According to one estimate there are about 22 million people of Indian origin in the UK, US, Canada, UAE and other countries. Many of them migrated  after 1947. However in the 19thc there was a mass movement of Indians to countries like Fiji, Mauritius and the Caribbean islands. This happened during the British rule in [...]

Craving for American food in Banglalore? Not a problem. The concierge at your hotel will rattle off a list of places where you can get your cravings fixed and might even mention a well-known fast food joint. But back in the 1960s and 1970s there was just one place that served American food like steak [...]

I have known about  Bridget White Kumar  for over 6 years, and every year on my purpose-filled trips to Bangalore, I’d promise myself to meet her. Every year her name would dutifully appear on my list of people to meet in Bangalore, and every year I’d carry her name forward to the next year’s list. [...]

  Bangalore special so far in case you missed listening or watching the interviews in our life, people and ideas channel. Our goal is to highlight Bangalore, a city in rapid transition, while remains of an older and gentler times still exist in pockets of the city. Every Thursday, you can expect to see a [...]

Could this be the most photographed person in Bangalore? Well, while there is no way to establish that fact, it may be safe to state that he is probably photographed quite a bit. But, wait a second. Now that I think of it, another most photographed person (well, persons actually) could be the 2 doormen [...]

Bangalore special.  This month’s  focus is on life, people and ideas from Bangalore, one of the fastest growing cities in India. Often referred as Silicon Valley of India, this once laid-back town known as “pensioners paradise” is fast morphing into vibrant, ever-expanding megapolis in India. Megapolis you ask? Consider this. Whitefield was once considered a [...]

What is Pongal? This is a question that  I often get asked in the US. Think of it like an Indian version of Thanksgiving I respond. Come January, and people in different parts of India gear up for a “thanksgiving” celebration that also marks the end of winter. This harvest festival has different names in [...]

Yes, it is that time of the year when we go looking for desi inspired Jingle Bells Christmas song. And, believe you me there are quite a few out songs out there on YouTube and other similar sites. Most of the popular desi inspired Christmas songs have a strong bhangra/Punjabi influence. So preseenting to you  [...]

What we remember about 1947 when India became a free country is either Nehru’s speech or the brutal partition that displaced millions of people in a matter of days. Suddenly, there was a border when none existed either in Punjab or Bengal. Today, what we have instead is this border ceremony that takes place every [...]

Kartar Dhillon passed away earlier this month in Berkeley, California and she “Ain’t No Old Lady,” as Ranbir Sidhu writes. She was 93 years old. Kartar or Kar as she was called was an activist and a writer, who was a fount of information about the early Punjabi settlers in California. She was somebody I [...]