Author Lavina Melwani

The Buzz
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For many Indians living in America, India is the talisman, the sacred thread around their wrists, which connects them to the past and their changing tomorrows. Visit any Indian American family and there are bound to be keepsakes which link them to their lost homeland.

For some it may be a frayed album of photographs frozen in time, for others it may be a much loved folk painting or a pair of tablas, percussion drums. For me it is my silver icons of Krishna and Radha, on their own carved throne, which sits is in my home in Long Island, NY.

I look at it and I am transported back to my home in New Delhi in the India of decades ago. My mother would bathe the many Gods in her home shrine and carefully put new clothing on these mini figurines, cutting holes in silken cloth with a small pair of scissors.

Cinema
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For all those who’ve watched King Khan, the Badshah of Bollywood, dance and sing and romance over the years, Shah Rukh Khan’s talk at Yale was one of a kind, a look at the real man, rather than the reel man.

Un-awed by the pomp and ceremony of being honored with the prestigious Chubb Fellowship, he was down-to-earth and funny, talking one on one to Yale students, as someone human and humane, a striver, a dreamer and a parent.
Here, Shah Rukh Khan, in his own words….

24/7 Talk is Cheap - The Blog
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“Before touching ground, I had already decided that this film would be about children. Eye disease is an affliction commonly associated with the old. But, one fifth of the world’s blind children live in India. In my mind, it’s a demographic that still has their whole lives ahead of them. I needed a Director of Photography who was a master at artfully capturing children.

Marcelo Bukin, who had shot and directed many award winning films (Dreaming Nicaragua), was originally from Argentina, but had spent time shooting films for foundations in Latin America. His reel of a little cobbler boy named Joseu speaking about how his father beats his mother, got me.” – Joya Dass, filmmaker, ‘First Sight’

The Buzz
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Jyotsna Singh, grand-daughter of the Maharaja of Patiala, recalls a bygone time: “Naniji was exceedingly beautiful and at a young age she was married to Maharaja Bhupinder Singh and had two daughters Elsie (my mother) and Angela (her younger sister). The English names were given by the English governesses who could not pronounce the Indian names of the children. And there were a lot – 52 siblings, a pack of cards my mother would tell me…..Though the mothers lived at the palace and spent time with the children, the children were really brought up by the governesses. My grandfather lived in the main Motibagh Palace with his wives and his older children.

My mother was one of 32 of the younger children and they lived in Lalbagh Palace in the palace grounds. The grounds also had a zoo, a small train, a lake with boats. The children would visit their mothers in the zenana a few times a week as they did their father. When the kids visited their father, he would let them enter a large room full of toys. Each kid could pick up what they wanted before leaving.”

CyberCircles: For You!
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It was quite a celebration of women during Women’s History Month at the Indian American Forum in Long Island. Although lots of supportive men had turned up for this gala dinner, it was very much a women’s grand hurrah.

CyberCircles: For You!
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‘Indians, We’ve Got Your back!’ That could well be the message of a recent press briefing at the Indian Consulate in New York where the Consul General of India, Prabhu Dayal announced a weekly open day for all Indian citizens in the US where they could bring up their problems to the attention of consulate officials, and seek redress.

Cinema
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This has been quite a year for noted actor and activist Shabana Azmi who was awarded the Padma Bhushan by the Government of India. She’s just finished Deepa Mehta’s ‘Midnight’s Children’ based on Salman Rushdie’s novel and is currently making a film with Vishal Bharadwaj. She has been chosen by TIME Magazine as 1 of 25 Asian heroes and is the only woman amongst 4 Indians on the list.

Now comes her New York minute! Shabana Azmi was presented a proclamation by New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo’s Office for Motion Picture and Television Development for her commitment to the arts and contributions to New York City’s film industry.

Food Articles
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Foodies, there’s yet another new Indian restaurant in Manhattan – Benares, a cool, contemporary space where you can indulge in regional specialties from many parts of India. In a preview peek at the new eatery which seats 89 diners, one is struck by the sleek, haldi-yellow interiors highlighted by multicolored lamps and beautiful old Benarsi saris framed on the walls.

Peter Beck, who’s previously cooked up a storm in the kitchens of New York restaurants Chola and Tamarind, is the chef at Benares. The name Benares gets you slightly off-kilter – isn’t that city supposed to be a vegetarian paradise? This Benares has everything from seafood to Cornish hens to red meat in abundance, besides meatless fare.

Cinema
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Shah Rukh Khan fans – the King of Bollywood is coming to Yale University! This is a brand new real life role for SRK, who is being recognized as a Chubb Fellow at the prestigious university on April 12.

Shah Rukh Khan is in extremely good company: Former fellows include President George W. Bush, Ronald Reagan and Jimmy Carter, authors Octavio Paz, Carlos Fuentes and Toni Morrison; filmmaker Sofia Coppola; architect Frank Gehry; choreographer Mikhail Baryshnikov and journalist Walter Cronkite.
And yes, there’s actually a chance to see SRK!

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