Browsing: Features

If Thanksgiving is a festival of gratitude, then Indians have been preparing for it their whole lives.

In India, take a walk down the Mumbai waterfront in the early morning mist, and you see ordinary citizens quietly feeding the fish and the birds. Their daily day doesn’t really begin until the deities in their home shrine have been venerated with fresh flowers and offered prasadam.
It is only after eating a little of this blessed offering does the family sit down to their meals. Many remember to keep aside a portion of the food for a hungry person or the birds. It is all about sharing.

New immigrants in ethnic enclaves tend to have a stronger support system but once they fly the coop into the prestigious suburbs and into Americanization, there is a chasm of distances to overcome between friends. We are monetarily richer but are we poorer in friends?

With the upcoming holiday season begins the Indian community’s tryst with tradition in America. Both Garba and Dandiya Raas, folk dances, have found their way to America and everyone from heart surgeons to hip-hop kids are taking to the large dandiya raas arenas during the festival of Navrati which heralds a season of upcoming festivals from Dusshera to Diwali. How has the interaction with America changed Garba and Dandiya Raas?

They spin round and round, going faster and faster, but never breaking the sacred circle, as they clap their hands rhythmically, dancing around the Garba or earthen pot. They smile as they twirl around for in these nine nights they are celebrating the Goddess that is enshrined in all of us.

This hugely empowering dance is called the Garba and it is the centerpiece of the celebration of the Hindu festival of Navratri or Nine Nights.

Naeem Khan brings a touch of India to his 2023 Collection at NYFW

Ben Kingsley nothing is ever forgotten or lost – just filed away for the future.
“I am fascinated by people. I love watching them. I do have a vast memory bank and I can access them,” says Kingsley. “It’s a very lucky gift that I have, being able to absorb things.

When the writer Gita Mehta was growing up in Orissa, a small ancient image of Ganesha was unearthed in a mound of dirt as the foundations of their family home were being laid. “I’ve always kept the Ganesha which came out of my parents’ home,” confided Mehta when I interviewed her once in New York. “That is the one image that goes with me wherever I go. He came out of the Indian soil so to me he’s like an umbilical cord that connects me to India. So it doesn’t matter where I live – he is my India.” A lovely book from 2009, to check out this Ganesh Chathurthi.

Chandrika Tandon’s new album Ammu’s Treasures has Ganesh chants celebrating Ganesh Chaturthi

Janmashtmi – Lord Krishna is the Cosmic Cowherd, the mischievous deity that Hindus love the most for his pranks, for his butter-thievery, for his melodious flute, for his romantic interludes with Gopis, the milkmaids.
He fought demons, danced on the mighty serpent’s head and lifted Govardhana Hill with his little finger, using it as an umbrella to protect the people from torrential rains.

Shah Rukh Khan has many personas in his latest film ‘Jawan’ and you’ll get to see them all this month in this action thriller

Amar Nath Sehgal Private Collection is one of only two single artists museums in India and is a tribute to the master modernist

Home and exile are two of the most evocative words in the English language, and they are seared into the work of Zarina Hashmi, noted printmaker and sculptor, who was born in Aligarh in India. Zarina, who goes by only her first name, has been a nomad, a transient who has taken many journeys, crossed many borders. The floor plans of past homes, the many stories of dislocation and the sweet lost language of Urdu are embedded in her prints.

Having worked in relative anonymity for 35 years from her small loft in Manhattan, NY, Zarina, 75, is now suddenly on the international art world’s radar. The prestigious Guggenheim Museum is showcasing “Zarina: Paper Like Skin”, the first retrospective ever of an Indian woman artist, featuring 60 works dating from 1961 to the present.

If it’s summer, can a big fat Indian wedding be far behind? The wedding which is creating the most buzz this season is Mira Nair’s Monsoon Wedding!

NYIFF –  The Stories of Our Lives on the Big Screen Cinema, Cinema and Bollywood Stars too! [dropcap]M[/dropcap]issing the joy…

Ranee and Aparna Ramaswamy’s Ragamala Dance Company, now in its 30th year, is an independent dance company based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Over the years it has had a dance dialogue with national and international artistes

Hanuman Chalisa is one of the most beloved texts of Hinduism and consists of 40 verses (40 is chalis in Hindi) in praise of Hanuman.  It is written by Tulsidas, who is also the author of Ramchaitmanas or the Tulsi Ramayana.

A visit to YO1 Longevity and Health Resort in the Catskills

South Asian contemporary and modern art is highlighted at the Christie’s auction during Asia Week in New York

Asia Week comes to New York and some reporters take a walk to 17 galleries to check out some of the art from Asia.

Naatu Naatu wins an Oscar – and a live performance on the Academy stage! RRR was by far my most…