Author: Lavina Melwani

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.

You can call it eating your gulab jamun and having it too! For Indians in America there is a special thrill in seeing small remembrances of India’s independence day in so many varied ways.

One of the most delightful is seeing the New York landmark of the Empire State Building lit up in the colors of the Indian flag. As the Facebook page of the big tourist attraction noted, “To our friends from India, the Empire State Building wishes you a happy Independence Day! Our lights will glow saffron, white & green tonight to celebrate the occasion and NYC’s 35th India Day Parade.”

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!

“I was so amazed at the thought of somebody cycling me, who was just turning 20, who was a fit young American man, that I insisted on bicycling half the way myself. That’s how I entered India, bicycling a rickshaw, with the rickshaw-wallah sitting in the back, wondering what the hell I was doing!”

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.

“Most Indian-Americans are an infuriating, thin-skinned bunch, their runaway success in this country notwithstanding. Always on the alert for cultural slights, theirs is a largely mercenary attachment to American society…They are ‘drop in’ immigrants—like those drop-in cricket pitches so popular these days: situated on American soil, but not an organic part of it. ”
Tunku Varadrajan on Indian Americans and their reactions to Bobby Jindal and Nikki Haley.

Getting Hooked on Indian Sweets…

We all love kaju rolls – the cashew nut mithai which comes in cool cigar shapes with a pistachio filling – but I didn’t quite expect a one-year-old Italian- German toddler to be such a fan of this Indian sweetmeat! Call him a Mithai Monster instead of Cookie Monster but he sure loves the desi sweets.

Who would have imagined a Prime Minister of India lying in the middle of the road (the yellow traffic line is visible) on a yoga mat doing yoga asanas with the aam janta, an image which would be flashed across the world for all to see?

Where other leaders in his place may have just made lofty speeches or inaugurated events, PM Narendra Modi sat down cross-legged and actually did what all the citizens of India were doing and kept up with all 35,985 of them. There was no self-consciousness or hesitation, just a passion to pass on the benefits of yoga to everyone.

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.

No doubt about it – education is going to be the key to solving so many of India’s problems. Give a child education – and the world is his oyster. Here’s a telling story from about 18-year-old slum dweller Niraj Kumar Ja who beat the odds and got into an IIT which is eight times tougher than making it to Harvard University.

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…

In India, skin color seems to dominate all else. In this land of ‘wheatish’ skin, why is white skin so cherished and so desired? Why is black denigrated?
A new ad for jewelry features the gorgeous Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, white as can be, and a small dark child slave holding an umbrella over her head. What were the creators of this ad thinking?
Will colonialism and the British Raj continue to dominate our lives in free India? And how many more young people will associate dark skin with failure and repression. Is the solution in life a tube of skin whitening cream?

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…