Last week was Diwali, the Indian festival of lights. But Sandip Roy grew up with the Goddess Kali.
Sandip discovers that even a city we think we know inside out can surprise us, at night.
Almost every day these days someone on my social media feed shares a picture of their copy of Mother Mary Come to Me, Booker winning Indian writer Arundhati Roy’s latest book.Sandip Roy condiders the difficulty in writing about one's own family.
In a city awash with Durgas that bask in the old joys of the past, it’s a joy to meet a New Durga imagining a brighter future.
India is apparently the the second most sleep deprived country in the world. 60 percent of Indians routinely getting by on less than 6 hours of sleep. Is it time for National Sleep Guidlines?
Sandip considers the life and death of letters and the service that carries them.
The Kolkata yellow cab has been one of the icons of the city.Bright yellow and rotund, sometimes described as a bowler hat on wheels, based on the Morris Oxford, these were all Ambassador cars. But recently the yellow taxis of Kolkata enjoyed a last hurrah.
Amazon’s Great India Festival is coming soon, but with all those deals delivered to you without a care in the world, Sandip condisers the gig-economy behind making your cheap indulgences possible.
It's Ganesh Puja in India. Lord Ganesh is a God who seems like an animator’s dream come true, but a God who removes obstacles should be much in demand right now and the last thing we should be doing is treating him like a cuddly toy.
India just celebrated its 79th Independence Day with the usual fanfare on August 15th. But Sandip asks us to remember those that fought without being recognized.
Swayam, a feminist prganization in India, is hoping to make everyone think about "domestic" violence differently.
Civilazation is always in the eye of the beholder, as Sandip was reminded of after Texas Congressman Brandon Gill's recent comment about proper dining etiquette.
The news that there might be a Disneyland spread over 500 acres of Manesar in Gurugram near New Delhi has set social media afire in India.
Sandip journeys to Thrichy in south India where he understands of what's being said around him. And finds it oddly calming.
The Indian community in America is often seen as uncles and aunties who are just interested in Diwali parties and temples and acting as cheerleaders for the government back home.But in 1975 they did step up for democracy.
As another Pride month comes to a close Sandip asks the question is being visible enough?
Language is a loaded thing around the world these days. In the USA Spanish as a language has become a hot button political issue in some parts. But no one has it as bad as India.
When Sandip came to America on his student visa his biggest concern was weather or not to bring a pressure cooker. Today the concern is a bit more than that.
In a world preoccupied with exerting our rights over a patch of land, Sandip remembers he once I had a patch of sky as well and a clothesline strung across it where his stories could hang out to dry.
Trump’s tariff war has left a very sweet and sought after casualty on the docks. Mangos.