‘Beyonce Sharma Jayegi’ is More Problematic Than it Appears
From Surabhi's Notepad - A column that brings us personal essays and stories, frivolous and serious, inspired by real-life events and encounters of navigating the world as a young, Indian woman living outside India. Beyonce does not need an introduction. She is...
A Whistling Tribute to Lata Mangeshkar
Lata Mangeshkar turned 90 a little more than one year ago, a momentous milestone in a life whose story is the very chronicle of Hindi Film Music in the post-Independence era. Any superlatives used to describe this life seem banal, and indeed many of the tributes that...
Your Featured Life
Caring Long Distance
“Get rid of Annu right away!” The injunction came from the top. And then came an oblong package that we hadn’t ordered. It was the implement to lure us into believing that getting rid of Annu wouldn’t be as hard as we were thinking. Sinister as the plan appears to be,...
South Asians Running for Office – Ajit Varma in Palo Alto, CA
Ajit Varma is running for City Council because he wants Palo Alto to be the best place to live, raise a family, and start a company for generations to come. Ajit tells DesiCollective about his Silicon Valley dream that brought him to Palo Alto when he was just 19....
South Asians Running for Office – Sumiti Mehta in Natomas, CA
Sumiti Mehta volunteered for an incredible 11 years in her school district. All those years in the classroom gave her a bird's eye view of what works and what doesn't for the schoolchildren of Natomas- the second most diverse school district in the country. Sumiti was...
Community
A Play on Nehru’s Letters to His Daughter From Prison
In 1928, Jawaharlal Nehru was put in an Allahabad jail during India's freedom struggle. That summer he started writing letters to his 10-year old daughter, Indira, who was in Mussoorie at the time. In the first series of letters, Book of Nature, he told her the story...
A Project to Activate Indian American Voices in Swing States
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed within this article are the opinions of the organization. The facts and opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of India Currents and India Currents does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same....
Letters to India Currents: 10/14/20
To The Editor, Thank you for your email and for including me in your community. I will address your general questions. Yes, I am voting in 2020. I have always voted since I became a US citizen in 1981 and I am a registered voter in CA as an Independent. So, I have the...
Vote YES on Measure RR — Rescue Caltrain
Dear Voter, Vote YES on Measure RR — Rescue Caltrain CALTRAIN— a vital lifeline for commuters between San Francisco, the Peninsula and Silicon Valley — is on the brink of shutting down. It relies largely on fares, and ridership has plummeted because of the pandemic....
Voices
‘Beyonce Sharma Jayegi’ is More Problematic Than it Appears
From Surabhi's Notepad - A column that brings us personal essays and stories, frivolous and serious, inspired by real-life events and encounters of navigating the world as a young, Indian woman living outside India. Beyonce does not need an introduction. She is...
In the Mighty Presence of Gandhi Ji
Every October 2nd, August 15th, January 26th, I fondly remember Gandhi Ji. I was twelve – a young idealist with big dreams for my own life and a compelling desire to see India as a free and prosperous nation, free from the bondage of two hundred years of subjugation...
Who Am I?
Who Am I? I am brown; I am different from the white and the black. I am Dravidian, a word as mysterious as the origin of the universe. Now I am a hyphenated American; I speak English with a discernible accent, but my students loved it. It's not Southern...
Forest Fires Aren’t the Problem, Climate Change Is
At the Front Door: Climate Change & Forest Fires - a column on climate change in our lives On a Wednesday morning just a few weeks ago, Bay Area residents woke up to a scene out of a dystopian movie. The sun hung low and red in a sky that looked like it too was...
Culture
A Whistling Tribute to Lata Mangeshkar
Lata Mangeshkar turned 90 a little more than one year ago, a momentous milestone in a life whose story is the very chronicle of Hindi Film Music in the post-Independence era. Any superlatives used to describe this life seem banal, and indeed many of the tributes that...
Pehlwan: The Migrant Warrior
Our latest story at Virtual Bharat is one from our own city—Mumbai. The city of dreams. The city of warriors. The city of migrants. This story is dedicated to the unbreakable spirit of the migrants who make Mumbai the city that it is today. The bustling financial...
Dolly Kitty Aur Woh Chamaktay Sitaray
Alankrita Shrivastava’s film, Dolly Kitty Aur Woh Chamaktay Sitaray, does a couple of things which no other Bollywood movie has done so far: it normalizes sex (especially awkward sex) in ordinary relationships, and deflates the ridiculously overblown representations...
Why I Dance: Over 300 Classical Dancers Speak
Why I Dance - A monthly column, in collaboration with IndianRaga, in which we uncover the variety of Indian Classical Dance forms and their lineage. “Why do you dance?” asked Anuradha Nehru, Founder and Artistic Director of Maryland based Kuchipudi company Kalanidhi...
Trending
Naturalization Fees Spike On Oct 2
If you are eligible for naturalization, or some other immigration benefits, now is the time to apply! After concluding their biennial review of fee collections last month, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced a significant increase in filing...
Sponsored Articles
Vote YES on Measure RR — Rescue Caltrain
Dear Voter, Vote YES on Measure RR — Rescue Caltrain CALTRAIN— a vital lifeline for commuters between San Francisco, the Peninsula and Silicon Valley — is on the brink of shutting down. It relies largely on fares, and ridership has plummeted because of the pandemic....
The Cowboy and the Yogi: Ideals Shared by India and America
For 25 years, Teed Rockwell wrote a monthly column for India Currents magazine on all aspects of Indian music, ancient and modern, classical and popular. His goal was to be an ambassador for Indian music, as Leonard Bernstein had been for European music, aspiring to...
Opinion
Navratri’s Significance as Hindus Across America Cast Votes
Navratri is a Hindu festival that is celebrated for nine nights and ten days during the Fall season. The lunar calendar determines the timing of the holiday. Navratri is celebrated a few times during the year, but the festival that occurs during the Fall is referred...
Former Mayor Speaks Against Measure RR
The CEO and board of directors of Caltrain are doing a major “dis-service” to the residents of San Mateo, Santa Clara, and San Francisco counties with Measure RR. Their proposal to address and remedy the Caltrain loss of revenue problem is to place on the backs of the...
Weltschmerz
As if flipping pages in a magazine, I riffle through the recent pages of my life quickly and without close attention. Now entering the eighth month of sheltering-in-place due to the Coronavirus pandemic, I am tired of it all: tired of social isolation; tired of...
Is Kamala Harris a Good VP Pick?
Forum - A column where you get eyes on both sides of a hot button issue. Is Kamala Harris a Good VP Pick? Yes! Vice President Biden hit a home run with the brilliant selection of Senator Kamala Harris. I believe Kamala is uniquely positioned to be groomed to be the...
Health & Wellness
Tips for Learning From Home
Children face myriad challenges with remote learning, as they are unable to meet with friends and follow a normal schedule during this pandemic. They become restless and unhappy. You as parents may be in a conundrum wondering how to teach your child(ren) at home...
Califiornia’s Deadliest Spring In 20 Years
The first five months of the COVID-19 pandemic in California rank among the deadliest in state history, deadlier than any other consecutive five-month period in at least 20 years. And the grim milestone encompasses thousands of “excess” deaths not accounted for in the...
Where Do You Go With Wildfires At Your Door?
As the smoke thickened near her home in Santa Cruz, California, last week, Amanda Smith kept asking herself the same questions: Should we leave? And where would we go? The wildfire evacuation zone, at the time, ended a few blocks from her house. But she worried about...
Happiness Beyond Mind: An Individual Experience
Simplicity is not simple. It takes a lot of thought and effort to condense complex concepts to a simple, practical, and easy to follow recipe for getting to “contentment” or “happiness”. By distilling the essence of ancient Indian philosophy, practicing it himself,...
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Lifestyle
Where Books Come Alive
Rehana Munir’s novel Paper Moon (Harper Collins, 2019) is every book lover’s delight and is filled with vivid descriptions of Bombay’s streets and pavement bookstalls, such as the Strand Book House at Fort that sells remaindered books at student prices. Clearly, an...
Youth
Fitness: A Forgotten Remedy
An anonymous author once wrote: “We are living in an era where capturing moments using our phone is more important than actually living the moment with whoever is beside us." Last year, in 2019, this quote rang true, where everyone was glued to their devices by...
From the Publisher
For the past 32 years, we have been telling stories about the Indian diaspora in our own voices – and winning awards for these story-tellers! Many thanks to all those who have supported community journalism – this is YOUR platform.
