Browsing: The Buzz

Gunmen take over the city of Mumbai…fire engulfs the iconic 100 year old Taj… explosions at the Oberoi…people trapped in hotels forced to jump from the windows… a numbing stand- off with the terrorists… gunmen shoot indiscriminately in the crowded VT train station…dead bodies and grieving relatives.

All these terrible images flash in the mind’s eye because we’ve seen them so often. For Indians across the Diaspora, the chilling images played time and again on their television sets, stories flashed across the Internet and incessant phone calls to loved ones in Mumbai. The news played out frame by frame on Twitter, with videos and images on Youtube and Flicker. Technology has caused distances to melt away and made disaster touchable, personal and vivid.
Four years later, the lone surviving terrorist has been hanged. Is there closure? It is a day of high alert and added security. It is also a day of sadness, memories.

Thought you had put the 2012 Elections behind you? Not so fast! You now have to make the big bird decision and we don’t mean that Big Bird! It’s that time of the year when the President pardons one lucky turkey to live out its life in comfort. On Wednesday, November 21, 2011, President Obama will pardon the National Thanksgiving Turkey in a ceremony in the Rose Garden.

The President will pardon Cobbler and his alternate Gobbler, both 19-week old, 40-pound turkeys. This year, for the first time ever, the American public decided which of the two turkeys – Cobbler or Gobbler – would become the 2012 National Thanksgiving Turkey by casting a vote via the White House Facebook page. And now there’s a winner!

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.”

“Anyone that knows the desi culture knows that it is primarily male dominated…men control the household, make the decisions, and decide on the direction of the family. Does that formula still apply to a woman in her mid-thirties, who has exited her past and created a whole new personality to gel with her environment?

A woman who has lived independently for a few decades and experienced life in the way she sees fit. She has gone to the bars and clubs, enjoyed the music, watched the latest movies, experienced different fashion statements, and met a variety of people. All in all, she has self healed her wounds, picked herself up and moved on repeatedly.”
Guest Blog – The Single Desi (Photo: alvarotapia hidalgo)

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

“I look down at my hands and admire the intricate pattern of henna applied on my palms for Karva Chauth, the social and seasonal festival for the welfare of one’s spouse.
On the evening before the big day, women were getting their hands hennaed for the big night. Those who couldn’t pick up the snacks and eat due to the wet henna on their hands were being fed by friends whose hands were dry. Rima popped a potato wedge in my mouth and came back a while later with a rasgulla to feed me. I had never been fed by strangers but it didn’t feel like she was one.”

Guest Blog – Chatty Divas

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.

“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.

Hard to believe but true – a whopping three billion cups of tea are consumed daily worldwide. Indeed, if there’s one drink that no South Asian can resist, it’s a cup of steaming hot desi chai! Festive snacks and sweets need the perfect sip to magnify the celebrations. Now Lufthansa has brewed just the perfect holiday campaign – a dedicated micro site which is a platform to bring together family and friends for the holiday season.

Here are the top 10 reasons for visiting Lufthansa’s Virtual ChaiLounge…

(Sponsored Post)

A young actor pays tribute to the late great filmmaker Yash Chopra.

“In utter shock & sadness I wake up to hearing about the passing away of Mr. Yash Chopra. With my eyes already moist, no words will ever be good enough to describe Yashji’s stature in giving Bollywood the platform and the recognition that it sits on today, and for giving audiences around the globe the ability and heart to smile, cry and love through his soul-stirring vision.

There will NEVER be another Yash Chopra ever again. For me personally, no filmmaker has touched my life and captured my passion and love for Indian Cinema the way Yashji’s films have.”
Guest blog by aspiring actor Zoran Saher

The Single Desi on the hot new TV shows including ‘The Mindy Project’ starring Mindy Kaling:

“Although she accomplished her career goals (she is a physician on the show), her romantic goals were way off the traditional time line. She struggled with issues that all smart, goal-oriented desis struggle with.
The one thing I love about Kaling is that she is not afraid to be herself. She is not residing in America and mentally living in India and trying to be traditional in a nontraditional world.”
Guest Blog: The Single Desi

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.”

“I remember my mother’s cooking and how the entire house used to smell like a culinary heaven then. She used to wash our clothes by hand because we didn’t have a washing machine; the only help she had was a cleaning lady who used to sweep and mop the floors daily. Rest of the chores were her responsibility which she performed lovingly and without complaint.

Fast forward to me now, I can’t think of managing the house like my mom and need a lot of help from a lot of people to survive. I have a lot of like-minded friends who are as hopelessly inefficient as I am.

But the domestic help has also evolved with us, and are no longer the docile, simple kind. Their lifestyles have undergone a transformation too and sometimes they are even more advanced than their employers. It’s now all about cell phones and designer labels!”
Guest Blog – Chatty Divas

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.

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.”

On this golden summer afternoon, it seemed quite a good option to be jobless, a tourist or a window shopper browsing the Financial District rather than a hedge fund guy or a banker immersed in a dry office!

In a surreal juxtaposition, sparkling Bollywood, Indian music and dance had come to NYC’s downtown business area, with costumed dancers doing high kicks against the skyscrapers and bringing the ‘nakras’ and ‘chakras’ of Indian dance to this rather sober part of town.

Tourists gaped from the top of open double decker tourist buses which rolled past the plaza with its unexpected celebration of Bharat Natyam, Kuchipudi, Kathak and ‘filmi’ Bollywood dance. Right on One New York Plaza was Erasing Borders: Festival of Indian Dance, a free event co-presented by the Indo-American Arts Council and Battery Dance Company as part of the 31st Downtown Dance Festival.

Imagine thousands and thousands of stone, brick and glass skyscrapers rising in the concrete canyons of New York City, blocking out the sun and stars. The streets of Manhattan are gridlocked with vehicular traffic, horns blaring, tempers flaring, sometimes drowned out by the wailing siren of a rushing ambulance.

Now imagine lush greenery, idyllic ponds on which swans and ducks glide, virtual forests of old trees and acres and acres of plush green grass where families can relax, dogs run about and children play ball. Welcome to the parks of New York City which are the virtual lungs of the city and provide the breathing room, the thinking room that millions living in the frenzied city require.

A look at the parks best for a Summer celebration.

Clint Eastwood put an imaginary President Barack Obama in a chair and asked him questions at the Republican National Convention.
What if an ordinary, unknown Indian-American was to put Republican candidate Mitt Romney in a chair and ask him some hard-hitting questions which are on the minds of all Americans?

Facing an invisible Romney in the chair, social activist Partha Banerjee asks, “Considering you are planning to be commander in charge of not just America but de facto of the world, people like me all over the world are eagerly waiting for your honest, thoughtful and straightforward answers.
Don’t haze it. Don’t faze it.”
So here you have it, 12 questions for Mitt Romney from the Ordinary Citizen. Guest Blog.

Why is the langar such a remarkable meal?

“It’s the simplicity of it. The humbleness of service. The server and the served work like a complete circle of Universe.
Sitting on the floor in simple lines define the equality of us all.
The way everyone prepares, cooks, the energy, the chanting is all about seva and sharing. It’s truly remarkable that how much pride Sikhs take in even cleaning. It’s a Utopian experience.”
– Vikas Khanna

It’s been more than a year since I moved to Gurgaon, India, from the US. While my routine still is very similar to what it was in Connecticut, social life in India has created a drastic change in the quality of my days. And with that one single change my life has transformed in entirety.

It was raining friends in the city of Delhi and Gurgaon; the excitement and anticipation of their visits is peaked because of the stories they carry with them enriching my knowledge in the process. This occurrence reminds me of the folk tales in Bengali literature called “Thakur Mar Jhuli”. Am I becoming the “Thakur Ma” (paternal grandmother) with the sack of stories then?