by Farah Mithani – Houston Baptist University From Pharaohs to Madonna, mehndi has been a form of expressive and cultural art.  Differing from each region, it has been around for years.  Made from a tall shrub called a henna plant, it is used to dye skin, hair, and possibility certain materials. The...

by Jihii Jolly – Soka University of America My first time being called brown was in ninth grade. I’d just returned to school after a family trip to India over winter break – a week late as usual because how is a week nearly enough time to see two sets of cousins, uncles, aunts and grandparents?...

by Priya Patel – University of Florida Directed by: Radhika Bordia & Natasha Badhwar, Punjabi Kudi. 2008. 20 min. View this movie at cultureunplugged.com This short 20-minute documentary takes an expansive look into South Asian female music artists in England and how they personally relate...

by Pooja Kansal – Indiana University During a November 2009 interview with CNN, Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan said that, “Indian cinema needs to move beyond traditional song-and-dance musicals amid increasing international competition in the Mumbai studios’ domestic market.” The...

by Neethi Srinivasan – University of Michigan There is a saying that if you assume something about someone you make an ass out of yourself and the other person. Though this “clever” comeback may often find its place in recess discourse (along with the ever so popular “talk the hand because...

by Komal Thakkar – George Washington University When my parents used to tell my brother and me that we would be attending a pooja later that night, we would groan with disappointment and the protests would begin. “We just went to one last weekend, and we don’t even understand what’s going...

by Neethi Srinivasan – University of Michigan Pageants – it’s one of my many guilty pleasures. Though the word alone makes my skin crawl with images of taffeta and tiaras, pageants are one of those social train wrecks that I can’t take my eyes off. Like any good reality show, they have...

by Neethi Srinivasan – University of Michigan What’s in a name? Contrary to Shakespeare, apparently a lot. As my friends and I watched the Super bowl a few weeks ago, the topic of ethnic names came up. Why do some Asians (Indians, Chinese, Japanese, etc.) change their traditional names to...

by Syeda Hasan - University of Texas at Austin When I suggested to my mom that I be allowed to wear a sari to her cousin’s wedding in Pakistan this summer, I was surprised to see such a puzzled expression on her face. “A sari?” she said with a chuckle. “We’ll go clothes shopping together when...

by Aditi Mehta Recently, BG had the privilege of interviewing Shivani Thakkar, a talented artist in the field of dance and artistic performance. Many can say they have a passion for dance, but Thakkar has taken that passion and turned it into a full fledged career. Thakkar was born and raised in Calgary,...