VOGUE INDIA - Whether visiting your favorite poets' homes in north-west England or teashop-hopping for a story in Yangon, traveling with a mission will give you better yields. Come aboard these unique Vogue journeys, featuring a selection of world-class experiences from Zanzibar to Zanskar...continue to the full article here.
Valley Girls →
VOGUE INDIA - They're storming Silicon Valley with their sharp ideas. Meet six Indian American women who are paving their way to technological superstardom with their ambition and aptitude. Continue to the full article here.
La Chic Ayurveda →
VOGUE INDIA - My initial impression of Nira Kehar, the first female chef of Indian origin to cook in Manhattan’s iconic James Beard House, comes in the form of a raspberry that floats atop a slender shot glass. “Think of it as an alcoholic prasad,” explains the 33-year-old Kehar. The beverage in question is actually a heady punch made from curdled and clarified milk—not exactly an ingredient you’d associate with a welcome drink....continue to the full article here.
Culture Shift →
VOGUE INDIA - Leading human rights activist Mallika Dutt of Breakthrough uses theatre, music and multimedia to change attitudes towards women’s issues...continue to the full article here.
Shiamak Davar Dance Company Starts Classes in NYC →
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL - At a sweltering dance studio in Manhattan this month, a Bollywood chart-topper pulsed as a group dressed in leggings and T-shirts swiveled their hips to the beat, exchanging smoldering glances with their reflections in the full-length mirrors.“Think Hrithik, Shah Rukh…full filmigiri!” barked instructor Bhuvan Sharma, referring to Indian movie heroes...continue to the full article here.
Roll Model →
VOGUE INDIA - Director Mira Nair is borderline breathless, trekking up a hill that leads to her garden-clad bungalow in Kampala—one of the many cities she lovingly calls home. "Nostalgia is useless," she says, describing her peripatetic life that consists of shuttling between Uganda, India and the United States. "One has to fully embrace a place to be engaged...continue to the full article here.
All About Eve →
VOGUE INDIA - From the LBD to the conical bra, Simone de Beauvoir to Malala Yousafzai and suffrage marches to Slutwalks—we scoured the history books so you wouldn't have to. Here's our compilation of the most game-changing ideas, leaders, anthems, tomes, films and threads to hit global women's empowerment movements...continue to the full article here.
The Power Woman's Handbook →
VOGUE INDIA - Every generation has its share of them—the trailblazers who lead the way. Vogue engages five women [Sudha Murthy, Arianna Huffington, Vrinda Grover, Firuza Parikh, and Eve Ensler] each a champion in her chosen field of work, for a masterclass. Whip out your notebooks...continue to the full article here.
Pierce the Veil →
VOGUE INDIA - Bikinis and burqas; flirting and fundamentalism; Mecca and Majorca—they're just a handful of the juxtapositions dissected in Burq Off!, actor Nadia Manzoor's ambitious one-woman show, which has commanded the attention of everyone from alt-guru Deepak Chopra to activist Irshad Manji. In it, the Brooklyn-based artist takes on 21 characters, ranging from her dictatorial father to a mullah...continue to the full article here.
The Hundred-Foot Journey Star, Manish Dayal, Dishes on Movie →
NBC NEWS - Watch actor Manish Dayal flip a cilantro-flecked omelet in The Hundred-Foot Journey—a culture clash between an immigrant Indian family and the owner of a Michelin-starred restaurant, set in the south of France—and you’ll never guess he spent a frenetic month immersed in culinary bootcamp. “We filleted and we chopped,” said the 31-year-old, who worked with gourmands including...continue to the full article here.
Green Revolution →
VOGUE INDIA - Chef John Fraser's edible universe — a whimsical world where beets are rotisseried, sweet potato is barbecued and baby carrots are delicately fried, then dunked in a velvety tofu and jalapeno dip — has vegetables playing anything but supporting roles. While Fraser has drawn consistent crowds to his Michelin-starred Dovetail, a nouveau American restaurant on New York's Upper West Side, his newest eatery, Narcissa...continue to the full article here.
Ethereal Ooty →
ENDLESS VACATION - India is a country whose mention triggers images of pulsing megacities and colossal crowds. But Ooty, a eucalyptus-scented town in the Nilgiri mountains of the southernmost state, Tamil Nadu, is an unexpected escape. Ideal for tourists who have crossed the nation's palaces, temples and beaches off their to-do lists, this eccentric "hill station"—the name given to a locale...continue to the full article here.
Indian-American Students Work to Break the Poverty Cycle in Indian Cities →
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL - Uplift Humanity, a New Jersey-based nonprofit that works with orphans and imprisoned youth in India, was founded by Anish Patel, a junior at New York University’s Stern School of Business. This month, Mr. Patel and 65 fellow Indian-American students embarked on a three-week trip to Vadodara, Indore and Hyderabad to engage with underprivileged children. Mr. Patel's organization...continue to the full article here.
A New Digital Service Gives Indian Matchmaking a Makeover →
NBC News - In an attempt to claim a sliver of India’s formidable $25 billion wedding industry, four Harvard Business School graduates are giving the matchmaking mechanism a millennial facelift. It comes in the form of easyBiodata, a new website that digitizes an age-old document that’s integral to the Indian process of arranging marriages. The "biodata," as it's known, is a profile teeming...continue to the full article here.
'Meet the Patels,' Arranged Marriage 2.0 in America →
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL - An annual family trip to India, complete with a dip in the River Ganges, meddling relatives and the occasional cow joke is hardly an antidote to heartbreak. But this is how 29-year-old Ravi Patel, an Indian-American actor and comedian, attempted to get over his spunky, redhead ex-girlfriend (a serious relationship he hid from his seemingly orthodox Gujarati parents) approximately five years ago...continue to the full article here.
Traffic Control →
VOGUE INDIA - For a man who steers the world’s most formidable online activist network—Avaaz.org, a seven- year-old web movement that’s empowered millions to tackle everything from corruption to climate change—Ricken Patel is surprisingly soft-spoken. But there’s an urgency to his statements. "This is going to sound whacky," prefaces the 37-year-old, holding court in his Manhattan office, with views of bustling Union Square...continue to the full article here.
New York, L.A. Host Indian Film Festivals →
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL - A psychological thriller that exposes Mumbai’s malicious underbelly served as the opener this week to the New York Indian Film Festival —America’s oldest event showcasing independent South Asian cinema. Directed by Anurag Kashyap, “Ugly,” a film that starts with the disappearance of an aspiring actor’s young daughter, embodied the gritty spirit of alternative Indian cinema. “A film like ‘Ugly’ would never typically open in New York,” said Aseem Chhabra...continue to the full article here.
Man of the Moment →
VOGUE INDIA - There's nothing charming about Akhil Sharma's desk. Wedged in a closet inside his handsome Manhattan flat, the modest space is an unlikely sanctuary for an award-winning author. But it's within these claustrophobic confines that Sharma - who works with the sliding doors closed - scribed much of his second novel, Family Life. "Writing for me, feels deeply selfish," reveals Sharma, 42. "Hiding in my cubby and sealing myself in makes it easier." Family Life, releasing this month in India...continue to the full article here.
A Bollywood Spectacular Comes to NJ →
TRAVEL + LEISURE - As the synchronized jingle of a dozen anklets claimed center stage at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center last Saturday, I watched with giddy anticipation. There was something exhilarating about listening to the Bollywood tunes of my childhood—songs that often served as the overplayed soundtracks to family road trips and dinner parties—captivate an audience of nearly 2,300....continue to the full article here.
Q&A With Ritesh Batra: Director of "The Lunchbox" →
TRAVEL + LEISURE - Director Ritesh Batra’s debut feature film, The Lunchbox, a charming epistolary romance set in Mumbai, is steeped in nostalgia. As it traces an unlikely relationship between a curmudgeonly widower, Saajan (Irrfan Khan) and a neglected housewife, Ila (Nimrat Kaur)—all triggered by a delivery mistake, courtesy of the city’s supposedly foolproof lunch couriers, or dabbawallahs...continue to the full article here.