Never a Dal Moment: A Recipe and a Reflection

Dal, a lentil-based soup, is a staple of Bengali cooking — at least in my family. It didn’t matter that we grew up in Ohio, about as far from Kolkata and Dhaka as you can get, we had dal with dinner almost every night. Moog dal, musoor dal, cholar dal, toor dal, yellow split-pea dal. You… Read More Never a Dal Moment: A Recipe and a Reflection

Lootera Will Steal Your Heart

Vikramaditya Motwane’s period drama Lootera (“Thief”) is appropriately titled, as it steals slowly into your consciousness and deftly exploits your vulnerabilities before leaving you alone with nothing but your thoughts. This is not a loud film; it features no dance numbers, no bombastic “Bollywood moments,” but it still delivers the beautifully melodramatic payload that makes… Read More Lootera Will Steal Your Heart

The Mindy Project: Just One of Many Stories

I keep stumbling upon the assertion that The Mindy Project and Mindy Kaling’s Office character Kelly Kapoor are somehow “too white” or “too privileged.” As if the only valid South Asian narrative is curry-soaked and accented, a tale of oppression and being The Other. Are those really our two options: too white or too Outsourced-and-Apu? Bullshit. There isn’t… Read More The Mindy Project: Just One of Many Stories