Author: Lavina Melwani

In the city of reinvention, what better way to stand out from the crowd than to reinvent yourself?
As the film festivals focusing on South Asian films have multiplied in the Big Apple, the oldest and most noted showcase of them all, the MIACC Film Festival, is now known as New York Indian Film Festival (NYIFF) and is focusing on independent and regional films, while still being open to Bollywood blockbusters. The opening film ‘Do Dooni Chaar’ is a Disney film with Bollywood stars but imbued with the indie spirit.

In our virtual world anyone can become an instant expert on any city – thanks to MyCityWay, an innovative mobile app designed by the team of Archana Patchirajan, Puneet Mehta and Sonpreet Bhatia, three immigrants from India who’ve made New York home and achieved the American Dream.

MyCityWay just raised $ 5 million in financing from BMW i Ventures, FirstMark Capital and IA Ventures and you may see this app in BMW cars in the future. This little app, which can be downloaded free on your mobile and offers you a comprehensive grid of the city, is currently available in 40 cities and the plan is to bring it to 40 more.

Do you think it’s still possible to dream big and actually see that dream become a reality? Ask first-time filmmaker Nayan Padrai. His project ‘When Harry Tries to Marry’ – made on hope, persistence and a limited budget has gone on to bag several top awards at the recent London Asian Film Festival: Best Crossover Film and the Audience Award for Best Film. Rahul Rai, the young actor who’s never acted before, was named Best New Talent.
The film has already shown at the Austin and Mumbai Film Festivals, and its script was a featured project at the Sundance Institute Independent Producers’ Conference. It’s now showing in New York.

In a world where the computer is king, the Internet is all-powerful and Facebook and Twitter reign, social media is the newest and hottest turf to be conquered.

For each of these innovative entrepreneurs, who are in their 20’s and 30’s, the world to be conquered is virtual but the treasures to be won are very real – millions of dollars for successful start-ups, fame, fortune and fans globally.

Meet the creators of five start-ups everyone is buzzing about – Foursquare, Involver, MyCityWay, Occipital and Radium One. In our increasingly interconnected world where Mumbai and Manhattan are just a click away, you will soon be using their creations if you are not already…

Dhukia, a poor untouchable, journeys to the home of Ghashiram, the village brahmin, to request him to set an auspicious date for his daughter’s wedding. He is made to wait, told to clean the stables and chop wood. The hapless man, burdened by caste and class, malnourished and starving, labors in silence – finally dying in the scorching sun. For Ghashiram, the death is an inconvenience; the dilemma is how to get rid of the corpse of an untouchable man…

“Deliverance’ (Satgadi) is a powerful short film by Satyajit Ray based on a short story by Munshi Premchand. This stark film underlines the brutishness of life, the inhumanity of man to man, and is one you won’t forget in a hurry.

New Yorkers got to see this film in the recent film series – Long Shadows: the Late Work of Satyajit Ray, at the Walter Reade Theater, organized by the Film Society of Lincoln Center.

It is a film which touches you and makes you think and realize that there are always two sides to a story. Julian Schnabel’s ‘Miral’ was bound to cause controversy because the noted Jewish director shows the world from the perspective of a young Palestinian girl in occupied East Jerusalem, something which has rarely been done. This blistering film is based on an autobiographical book of the same name by Rula Jebreal, who grew up in the occupied territory and is now a journalist in Italy but has never forgotten the traumas of her scarred land.

I-Phone, I-Pad, I-Meditate?

It was bound to happen! The practice of meditation may be thousands of years old but it is perfectly suited to our very stressful modern times, when in order to go fast, you have to learn to slow down. And the buzz of the moment is that the power of social media is being harnessed by a group of high achieving young professionals to get the word out about the value of meditation, and the upcoming I Meditate NY event, one of the largest meditation gatherings ever to be held in the Big Apple.

Over 2700 New Yorkers, from all walks of life and all religions, will come together to listen to and meditate with the renowned spiritual leader Sri Sri Ravi Shankar who heads the Art of Living Foundation, with music by Grammy nominated Chandrika Tandon and world music band Bhakti. This unique event will be held at Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Hall on April 10, and leading up to it are free meditation classes at the Art of Living Center in Manhattan, a chance to get a first-hand taste of meditation.

Americans had gone Indian for a day and there were enough turbans, kurtas and jewels to outfit a Bollywood film production as over 250 guests, clad in Indian outfits and headgear, danced to the music of Om Shanti Om and Jai Ho with the Bollywood Axion dancers.
One of the most eye-catching sights was the Imperial Court, a fundraising group for gay and lesbian charities, fabulous entertainers resplendent in over-the-top Indian finery and jewels, clad in sarees for the first time. This fantasy evening was Bollywood Gala, the biennial fundraiser to support the cause of HIV/AIDS by Red Ribbon Foundation which is one of the top 25 grantmakers for HIV/AIDS organizations worldwide.

She’s probably the sexiest mechanical engineer around, and by her own admission, she’s also a bit of a geek who loves all things techie. And yet, Melanie Kannokada, 24, is so much more than a geeky mechanical engineer.
Her debut film ‘Bicycle Bride’ won the best feature film award at the South Appalachian Film Festival, and she was nominated Best Actress in this, her very first role. ‘Love, Lies and Sita’, her second film, has three guys madly in love with her – and it’s set for a summer release. In this recurring post spotlighting emerging South Asian talent, Lavina Melwani checks out her story…

Salman Rushdie, Vikram Seth, Jhumpa Lahiri, Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, or M G Vassanji – who would be the one you’d vote for in the world of journalism and literature? Bobby Jindal, Swati Dandekar, Dr. Ruby Dhalla or Ameya Pawar – who would be your choice for political leadership? Would you be torn if you had to choose among Mira Nair, Russell Peters, Meera Syal, Sunil Nayar and Sanjeev Bhaskar in the field of entertainment?

Well, now you have a chance to vote for the most notable NRIS – and perhaps win free tickets to India in the bargain, with the upcoming Light of India Awards.

Great news for Anoop Desai fans – they are going to get not one but three albums from him this year, as part of the Zero trilogy. Songs like ‘Worth the Wait’, ‘Want your Love’ and ‘OoWee’ can be downloaded for free – in fact the entire ‘Zero.O ‘ can be downloaded. The light-hearted ‘OoWee’ is just the right number to hear now – fun and very danceable, it makes you think of Spring. And Anoop is giving away the album – so here’s a chance to download it and also watch his new music video. Also learn how you can support the efforts of this independent artiste who does not have a big label behind him.

If you want to see Padma Lakshmi break into a smile, all you have to do is ask her about her little girl, Krishna. “She’s wonderful, she’s healthy!” she beams. “We went to the zoo today – it was such a beautiful day! She’s the light of my life and I am very thankful to have her!”

She adds, “And I might not have had her if it wasn’t for the fact that I was diagnosed by Dr. Tamer Seckin and I got the help I needed. I can’t stress that enough – I was told that I wouldn’t be able to have a baby and the fact that I have her is a gift of God and this is just my way of saying thank you.”

‘This’ was the Blossom Ball at the New York Public Library to raise awareness and funds for the Endometriosis Foundation of America, and Padma Lakshmi, who is the co-founder with Dr. Seckin, was on the red carpet at the gala, looking stunning in a Sabyasachi saree.

For Indian food lovers, this is the equivalent of Foodie Heaven! An opportunity to taste the food of not one, not two but 13 noted Indian chefs – all under one roof. The noted chefs include names which are familiar to fans of Indian cuisine – Floyd Cardoz, Vikas Khanna, Jehangir Mehta, Hemant Mathur, Prasad Chirnomula, Hari Nayak, Maneet Chauhan ,Walter D’Rozario and Peter Beck, with Sanjeev Kapoor flying in from India.
This would have been an unimaginable scenario a few decades back but now is a done deal, thanks to the Varli Food Festival being held in New York City on April 7 at the Altman Building in Chelsea.

Love a good food fight? Then you’ve got to watch Bravo’s Top Chef Masters which has a dozen award-winning chefs battling it out for the title of Top Chef Master and $100,000 for their favorite charity. This includes, for the first time probably, two noted Indian celebrity chefs – Floyd Cardoz and Suvir Saran.

In each episode the Lords of the Kitchen sharpen their knives for cooking encounters and dish out their specialties. For celeb watchers it should be quite a treat – Mad Men’s Christina Hendricks, Pop/Rock Group Maroon 5 and Pop Star Kelis serve as Celebrity Guest Judges. Celebrity chef Curtis Stone hosts the series and judges include James Oseland and noted food critic Ruth Reichl. Celebrities and food – a potent mix!

A precursor to Asian Contemporary Art Week in NY, a recent group show: India and Pakistan may have been geographically birthed on the same subcontinent but they are relentlessly apart as nations. It is a question of so near – and yet so far. Once one people, they are now so far apart that can one understand the mindset of The Other?

Yet, art by Indian and Pakistani artists hung side by side in the Aicon Gallery in Manhattan – perhaps there were not even six degrees of separation between these canvases.

Looking at these powerful works of art one would be hard-pressed to say which artist was from India, and which from Pakistan. This only goes to prove that at heart, the dreams, the hopes and the fears are the same…

This is the tale of The Three Chocolatiers. Once upon a time there was a hotshot financial wiz, a smart biochemist who loved to bake, and a savvy chef who had sailed the high seas on the Q E 2, each going their own way.

A steamy passion for chocolate brought the three together to create Co Co Sala, a foodie kingdom dripping in high-end chocolate, coffee and cocktails. This attracted legions of chocoholics, made the fortunes of the Three Chocolatiers, and they all lived happily ever after.

Now isn’t that a sweet ending?

The story, however, is fact and not fiction. Co Co Sala is a hot and happening chocolate lounge, bar, restaurant, pastry shop and boutique on F Street in Washington DC, and three young Indian-American entrepreneurs are behind its big success – Bharet Malhotra, Nisha Sidhu and Santosh Tiptur.

Archana Patchirajan, Puneet Mehta and Sonpreet Bhatia, the three entrepreneurs behind MyCityWay really seem to be on a roll – they’ve just managed to raise $ 5 million in financing from BMW i Ventures, First Mark Capital and IA Ventures. Yes, you may be seeing the innovative MyCityWay app in BMW cars in New York in the future!

Mobile services are very much on auto-makers minds and the BMW Group has founded BMW i Ventures — a New York-based venture capital to provide early- and mid-stage investments in the area of Mobility Services, and MyCityWay is the beneficiary.

India has a secret weapon in its continuing ride to success and wealth – the Goddess Lakshmi! All the billions of prayers offered to this deity of prosperity in business offices across the world must be paying off for all those successful entrepreneurs.

Now even all the wanna-be-wealthy folks in far off Mexico are realizing the value of having the Goddess of Wealth on their side. The National Lottery in Mexico had the image of the Indian Goddess on some of the lottery tickets – and the grand prize went to – you’ve guessed it!

Really Useful Stuff – free museums, scholarships and more!

Ah, foodies! When we’re not eating or cooking or fantasizing about food, we’re shopping for eats, obscure and exotic spices and the latest cooking contraptions. And when we are not doing all of that, we’re watching cooking shows on the Food Network or salivating over food blogs on the Internet. And forget about casting our votes for the president, we can now actually have a say in who becomes America’s Hottest Chef! Now that’s powerful – and universe changing!

Eater, the popular foodie website, has anointed Vikas Khanna of Junoon the hottest chef in New York, based on voting by its readers. That’s really a delicious choice because Vikas is a creative chef with some wonderful dishes to his credit.