THE INDOFILES

Note to all India residents: put away any thoughts of sipping on that cadillac margarita in Oaxaca over the next few weeks.
 In the latest example of the mass hysteria created by the media, the Times of India warns of Indian travellers cancelling their travel plans due to the notorious swine flu that is ravaging the [...]

I first saw Zakir Hussain play in LA in the early eighties. And in the years since, I’ve seen him play several times in the Bay Area. Right now, he’s on tour with the great santoor player Shivkumar Sharma.
No matter how many times you see him, Zakir never ceases to amaze when he picks up speed [...]

Let’s face it. Smoking cigars and drinking scotch is a big, fat cliché. And yet there is so much pleasure to be had in blowing the smoke and sipping the fire water. When I have a cigar and drink scotch, I feel sentimental and joyous, two emotions that are not always easy to come by.
Last [...]

Since we are on the topic of attractive South Asian women in America, I’d like to give my two cents on Padma Laxmi, in light of her recent fabulous photo in Allure and her widening of the Laxmi brand with her Hardees commercial.
I’m a huge fan of Top Chef, not only for the cooking, but [...]

The Sun obtained footage today of Dev Patel and Freida Pinto engaged in a kiss and a few additional  intimate moments in Israel, near location of a shoot for Freida’s latest film. If it hadn’t been confirmed already by incessant rumors, a million Youtube views will make it official. Kudos to Dev Patel for parlaying his [...]

miss usa, indiana, woman, celebrity, adopted

There is a little bit of a trend on TV to answer the criticism that minorities, and in this case South Asians, are portrayed stereotypically by removing some of their ethnic/racial markers.
There is Kal Penn’s former character Lawrence Kutner on House. Kutner’s Indianness does not figure into the show much at all. We know [...]

Question: How much can you sell a 9-year old child actor for?
A. Nothing
B. $100,000
C. $400,000
D. $1,000,000
If you’re Rafiq Kureshi, father of “Slumdog Millionaire” child star Rubina Ali, then there’s no need to phone a friend on this one - his final answer was C. According to News of the World, the opportunistic dad attempted to [...]

When I saw the news that the ObamaAdministration had decided to elect a fellow Indian brother three years older than me to be the CTO for the most powerful countryin the world, my first reaction was “Great! More brown representation in the White House”, followed immediately by my second reaction of “What am I doing [...]

For years, my friends and I would discuss the pathetic state of Indian hip hop, noting that the only Indian rappers/MCs of note were British artists  Panjabi MC and less so, Apache Indian aka Steve Kapur (you can admit you own “No Reservations”). That may all change.
A few months ago, my mother sent me a video of Ameish [...]