A Fishing Expedition:

The pool at the centre had been filled with fish, a thousand trout to be precise. This was no prank, rather an exercise to teach children — and grown-ups — how to hook, line and sink, even scale and prepare their catch to bring home for dinner.

Finding her voice: A profile of Toronto singer Azalea Ray

Petite, long hair framing her face, dressed in jeans and a kurti, Azalea Ray reminded me of hip, young Bengali women I grew up with in Delhi; they were intellectual-beauties, in an art-house cinema kind of way. When we spoke, she was alternatively brooding and reckless with her laughter.

From the “Little Mosque” Creator: “Putting the Fun Back in Fundamentalism”

How do you bring a little fun back into fundamentalism? By making a sitcom, as Zarqa Nawaz is fond of saying.
Nawaz is the creator of the new Canadian TV series “Little Mosque on the Prairie.” The show debuted Jan. 9 on CBC TV–to unexpectedly strong ratings–and airs Mondays and Wednesdays at 9 p.m. and [...]

Sacred and sublime

SPECIAL TO THE GLOBE
The Indian classical dance Bharatnatyam can seem intimidating to an uninitiated audience. Its form is similar to ballet only in its use of the plié-like stance aramandi. Otherwise, its movements are linear and geometrical, accompanied by rhythmic feet stamping. Hand gestures and facial expressions are used to tell stories often taken from [...]

Maximum City: Bombay Lost and Found

Call it Bombay or Mumbai, the city has been attracting tourists for centuries. Back in the day, the phoren people came by the boat load to buy spices, cotton and an assortment of exotica to stock their houses. Today desis come by the plane load to stock up on the latest Ritu Kumar designs for [...]

Woman leads mixed-gender prayer

The Globe and Mail, [04/23/2005]

Backyard gathering of Muslims crosses ‘another threshold of conservativism’

APARITA BHANDARI
SPECIAL TO THE GLOBE
For Raheel Raza, becoming the first Muslim woman in Canada to lead publicly announced prayer was awe-inspiring, a “silent revolution.” And while the gathering [...]

Distantly famous

The Montreal Gazette

Montreal’s JoSH is not troubled by mobs of fans at home, but over in South Asia, MTV India picked the duo as best new artist and their songs are everywhere on radio, TV.

APARITA BHANDARI
SPECIAL TO THE GAZETTE
By the time JoSH came on stage at Toronto’s Docks Nightclub, the 3,000-plus audience was primed to [...]

Guess who’s coming to dinner

The Globe and Mail
SPECIAL TO THE GLOBE
It was Diwali night, the Hindu festival of lights, and the temperature had dipped to ungodly lows. Decked in their good silk saris and satin salwar-kameezes, fingering the gold bangles on their wrists, a group of South Asian women swapped stories about their children, venting about their much too [...]

Bending Jane Austen

Gurinder Chadha loves to support her desi community, even if it means turning a blind eye to Southall shopkeepers selling pirated DVDs of her movies.
“Off and on, (I) go down the shops and buy baingan (eggplant) or whatever with my [...]

Pink Ludoos

Pink Ludoos references the practice of new parents celebrating by offering family, friends and neighbours their thanks soaked in ghee and sugar. Only laddus are usually a warm golden colour (when made traditionally) or a flashy orange colour (when brought from ye local grocery store).
So, what’s with the pink colour?
Well, Pink Ludoos is a movie [...]