Author: Lavina Melwani

Indian-Americans finally have a presence in the US Congress – Ami Bera, MD, is the new Congressman-Elect from California’s 7th Congressional District. I had interviewed him some months back when he was running a hard-fought race against the incumbent Congressman Dan Lungren, who conceded today.
For Ami Bera, serving people has been an important part of who he is, and he is ever conscious of the need to give back to a country which embraced his immigrant family. While he grew up in California, his father crossed the oceans from a farming family in Rajkot near Ahmedabad, Gujarat for a higher education in America. “My father was the first in his family to go to high school,” he says. “He got a master’s in engineering and my mother became a teacher.”

Like many immigrant families, theirs’ was a close-knit family with a lot of emphasis on education, hard work. His father ran a small commercial real estate business, and inculcated the values for a strong work ethic in his children. “There was a strong family support and strong community support,” he recalls. “And also a keen appreciation of the opportunities America offered.”

Today Diwali is being celebrated in the White House. And yes, ‘Happy Diwali’ is trending on Twitter in America. What more could a Hindu ask for? So before you do your puja and enjoy the jalebis and laddoos, listen to the Prez. And we will also share with you in another post the great work Hindus are doing with disaster relief for those affected by Hurricane Sandy.

Here are President Obama’s thoughts on Diwali. “Many who observe this holiday will light the Diya, or lamp, which symbolizes the triumph of light over darkness and knowledge over ignorance. As that lamp is lit, we should all recommit ourselves to bring light to any place still facing darkness. Earlier this year, we were reminded of the evil that exists in the world when a gunman walked into the Sikh gurdwara in Oak Creek, Wisconsin and opened fire.

In the wake of that horrible tragedy, we saw the resilience of a community that drew strength from their faith and a sense of solidarity with their neighbors, Sikh and non-Sikh alike. We also saw compassion and love, in the heroic actions of the first responders and the outpouring of support from people across the country. Out of a day of sadness, we were reminded that the beauty of America remains our diversity, and our right to religious freedom.”
– Barack Obama

What is art exactly? In a throw-away world where material things lose their value all too soon, the Brazilian artist Roberto Custodio celebrates art as reincarnation, art as renewal of the spirit. Old, discarded magazines become the building blocks of his art, as he picks and chooses images and bits and pieces of different worlds to juxtapose a totally new reality, a fresh take on things.

A ragpicker of the soul, Custodio creates a gorgeous puzzle of tiny shards from different lives and invites you into a whole new universe. His earlier work from found and discarded publications brought into existence a whole pantheon of Hindu Gods from Brahma and Shiva to Krishna and Kali. Now in his latest exhibition ‘Your Royal Highness’ he turns his attention to powerful women from queens to courtesans – and yes, even a maharani.

November 6. The big day is here – the day you get to write the future narrative of this country.

If you happen to be an American citizen, please do go out and vote. It’s no time for apathy. Hurricane Sandy may have exhausted you, recent events exasperated you but today you’ve got to pick yourself up and get to a polling station.
I know the last week has not been easy – my home is still without power and heat, and I know thousands are in the same situation with the cold weather coming on. Nevertheless, I too am headed back home from Manhattan, driving 3o miles to cast my vote at a nearby school where my polling station is located.
Never has one day been so important in setting the course of how life pans out for our families, for future generations.

She’s a svelte and golden goddess with a cooking utensil in her hand and she’s coveted by all those in the world of cuisine.

We’re talking of course of the Varli Culinary Award, in the form of a lithe sculpture – and now the most talented chefs are going to be able to take her home as a testimony to their cooking talent.

On November 15, foodies, chefs and restaurateurs will gather for the first Varli Culinary Awards at the Altman Building in New York City to honor the best talents in Indian cuisine. The chief judge of the evening is renowned cooking authority Sanjeev Kapoor whose show ‘Khana Khazana’ is a huge hit on TV. The hosts for the evening are popular New York actors Manu Narayan and Pooja Kumar.

“I want you to know that this wasn’t fate, and it wasn’t an accident. You made this happen,” wrote President Barack Obama to his supporters on the day after his stunning victory.
“You organized yourselves block by block. You took ownership of this campaign five and ten dollars at a time. And when it wasn’t easy, you pressed forward.”

Yes, for the hard-pressed supporters who had hoped against hope that Obama would get another four years to complete the architecture of their dreams, it is morning in America. Not a golden sunlit surreal morning but morning nevertheless, tinged with the chilly reality of the world as it is. This victory is a remarkable coming together of different people and races, reflective of the changing face of the nation, the browning of America.

Diwali in America is all about innovation and creating new traditions and each family follows its past rituals but also adds in new ones. Indeed, Floyd Cardoz, the celebrated chef of North End Grill in Manhattan, is a Catholic married to Barkha, a Hindu, and is an avid celebrator of Diwali.
“Even though Floyd and I come from different religious backgrounds, our kids are lucky and blessed to be able to celebrate both holidays,” says Barkha. “They absolutely love Diwali – we do Lakshmi puja in the evening and then it’s followed by the food that is a tradition from when I was a little girl – Pooris with aloo rassa, makhani dal, a paneer dish, gobi sabji, lots of mithai and then the all time favorite – sabudana kheer.”
(Barkha Cardoz with extended family at the Diwali table)

While ‘English Vinglish’ is about a big starry comeback – that of the wonderful superstar Sridevi, it’s also about new beginnings – that of Gauri Shinde’s directorial debut. And there’s yet another story in there of particular interest to New Yorkers – that of the debut of local model-actress Neelu Sodhi in a big Bollywood film, playing the niece of Sridevi.

Neelu Sodhi has gone from a career in finance to modeling and commercials to the big desi dream – Bollywood. Indeed, such is the power of Bollywood in Indian lives that you never know when it’s going to enter your life and give it a 360 degree turn. Read on for a heartwarming Cinderella story. Yes, Bollywood Dreams do come true…

Assemblyman Upendra J. Chivukula of New Jersey is very much a people’s man, rubbing shoulders with the person on the street and well aware of the difficulties the middle-class faces. He’s been there and he’s walked in those shoes. He is running for US Congress from New Jersey’s 7th Congressional District but he’s come up the hard way and understands the concerns of his constituents.

He was born a continent away in Nellore, Andhra Pradesh in a lower middle-class family. He and his five siblings, parents and grandmother lived in a mud hut with thatched roof without electricity where schoolwork had to be done outdoors under the street lights, and life had to be lived on a fixed income. The family even moved to Chennai in search of work.

“My father held many jobs including that of cashier and teacher and was a very honest man who taught us good values,” recalls Chivukula. “My mother was a music teacher, teaching classic Karnataka music and she played the veena. We still have the veena back home and when I visit her, I see that she is still singing. She is 83 years old and I wish I had the gift and talent that she has!”

After being the chef at Vermilion, the acclaimed Indian-Latin fusion restaurants in Chicago and New York for eight years and the first Indian woman to be a competitor on The Iron Chef and The Next Iron Chef, what do you do for an encore?

Well, if you’re Maneet Chauhan, you take a break. You go have a baby, become a judge on Food Network’s ‘Chopped’, work on two cook books and plan a new restaurant in Nashville, TN, partnering with the M Street Restaurant Group.
Here Maneet shares her life and recipes with Lassi with Lavina readers!

India gave us the sari, the salwar kameez, the lengha. So what’s coming next?

“The Indian gown!” says Shirin Vinayak of Shehnaai Couture, who just got back from Lakme Fashion Week. “Indian fabrics, Indian embroideries and Western silhouettes seem to be the way to go, not only for the red carpet but also for reception wear as well.”

Gowns are all the rage with Bollywood stars like Katrina Kaif and Kareena Kapoor, as well as the Page 3 crowd in India, tricking down to young women in the metros.
Vinayak is bringing that trend of the Indian gown in – “I feel like culturally that works for us here and so this is the first year that we have a full display of gowns on our rack.”

Maneet Ahuja, 27, certainly knows a thing or two about hedge funds. In fact, she is CNBC’s hedge fund specialist and a producer on Squawk Box, the noted morning program for the business world.
“The level of coverage we’ve developed for hedge funds did not exist in any business news TV outlet,” she says. “Our viewers definitely want to hear what these hedge fund managers have to say. They guide the smart money, and we’ve been able to carve out a niche for ourselves in an industry that wasn’t previously covered.”

September 6, 2012 was no ordinary day – it was the day that fashion became thoroughly democratized with Fashion’s Night Out taking over Manhattan. Every man and woman even remotely interested in style was invited to the citadels of couture for an open party.

The streets of Manhattan were over-run by hordes of fashionistas – all dressed to the hilt, many in designer dresses, others in their own unique styles and they had taken over the city. It was like one big, glorious feista, especially in lower Manhattan. Women in groups, women with boyfriends, generational groups too – everyone out to celebrate something as whimsical, as fleeting as fashion.

The very first party I stopped at was at Soigne K, the luxury boutique on Madison Avenue owned by Soigne Kothari. It was pure carnival as crowds gathered to see fiery dancers in the store windows and indulge in shots of tequila, rose and white wine, and dainty little finger foods.

Once upon a time three young rising chefs were handed shrimp, an immaculate kitchen. limited time and a medley of ingredients to orchestrate into an award-winning new shrimp masterpiece. They dashed and they mashed, they mixed and they fixed, they chopped and they pureed as a lineup of pedigreed judges and VIP guests watched with bated breath and hungry stomachs.

The event was Varli’s ‘Rising Star Chef 2012’ live competition at Junoon featuring chefs under the age of 35 – Bhavesh Patel (Moghul Caterers), Shravan Shetty (Urban Spice), and Sylva Senat (Tashan). Each created a signature entrée and served a tasting to the celebrity panel of judges – noted chef Jehangir Mehta of Graffiti and Mehtaphor; restaurateur Rajesh Bhardwaj, and award-winning cook book authors Monica Bhide and Ramin Ganeshram.

Three Shrimp Creations from Varli Rising Star Chefs at Junoon Restaurant in New York

The world knows of Dropbox, which is estimated to be a $ 5 billion company but few know that its genesis happened at Y Combinator, an incubator of start-ups which also nurtured the $1. 3 billion Airbnb.
“Y Combinator has become the central place to see where the next huge companies will be born and this makes it tremendously exciting to be a part of,” says Harj Taggar, 29, who is part of the core team at Y Combinator.

Since 2005 Y combinator has funded over 380 startups, including Reddit, Scribd, Disqus, Dropbox, ZumoDrive, Justin.tv, Posterous, Airbnb, Heyzap, Cloudkick, DailyBooth, WePay, Bump, Stripe, AeroFS, and Hipmunk.It has been called the most prestigious program for budding entrepreneurs and has created an entirely new method of funding early stage startups.

Bali. Las Vegas. Hong Kong. Dubai. Miami. Mumbai. Singapore. And the list keeps growing! ‘Have Make-Up Kit, Will Travel!’ This could well be the mantra of Sanjana Vaswani, a traveling cosmetologist in New York who has flown to many cities and driven many miles to transform everyday women into dazzling brides at countless weddings.
It’s interesting how new careers can be created and willed into being, and now with the ever-burgeoning Indian-American community in the US, the business of beauty is a multi-million dollar industry, part of the Indian-American wedding industry. Along with wedding planners, caterers, decorators, and photographers, you have the make-up artistes…
For Sanjana, her car keys are crucial in the business, and she’s driven from Pennsylvania to Virgina. “Thank God for GPS!” she says. At any given time her car carries her makeover cases of cosmetics and accessories which are geared for any beauty emergency.

In a very material world of designer haircuts and stylish togs, Vikram Gandhi, 33, did a radical thing: he grew his hair long and nurtured a massive beard. Forsaking all, he donned saffron robes, a fake accent and armed with a trident, became Kumare, the enlightened founder of the Sri Kumare spiritual movement.

Really?

Well, not really. Vikram Gandhi, you see, is a New York based-filmmaker and he is a fake guru in a real documentary, ‘Kumare’. Or as the film is billed, ‘The true story of a false prophet’.

Sacrilege or a seduction? Chocolate Dosa!
The other day wandering in the pleasurable desi by-lanes of Jackson Heights, admiring the mounds of mangoes, lychees and papayas, I stopped at Dosa Delight, a small family-type vegetarian eatery. There along with the traditional idli, medhu vada and Pondicherry Dosa was – Chocolate Dosa!

Now this is not a gourmet city restaurant but a tried and tested homey Southern outpost. So how did something as contrary as Chocolate Dosa find its way here? And could I have a taste?

New York fashionitas rejoice! Soon noted Indian designer Anita Dongre will be making her US debut, and in her many labels you are bound to find your vibe. Her style has brought cachet to everything from the airlines to the hospitality industry and her designs can be found in films like ‘My Brother Nikhil’, ‘Bas Ek Pal’ and ‘Sorry Bhai’. Fresh from her dazzling show at Lakme Fashion Week, Anita Dongre shows her latest couture and answers your questions.

“Q: Do you think you need a different fashion lingo for New York or are you planning to bring the same looks to the US? How different or similar are the sensibilities in Mumbai and Manhattan?

A: Women all over the world share a commonality which is to discover new trends and style statements so the lingo in New York isn’t necessarily different. We as designers have to constantly be reinventing our designs whether for the consumer in Manhattan or Mumbai. There is a similarity between the two cities as both are fast paced cities and women are always on the go and they want to dress efficiently yet trendy.”