When different lives, different experiences intersect, you get something totally unexpected and fresh. That’s the story of The Sa Dance Company – twelve dancers coming from diverse disciplines and filtering their moves together into something unique. Many of them are from Ivy League colleges and work at blue chip corporations but through it all they’ve kept their deep passion for dance.
Ever met a bartender who made $900 in tips in two hours? Meet Priyanka Mathew – she accomplished this – and all in the name of philanthropic imbibitions! Mathew, who is in reality Director of the Aicon Gallery in Manhattan, had probably never thought she’d be mixing drinks and looking for tips – until she went to Pakistan.
What better way to launch a film series about a rich culture than with a Mughal feast?
Fabulous jewels, opulent palaces, courtesans, high melodrama and a vanishing way of life is what enthralled us in the classic historical movies like ‘Pukar’, ‘Najma’, ‘Mirza Ghalib’, ‘Mughal-e-Azam’, and more recently ‘Jodhaa Akbar’.Now you can get the flavor of those bygone days with a rich cinematic feast worthy of the Mughals – and actually indulge in a royal celebration.
How can young girls get a sense of self and confidence in tackling the larger world? On the recent Take Our Daughters to Work Day, two South Asian organizations came together to make this a reality. South Asian Women’s Leadership Forum (SAWLF) partnered with South Asian Youth Action (SAYA!). Over 45 high school students got a chance to visit corporate offices such as JP Morgan Private Bank, Harper Collins, MTV, Infosys and Colgate, thanks to SAWLF women who are already working in these companies.
They may live in American cities, go to American schools but Bollywood runs in their blood. We’re talking of young Indian-Americans, thousands and thousands of them, scattered across American towns and cities. Weaned on Bollywood movies on DVD since babyhood, they learn the Shah Rukh moves, the Madhuri moves, the Shahid moves, almost by osmosis in family living rooms.
Later many of them learn dance, classical and Bollywood, at the scores of Indian dance schools that have sprouted up in towns and cities. They dance at family events, birthdays and weddings, as naturally as if they were in a Bollywood movie and it was written into the script of life.
In the wake of recent events, what’s happening with Shashi Tharoor will need much more than 140 characters of Twitter analysis! You could of course say ‘Storm in a Teacup’, ‘Much Ado about Nothing’ – or ‘There’s More to This Than meets the Eye’. All would be essentially correct.
A store is born – or should we say a star is born?
Misha Nicole, a new fashion concept store which is opening in Soho in fall 2010 gave shoppers a peek at things to come with Global Runway’s Night Out, a fashion show organized with the Indo-American Arts Council (IAAC) at the Paramount Hotel. Over 300 people turned up for an evening of cocktails and style-gazing as a battalion of models showed the collections of 10 designers from India, the US and Canada in a series of looks conceptualized by Misha Nicole Shivdasani.
Indians are getting all sorts of recognition worldwide – now are they going to be known as the world’s biggest drinkers too? Thanks to Vijay Mallya, Chairman of the UB Group, they may get that distinction! United Spirits Limited (USL), the flagship company of The UB Group, has crossed the milestone of a sales volume of 100 million cases for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2010.
Folks, be careful. Is that a piece of spinach sticking to your teeth? Is that safety pin holding up your hemline showing? You’re on candid camera – for ever and ever! Today came the news that Twitter is donating its digital archive of public tweets to the Library of Congress. Your 140 character masterpieces are immortal now.
Are Hollywood movies going to be a cash cow for Indian-American producers? Generally you have NRI filmmakers making movies with Indian themes or Indian actors but Naveen Chathapuram of Chicago has just ventured into mainstream territory, by producing ‘CA$H’, a psychological thriller with Hollywood stars Sean Bean (Lord of the Rings), Chris Hemsworth (Thor, Star Trek) and Victoria Profeta (Push, The Drew Carey Show). The film is written and directed by Stephen Milburn Anderson (South Central)