Literary Safari

I’ve been keeping a morning journal on and off (mostly on) for the past twelve years. Inspired by Julia Cameron’s Artist’s Way, where she invites readers to start their days off by handwriting three pages of stream of consciousness, I’ve found these morning pages an ideal and meditative way to clear the clutter out of my mind.

On a recent visit to the East West Books near Union Square, the universe sent me a not-so-subtle reminder to make time again for my morning pages. Upstairs in the café, hanging on the wall right next to the table where I sat down with my iced red bush tea, was a framed dress entirely made up of morning pages!

Created by artist Caterina Bertolotto, the dress “Morning Pages” is part of a series Dresses of Transformation. Of the dress, Bertolotto says:

I have been practicing “The Artist Way” for over two years, and it has helped me incredibly to get to know myself, what’s important for me, and to be more creative. I love the morning pages. Since I have been writing them, I can collect all the ideas that come to me and no longer forget them. When I want to make art, I have plenty of ideas.

I’m reminded of Cameron’s second reason for suggesting morning pages as a practice for all types of artists. They act as a repository for our creative ideas, perhaps even those that we would otherwise discount if we were to write them down in the light of day (versus in the moments just after we awake) when our inner critiques are most alive and kicking.

Speaking of the creative unconscious, I’m reminded of Carl Jung’s Red Book, which I’ve been meaning to get a copy of.

Original post at Sepia Mutiny.

A couple of weeks ago, I tuned in to the Food Network’s The Next Iron Chef to find a sophisticated, soft spoken, skinny desi chef cooking up a storm. His name is Jehangir Mehta and his delicate dishes in every episode and challenge have been distinguished by their creative use of fresh herbs, fruit, and spices and their aesthetic presentation.

Mehta is the owner and executive chef of Graffiti, a Lower East Side NYC restaurant that serves “international small plates that feature his trademark affinity for bold flavors and spices such as chillies, sambhar, turmeric, and star anise.” In cook off after cook off, Mehta—who trained as a pastry chef at the Culinary Institute of America, but who hails from a Parsi family in Bombay — has been impressing the judges with unusual and original dishes such as pickled ginger scallops, bitter melon fritters, and apple and soy caramel skewers. His preparations are like miniature paintings; each one a carefully choreographed mouthful of flavor.

Tonight at 9 PM EST is the season finale where Mehta will battle against the Philadelphia-based Chef Jose Garces. Two very qualified chefs from two ethnic backgrounds with rich culinary traditions; it’s bound to be a close match.

Below the fold is a brief Q&A with Chef Mehta, including his thoughts about reality TV, his take on a South Asian Thanksgiving, and his recipe for his favorite comfort food.

Will Mehta be the next Iron Chef? We’ll soon find out. (more…)

Help preserve what’s left of the weirdness of New York. Submit a Twitter’ish length short (about 60 words or so) in response to the question:

What’s the strangest, craziest thing that you’ve ever seen or experienced in the city?

If you have a gem, it will be featured with a byline in a forthcoming guide book that my friends are writing. The book captures and introduces you to some of the city’s most unusual, outrageous, and subversive places and attractions.

Send your submissions to gonzotourismnyc [at] gmail.com.

I was intrigued, but slightly skeptical when I signed up for a cooking class at the newly-opened Indian Culinary Center a few weeks ago. What could I, a vegetarian who has been cooking desi food pretty regularly for the past couple of years, learn that was new and interesting in an Indian Vegetarian Delights Class? A lot, it turns out.

The ICC is run by Geetika Khanna, a former psychologist and graduate of the French Culinary Institute who has been charting a path in the food industry for the past 10+ years. I really felt like I was walking into another world when I rang the buzzer of 131 W. 23rd St., which turned out to be the Chelsea Inn, a cosy bed and breakfast whose ground floor industrial kitchen turned out to be the cooking school of the now-defunct culinary arts program of The New School, where it turns out, Khanna used to be an instructor.

On this particular Tuesday night, nine of us had signed up to spend the evening learning how to cook with Khanna, a tall, relaxed, and skilled instructor who weaves anecdotes about her family in with technique tips and practical approaches on how to make Indian cooking a part of your culinary repertoire, instead of something exotic and inaccessible. For those like me, who generally cook at least one or two Indian meals a week, it was the practical tips like how to clean your spice grinder — run a piece of bread through it — and the ease and humor with which Khanna made cooking a six-course meal seem doable (from scratch, using mostly fresh ingredients) that was the tipping point. Plus, I enjoyed her running commentary on colonialism, the evolution of the Indian “curry,” and the Food Network —and she gave me the courage to fry my first pooris, a big deal for a gal who has always had a fear of deep frying. There were also a few surprises along the way, like the fact that she uses cayenne pepper in her masala dhaba. [Click on the narrated slideshow above for a walk-through of the class and a look at our full menu.]

The menu for that day’s class was what Khanna referred to as a typical Sunday breakfast meal that her North Indian-Punjabi household would eat in Delhi. In my Sindhi home, it would be dinner or lunch and there would be many more fried foods! So yes, the variation is incredible, but here in the US, there are common denominators to the term “Indian cuisine” and certain lines do, I think, get blurred. For example, when I first started cooking, I made dishes based on recipes I found online (because it’s easier than trying to get my mom to talk to me about measurements) and so, they were always slightly different than what I grew up eating. It’s only now that I’m starting to figure out how to adjust the spices and ingredients so that they taste more like my grandmother and mother’s food.

The three and a half hour class cost $55, and was followed by a delicious six-course meal. A pretty good deal for an evening out in NYC where you’re learning, eating, and meeting a bunch of interesting people. (Other NYC cooking classes range from $100 to $200 per person).

At present, Khanna offers classes every month, and has plans to invite other chefs of Indian cuisine to teach at the ICC. With all the regional variations of Indian food plus diasporic foods such as Indian Chinese, West Indian, and Indo-French, as well as the wealth of Indian chefs in the New York area, I’m sure there are many more yummy lessons and treats to return to at the ICC. I’ll definitely be going back.

Oh, and if anyone is interested in interning with Khanna, she’s looking. Drop her a line.

This picture in today’s New York Times magazine (“The Way We Live Now”) made me smile. These uppity lunching ladies really need to make an investment in the purse hook I picked up in Spain earlier this month.

The purse hook is a little hanger that you can latch onto the edge of any table at a restaurant and from which you can hang your purse (no long straps please, but heavy purses are fine as some of these hooks supposedly hold up to 200 lbs! I haven’t tested this claim yet!) . No more slinging purses on the shoulder of your chair or putting them on the floor.

Here, in the US, this is a burgeoning online business, especially since  recent studies reporting on the variety of germs that can be carried around via our purses have made many of us wary of where we put our bags down:

A study conducted in the US tested the purses of 50 women in your average shopping mall. Swabs were taken from the bottom of the purses and then taken back to a lab to test what was living on them and the results are quite disturbing. One out of four purses were carrying the e-coli bacteria. A host of other bacteria were also found on the purses, the most notable being hepatitis. The researchers recommend that woman wipe the bottom of their purse once a day and to be very cautious of where they place it.

What a clever little invention. I’ve been on the look out for one for quite some time, but they aren’t easy to find in retail stores here as they are in Spain (where I picked up my Miro-designed version up in a souvenir shop for a mere 3 euros) or in Brazil, where girls grow up with the superstition that you’ll lose all of your money if you put your purse on the floor. According to this article, the hooks have actually been around since the 1920s, when handbags emerged as a symbol of the emancipated women. “Even Queen Elizabeth is said to employ an S-shaped one to hang her handbags, the contents of which remain a mystery.”

This is definitely one of those handy inventions that belongs in Don Norman’s The Design of Everyday Things.

A few places where you can get one of your own (no, I don’t make a cut off this endorsement!):
Flo’s Accessories: Personalized and engraved ($15.95 plus shipping)
Bed Bath and Beyond: The As Seen on TV version ($9.99 for a set of two, plus carrying case)
Purse Jewelry: Lots of pretty designs ($8.95 each plus shipping)

No, I’m not referring to Slumdog Millionaire’s sweep at the Oscars last night (though I will take this opportunity to say that I did have a feeling this would happen back in November when I wrote about it here)!

I’m referring to our six word Valentine contest of a few weeks ago.  Thanks to all of you who played and took the time to share your brief memoirs of real-life love. Reading them as they rolled in over Valentine’s Day weekend reminded me of the many hues and shades of love – from emotional to humorous – that exist and how this annual holiday is (thankfully) not all about roses and chocolates.

Food plays a big part in love of all kinds.

There was Jeff’s:

I picked up a happy meal.

And Ankur’s:

Eating baklava together, no gifts necessary.

Love is also about daily routines and the mundane, as in Bry’s:

Your incessant snores lull me to sleep.

And Maria’s:

Morning warm; you open your eyes.

Love is so much about optimism, as Prasant’s showed:

Hopeful. Heartend. I’m still here.

It is also a source of beautiful metaphors like the one in Debbie’s entry:

Buoyant, we rock, but stay afloat.

The winner of the six-word memoir of love contest, however, is the one which struck our guest judge Anita Jain the most. It came from Fuse # 8 who wrote:

His librarian movie? He married one.

These six words allowed Jain – who did not know any of the contestants or read their entries alongside their names – to imagine a larger context and story. In her judge’s comments, she wrote that she “saw it as a reference to a man’s fantasy of the sexy librarian — which in a way is ultimately about men’s view of women as either Madonnas or whores and in an ideal world, both at the same time. To me, it’s a comment on that and how as much as the world has changed, and women have gained equality in so many realms, this male perception of women is something we modern women still have to struggle against.”

Congratulations to Fuse # 8 for making a V-Day impression, and for telling a story that can be read in so many different ways. That, I suppose is one of the qualities of powerful storytelling. In fact, that is what, I think, makes these six-word memoirs such a little jewel of a genre. They provide a glimpse of the writer’s experience and then, allow the reader to imagine the rest.

Submit your six word love memoir here and enter to win a free copy of Six Word Memoirs of Love and Heartbreak, courtesy of SMITH magazine. Our guest judge will be Anita Jain, author of “Marrying Anita,” a memoir about her search for love in contemporary India which the New York Times calls ” a thoughtful, incisive exploration of the nature of connection.” Deadline: Midnight, February 16, 2009.

So, I’m not usually one to make a big hoopla about Valentine’s Day, but I’ll make an exception this year.

I opened my mail last week to find an envelope from HarperPerennial. Inside was my very own personal copy of a pocket-sized paperback (4X6, a little smaller in size than your average Valentine’s Day Card, but chock full of so many more wishes!) Six Word Memoirs of Love and Heartbreak: From Writers Famous and Obscure which features my very own six word memoir on page13:

Sleeping, our foreheads touch. Fates mingle.

This book is the second offering from SMITH Magazine whose initial invite to writers two years ago was a simple one (inspired by Ernest Hemingway’s “For Sale: baby shoes, never worn): Everyone has a story. Can you tell yours in six words? The submissions poured in like crazy and soon enough they had published theNYT bestselling Not Quite What I Was Planning.

In the introduction to Love and Heartbreak, the editors Rachel Fershleiser and Larry Smith write:

As we’ve sifted through piles of briefly encapsulated lives, we’ve seen themes emerge … By far the most common thread, however, is love. Passionate love, parental love, platonic love–it seemed to be the most universally life-changing factor for storytellers of every age, background and worldview.

This book celebrates life in all its shades of red–a valentine, if you will, to every kind of love. But it’s also a nod to love’s evil twin: heartache.

Indeed, many of the memoirs in Love and Heartbreak focus on the latter, but since Cupid’s Day is on the horizon, let’s flex our writing muscles by taking a whirl at penning a six-word memoir on love, whatever that may mean to you. Consider it your Valentine. Post it here in the comments section, then go to sixwordmemoirs.com and share it with the readers and editors of SMITH magazine. You never know. It may end up in a book someday. The “best” memoir submitted in the comments section will win a free copy of this book, courtesy of SMITH magazine.

I’ll leave you with this some of my favorite “Valentines” and a book trailer for inspiration.

We belly laugh every single day. – Michelle Ottey
My life’s accomplishments? Sanity and you. – Elisabeth Gilbert (Eat, Pray, Love)
Bachelor visits library, books wife (Nonfiction). – Michael Perry
It helps to label the books. – Juan Antonio del Rosario
Hired me. Fired me. Married me. – Julie Klam
True love is a nephew’s hug. – Alison Schulak-Moore (in honor of my nephew’s 2nd birthday today!)
Cynical New Yorker convinced of soulmate. – Kate Hamill
It’s just a matter of luck. – Ayelet Waldman

Oh, and if you happen to be in town on the 14th (I won’t), maybe you’ll want to check out this event: February 14, NYC, Housing Works Bookstore, 8pm. The Valentine’s Day Personal Media Mixer & Confessional Culture Variety Show : PostSecret, Found Magazine, Mortified, and Cassette From My Ex join with SMITH Magazine for a very special evening to benefit Housing Works. Buy tickets here.

OK, so what’s your six-word memoir of love? Deadline: Midnight, February 16, 2009.

Originally published at Sepia Mutiny on February 1, 2009 .

We’ve heard bout Bollywood Obama and I’ve written about the Japanese town of Obama’s boppy theme song “Obama is beautiful world.” Now, a couple of young musicians in Surat, Gujarat—Chirag Thakker, Jayesh Gandhi and Anita Sharma—have welcomed Obama into their hearts with this catchy song that praises our new president.

We have dedicated this song to Obama and uploaded it on Youtube, so that the world could see our attempts to honor him. His down-to-earth personality, faith in Lord Ganesha and great respect for Mahatma Gandhi made us feel that he is very close to us,” said Chirag, adding that they have used names of Lord Ganesha and Gandhi in the song. [full story]

The song has elements of a bhajan, or devotional song, but also features the djembe, which the artists chose to include in honor of Obama’s African heritage (even though the djembe is West African, not Kenyan!). The video is granted, a bit amateur, but it also has subtitles (so that Obama can understand it) and was shot in various parts of Surat, including the banks of the Tapi river and the city’s municipal gardens. Overall, the three artists devoted three months to it from start to finish.

I was going to wrap up this entry, but then found this Punjabi poem by California based poet and singer Pashaura Singh Dhillon. I was moved. But then again, I get weepy pretty easily these days.

Whether or not you’ve personally had your fill of odes to Obama , I can’t help but remain fascinated by the worldwide responses to the idea of his leadership. The way I look at it, for a long time, I felt like people were looking around and saying, “I don’t see a world leader I feel good about” and now, there’s a spirit of optimism and a person who represents possibility that is inspiring art, music, and perhaps, even, action. That’s a good thing, even if it isn’t clear right now whether he’ll live up to all his promises.

Are blogs becoming irrelevant given the ease with which we can post articles and poems and anything else of interest to our facebook profiles? It may be a function of laziness, or maybe it’s a question of ease. But, then something comes along that makes my heart leap and soar and I know that it can only be shared at one destination. Here.

It’s Maira Kalman’s latest column of “The Pursuit of Happiness” at the New York Times and it brings me back after what may have been a longest hiatus ever for me in recent months. I’ve been working long hours, making deadlines, and in all my spare time, hooked to the news which, as one friend so rightly put it, is so fascinating with our new president in office that “it’s like reality television, only better.” She’s right.

Every since Inauguration Day when I sat and stood among a crowd of several hundred adults and school children at Symphony Space on New York’s upper west side, I have felt like I’m looking at the world through rose-colored glasses. No, the economy is not improving; yes, the world still reeks of unfairness and self-indulgence; certainly, it has a fair share of myopic  legislators (don’t get me started). But there’s something else, something new: Leadership that is direct, says it like it is, and is willing to “extend a hand if the other side can unclench its fist.”

It’s so refreshing.

I have read many commentaries about the Inauguration of our new President, but “The Inauguration: At Last,” a visual take from one of my favorite artist/writers Maira Kalman captures the uplifting spirit of these past few weeks in a fresh and honest way … I love it because it captures the feeling of that day and this time through the tiny, mundane details.

It took two weeks to arrive, but it was well worth the wait. Sometimes reflecting on things a little bit later allows us to see them from a finer perspective.

You can read it in its entirety here.

I blogged this last week at Sepia Mutiny. Just catching up! 

A break from politics and world news (and my crazy workday) to share this short, sweet video that I just caught wind of via my daily VSL fix.

It’s called “Rewind City” and is a French TV ad currently airing for Orange’s DVR service in France. Watch as the unexpressed wish of a tearful backpacker comes true when the traffic and people in a Goan village conspire to reverse direction.

Filmed in village of Assonora, 15km east of the town of Mapusa (a hub for bus travel) in North Goa, it’s directed by British director Ringan Ledwidge. The main characters came from Paris, the 250 extras came from Mumbai, and the other backpacker types came from Anjuna, home to the famous Goa hippie flea market.

The ad asks the question, “What if you could rewind a memorable moment in your life?” Not a bad question to ask of oneself every now and then.

Here’s the second in a series of reviews of books that I think would make great gifts this holiday season. Part II here. Plus, we’re giving away two free copies of this book. Leave a comment here telling us what your favorite children’s adventure books are by Friday, December 26th, and we’ll put your name in a random drawing for a free copy of the book, courtesy of publisher Feiwel & Friends.

I’m a sucker for adventure stories, especially the type that takes me to deserted islands, introduces me to brave children, and enlisst my imagination in solving an intriguing mystery. As a child, I got my fix from the much-loved British children’s author, Enid Blyton.

When I saw the title of Bermuda-based first-time author Nadia Aguiar’s new book, The Lost Island of Tamarind (Feiwel & Friends, ages 10-14, 448 pages)  it stirred up memories of my favorite Enid Blyton books such as The Secret Island  and the Famous Five’s Five on a Treaure Island.  I couldn’t deny that I was experiencing a pang of nostalgia, plus there was the word “tamarind” — it conjures up such tastes and delicious smells of the Indian subcontinent. I was curious and set out immediately to get my hands on a copy.

I’m glad I did. This book was the closest to Enid Blyton’s spirit (minus the sexism or colonist baggage) that I’ve been able to get in a long time. [check out my interview with Nadia Aguilar where she cites Blyton as one her favorite childhood authors. Children of the commonwealth, unite!]

Set in the imaginary land of Tamarind, which lies beyond a blue line on the horizon, this is the story of three siblings who get separated from their parents, ocean biologists, after their ship, the Pamela Jane, is caught in a tremendous storm near the equator. When the children—the eldest, Maya, a shy, somewhat rebellious adolescent; Simon, an adventurous extrovert; and little toddler Penny—get off their boat, they find themselves in a war-torn world where “fish can fly, pirates patrol the waters, jaguars lurk, the islanders are at war, and an evil, child-stealing enchantress rules the jungle.”As they begin to hunt for their parents, they quickly realize that is a place that “outsiders” like themselves can’t easily escape. (more…)

Here’s the first in a series of reviews of books that I think would make great gifts this holiday season. 

Rang (pronounced rung) is the Hindi word for color. It is the word that first came to mind when I began turning the vibrant pages of India: In Word and Image (Welcome Books, 2008, $60) by photographer Eric Meola.

Featuring an introduction by Bharati Mukherjee, this book captures the lively hues and moods of India through more than 200 photos of her diverse peoples, festivals, and traditions, with a special focus on festivals.

Meola’s extensive travels through India (and his keen eye) gift us with an intimate glimpse of subjects ranging from the exquisite palaces of Rajasthan and temples of Tamil Nadu to the simple monasteries of the Himalayas. What makes this book stand out in the company of other photographic perspectives on India, however, is the pairing of images with literary tidbits from a sampling of India’s best (and some of my favorite) writers—Salman Rushdie, Kiran Desai, R. K. Narayan, V. S. Naipul, and more.

If you’re looking for a book about the new India–which looks at the rise of shopping malls, tech parks, gourmet restaurants, and fusion fashions–this is not the book for you. Instead, you’ll prefer Images of a Journey: India in Diaspora, by Steve Raymer. But, if you’re looking for a book that does justice to the the architectural and cultural dazzle of India, then this book is for you.

Whether you’re a first-time traveler to India seeking inspiration, a travel shutterbug, or simply someone like me who occasionally catches the wanderlust virus for the homeland, this is a coffee table jewel worth acquiring. And sharing. In fact, I was going to suggest it as a holiday gift, but I’m afraid that once it lands in your lap, you’ll probably be reluctant to part with it! (So … maybe you’d like to order two?!

A few parting images for you …

 

 

All photos by Eric Meola. Reprinted with permission of Welcome Books.