Author Lavina Melwani

The Buzz
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Hardly a decade back, Diwali was an unknown, hard-to-pronounce word for Americans. Now it’s been showcased in ‘The Office’ on mainstream TV, splashed across Times Square, acknowledged in the US Congress – and celebrated in the White House by First Lady Michelle Obama. The First Lady, dressed in a festive pink dress by Naeem khan, welcomed guests to the White House for a Diwali celebration. Not only did she surprise students at a Bollywood dance clinic but tried out some fancy desi moves herself!

24/7 Talk is Cheap - The Blog
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New Yorkers are getting thoroughly pampered – if they can’t get to India to catch the latest Indian fashion, topnotch Indian designers with celebrity models are coming to New York! You had the gorgeous Lisa Ray walking the ramp for Satya Paul, and the equally eye-catching Soha Ali Khan for the designer Joy Mitra.

And so it was that some of India’s hottest fashions came to New York in a space which is the only neo-Gothic Reformist Synagogue built back in 1849. The surreal internal architecture of this space, now known as the Angel Orensanz Foundation for the Performing Arts, really added to the atmosphere.

Cinema
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Long before Hindi cinema was rechristened Bollywood, there were film posters and showcards under glass in the lobbies of the theaters in India.

As you bought your tickets to enter a magic world, you sauntered by the display cases to check out these show cards, a collage of hand painted photographs which whetted your appetite for the treat to come.

Most of these old markers have disappeared but recently cinema fans got a chance to see a cache of vintage cards, lovingly preserved.

24/7 Talk is Cheap - The Blog
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The fireworks still explode in the memory, and the taste of nuts and cream and sugar still linger on the tongue. For immigrants from India, the childhood memories of Diwali are strong, for it is a time when India transforms into one glittering celebration. Public buildings are illuminated with neon lights and every home, no matter how humble, is ablaze with earthen lamps. In fact, entire villages are turned into fairylands, dotted with millions of lamps, glowing in the dark of night.

Little Black Book: Events
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Ah, New York – the wonderful melting pot! Where else would you find a Diwali celebration being held at a Jewish synagogue? A Diwali gala organized by the Jiva Performing Arts is being showcased at Congregation Rodeph Sholom, a Reform synagogue founded by German immigrants which is of the oldest synagogues in the US. Joyous dhols and jingling ghungroos will resonate in the air.

24/7 Talk is Cheap - The Blog
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India’s towns and cities are full of surprises and religion is part of the landscape. Small, functional temples are everywhere – an idol of an Hindu God, a few temple bells, a scattering of marigolds – and it becomes God’s abode. All that’s needed is faith – which there is in plenty. Yet nothing is quite as it seems – or there is at least a footnote to the larger story.

The Buzz
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The word ‘home’ immediately conjures up images of comfort, security and peace – yet for many women, perhaps there is no more dangerous and frightening place than home. Behind its closed doors and curtained windows can be a whole litany of horrors from domestic violence to psychological traumas, intimidations and beatings to molestation by family members.
Shocking as these true stories are, they are not uncommon, for domestic violence happens more frequently than we’d like to believe. Some end in knifings, shootings and deaths, others in physical bruises and mental hurts which last a lifetime. It is one of those hush-hush things which people don’t like to talk about, especially those in the Indian community because it may reflect badly on them.

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