inspiration from other films or literature, I found the experience of attending actual trials in the lower courts of Mumbai far more enriching. Some of the stories unfolding in those rooms are indeed stranger than fiction. What made these stories unlike anything I had seen on screen was the unique cultural milieu of Mumbai they were set in.”

Ever visited Planet Shankara? You don’t need to journey as far as Mars or Pluto and you don’t need a rocket to get there but you will fly to a place of total musical bliss!

Planet Shankara is coming to you, right to the Lincoln Center Performing Arts Center and you’re in for a mind-blowing musical experience when three mighty talents come together – Anandan Sivamani – the magician of percussion, Anurag Harsh whose powerful voice transforms words into a direct conversation with the Almighty, and Stephen Devassy, the amazing keyboardist who has performed so often with AR Rahman.

A solo performance by even one of them would be heady enough but when all three are unleashed together on the stage, it is a joyous ride for the listeners, a musical monsoon to get thoroughly drenched in.

One favorite ritual is a visit to the Union Square Greenmarket in Manhattan where some truths I learned in Kindergarten are finally getting a hammering. Carrots are orange. Well not true always – carrots are now also yellow and purple – and rainbow colored! Eggplant is purple – but now it can also be silvery white! Tomatoes aren’t always red – they can be brown and yellow and all shades in-between, thanks to the many innovations in horticulture. As for peppers, the market has so many flavors, colors and varieties that even the Devil’s ears would fume with the heat!

The Meet Brothers, known for their catchy music from ‘Baby Doll’ to ‘Chittiyaan Kalaiyan’ were in Manhattan to record with singer Poonam Khubani, also known as Poonam Kay. So here we were at the Hudson Eatery chatting with the Meet Brothers about their collaboration with Poonam. whose song ‘Ek Look Ek Look’ was featured in the Bollywood movie Aryan, and who’s made several popular pop videos since then.

The US has several Indian-Americans doing important work in academia. Meet Beheruz. N. Sethna, President of the University of West Georgia with a budget of $ 100 million and 100 programs of study through the doctoral level.

He’s a Parsi who’s got some important firsts affixed to his name: he is the first person of Indian origin to ever become the president of a university anywhere in the US. He’s also the first person from any ethnic minority to become president of a predominantly white or racially-integrated university or college in Georgia.

Hundreds had gathered near New York harbour to watch the Erasing Borders Outdoor Dance Festival but there was an Audience of One who must have truly appreciated the lively tableaux that passed before her eyes – Lady Liberty.

Indeed, the Statue of Liberty has seen it all, the abandoned, the political refugees, the dreamers, the wanna-bes, the huddled masses – but here was a joyous rainbow of colors, of bright-eyed dancers celebrating their ancient culture, their aspirations and the diversity of America.
If you missed this festival, check out the upcoming indoor festival of dance!