Category: India

November 25, 2012

Cooking Bengali Culture

Are you a foodie too? Read about the cultural lessons I learn preparing my first Bengali dish...

July 30, 2011

Cultural Perspectives on Female Maids in India

"Sideways on a Scooter" by American journalist Miranda Kennedy is about the complex relationships between women in India. Shortly after completing this book, I watched "Lakshmi and Me," a PBS documentary about filmmaker Nishtha Jain and her relationship with her young maid, Lakshmi.

May 14, 2011

The Bengali Detective – A Documentary

I'm still sorting through the myriad of wonderful films that I caught at the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival. The Bengali Detective, by Phil Cox, is one that I particularly enjoyed and appreciated as a creative educational tool.

January 13, 2011

5.5 Liters of Blood – Meet Narayanan Krishnan

CNN Hero, Narayanan Krishnan, gave up a career as a chef to feed the homeless three meals a day in Madurai, India. This video illustrates why he truly is a hero at 29 years of age.

December 20, 2010

SOLD: The Story of Lakshmi

The atrocity of sex trafficking is highlighting in this heartbreaking book simply titled "SOLD." I read it for a book club recently and was completely floored at the power of Patricia McCormick's writing. It is the story of Laskshmi, a 13 year Nepalese girl whose stepfather sells her to help with his family's financial troubles after a monsoon. She is taken to India and forced into prostitution to survive.

December 4, 2010

Sita Sings the Blues: A Creative Rendition of the Ramayana

"Sita Sings the Blues" tells the tale of the epic Ramayana using three very different styles of animation in Flash technology. It is visual storytelling taken to an entirely new level. The Ramayana consists of 24,000 verses in 7 books and 500 cantos, and tells the story of Rama, whose wife Sita is abducted by the demon king of Lanka, Ravana. Thematically, the epic explores the tenets of human existence and the concept of dharma. While it is clearly a story about Rama, the film focuses on Sita, his wife. There is a strong female voice and perspective throughout this feature film.