Saraswat community entrepreneurs to meet at global Annual Conclave in Goa
Saraswat community entrepreneurs and professionals across the globe will assemble to attend the third Annual Conclave of Global Chamber of Saraswat Entrepreneurs (GCSE) on September 17 in Panjim, Goa at the Panjim Gymkhana. At a one day conference In Goa, the GCSE members will rub shoulders speaking Konkani and English representing different Saraswats form Kashmir to Kanyakumari. The Saraswat Bank...
Equal rights for LGBT+ communities in India and Hong Kong still remains a far-cry
Leading publications in India and Hong Kong have recently reported on the legal challenges against discrimination of LGBT+ people in these countries. The battle for civil rights is far from over in India, where the Supreme Court de-criminalised same-sex relationships and discrimination against the entire Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) community, through Article 377 in September last year...
Yoga: Towards a Healthier and Happier Life
All of us want to lead a happy and peaceful life. But concentrating on only money and fulfilment of materialistic desires cannot give uninterrupted peace and happiness. We need very good health for both body and mind to reach the goal. The point is, how can we get good health? I am happy to report that many ladies and...
Lockdown Diaries: Oli Khan’s Surma Takeaway to distribute thousands of free hot meals to frontline workers in the UK
The holy month of Ramadan 2020 will be remembered in history for coinciding with one of the worst pandemics of all time, and this has changed the way Ramadan is being observed globally this year. However this has not dampened the spirit of compassion and generosity during this sacred time. Celebrated chef Oli Khan FRSA and Surma takeaway in Stevenage have...
Immunity boosting Indian soup Rasam becomes hot favourite for Covid patients in New York hospitals
At a time when the entire world is looking up to the US for a “medical miracle” to contain Covid, those in New York, New Jersey, and Princeton are betting on a South Indian staple to beat the virus — the humble 'rasam'. Behind the “viral trend”, obviously, is a chef from Tamil Nadu. The idea came during the middle...
Of poetry and lockdown diaries
As a writer, raconteur and storyteller, I like to find my material, my stories in the real world. I then imbue them with a setting, a context and characters that find a voice to cut across the real and bring to life a message in my work that needs to be repeated constantly. My most recent work which came...
British Asian Trust’s anti-trafficking programme in India saving hundreds of children
When ten-year-old Sadhil was brought to the Tabaar centre in Jaipur, India, his body was scarred, his face swollen and he desperately needed food and medicines. Sadhil was rescued from a bangles-making factory in Jaipur, where he suffered unsurmountable torture as a bonded child labourer. Sahdil grew up in one of India’s poorest states, Bihar, where nearly 40% of the population is...
Short story: “Swan song”
The phone rings rudely and raucously, rousing me from my restful slumber at the unearthly hour of 4 by my bedside alarm clock. I reach for it irritably, then pause. It can only be her. No one else would ever call me at this hour. Yet it cannot possibly be her. She has been gone from my life for over...
Havas Guruhi: When Music Crosses Borders
'No culture can thrive if it attempts to be exclusive' Poised with confidence, a young man in the spring of 2019 beautifully sang the iconic Bengali patriotic song Akla Cholo Re, penned by Rabindranath Tagore. The venue was the Embassy of Bangladesh in Tashkent. The year before, with equal ease, he presented at a Delhi concert, among other melodies, his...
Gaurav Bakshi’s “#Gadhvi” brings a new flavour to London Indian Film Festival during it’s world premiere at the Barbican
The 10th Edition of the London Indian Film Festival (LIFF) showcased an extraordinary social and political satire about a man who could be Mahatma Gandhi's reincarnation, in the film strand Film, Power & Politics at the Barbican and Cineworld Wembley, in June. It is the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi this year and director Gaurav Bakshi really wanted his...
